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59
UDC 316.77:070(091)
FROM INFORMATION TO CONSCIOUSNESS: THE HISTORY OF MEDIA,
HUMANITY'S SELF-UNDERSTANDING IN THE INTERPRETATION OF JOHN
NERON, AND THE PHILOSOPHICAL PANORAMA OF TODAY'S MEDIA WORLD
Djurayeva Nurxon Kabilovna
Senior specialist at the department of scientific research and innovations, Navoiy state university
E-mail:
ORCID: 0009-0001-9587-1831
Abstract.
This article examines journalism in both historical and theoretical dimensions through
the lens of contemporary philosophy. It discusses the development of Western and US press, its
historical stages, and the philosophical as well as social foundations of the concept of "norm."
The study also explores the rise of the internet and social networks, the impact of artificial
intelligence on the information space, ethical and normative challenges, and the role of
journalism in today's media environment. The analysis is situated at the intersection of
journalism theory, philosophy of communication, and information technology.
The findings suggest that the concepts of media space and information are deeply intertwined
with human cognition and technological progress, which necessitates continuous philosophical
reflection. Media space is interpreted as a dynamic and multi-layered phenomenon, evolving
simultaneously in philosophical and technological dimensions. From a phenomenological and
synergetic perspective, it mirrors the interactions between society and technology, offering
insights not only into information and communication technologies but also into broader social
and cultural processes.
The article also draws upon the ideas of John Nerone, whose research on the history of American
journalism highlights its role in shaping democratic institutions, thereby enriching the
philosophical and historical analysis of media as a phenomenon.
Keywords:
media space, information flow, history of journalism, mass communication, internet,
social networks, artificial intelligence, philosophy, norm.
Introduction
. We live in an era of information overload. Our minds naturally absorb
information of all sizes, in different forms and formats, and in radically different ways, every day
in our daily lives. First, it doesn't hurt to learn a little about information.
Information Latin from the language translation when done (
information)
aware to do, to
explain, to state to say, meanings means. The word “information”
has many meanings,
depending on its use. In the narrow sense of
the
word
, it is data, messages, evidence, regardless
of the form of presentation.
Another definition of the word “information” is as follows: a set of
data recorded on a material carrier and distributed in time and space . However, it would not be
correct
to call works of art information . The understanding of the term information from the
point of view of aesthetics and cultural studies and the understanding of information in
cybernetics, physics, biology, etc. are fundamentally different.
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Information is characterized by
ideality and substantial non-independence, infinity, consistency,
selection, and
truth. It has its own characteristics such as variability and universality, as well as
qualities such as relevance, reliability, completeness, comprehensiveness, popularity, and value.
The process from information to human consciousness, the impact of information on human
consciousness and thinking, is creating
significant problems for science in today's era
of maximum globalization. We can see that
the information content, which found its
interpretation in the works and views of the
famous American scientist John Nero, is
reflected in the media landscape in today's
world.
John Nerone, professor emeritus at the
Institute for Communication Studies at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
USA, writes about the history of media and
journalism, and among his books, Violence Against the Press (Oxford, 1994)
is one of the most
notable works of prose.
J. Nero is the author or co-author of four books and numerous articles, including "Violence
Against the Press, The Last Rights: Reconsidering Four Theories of the Press" (University of
Illinois, News5 Press, 19, Barwin, 19:19). History (Guilford Press, 2001), which won the Media
Ecology Association's Suzanne Langer Award and the International Communication
Association's Book of the Year Award. He also edited (with Robert W. McChesney) the History
of Communication series, and his service as a faculty member has included several terms on the
Faculty Senate, membership on the General Education Council, a full complement of committees
in the College of Media, and serving as the ICR's Program Evaluation Committee Chair and
Placement Specialist. His interests include unconventional topics such as the history of
communication, historical research methods, and American culture.
John Nerone is the only prominent scholar in the field of media and communication to hold the
title of Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. His research
focuses on and is interesting in the areas of mass media, journalism history, and media forms.
