This site provides the history of the development of the Public Journalism Network (PJNet), our new professional society for public journalists and scholars. To keep abreast of what is happening now, please go to our new site at PJNet.org. There is a global forum now in progress (June 3, 2003) and lots of other advice at the site. Watch it grow. See you there.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 9:42 AM | Link

 
Hello to all who have been following the progress of the newly formed Public Journalism Network. We are making progress and a website is under construction. The elements we are building into it include:

The Home Page on which we will have a space for updating everything that is new in the world of public journalism and related areas. Think Romenesko for public journalists.

The Global Forum This will be our place for international discussions about issues concerning public journalism, the press and democracy.

Of course, we will be looking for ideas from each of you. We'll need tips for items of interest for the home page updates and we will need discussion topics that will interest journalists and educators worldwide. You might even want to help moderate one of the discussions. We are looking to have the new site up and running within a couple of weeks.

By the way, the shorthand for the Public Journalism Network is PJNet. Also when the new PJNet.org site is up, we will have lots housekeeping information concerning things like membership and events. So stay tuned, and if you have ideas, let me know via email. We'll be in touch.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 5:41 PM | Link

 
A Declaration
Written by the Charter Members of the
Public Journalism Network
Kennesaw, Georgia, January 25, 2003

The Public Journalism Network is a global professional association of journalists and educators interested in exploring and strengthening the relationship between journalism and democracy.

We believe journalism and democracy work best when news, information and ideas flow freely; when news fairly portrays the full range and variety of life and culture of all communities; when public deliberation is encouraged and amplified; and when news helps people function as political actors and not just as political consumers.

We believe journalists should stand apart in making sound professional judgments about how to cover communities, but cannot stand apart in learning about and understanding these communities.

We believe the diversity and fragmentation of society call for new techniques for storytelling and information-sharing to help individual communities define themselves singularly and as part of the whole set of communities.

We believe the stories and images journalists produce can help or hinder as people struggle to reach sound judgments about their personal lives and their common well-being.

We believe we must articulate a public philosophy for journalism that helps journalists reach deeper into the communities they serve and that helps communities work more closely with the journalists who serve them.

We believe democracy benefits when journalists listen to the people.

We believe we can learn and grow as practitioners, educators and scholars – and strengthen practice, education and scholarship – by examining, experimenting with and enhancing the theory and practice of journalism in relation to the theory and practice of democracy.

We believe in the value of studying the dynamics of communities and the complexity of public life. Just as journalists need to adhere to professional and financial discipline to succeed, we believe they must adhere to democratic discipline.

We believe the best journalism helps people see the world as a whole and helps them take responsibility for what they see.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 7:03 PM | Link

 
The Charter Meeting of the now officially named Public Journalism Network was held this weekend at Kennesaw State University. Our Charter Members, who worked on a declaration of principles, are listed below. Our official Declaration will be posted later this week. We have a very clear vision of what we want to be and what we want to do this first year. Keep watching this site as it and the Public Journalism Network begin to grow.

A full day of heady discussion and action proved that we have the brainpower and the energy to do some wonderful things as we move into the 21st Century. My special thanks to all the Charter Members and to all the people who participated in the online forums developing the Charter drafts.

(For a huge 700K version of this photo, click it.)

The Charter Members of the Public Journalism Network who came to Kennesaw State University are:

Chike Anyaegbunam
University of Kentucky

Kathryn (Kathy) Campbell
University of Oregon

Cole C. Campbell
Charles F. Kettering Foundation

Dennis Foley
Orange County Register

Lewis A.Friedland
University of Wisconsin

Cheryl Gibbs
Earlham College

Neil Heinen
WISC TV – Madison, Wisc

Mike King
Atlanta Journal Constitution

David Kurpius
Louisiana State University

Rexanna Lester
Savannah Morning News

W. Davis (Buzz) Merritt
Author

Edward Miller
The Newsroom Leadership Group

Ana María Miralles
Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana
Medellin,Colombia

Stanford G. Mukasa
Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Sandy Nichols
University of Wisconsin

Chris Peck
The Commercial Appeal

Jay Rosen
New York University

Jan Schaffer
J-Lab, University of Maryland

Martha Steffens
University of Missouri

Leonard Ray Teel
Georgia State University

Hideya Terashima
Fulbright Scholar
The Kahoku Shimpo, Japan

Chris Waddle
The Anniston Star

Tom A. Warhover
The Columbia Missourian
University of Missouri

Leonard Witt
Kennesaw State University

Student Observer:
Cynthia Thomas
Kennesaw State University

Logistics Coordinator:
Sandra Bancroft
Kennesaw State University

Posted by Leonard Witt at 9:28 PM | Link

 
In preparation for our public journalism society's Charter Building meeting, Jay Rosen

sent us a copy of The Sarajevo Commitment. If anyone asks you what motivates you to be a public journalist, just give him or her a copy of this document. Each of us should read it before we begin our deliberation here at Kennesaw State University on Jan. 24-25, 2003. Indeed, every journalist should read it, perhaps as a creed to live and work by. Here is an excerpt, but read it in full too.

