Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
Dr. Robert Roberts
Dr. Anthony Eksterowicz
Dr. Arian Clark
Department of Political Science
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
(540-568-3770)
E-Mail [log in to unmask]
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
The notion of public or civic journalism is currently challenging more
traditional notions of journalism. Public journalism represents an attempt to
connect journalists with the communities they operate within. It places citizen
input at the center of journalistic concerns. In this paper, we provide a broad
ranging assessment of public journalism. The first part of the paper identifies
the characteristic features of public journalism, and accounts for its recent
growth. The second part of the paper explores the relationship between a decline
in civic consciousness and contemporary journalistic practices. The final part
of the paper offers some prescriptive suggestions for enhancing citizenship
education through changes in the University curriculum.
THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC JOURNALISM
Defining Public Journalism
The overall purpose of public journalism is to help print and broadcast news
organizations to ".... reconnect to their communities so they can engage their
citizens in dialogues that lead to problem solving. (Fouhy 1996: 11). As such,
this effort engages journalists within, the confines of their communities, as
champions of political and, perhaps, social reform. This new movement strikes at
the heart of more traditional tenets of journalism which emphasize the concepts
of "objectivity" and "fairness", or so the critics charge (Case 1994: 14). The
concerns of citizens tend to become the primary concerns of journalists and
these concerns tend to drive their reporting.
The 1988 presidential election served as a catalyst for the initiation of
public journalism.
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness, and the University
Many journalists were concerned about the relationship between journalists and
political candidates which had been developing throughout the 1980s. Many,
including James Batten of Knight-Ridder and David Broder of the Washington Post
spoke openly about their concerns for the journalism profession as did press
scholar James W. Carey. From 1990-92 the Kettering foundation sponsored
conversations with journalists about the state of their profession and how they
could connect to a more deliberative public. Other institutions were eventually
involved in public journalism efforts such as The Knight Foundation, The Poynter
Institute of Media Studies and the American Press Institute (Rosen, 1994
:370-374).
One of the early experiments in public journalism involved the Wichita Eagle
in Kansas under the leadership of Merritt Davis Jr. The purpose was to utilize
newspaper resources to "discover" the public's issue agenda in order to better
provide coverage and enhance citizen participation in politics. Approximately
500 residents were interviewed about their issue concerns then the paper matched
these concerns with political candidates responses and stands on the issues
during the 1990, 1991 and 1992 local, state and national elections. In addition
the Eagle took the position that its citizens ought to vote and involved itself
in voter promotion efforts. This two prong approach was entitled the Voter
Project. It was an attempt to involve the people in issue selection, dialogue
and candidate education all for the purposes of increasing voter turnout (Hoyt
1992: 45). The Wichita experiment spawned other efforts at public journalism.
The Charlotte Observer in conjunction with the Poynter Institute for Media
Studies and WSOC-TV polled citizens to ascertain issues of importance to them.
They then compiled a
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
citizen's agenda and kept the focus upon this agenda during the 1992 elections.
Voters and their concerns thus emerged as the focus of the campaigns (Rosen,
1994: 375-376).
In Spokane, Washington the Seattle Times has sponsored focus groups and
conversations with the voters. Readers ideas were incorporated into newsroom
discussions. In Olympia,
Washington the Olympian has published such stories as, "... county
infrastructure needs, new business and industrial development, and the quality
of life in the area." (Stein 1994: 15). In fact the Olympian joined the Thurston
County Regional Planning Council on a project to assess the needs of the county
(Stein 1994: 15). As part of a series from its "Safer Cities" project the St.
Paul Pioneer Press sponsored a reporter, Richard Chin, to live in Frogtown, a
crime ridden section of St Paul, and report his observations. As Chin (1996: 2)
noted:
'We don't get those stories spending our days in the
office, talking by phone to our usual sources. We middle-class
reporters don't live in neighborhoods like Frogtown. Unless
we're going there to cover a crime, Frogtown is usually only
glimpsed through the windshields of our cars as we commute home
or head to an interview with someone who matters.'
Other experiments have included a partnership between the Charlotte Observer,
WSOC-TV and radio stations WPEG and WBAV on a project entitled "Taking back our
Neighborhoods/Carolina Crime Solutions Project." The "Public Agenda" Project was
sponsored by the Tallahassee Democrat, WCTV, Florida State University and
Florida A&M University. The purpose was to
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
create a dialogue among citizens on issues that they deemed as important. (Fouhy
1994: 263).
