Civic Journalism Is… True Stories from America’s Newsrooms
Civic Journalism Is…
Introduction
By Jan Schaffer
Executive Director
Pew Center for Civic Journalism
What is civic journalism? How do you define it?
Civic journalists around the country have no trouble defining it, quite eloquently, and giving specific examples to illustrate what they mean.
As you will see, civic journalism, for these reporters, producers, editors and news directors, is more than a set of tools. It is also a set of core values that guide how they practice their craft, how they try to connect with their communities and how they try to empower their readers and viewers.
This series of 20 definitions from journalists around the country was assembled by the Pew Center to add texture and understanding to the work being done in the name of civic journalism. They appeared in major print and broadcast journalism magazines throughout 1999.
They reflect a growing recognition that the most important and most competitive thing local news organizations can do in our fast-changing communications environment is to cover their communities well.
In return, these journalists got better stories – and they got them first. They diversified their reports with new voices, new opinions and new kinds of leaders instead of relying on the usual suspects that, again and again, pop up in journalists’ Rolodexes. Moreover, for many, their civic journalism became an affirmation of why they got into the profession.
You will see that, as civic journalism continues to be invented and refined, no one size fits all newsrooms. This is a work in progress.
Whatever their techniques, these journalists have gotten an entrŽe that has helped them delve deeper into the communities they cover and see ambiguity and contradictions, not as poor sound bites or weak quotes, but as reporting opportunities. They produced reports that rang true to their readers and viewers and helped to make some difference in their communities.
Says Gary Walker, of WXXI-TV, Rochester, New York: “It is the kind of journalism I want to practice.”