Motivated by the ideal of pluralism, this essay explores an apparent paradox: although many different kinds of journalism may have evolved, because journalism is only vaguely defined by connections to ‘the media' and ‘news', there is a trend towards increasing journalistic standardization. It is proposed that this standardization represents attempts to rationalize journalism. But rationalism is a framework of thought which is alien to journalism and to political life in general, it is argued. As an alternative framework for the philosophy and practice of journalism, the classical notions of praxis and practical reason are introduced.