The Pew Charitable Trusts, in October 1994, established the Pew Center for
Civic Journalism in Washington, D.C. (CQ Researcher 1996: 827). The creation of
the center helped to provide legitimacy for the public journalism movement and
badly needed financial support for civic journalism initiatives. The Pew Center,
taking advantage of the World Wide Web explosion,
established the Democracy USA a web site devoted exclusively to facilitating the
discussion of civic journalism in helping to revitalize democratic values across
the nation
(see http://www.democracyplace.org). Edward Fouhy, former Washington bureau
chief for both CBS and ABC news, agreed to serve to run the Pew Center for Civic
Journalism (CQ Researcher 1996: 832). Pew, between 1993 and 1996, funded some
$9.3 million dollars in civic journalism projects across the country (CQ
Researcher 1996: 832).
The decision of the Pew Charitable Trusts to back the civic journalism movement
represented a turning point in the civic journalism movement. National Public
Radio, during 1994, instituted the National Public Radio Election Project which
involved some 90 NPR affiliates in helping to identify issues of important to
voters in communities across the country
(http://www.cpn.org/sections/topics/journa.../civic_perspectives/civic_journalis
m.html). The Public Broadcasting System, during the 1996 presidential campaign,
conducted the PBS Democracy Project (http://www.pbs.org/democracy/). The project
resulted in the broadcast of numerous programs directed as exploring important
public policy issues from the perspective of average Americans. PBS, for
example, on September 20, 1996 broadcast CITIZENS '96
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
"Election Year Survival Guide." The production attempted to provide voters
"helpful tips and detailed information to help voters analyze debates, decode
political commercials and decipher campaign finances."
(http://www.pbs.org/democracy/programs/).
Explanations for the Recent Rise in Public Journalism
The rise in public journalism cannot be understood without appreciating the
monumental upheavals which have recently transformed American society. The 1960s
and 1970s were decades
of profound social, political and economic reforms. The Civil Rights, Women's
and Environmental movements along with the Vietnam Protest movement profoundly
transformed the domestic and international political landscape with a number of
long term consequences. On the international scene, the increasing
interdependence of the worlds economies brought forward a new series of
international actors and policy challenges eventually culminating in the end of
the Cold War. (Kehone and Nye, 1970: passim; Brown, 1974; passim; Nye,
1992:83-96; Rosencrance, 1992: 64-82). On the domestic scene, American politics
witnessed upheavals and reforms such as the Watergate scandal and the consequent
campaign finance reforms which led to greater autonomy for special interest
groups and their PACs and weaker political parties (Lowi, 1969: passim and
McClesky, 1989: introduction). The journalistic community responded to these
events by adopting an investigative style of reporting with an emphasis on
rooting out public scandals and following money trails in political campaigns (
Drew, 1983: passim). The confluence of these
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
reforms both domestic and international led to a sense of diminished American
optimism in both public and private institutions ( Lipset and Schneider, 1987:
passim). The journalistic community was not immune to this trend. The catalytic
event for a rethinking of the relationship between journalists and their public
was the 1988 presidential election . The disgust with the relationship of
candidates and journalists, which developed partly as a consequence of the wide
ranging political and campaign reforms of the 1970s, led directly to the Wichita
Eagle project under the direction of Davis Merritt Jr. (Rosen, 1994: 374). From
1990-1992 the Kettering Foundation sponsored conversations with journalists on
the relationship of the public with the journalistic community. As Rosen
(1994:371-372) notes, there were concerns which led to the public journalism
movement. Journalists were concerned with a decline in newspaper readership.
They noted the increasing gap between citizens and journalists. They were
concerned about the increasing sense of political disaffection in the
population. They noted the dichotomy of public reporting being housed within an
industry devoted to private gain. All of these concerns led to a willingness on
the part of some journalists to experiment and challenge some of the central
tenants of modern journalism
The rise in public journalism was also shaped by the forces of technological
and economic change. The dissemination of news was revolutionized by a number
of technological developments. Satellite technology helped increased the
immediacy of news coverage by television stations. The growth in the number of
cable stations, coupled with the creation of a twenty-four hour news station,
CNN, greatly increased competition in the news business. The
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
network news organizations have all become acquired by large conglomerates,
which resulted in major restructuring in news departments. Many news bureaus
were forced to close down, and the content of programming was changed in order
to increase ratings. (Ansolabhere, Behr, Iyengar 1993: 26).
