Mass Media and Public Opinion
Alyssa Mattero
11/04/09
Public Journalism: How the Interactive Relationship May Threaten Objectivity
Public journalism is a movement or set of ideas surrounding the press suggesting that its main interest and concern should be for the people. Public journalists listen to the citizens to hear what interests them. This concept stems from the idea that citizens are too busy or too lazy to participate in democratic processes so it is up to the journalists to show the citizens what they need to know. This type of journalism is meant to fuel deliberation in the public and frame information in a way that the public will understand.
In public journalism, the relationship between the journalists and the people is very interactive. The bond between the two is very strong because they are constantly feeding off of each other. The journalists listen to the citizen’s concerns, and the people read what the journalists say is important to know.
I found the article, “A Brief History in Public Journalism” by Paul S. Voakes to have very interesting points. One of the people mentioned in the reading, James Carey, compared public journalism to muckrakers or the progressive era of journalism. This point of view looks at civic journalism as a movement. All three movements had specific purposes in mind and they all broke boundaries that were previously accepted. Public journalism breaks down the barrier between the press and the public. This phenomenon can have a variety of outcomes.
I feel very indifferent about the concept of public journalism. My biggest concern is that public journalism may compromise objectivity. A journalist is supposed to cover stories that are important, relevant and timely. With civic journalism, a journalist may be tempted to cover certain stories that seem to be popular among the people rather than stories that really matter. For example, a lot of people don’t like hearing about all the death and destruction of war. But this information is important because our country’s well-being depends on what happening. This shows a conflict of interest. I don’t think that journalists should avoid certain issues just because people may not want to hear it. This issue happens a lot with politics as well. Some people may not want to hear bad things about a political party that they are affiliated with but that doesn’t mean that a journalist shouldn’t report corruption or misconduct.
Another problem I see with public journalism is that it overestimates how much the people really care about the information they are receiving. I don’t believe that majority of Americans pay attention to the news and what is going on in the world today. This could cause a problem because journalists are relying on these people when some people really don’t care about half the issues going on.
There are other ways that public journalism is working in today’s society. For example, blogging can be a form of public journalism. The public themselves can blog or they can comment on the blogs of news stations and leave their opinions. This is a very interactive way that journalists and the public can communicate.
The relationship between polls and the media could change drastically if civic journalism was the dominant philosophy of the press. The importance of polls would increase because polls are the source that can tell journalists what the citizens care about. For example, this poll from CBS News and the New York Times demonstrates this concept. “Beside the economy, which of these domestic policy areas do you want the President and Congress to concentrate on MOST right now: health care, energy, education, or Social Security?” It is asking the people what they care about the most. The problem with polls like this is that not everyone will respond. Only people who have strong opinions will most likely answer this question. This could cause a problem if journalism based its information off of a poll that only shows the opinions of certain populations of the public.
“Problems and Priorities.” Polling Report. CBS News/New York Times, 5 Apr. 2009. Web. 4 Nov. 2009. .
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