We look back on a century of brilliance and bloodshed, of amazing technological advance and distressing human misery, of mobility and isolation and of healing and hatred. A century in which two world wars emanated from the so-called advanced and civilised continent of Europe. A century in which we split the atom, but left families, communities and nations divided. A century which ended with some 30 unresolved major conflict situations.

We accept that we in the media, whilst talent and technology enabled us to reach the lives of almost every last person in the world, were not able to create the climate in which problems were solved, conflicting groups and interests reconciled, and peace and justice established. Now that we confront a new century, many of us, hoping that we interpret the views and feelings of the vast majority of our colleagues, would like to establish a commitment, an undertaking, a pledge, to all those who will live and love and work in these coming hundred years.

We shall inform you to the best of our ability, with clarity and honesty, with independence of mind, of what is truly happening in the world at the level of the individual, the family, the community, the nation and the region. We shall present the facts and explain the facts, and some of us will aim with modesty to interpret them. As we succeed in doing this, we believe that you, the people, will be enabled to make the right decisions, to elect and appoint the best leaders and to build a fair, just and compassionate society.

We seek a world in which everyone cares enough and everyone shares enough so that everyone will have enough; a world in which the work and wealth of the world are available to all at the exploitation of none.

We shall provide the art and entertainment which will inspire, arouse and give hope and a sense of direction to all humanity. We shall be working to raise up and not to drag down. We shall challenge our politicians to work for the next generation and not the next election, encourage our governments to make agreements which are effective in people’s hearts as well as on paper; and stimulate our business, industrial and labor leaders to meet the material needs of humankind with fairness and equity.

* At the beginning of the 21st Century men and women of the media register their commitment to integrity and public service. This document was launched at a World Media Assembly, SARAJEVO 2000, and signed by participants on 30 September 2000.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 10:17 PM | Link

 
Jan Schaffer, Dennis Foley, and Kathy Campbell reopened an interesting discussion on how public do we want this public journalism society to be.

This draft of the Charter's mission statement says:

This is an association of journalists and journalism educators interested in exploring and strengthening the relationships among journalists, communities, citizens, public life and democracy. (There have been suggested rewrites which we will address at the Charter Meeting, but all kept membership to journalists and educators.)

However, is that too limiting? Earlier Jan Schaffer warned us that journalists get "hinkey" about any outside partnerships. Now Kathy Campbell,

Niel Heinen (above) and Lew Friedland talk about possibly expanding our base by including citizens and public intellectuals.

Friedland writes that in the first phase of civic journalism there was the general audience.

However, there was a second layer of "community leadership that Neil called public intellectuals. ...They...understood (sometimes better than we have) how fragile civic journalism was, that with a change of editor or shift in corporate philosophy it could disappear fairly quickly. Rarely did they organize a demand for civic journalism, but in the few cases where this has happened it has been quite powerful. These folks are the natural constituency for civic journalism in any community, but it's been rare that they have been engaged, other than episodically and at arms length. Often, even civic journalists have remained somewhat afraid of 'getting too far into bed' with these folks."

Then Friedland asks how can we use that public ownership to make civic journalism more sustainable in local communities. It is a rich discussion. Read it in its entirety at the online forum discussion now being held by our 24 journalists and educators who will be attending this new professional society's Charter Meeting on January 24-25, 2003 at Kennesaw State University.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 11:18 PM | Link

 
Tonight at 6 p.m. we will be closing the online forum to the general public and open it just to the approximately 24 people who will be attending the Charter Meeting of this new professional society. The live Charter Meeting is here at Kennesaw State University outside of Atlanta on January 24-25, 2003.

The 24 attendees include many of the people who have been in the forefront of the public journalism movement. On the international side we have a Colombian professor, a Japanese journalist and professor from Pennsylvania who formerly was a journalist in Africa.