This new competitive environment in the broadcast media contributed to the woes
of the newspaper business, which faced chronic circulation problems. Newspapers
lost advertising dollars and demographic surveys illustrated a drop in younger
readers. As Fouhy (1994: 260-61) indicates, some newspapers responded by moving
to sensationalize the news in order to appeal to this younger generation but
others responded in a way that would enhance the "...civic life of their
communities." Public journalists chose to directly confront problems arising
from the declining sense of community in America. Aware that younger readers
were increasingly drawn to broadcast news, partnerships were developed between
newspapers, local broadcast stations and civic groups for experiments in public
journalism.
Given these developments we now turn to the relationship between public
journalism and public political knowledge.
PUBLIC JOURNALISM AND POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE
"Whether uninterested, uniformed or simply ignorant, millions of Americans
cannot answer even basic questions about American politics" (Morin, 1996: 1). A
recent national survey conducted by the Washington Post, the Kaiser Family
Foundation and Harvard University starkly demonstrated that much of the American
public lack the political knowledge necessary to fulfil the
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
role of an active, engaged citizenry (Morrin, 1996).
In this part of the paper, we deal with three central issues connected
with this low level of knowledge about American politics. First, we examine the
current state of political awareness; second, we explore the media's
responsibility for promoting political ignorance; and third, we review the
prospects for increasing political awareness through public journalism.
The Current Level of Political Awareness of Americans Entman (1986: 4) has
stated that "...by most benchmarks the level of public is disturbingly low". His
contention is corroborated by numerous surveys and research studies (see Bennett
1989; Kinder and Sears, 1985; Delli Carpini and Keeter, 1991; Delli Carpini and
Keeter, 1996). Table 1 displays the findings of the 1996 Washington Post survey
pertinent to the topic of political knowledge. These data show that Americans
lack basic awareness about both the structural characteristics of government and
familiarity with the personalities, events, and issues on the contemporary
political scene. Just over half of those surveyed were able to identify that the
U.S. Supreme Court possessed final authority to determine whether a law is
constitutional. Approximately a quarter of the sample knew that U.S. senators
served six year terms.
[table 1 about here]
Citizens' knowledge of the current political environment is similarly low. It
is perhaps startling that at a time when the public visibility of U.S. House
Speaker Newt Gingrich and Majority Leader Dole was high that only about half of
the sample were able to identify the former figure, and only a third, the
latter. It is also significant to point that despite the publicity accorded
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
to the Clinton administration's initiative to "reinvent" government and reduce
federal employment, only 28% of those surveyed were aware that the size of the
federal workforce had been reduced.
The Media and Political Information
Does the media have any responsibility for the low levels of political
information possessed by the American public ? There is good reason to believe
that this is the case. News organizations are heavily influenced by need to sell
advertising space. The profit motive coupled with technological advances have
shaped the content of the news in a number of important ways. First, news is
presented in a personalized fashion. "In order to encourage audience interest
and identification, journalists tend to explain events by reference to the
actions of individuals rather than to institutional, historical, or other
abstract forces" (Entman, 1989: 49-50).
A second flaw in the presentation in the news relates to the fact that
reporters are excessively reliant on official sources for their stories. The
reliance on officials for stories can be attributed primarily to economics. It
is simply easier and cheaper to turn to decision making elites for the content
of news programming than to seek out non governmental sources and story topics
(Entman, 1989).
Journalists adhere to professional norms which emphasize objectivity and
"fairness" in reporting. In practice, this has meant that there is a lack of
interpretation and critical analysis in news stories (Bennett, 1995).
Politicians have exploited this passivity on the part of the news organizations
by employing techniques of news management. The central objective of officials
"...is less to inform
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
or enlighten than to find imagery that produces desired public responses"
(Bennett, 1995: 88).
Critical reporting on politics certainly exists, but it tends to be more
ritualistic than substantive in nature. Genuine investigative journalism is
comparatively rare, particularly since the cuts in the size of the networks'
newsrooms which occurred during the 1980s (Ansolabehere, Behr and Iyengar,
1993: 224).The critical element of news reporting tends to focus on the personal
foibles of the incumbents in office, rather than the structural and
institutional weaknesses of government (Bennett, 1995).
Political news tends to be presented to the American public in an episodic
format. The characteristic feature of episodic news stories is "...on-the-scene
coverage of 'hard' news in a fast-paced and visually compelling manner"
(Ansolabehere, Behr and Iyengar, 1993: 52). Stories are generally reported to
the public in a highly fragmented manner. The media may, thus, share
responsibility for the well documented lack of political sophistication on the
part of the American people (Bennett, 1995).
