Defining Civic Journalism



Winter 1997

Defining Civic Journalism


Definitions from key panelists at the

Dec. 9 workshop,"Civic Journalism Washington Style,

Reporting Beyond the Beltway," sponsored by the Pew

Center, the Regional Reporters Association and the Freedom

Forum in Rosslyn, Va.

"In writing about

public life, we provide readers with the information they

need to be citizens. It’s more of a consumer approach to

public affairs reporting than most reporters are used to.

Civic journalism is an antidote to some of the cheapening of

the business, some of the market-driven forces."

Jennie Buckner, Editor, The

Charlotte Observer

 


"I believe it’s

journalism that grows out of the hopes, fears, dreams,

conflicts and struggles of a particular community. It’s

a point of view, an attitude, a set of values that informs

what you do day in and day out."

Steve Smith, Editor,Colorado Springs

Gazette Telegraph


 

"Civic journalism is

a journalism that begins every day with the conviction that

readers and voters are as important as the sources and

subjects of our stories."

David Shribman, Washington Bureau Chief,

The Boston Globe