The two online forums have been extremely helpful. The name of the society is still unresolved. Kathy Campbell thinks that the acronym for International Society of Public Journalists, ISPJ is too similar to the Society of Professional Journalists, which is SPJ. So we have ISPJ vs. SPJ. I have an alternative title: The International Association of Public Journalists (IAPJ).

Continue to watch this weblog for updates, and eventually for a full report on the outcome of the January 24-25 Charter Meeting.


A special thanks to all the contributors. Keep in touch.


Leonard Witt

Posted by Leonard Witt at 11:48 AM | Link

 
In my most recent post I talked about using journalism schools as a way of making public journalism more mainstream. Chris Waddle, executive editor and VP/News of The Anniston Star in Anniston, Ala., is pushing for ways to get public journalism more established in newsrooms. And today in an editorial in his paper he showed how public journalism can be a tool to strengthen our democracy.

Dennis Foley of The Orange Country Register, synthesized, in the true spirit of public journalism, both my academic ideas and Waddle's newsroom ideas, showing how they are compatible and necessary.

I think the key point from his full post is when he talks to students he presents public journalism "as the way to think about and cover their communities, without the need to contrast it to 'traditional' journalism."

In my mind, it is a key phrase because we have matured. We no longer have to spend inordinate amount of our time and resources defending what we do. Our primary goal should be to show journalists and students better ways to "think about and cover their communities." Of course, at the same time we continue to build public journalism's philosophical underpinnings and do scholarly research because that too will achieve better ways to think about and cover our communities.

So maybe that's what we are about and should be our tagline, The International Society of Public Journalists: Finding Better Ways to Cover Our Communities and Enrich Our Democracy.

Got an opinion, visit our online forum.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 3:45 PM | Link

 
Chris Waddle, executive editor and VP/News of The Anniston Star in Anniston, Ala., writes in the online forum, "Public Journalism has not achieved the status of an idea that does not have to be explained over and over."

"I think a primary goal of The International Society of Public Journalists should be sustainability of the movement by driving our understanding of it into the mainstream. What we declare in our charter should say so. Walter Lippman said it is the duty of every journalist to drive the incompetents out of the profession. It should be our duty to drive the notion of Public Journalism into it.

"The resulting credibility will lift Public Journalism as a professional tool and a widespread feature of journalism curricula."

Waddle gets to three primary points for public journalism. How do we make it an identifiable term, get it into the mainstream press and finally make it sustainable over the long haul. Give us some ideas at the forum.

One other thing about Waddle and The Anniston Star. Brandt Ayers, publisher of the paper, with Waddle's advice, is planning on making the paper a nonprofit with an institute in some ways similar to the St. Petersburg Times and the Poynter Institute. When that happens, public journalism might have a living, and, I might add, a state of the art laboratory to put ideas into practice.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 10:57 AM | Link

 
I just witnessed an extraordinary event in Philadelphia where 344 randomly chosen citizens from across American were brought together to learn about and discuss American foreign policy. Then they were asked to use what they learned and the fruits of their discussions to quiz public officials about the war on terrorism, preemptive strikes, foreign aid, HIV/AIDS, and other pressing international issues.

You should get a good overview of what transpired by watching The News Hour with Jim Lehrer tonight, Monday, January 13, 2003.

Or listen/watch anytime via links to the Real Audio/Video files sprinkled throughout this broadcast page.

The message I heard the loudest is that citizens at this national issues convention want to have a role in America’s policy-making, but don’t feel there are very good mechanisms to get their voices heard.

Yes, there are letters, phone calls and emails to their elected officials, but citizens, at least in the small group I attended, felt these letters, calls and emails were used only as a guide to public opinion. They didn’t evoke the hows and the whys citizens individually or collectively used to reach the conclusions they did.

For example, the people thought that there should be a national dialogue both in Congress and with the people before we make a move towards war in Iraq. They were disappointed that it has not happened yet.

PBS's By the People: America in the World project will seek over the next 16 months to “initiate a continuous, informed public dialogue on international affairs that will be continued in communities around the country.”

Our new public journalism society should observe, chronicle, and inform the rest of the media about what is working and what is not in this project, and how forms of it can be used by journalists everywhere.

As soon as I finish writing this blog entry I will be asking the other civic journalists who were also in Philadelphia to tell how this National Issues Convention might inform us as we build our new professional society.

Watch our online forum for their posts and please join the discussion; we need to hear from you. By the way, the live Charter Meeting at Kennesaw State University on January 24-25, 2003, is less than two weeks away so let's hear your comments about the Charter draft that is now up for review.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 12:17 PM | Link

 
Here is the latest suggestion for our Mission statement. This one comes from Jan Schaffer.