Campaign coverage has also been faulted for a variety of failings. Ideally,
reporting on election campaigns should serve to educate the public on the issue
position stands of candidates and their proposals for change. There have been
numerous research studies which have shown that the network news organizations
have failed to educate the public in this manner, preferring rather to focus on
the horse race dimension of campaigns and the character issue (see for example
Sabato, 1991; Patterson and Mcclure, 1976; Robinson and Sheehan, 1980;
Ansolabehere, Behr and Iyengar, 1993).
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
A Washington Post poll conducted after the 1996 election determined that " ...
after hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign spending, countless news
stories, three nationally televised debates and hours of advertising on
television and radio, Americans knew no more about how the two major
presidential candidates stood on key issues when they voted then they did when
the fall campaign began in September." (Morrin and Brossard, 1996: 1). The 1996
presidential election had done little to reverse the growing disenchantment of
the American public with politics and the press.
Ultimately, the failings of the media in modern American society can be traced
to the lack of civic content in news coverage. We are currently presented with a
troubling paradox of "democracy without citizens" (Entman, 1989). The United
States has the world's longest democracy; yet it has one of the lowest rates of
voter turnout. In general, the media has done a poor job in providing members
of the mass public with the basic facts which might promote active citizenry. A
study by Luskin (1990) showed, for instance, that exposure to the network news
has a negligible impact in increasing political awareness. The irony in all
this, of course, is that we are in the midst of an information revolution, which
should serve to elevate the level of public knowledge about the political
process. The media is unlikely to succeed in increasing the level of political
awareness unless it makes a serious attempt to reform itself. More than anything
else this will require a shift away from the passivity of its current commitment
to "objective" journalism and a return to the aggressive, critical, civic
oriented journalism which characterized the Progressive era.
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
The Prospects for Increasing the Level of Political Information Through Public
Journalism
There are several strong theoretical reasons for us to expect that the
widespread adoption of the tenets of public journalism by media organizations
would lead to a general increase in the level of political knowledge. First,
public journalism emphasizes the reporting of issues during election campaigns.
For example, a long standing media partnership between Wisconsin Public
Television, public radio, and WISC, the CBS affiliate, has spawned the "We the
People/Wisconsin" project. The project includes hosting town hall meetings, and
focus groups, call-in radio programs, and live television special dealing with
key issue concerns of voters (Fouhy and Schaffer, 1995). NPR, in conjunction
with a number of newspapers around the country, also adopted this issue,
community oriented, style of reporting to its election coverage. Apparently,
there was enormous positive public feedback to these experiments (Fouhy and
Schaffer, 1995).
Public journalism differs from the dominant model of journalism in that it
focuses on the concerns of ordinary people, their issue preferences, and on the
provision of information which is of practical importance to those who are
interested in becoming actively involved in the political process. To that end,
for example, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in Georgia reached out to its readers
by conducting research on what they liked and disliked about their communities.
They used this information to run a series of articles identifying community
problems. The also organized a series of town meeting and smaller meetings to
mobilize community opinion to place pressure on government to address people's
concerns. They also created a civic organization
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
"United Beyond 2000" to give a permanent institutional forum for those
interested in advancing community interests (Rosen, 1992).
Importantly, public journalism does not accept the lack of popular
participation as an immutable "given", but rather advocates the adoption of
measures, such as sponsoring town meetings, to create an active, engaged
citizenry, even where none currently exist (Rosen, 1992). There is an
interactive dimension to public journalism which places emphasis on maintaining
a dialogue with members of the community and encouraging citizens to talk to
each other more about public affairs. One of the leading proponents of public
journalism, Jay Rosen, argues that the media ought to "...become a support
system for public life." (Rosen, 1992: 70).
The ethos of public journalism is, thus, very much in the tradition of
communitarian democracy. The objectives of its proponents, such as fostering
community connectedness, encouraging a public dialogue, and increasing civic
involvement, coincide with this vision of democracy. The ethos of public
journalism is based on the premise that the views of members of the public
should be important in determining the direction of public life. This assumption
lies at the heart of a democracy.
The empirical evidence about whether public journalism is actually achieving
its objectives is fragmentary and impressionistic at this point. These findings
have, however, been positive in nature. Research by Lemert (1981) showed that
the presence of mobilizing information in news stories, such as providing the
names and addresses of public officials, led to an increase in citizen activism.
The Charlotte Observer's series on crime led to an increase voluntarism (Stein,
1994).
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
The Ledger-Enquirer's activities led to the creation of a new civic organization
(Rosen, 1992). The voter turnout in the circulation area covered by the Wichita
Eagle was over 10% higher in the 1991 local election than the rest of the state
(Hoyt, 1992: 45). Other promising pieces of evidence have been turned up all
around country. It does not appear that any other force is rushing into fill the
information vacuum in the United States. Public journalism appears to represent
the most promising means to promote increases in public awareness and political
participation.
