S. Splichal, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001. As a special form of knowledge production and distribution, ‘Journalism’ primarily refers to information gathering, writing, editing, disseminating or otherwise (primarily intellectually), contributing to journals, i.e. daily newspapers, other periodicals, radio and television news programs, and the Internet. Journalism lacks the objective criteria that would place it in the same social position as the ‘true’ professions. Having developed through four historical periods, modern journalism includes four types of journalism in terms of the kind of service it provides to clients: enlightenment journalism, entertainment journalism, advocacy journalism, and gatekeeping or mediative journalism. The most controversial question of journalism is the quest for ‘professional objectivity’ as a supposedly fundamental ethical principle, often confronted with a subsidiary position of journalism in relation to political and economic actors.