It reads: Mission: This is an association of journalists and educators interested in creating and refining quality journalism that more effectively engages citizens and thereby strengthens democracy.

Her logic: "To me, civic journalism is not about US, the journalists. It's about THEM, the readers, listeners, viewers. It's about how journalism can engage them in public issues -- by attending a meeting, joining, volunteering, voting, participating in civic life in some fashion. It's about holding citizens just as accountable as we would hold public officials.

"I'm troubled that our mission and goals are too inward-focused. They're about US. I'm squirming at a naval-gazing quality; it feels offputting. Even a bit sanctimonious."

Take a look at the Charter and take a look at Buzz Merritt's, Neil Heinen's and Tom Warhover's mission and goal statements at the forum.

Also while at the forum, see what Stan Mukasa

is saying about Africa and public journalism

and what Hideya Terashima

is saying about Japan and public journalism.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 9:31 PM | Link

 
Okay, so it is a bad play on words, but what the heck. Our project is creating a little bit of a media buzz. We have been contacted by Presstime and Quill and Editor & Publisher mentioned this new society on its web site. So the word is getting out.

Buzz Merritt is also back. The first post on Phase I of our online forum was by Buzz and the first post on Phase II was by Buzz. Of course, this is fitting because some of the first thoughts on public journalism were his too.

He has taken to task the second paragraph of our mission statement which says:

Our goal is to strengthen the practice and quality of journalism everywhere.

He would rather:

Our goal is to strengthen the practice and quality of journalism everywhere and thereby strengthen public life and democracy everywhere.

As an alternative, he writes:

As journalism and democracy are fully interdependent, our goal is to strengthen democracy by strengthening the journalism that underlies it.

Also our tagline "Democracy's Watchdogs" is being received a little less favorably than I guessed it would have been. Neither Buzz nor Tom Warhover are impressed. Warhover writes:

Democracy's Watchdog has a great ring to it. But a watchdog simply barks, not builds. We need to do both.

What do think? It is your Charter and your professional society. Read the Charter Draft and then visit the forum with your comments.

Finally, I am asking Stanford Mukasa, a former journalist in Zimbabwe, to tell us more about the need for public journalism in Africa. Watch for the post, it should be interesting.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 10:40 PM | Link

 
If you've already registered a username and password for the Web forum but can't remember one of both of them, don't despair.

You can log in with your email address if you've forgotten your username. And there's a Lost Password button on the login page.

If you still have trouble, email me.

And of course, for those of you who've not yet registered, just click the Register button on that same login page.

Posted by Griff Wigley at 10:31 AM | Link

 
Welcome back everyone to Phase II of our online forum to build a Charter for our new public journalism society.

After reading the Phase I posts, our name choice is The International Society of Public Journalists. But like the rest of the rewritten Charter, it is just part of the draft. Now we have to critique and amend that draft.

When you read Cole Campbell's rewrite, you will see it incorporates a lot of the comments made in Phase I of the forum. Personally, I think it is evolving into an extremely strong, thoughtful and practical document. It is a wonderful example of the power of public discourse.

While reading through our excerpts from Phase I of our online forum, I was especially taken by how Dennis Foley of the Orange County Register described public journalists. He said, “We are democracy’s watchdogs.”

He wrote, “Journalists have limited their vision and failed to acknowledge that we are not just community watchdogs, or government watchdogs, or the watchdogs of power, of the afflicters of the comfortable. We are democracy's watchdogs.”

And as democracy’s watchdogs, Foley wrote, “Journalists have a tremendous role and responsibility to cover their communities in ways that accurately reveals the breadth and depth of community life in the public arena.”

Phase I was filled with interesting insights like Foley’s. The postings can be read in depth by browsing the archived discussion topics in the web forum or by going to the excerpts section.

The excerpts are an excellent prelude to Phase Two of our online forum which begins now. Phase Two will be the last chance to critique and help amend this Charter draft before the live Charter Meeting at Kennesaw State University on January, 24-25, 2003.

We need your thoughts. Read the Charter. Then critique it at the forum.

And thanks to all those who participated in Phase I. The fruits of your labors are evident in the Charter.

I am convinced that after you read this draft of the Charter you will agree that we are all participating in an important and exciting project that will enhance both journalism and our democratic institutions.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 11:37 PM | Link

 
The first phase of our online forum closes tonight as planned. Now I will read through all the posts and edit and organize them into a more accessible format. The posts will help inform Cole Campbell as he writes the next draft of the Charter.

