First Take: The strand of philosophical thinking that posits that our knowledge of the world results from experience, specifically the data of our senses.  It typically assumes a world is “out there,” in the sense that it exists independently of our perceptions.

Deeper: In general, empiricism is associated with rationality and the scientific method, particularly under the banner of nineteenth century positivism, which claimed that observation, quantitative data, and precisely formulated hypotheses were the basis of effective reasoning. As I argue in Chapter 2, journalistic ideas of “the story” as existing in events commonly reflect commonsense empirical assumptions (see also the entries on witnessing and testimonial journalism). Likewise, reporters resort to devices like attribution (see entry) to clarify that their report of an event is second-hand.
         All that being said, it is important to consider that, for many philosophers, empiricism in its more “pure” or radical variations actually conflicts with the assumption (held by some Rationalists) that the mind already possesses innate concepts into which sensory data is merely added. Rather, empiricists often claim, the mind is forced to use analogies to prior sensory experiences in order to construct new categories of thought. This distinction therefore has some bearing on the rhetorical and figurative work of the journalistic story-form, since reporters typically have to bridge gaps between what they witness and what their audiences are already familiar with. They do so, for instance, through figurative analogy .  (Contrast the entry on phenomenology).