Civic Journalism as Research

Abstract

The practices of civic journalism are a fit focus for perfecting needed methods to build a tradition of media performance assessment. This can and should be a joint venture of the academicians and practitioners of journalism.

Public Journalism Without the Public: Problematizing the Public Sphere and Press Credibility in Academic Journals, 1991–2018

“…Their work on the public sphere informed Rosen’s advocating for a more relevant journalism that reconnects “with citizens and their true concerns” (p. 376). Second, Lambeth and Craig (1995) pointed out that the matter of how credibly the public journalism movement engages citizens was crucial. “No aspect of the civic journalism debate has generated more heat than the issue of whether its practitioners are destroying media credibility” by their abandoning traditional practices like objectivity, they noted (Lambeth & Craig, 1995, p. 156).…”

“…Second, Lambeth and Craig (1995) pointed out that the matter of how credibly the public journalism movement engages citizens was crucial. “No aspect of the civic journalism debate has generated more heat than the issue of whether its practitioners are destroying media credibility” by their abandoning traditional practices like objectivity, they noted (Lambeth & Craig, 1995, p. 156). Accordingly, Lambeth and Craig (1995) asserted that there needed to be a framework for measuring how the public perceived the credibility of public journalism.…”

“…“No aspect of the civic journalism debate has generated more heat than the issue of whether its practitioners are destroying media credibility” by their abandoning traditional practices like objectivity, they noted (Lambeth & Craig, 1995, p. 156). Accordingly, Lambeth and Craig (1995) asserted that there needed to be a framework for measuring how the public perceived the credibility of public journalism. This study explored the trajectory of these items regarding public journalism—the linking of public sphere theory to the movement and the need for credibility studies—across a total of 143 peer-reviewed journal articles from 1991–2018.…”

“…However, these mentions were accompanied with little theorizing about public journalism’s credibility and no studies were offered on how communities may have perceived the credibility of public journalism efforts. Lambeth and Craig (1995, p. 156) pointed out that central to the public journalism movement’s potential was the need to move beyond concerns that public journalism’s “practitioners are destroying media credibility” and pursue social science research that could assess public journalism’s performance. The articles in this study, however, did not embrace their call.…”

“…Journalism should help the community strengthen its “capacity to understand itself, converse well, and make choices,” said Rosen (1994, p. 381). In turn, that conversation would then be placed within news accounts, further propelling a forum for local deliberation regarding pressing issues (Glasser & Craft, 1996; Lambeth & Craig, 1995; Rosen, 1991, 1994). Across the 1990s and into the new decade, 600 public journalism projects appeared in communities across the nation (Friedland & Nichols, 2002), and academics offered numerous research projects and related commentary.…”