On January 6, 2003 we will open the online forum again for another vetting of the Charter. Then we will bring what we learned to the live Charter Meeting here at Kennesaw State University on January 24-25, 2003.

The unedited forum content will remain available on a read only basis. So you can use it at will. All the posts to this Kennesaw Summit weblog over the past two weeks will remain on display as well.

I agree with Jay Rosen who says an online forum definitely should be part of the new society, and it might be modeled on this one. Thanks to all of you, it works.

We will keep you posted over the next few weeks as we prepare for the second phase of this online forum. Thanks again.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 6:51 PM | Link

 
Hideya Terashima, a Japanese journalist for a regional newspaper The Kahoku Shimpo, joined our discussion today. He is a researching Civic Journalism as a Fulbright Scholar at the Dewitt Wallace Center for Communications and Journalism at Duke University.

His is yet another voice calling for this to be an international society. He says, "Your experiences with Civic Journalism would be a rich resource of new initiatives and possibilities for us. I hope your new organization could be a bridge which would enable journalists in America and foreign journalists to connect with one another and work together for common issues..."

Indeed in his post he lists civic journalism practices that might work in Japan.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 5:50 PM | Link

 
Jay Rosen makes an extremely thoughtful list of 11 ideas for what we should be doing in this new public journalism society's first year. In essence, he is saying don't overreach. Keep it simple.


Here are his top three priorities:
1. Go all out in creating a top-of-the-line effective web forum for ideas and spreading new knowledge;
2. Do one annual event like an IRE gathering but with our twists;
3. Make sure this society is international from the start and meaningfully so.

Jan Schaffer says, "I would hope that one of the goals of the new society would be to foster responsible journalistic innovations that connect with community," adding, "For me, that has been a hallmark of civic journalism. Civic newsrooms have shown an appetite for trying new things...The level of creativity -- and courage -- is quite a legacy."


So what is your vision for this new pubic journalism society? You have until tomorrow to get in your ideas in this first round of our online forum. Tomorrow we start to incorporate what we learned into a Charter that we will vet again online in January, just prior to the live Charter Meeting here at Kennesaw State University, Jan. 24-25, 2003.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 5:58 PM | Link

 
Both John X. Miller and Dan Suwyn, journalists at the Detroit Free Press and Savannah Morning News respectively, say this new society must provide useful ideas that journalists can put into practice. Miller says other successful organizations thrive because there is, "a hunger for self-improvement, craft improvement and a focus on ground-breaking journalism. These can be very strong catalysts."

John X. Miller
Suwyn says, he wants our new society to produce a database or an annual book in the same way the IRE and the Society of Newspaper Design (SND) do. "What makes those groups so influential is that they give journalists standards and templates which they can aspire to, emulate and break."

Dan Suwyn
What do you envision for our new society? We need to know. Tell us at the forum.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 6:21 PM | Link

 
The first phase of our online discussion is coming to an end. One more favor from all you participants and lurkers. Just how do you envision this society one year from now?

I gave it my shot. Just click here, give my meager try a read and let us hear from you by posting a message at the end of that section.

In the next couple of days we will close shop for a while and then try a second draft of the Charter based on what we have received in this online forum. Then we will do some more online vetting and finally have our live forum here at Kennesaw State University, Jan. 24-25, 2003.

From noon to 5 p.m., July 29, 2003, we will be introducing this new society to academics and students at a pre-convention workshop hosted by the Graduate Student and Civic Journalism interest groups of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) in Kansas City.

So we are on the move. Get involved now with your post to the forum. Thanks.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 4:34 PM | Link

 
[From Len Witt who's on the road today.]

Cole Campbell's response to Robert Chaney's comments about professionals and the citizens they serve, is worth repeating.

Campbell says to Chaney, "Your post reminds me that there are a number of other professions that are wrestling with their relationship to citizens and the public sphere. Public journalists can learn much if we engaged pioneers in these areas, much as we have learned from pioneers of civic engagement in the realm of community politics."

Campbell adds, "Robert Archibald of the Missouri Historical Society is a pioneer in "public history" (my term, but I think he would be comfortable with it). Archibald has worked for years to close the gap between professional, museum-based historians and the communities they serve, bringing in citizens -- especially from marginalized African American neighborhoods -- to consult with historians on how to tell the stories of their communities. He's had to design courses at the University of Missouri at St. Louis to train historians in how to engage citizens and learn with them."

Journalists need to hear from the Robert Archibalds of the world, and this society can make those connections for the journalists.

