Public journalism and political knowledge (original) (raw)

2001, The Social Science Journal

Public journalism is a fairly recent phenomenon, having been formally articulated in practice in the United States for only about the past ten years. Nevertheless, the opinions of most journalists tend to be fairly polarized: journalists either embrace public journalism as an appropriate strategy to "reconnect" with communities and citizens, or they reject it as an inappropriate departure from traditional journalistic standards of editorial detachment and subjectivity. Anthony Eksterowicz and Robert Roberts, both professors of political science at James Madison University, have assembled a very concise, articulate, and intelligent set of writings on public journalism (also sometimes referred to as civic journalism). The editors could have acknowledged that most journalists have strong opinions on the subject and, as a result, taken the easy way out-by assembling a body of work that took one position or the other. In a sense they have done that, but in a scholarly and appropriate way. This book most certainly does take a favorable stance on public journalism but, in so doing, it also fully and fairly addresses every major argument levied against the genre (at least every one that this long-time journalist could think of). Where traditional journalistic practice conceptualizes reporters and editors as detached observers who subsequently report on public events, public journalism puts journalists right in the middle of the action. The public journalist is expected to identify and frame the important issues for citizens and then "form partnerships with civic groups, universities, and local governments for the purposes of reporting and reform." Thus, public journalism "emphasizes citizen participation as a virtue that eventually enhances representative gov ernment." Public Journalism and Political Knowledge is made up of nine chapters, each addressing a different aspect of, or case study in, public journalism. Its three sections address the origins