Study Examines Daily Public Journalism at Six Newspapers

Newspaper Research Journal, Spring 2004 by Choi, Young

Comparisons of online newspapers reveal few differences between public and non-public online papers. Also, online and print editions of the public journalism newspapers did not show that public journalism is better practiced online.

Public journalism emerged after the disappointing news coverage of the 1988 presidential election in which citizens were excluded and their concerns ignored.1 Many journalists and academicians began to call for news coverage to focus more on the needs of citizens and make an effort to recapture the public's attention by engaging them in public discussion and debate. I3UbHc journalism is also the industry's recognition that newspapers need to be more responsive to the readers to cover the loss in readership of the 1970s and 1980s. Some harsh critics claim that the motivations for public journalism include a simple desire by the media for financial gains.

However, despite harsh criticism from some leading journalists and academicians, public journalism remains one of the topics of great concern in the field of journalism. ICaIb once said, "The movement is one of the most significant in American journalism in a long time. This is not a flash in the pan phenomenon. It's something that seems to be digging deeper roots into American journalism and ought to be examined very carefully."2 It is widely believed that the practice of public journalism has penetrated daily journalism practice, although this belief has not been empirically tested. Schaff er argues that although the practice of public journalism is not always labeled as such, its philosophies and practices have even penetrated into various newspapers that do not agree with public journalism.3 According to a survey by the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME) and the National Conference of Editorial Writers (NCEW) along with the Pew Center for Public Journalism, 66 percent of respondents, mainly editors, said they either embraced the label or liked the philosophy and tools of public journalism.4

Meanwhile, journalism practice entered a new era with the introduction of the Internet. The interactivity provided by the Internet offers a special advantage to online newspapers by strengthening ties between editors and readers and among readers themselves. According to the survey mentioned above, nine out of ten editors believe that the future of the newspaper industry depends upon more interaction with its readership. In fact, public journalism has evolved in many ways so that it now includes public interactions via e-mail, voice mail, the Web and other online technologies, whereas it employed only polls and town hall meetings a decade ago.5 Rosen believes that access to the online newspaper has grown so much over the last decade that the interactive nature of public journalism has become natural to both journalists and readers.6

Traditional public journalism practices include focusing attention on issues, using ordinary citizens as news sources, having policy makers listen to the voices of citizens in town hall meetings and public forums and suggesting solutions for the problems at hand. These practices can be applied effectively online, where more attention can be paid to creating a so-called "public sphere," which provides information and promotes debate so citizens can reach their own conclusions-the goal of public journalism practice.

The goal of this study is to examine those contents of the online newspaper that might reflect the possibilities of this new medium for public journalism practice. It examines how far and how deeply public journalism practices have extended into online journalism as journalism's realm. There has been little actual measurement to determine how much public journalism influences everyday online journalism practice. Considering that public journalism has been in existence for 15 years, there is not much research about its daily practice. Charity argues that the success of public journalism depends upon its being institutionalized within the newsroom as a routine way of reporting a community's everyday news.7 But Thorson, Friedland and Anderson point out that very little of the spirit of public journalism has been carried over into the daily routine of the newspaper.8 One of the main criticisms of public journalism research is that most studies look only at specific public journalism projects. This study, in contrast, gathers quantitative data to compare the content of online public journalism newspapers with online non-public journalism newspapers. In addition, it compares the content of public journalism online papers with their counterpart print versions to see what possibilities this new tool creates for advanced public journalism.

Public Journalism Practice In Online Environment

Public journalism rests on the theory that "when citizens are involved in community life and decision making, they will be more likely to embrace the news media as an integral source of information and view the news as central to their civic values."9 Traditionally, the press is supposed to serve as an information provider for the citizens of a democracy because democracy depends on an informed citizenry. It is believed that democracy can be preserved when journalists do their best to keep citizens informed.