We need to hear from and connect with you too, join us at the online forum today.
[From Len Witt who's on the road today.]

Posted by Griff Wigley at 3:27 PM | Link

 
[From Leonard Witt]

We need a society name. Something that identifies who we are -- our purpose. You get to vote on what's been suggested thus far, and to submit your own ideas. Take the Straw Poll: Name the Society.

Posted by Griff Wigley at 5:50 PM | Link

 
Joining the discussion about the impact of civic journalism, David Kurpius, who has done extensive research on civic journalism and broadcast media, writes, "I tend to think about civic journalism as both an effort to change structures INTERNAL to the journalism organization and as an EXTERNAL force in public life...The question is what routines should be altered and for what purpose?"

"At a basic level it starts with developing a different understanding of the role of journalism in democracy - moving from a quality information dump that is devoid of context to an engaged development of information that is connected to the questions, concerns and aspirations of citizens and the communities where they live, play and work. The connection helps improve relevance and context and depth of reporting and helps bring citizens into an ongoing conversation rather than simply telling them about isolated and disconnected events...It also forces journalists to begin looking at the layers of civic life."

Kurpius says civic journalism has had an impact on television newsrooms where it has been practiced. However, he writes, "Civic journalism, particularly at television stations, has been hobbled by a lack of of diffusion of understanding and even discussion of civic journalism within newsrooms."

In his post, Robert Chaney writes, "I suspect a big part of journalists' hesitation toward civic journalism is this sense that it could turn into a dragging weight of academic or committee-based dithering."

So how will we as a society make sure that non-dithering discussions do enter newsrooms? Give us your thoughts at the forum.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 11:22 AM | Link

 
Jan Schaffer writes, "I've learned to steer clear of formal partnerships with non-journalism groups or advocacy groups -- no matter how wonderful the things they were advocating for... I've found that journalists are really hinkey about partnerships of any sort -- even partnerships with other media. And they will avoid any workshops if they feel they will have to navigate among special interests, who invariably want to tout their particular causes. Now, you can argue whether this is right or wrong. But I find it's just the way it is. So, I'm for making the CJ Group membership restricted to journalists and journalism academics. Any conflict resolution folks, drug treatment folks, communitarian folks, civil liberties folks might qualify for an affiliate -- or 2nd tier --membership. But, I fear, you will lose your core group of journalists if you include too many non-journalists."

Kathy Campbell agrees with Schaffer, but then asks, "How DO we include citizens (including those active in other, possibly complimentary, professions) as anything other than audiences if they are excluded from the center of things?"

Who do you think should be part of the organization? Journalists and journalism academics only? Or do we open the gates even with the possibility of alienating journalists? Come to the forum and let us hear your opinion?

Posted by Leonard Witt at 10:52 AM | Link

 
Ana María Miralles, a professor of journalism at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Medellin, Colombia, reminds us that this should be an international organization and that internationalism should be reflected in the name.

Earlier Dennis Foley wrote, "I do not think it is mere coincidence that civic journalism also has grabbed the attention of many overseas. Politicians sometimes like to say that democracy is this nation's greatest export. So are its key components and institutions -- like the First Amendment and a free press."

Incidentally, the Organization of News Ombudsmen, which has been mentioned as a possible prototype, if we want to keep the organization small, is indeed international. The scheduled site for its spring, 2003 conference is Istanbul, Turkey.

What international role should our society have? Go to the forum, we want to hear your ideas. They are important as we build the society's new charter. Oh, and don't forget to vote for a possible society name or to submit your own suggestion.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 6:14 PM | Link

 
Individual web forum posts can be automatically emailed to you... one at a time or a daily digest. You can then read them along with your other email, and just click on a link in the email if you'd like to respond. The link will take you to the precise location in the web forum to post your response.

It's an easy option to set up. Let me know and I'll set your preferences for you. - Griff Wigley, Facilitator

Posted by Griff Wigley at 4:12 PM | Link

 
A name seems to be emerging for our new professional society.

Jay Rosen - Jan Schaffer

Jay Rosen today makes an excellent argument for calling the organization the Civic Reporters and Editors or CRE. Jan Schaffer and Cole Campbell also suggested it as a strong possibility. Rosen says, a similar name works for the Investigative Reporters and Editors or IRE.

Rosen says IRE as an organization has the binding force of being "a society of believers joined by an heroic ideal of what journalism can at best be."