American thinking can be observed by reading the
works of J. Nerone about the place and role of the
mass media in society. From the author's point of
view, democratic stereotypes are noticeable in each of
his works. The book examines violence against
journalists in the United States in a historical context
1
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/violence-against-press-policing-public-sphere-us-
history?utm_source=chatgpt.com
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from the time of the American Revolution to the modern era. Nerone divides violence against the
press into four main types: interpersonal violence, violence against ideas, violence against
groups, and violence against institutions. He also analyzes five models in the history of the press:
"rational liberty", "partisanship", "commercialism", "industry", and "institution". Throughout the
work, he shows that violence against the press is not a random, but a systematic and recurring
phenomenon. In the article "Violence against Journalists," Nerone analyzed violence as a means
of always making sense and sometimes as a political strategy—for example, in times of war,
partisan press, or centralized state control, these behaviors take on a specific appearance in his
aforementioned work.
In another article, Nerone notes that attacks on the press have actually been going on since the
early 1700s. For example, during the American Revolution, Patriots used serious threats and
violence against publishers who expressed the views of loyalist groups. While he is not always
popular about modern attacks on the press, Nerone does draw scholarly attention to the
emergence of new forms of violence, such as online violence and gender-based violence, even
after writing this book.
This work not only teaches media theory, but also encourages a thoughtful and persuasive look
at the media world. In this work, the author places media theory at the intersection of the history
of journalism and the history of the public sphere. Although Nerone describes his work as
"partially" belonging to many directions, in fact he focuses on one central issue - the place of the
mass information system in state governance, and in particular in a democratic political system.
The main focus of the book is the historical path, starting from the experience of short-lived
newspapers produced by printers in 17th-century Europe, through the formation of editorial
traditions in Europe and North America in the 18th-19th centuries, and the emergence of large
media empires in the 20th-21st centuries.
Nerone tries very carefully, even modestly, to limit the scope of his conclusions, but this caution
is unnecessary: the entire world of science has recognized that the work has in fact perfectly
demonstrated the goals it set.
This book is a significant contribution to the fields of media, history and public life (especially
politics), and can serve as a software for scholars conducting scientific research as a historian
studying the socio-political history of the 19th century. Because, J, Nerone spends much of his
time in the archives of small newspapers of the 17th and 18th centuries, creating a typology and
a line of development. This line is not strictly chronological, since ideas are spread differently in
time and space. But it strengthens the main foundation of the work and invites the reader to a
journey through the evolution of the media in a gradual, fluid and coherent way.
Nerone's insights help readers gain a deeper understanding of the turning points in Western
history. Changes in political thought, socio-political revolutions, professionalization, and
globalization are all inextricably linked to the development of the media industry and the media
world, as well as their role in public life. Nerone presents these connections not only with
historical evidence, but also with powerful analytical arguments that capture their essence.
He is also notable for his ability to situate his work at a precise intersection—the nexus of media,
history, and social life. In his book, John Nerone presents the history of the media not simply as
“the stages of development of the press,” but as
the history of humanity’s self-understanding
.
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From the printing presses of the 17th century to the global media empires of the 21st century, the
process is, in his interpretation, essentially a journey of humanity “to shape existence through
words.”
The media are not simply messengers. They are a mirror between the authorities and the people,
through which people not only learn about the world, but also see themselves. Therefore, the
question that Nerone raises: “Does the media inform people or represent them to the
authorities?” — in fact, expresses the dialectic between man and society. This dialectic is new or
radically changing in every era, because the distance between the authorities and the people is
never absolute, it is always a factor that encourages reflection and is always open to negotiation.
The main strength of the book is that it shows the history of media along with political and
philosophical turns: it is analyzed in broad terms such as revolutions, the struggle for freedom,
stratification, globalization. In fact, the media is not only a flow of information, but also a field
of ideas that determine the fate of humanity.
At this point, one can draw a deeper conclusion: the media world is the most powerful attribute
shaping the collective consciousness of modern man. Through it, we understand the world,
interpret it, and situate ourselves in it. It is no exaggeration to say that every change in the media
world is a change in how we see ourselves.
Nerone treads carefully in his research, but from a philosophical perspective, this work shows
that a free society does not necessarily create a free media, but only a free media can make a
society free.