He adds, "IRE has very wisely sunk academic roots by claiming a home at University of Missouri, where there is found both a professional culture of journalism and an academic culture of reflection and research. Ideally, IRE lies midway between. The organization is named for practitioners, the people who are, in fact, Investigative Reporters and Editors. But it welcomes those who study and teach. This too is ideal."

In my own post in the forum I see IRE as organization that teaches reporters and editors how to attack and it does so with great passion. Hence the acronym that spells out ire. Our fledgling organization will teach editors and reporters how to build relationships. Will we do so with the same passion that drives the IRE to be one of journalism's strongest and most effective professional societies?

What's your opinion? We want to hear it at the forum.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 3:20 PM | Link

 
In a recent post Lew Friedland wrote, "All civic innovation is difficult, complicated, and takes a very long time. Embedded institutions don't change very quickly. Ten years is a beginning. We have found cycles of civic innovation in community development for example that date back 40 years to the early sixties."

Earlier Tanni Haas, referring to his recent study, wrote , "We concluded that, contrary to what appears to be the conventional wisdom, public journalism has not had substantial impact on the attitudes and behaviors of journalists and citizens."

Friedland, who hadn't yet read Haas's study, is withholding judgment, but is not sure if his and Haas's data square with each other.

So what do you think? Is ten years plenty for a civic experiment or is it just a beginning? Come to the forum and let us know what you think.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 1:10 PM | Link

 

Cole Campbell wrote: "What we call public journalism to date is in fact a down payment on public journalism, or a series of early foundation stones being laid upon which public journalism, fully realized, can be erected. So we need a public philosophy for public journalism -- and we need public practice of public journalism. A society in which scholars and practitioners learn from each other ought to advance both theory and practice."

Neil Heinen, editorial director at WISC-TV, Madison, Wisconsin, says he sees "...the need to include like-minded civic thinkers, and writers and film-makers, and web-artists and students, to participate in our discussions and our society.”

Ed Lambeth of the University of Missouri-Columbia envisions “a cooperating network of research/reflection/and action centers…especially if they were established at a number of distinguished journalism and mass communication organizations. A major, 10-year demonstration and research grant from a major foundation would be a boon to the work of such a network. Alternately, the applied research network could be designed around cooperative media of different sizes and at different regions of the country, working with the network. To bring off such a second phase in the civic journalism movement would require intellectual energy, personal commitment and pragmatic imagination.”

So what’s your vision for this new civic journalism society, this second phase? Help form it. Come to the Charter Meeting January 24-25, 2003 at Kennesaw State University, outside of Atlanta, and join the online forum discussion today.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 11:50 AM | Link

 
This my third entry to my weblog today, but big ideas at the Forum have been coming fast and furious.

Read my other blog entries below, but look at what Jay Rosen declared today:

"I think public journalism is best understood today as a breakaway church...Now the "new" church (which of course claims its own strong grip on traditional goods in journalism but interprets them differently) needs a professional society. Well, that is how Americans do things.

"Let's have our society. We've come this far with a flawed and clunky title like "public journalism." Most of the costs of adopting it have been paid. It at least does battle with what Buzz Merritt used to call, "One Journalism."

Then Rosen says let's call it The Society of Public Journalists.

So what is it, a professional society or a breakaway church? Has Jay Rosen just formally nailed a declaration on journalism's door? We need to hear from you at the Forum.

Jay Rosen is a leading figure in the public journalism movement and author of the book "What are Journalists For?"

Posted by Leonard Witt at 5:52 PM | Link

 
You will want to read Tanni Haas' whole post and then reply to it in the Forum. His post states in part:

"In an article which recently appeared in "Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly," Brian Massey and I offered a critical review of 47 evaluative studies on public journalism. We concluded that, contrary to what appears to be the conventional wisdom, public journalism has not had substantial impact on the attitudes and behaviors of journalists and citizens.

"In the very last paragraph, we note that public journalism's greatest impact may be more heuristic than practical. By that we meant to imply that public journalism's most important contribution may have been to ignite a discussion on the role and responsibility of journalism in a democratic society rather than to enhance citizen involvement in democratic processes."

Tanni Haas is an assistant professor in the Department of Speech communication Arts and Sciences at Brooklyn College. We are working on getting an electronic link to the entire Massey and Haas paper.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 1:31 PM | Link

 
Do we want this new civic journalism professional society to be small and intimate like the Organization of News Ombudsmen or do we want to reach out to groups as large as the Committee of Concerned Journalists, which has some 1,900 journalists and academics signed up at its web site?

Cole Campbell, who is editing the new society's charter, says:

There is a group of journalists (and journalism educators and scholars) who have been wrestling with these (civic journalism) issues for a long time. There are others who are beginning to wrestle with these issues. The society can serve them, just as the ONO group serves ombudsmen. I believe the main service needed is a "place" to share ideas and experiences, to brainstorm and build on one another's thinking, to reflect on experiments, etc., and move forward to richer thinking and more powerful practices.

The Orange County Register's Dennis Foley agrees , but Cheryl Gibbs, co-author of the news and reporting textbook, Getting the Whole Story, says, "The inclusion of non-journalism scholars in our conversations is extremely important. Journalists and journalism scholars can isolate themselves from other disciplines as effectively as they can isolate themselves from citizens."

As we build the charter and look for direction in building this new society we need to hear your point of view. Who should be included in this new society and what role should it play? Please join the Forum discussion.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 10:39 AM | Link

 
So what motivated you to become a civic journalist?

Here is an excerpt of what The Orange County Register's Dennis Foley says motivates him:

Journalists have a tremendous role and responsibility to cover their communities in ways that accurately reveals the breadth and depth of community life in the public arena....We are democracy's watchdogs. That's how "the Framers" drew it up, albeit reluctantly. So the behavior we choose has to flow from answering the questions surrounding how well we act as democracy's watchdogs. That's my motivation, grounded firmly in the continued belief that one person can make a difference, and, by extension, that a whole bunch of people working collectively can make a big difference.

The Name Game Continues

What should civic journalism be called in the future? Dr. Stanford Musaka from Indiana University of Pennsylvania speaks up for Community Journalism. Dennis Foley says how about simply Responsible Journalism, and Buzz Merritt continues searching for just the right term--that is, if public journalism doesn't work. Got an idea. Join us at the Forum.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 12:41 PM | Link

 
Does Civic or Pubilc Journalism Need a New Name? In his recent post , Buzz Merritt says he and Jay Rosen once toyed with the idea of calling the then nascent movement banana so it would not be limiting. Then they thought better of it and came up with public journalism. So how can a term as innocuous sounding as public journalism take so much heat? It reminds me of the controversy about New Journalism . Now it has resurfaced under the name Literary Journalism.

Does public journalism have to resurface with a new name? Someone asks about using Communitarian Journalism as a possibility. I am posting my thoughts now at the Forum. What about you?

Posted by Leonard Witt at 12:06 PM | Link

 
The Web Forum that will help us build the Charter for our new civic journalism society officially begins today.

Cole Campbell is on a roll. There is some heavy duty thinking happening from his end. Lots of others have registered, and I guess are waiting their turn. Don't wait. Jump into the conversation. If you are in a time crunch, at least log in and tell us what has drawn you to civic journalism or to the idea of journalism and democracy or to journalistic reform.

I see Buzz Merritt just entered The (conversation) Lounge topic.

I'm on my way to see what he has to say. I'll see Buzz and you at the Web Forum.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 1:11 PM | Link

 
The Charter Meeting Web Forum that Griff Wigley and I've put together is ready to roll. It includes Cole Campbell's first draft of the Charter.

It might take you a couple of minutes to adjust to the message board format, but, hey, I am a technological klutz, and I figured it out quickly. If you have a problem, ask for help from Griff; he knows all.

There is a lot of meaty discussion material there already. We were going to wait until November 20 to open, but because of pent-up demand we are opening it tonight at 6 EST.

Remember, there are basically three tracks. 1. Building the Charter. 2. Having a deliberative discussion about civic journalism and its future and 3. Figuring out the logistics of running the new society.

So have at the Forum.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 1:19 PM | Link

 
As you probably know, on January 24-25, 2003 Kennesaw State University is hosting the Charter Meeting of a new professional civic journalism society. Or will it be called a "public journalism" society? Or will it be something completely different? We don't know because we want this to be a collaborative process.

So we are having two online forums to develop the charter, to discuss where civic journalism is headed and to see how this new society will become self sustaining. We think about 50 journalists, academics and citizen advocates will join the first online forum and help compose a strong first draft of the charter. Then we will open a second forum and let the whole world have at our Charter. Finally on January 24-25 a gathering of journalists, academics and citizen advocates will come to Kennesaw State University to hone the charter, elect the society's first slate of officers, and plan for the future.

Cole Campbell, a Kettering Foundation fellow and longtime newspaper editor, will be editing the drafts of the charter. So this all should be fun. To learn more stay tuned to this weblog and browse around this web site.

Posted by Leonard Witt at 8:09 PM | Link