Let's imagine that in the media world, immersed in the flow of information and living with
virtual thinking, every piece of information we receive and process in our minds leaves its mark
on our consciousness and thinking. Sometimes, such an increase in information creates serious
problems with memory and mental disorders in humans. For example, today, while the official
blocks that are officially operating today transmit thousands of pieces of information in a chain
of fake, that is, not false, information, we see some shortcomings in the thinking of society,
manifested in the form of coherent thinking, backwardness in thought, and low-level attitude.
This may be an excess of the norm in information consumption. At this point, the question arises,
how can we establish a system for the human mind to accept information according to its size, is
this logically correct? What is the norm in this process?
In philosophy, the concept of "norm" also exists and is considered one of the most important
categories, mainly used in assessing human activity, morality, social relations and processes in
nature. Norm (Latin
norm - based on the rule) is
a set of accepted rules, measures, rules for a
particular activity or phenomenon . It serves to determine criteria such as "right - wrong, good -
bad, reasonable - inappropriate" in society and in philosophical thinking . For example , in
ontological terms, the norm represents the balance in processes in nature. (For example, a
violation of the ecological balance is a deviation from the "norm".) In epistemological terms , a
person determines the norm himself, relying on certain criteria and rules in order to determine
the truth in the process of acquiring knowledge. In axiological (value) terms , the norm is based
on moral, legal, religious or aesthetic values and ensures order in society.
The influence of information flow in the media world and the lack of standards in information
consumption in the media world regarding the use of databases create a need for emergence in
the thinking of society, that is, the unexpected appearance of a new quality, a new idea or
solution. “Emergence” in thinking is the birth of a new, previously non-existent idea from the
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knowledge and experience available in the human mind. For example, after thinking about a
problem for a long time, an “insight” is suddenly born. In philosophy, this phenomenon is
associated with a qualitative change, that is, the emergence of a new quality after quantitative
accumulation.
Violation of the norm in information consumption leads to a rejection in thinking, that is,
(denial). In the process of thinking, it is sometimes necessary to abandon old views, erroneous
ideas, and errors. In philosophy, this is understood as a stage of denial or dialectical development.
“Rejection” is the opening of the way to something new, the rejection of an idea that existed
before, but no longer corresponds to the times or reality. For example, in the transition from
ancient worldviews to a scientific worldview, many old views were abandoned. Today, the
yellow press has given way to social networks, while artificial intelligence is supplanting social
networks and other categories of media in consumption.
Recently, the number of people who refuse to read the news as a result of its distribution has
increased at a record high. Many people around the world are deliberately refusing to read the
news. Today, the number of those who do this has reached a record high among respondents - 40
percent. In 2017, this figure did not exceed 29 percent. This was reported by the Reuters Institute
for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford.
Most of the respondents explained their reasons for abandoning the news by the negative impact
on their mood, fatigue from the constant flow of news, excessive attention to wars and disasters,
and a feeling of powerlessness caused by the inability to influence events. One of the study
participants, Mardette Burr, said that she stopped reading the news 8 years ago, and since then
her constant feeling of anxiety has disappeared and her sleep has improved. British Julian Barrett
deliberately left the news field during the pandemic. She deleted all media apps and even opened
a group on Reddit to discuss the pros and cons of abandoning the news.
“However, not all users are ready for such a drastic step. Some are limited to reading only the
headlines, while others subscribe to carefully selected media and read general information once a
week,” the report says. According to the co-authors of the study and the authors of the book
“Escape from the News,” news avoidance is usually more common among young people, women
and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. In addition, this indicator also depends on
the country. For example, in the UK, 46 percent of citizens avoid the news, and in the US, 42
percent.
"We live in a world where you can read the news 24/7 and be immersed in the information flow
at any time. But that doesn't mean you have to do it," says Benjamin Toff, director of the
Journalism Center at the University of Minnesota.
References
1.
John Nerone, Violence Against the Press (Oxford, 1994)
2.
Nerone, J. (2013).
The Media and Public Life: A History
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3.
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Last Rights: Revisiting Four Theories of the Press
. Urbana :
University of Illinois Press.
2
https://www.theguardian.com/society/ng-interactive/2025/sep/01/news-avoidance-high-anxiety
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4.
McQuail, D. (2010).
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Internet information:
1.
https://qalampir.uz/uz/news/yangilkarlar-uk-ishdan-voz-kechayetganlar-rekord-
2.