CIVIC JOURNALISM AND THE UNIVERSITY
It is clear that up until this point in time, universities and colleges have
not played a major role in the expansion of the civic journalism movement. As
discussed above, private foundations such as the Pew Charitable Trust and the
Radio and Television News Directors Foundation has provided the seed money for a
large number of civic journalism projects and have provided civic journalism
training for journalists interested in pursuing civic journalism projects and
partnerships.
Many opportunities exist for active journalists to learn the tools of civic
journalism. The Radio and Televison News Director Foundation "provides resources
for journalists, including funding, to assist startup projects." (Cy Porter,
1997: 3). The Pew Center for Civic Journalism "provides resources, including
funding, for projects and training." (Cy Porter, 1997: 3). The Poynter Institute
for Media Studies "teaches seminars on issues relating to broadcast and print
journalism." (Cy Porter, 1997: 3). And the Kettering Foundation "partners with
individuals and
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
groups actively working on problems of communities." (Cy Porter, 1997: 3). The
large increase in the number of media outlets entering into civic journalism
projects provides strong evidence that their efforts have helped to overcome
some of the opposition to the movement.
At the October 1997 meeting of the national conference of the Associated Press
Managing Editors, Ketchum Public Relations Worldwide released results from a
survey of "2,335 media executives at newspapers, magazines, radio and television
stations across the country."(Sewell, 1997: 1). The media executives said that
"journalists entering the 21st century must keep their educations up to date and
journalism schools should offer integrated courses that stress basics but also
state-of-the-art technology training and creative thinking." (Sewell, 1997: 1).
At the same time, "more than 88 percent of the participants also said creative
thinking and analysis will be necessary for successful communication
professionals, and 51 percent said they would consider testing job applicants
for creative thinking." (Sewell, 1997: 1) Equally significant, a majority of
media endorsed "civic journalism" "as an important way to connect journalists
with their audiences through taking part in community activities and sponsoring
civic discussions."(Sewell, 1997: 1).
A closer examination of the survey reveals that media executives are sending
mixed messages to individuals interested in pursuing media careers. On the one
hand, entry level print and broadcast journalists need to acquire up-to-date
technical skills. "Some three-fifths of those surveyed said journalism school
graduates won't be hired unless they have state-of-the-art technological skills"
(Sewell, 1997: 1). On the other hand, media executives want young
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
journalists to be creative thinkers and become familiar with tools used by civic
or public journalists.
What steps can a university take to help prepare young men and women become
effective civic journalists? First, schools of journalism and mass
communications could add civic journalism courses to their curriculum. Second,
universities might require journalism and mass communication majors to complete
a minor in political science, economics, sociology, economics or some other
university program which might help graduates understand the problems faced by
communities across the country. Third, universities and colleges might encourage
school newspapers and radio stations to conduct their own civic journalism
projects.
Although all of the above recommendations might help to prepare students for
civic journalism, the fact remains that civic journalism requires individuals
with an understanding of the problems faced by communities across the country
and a sincere interest in finding solutions for the problems. In other words,
civic journalists must believe they have a duty to help the communities they
live in develop a consensus on how to resolve their most pressing problems.
Over the last decade, the higher education community has engaged in a debate
over the appropriate role of the university in helping to prepare graduates for
civic life. The January/February 1997 edition of Change Magazine devoted its
entire edition to the subject of the role of higher education in rebuilding
civic life. Change Magazine covers emerging issues in American higher
education. Articles in the edition included "Higher Education and Rebuilding
Civic Life, (Gamson, 1997: 10), "Civic Innovation And American Democracy,"
(Sirianni and
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
Friedland, 1997: 14), "John Dewey--A Voice That Stills Speaks To Us,"
(Halliburton, 1997: 24), "Educating A Committed Citizenry," (Gabelnick, 1997:
30) "New Voices In University-Community Transformation," (Arches, 1997: 36),
"Can We Rebuild Civic Life Without A Multiracial University?" (Bensimon and
Soto, 1997: 42), and "Researching For Democracy & Democratic Research." (Ansley
and Gaventa, 1997: 46).
All of the articles present a common theme. Colleges and universities must do
more to
prepare their graduates to take on the responsibilities of citizenship. These
impressive articles present a common theme. Higher education has a
responsibility for helping to prepare their students as civic leaders and
participants. "The challenge of educating a committed citizenry," writes Faith
Gabelnick President of Pacific University, "is to change the societal and
university paradigm from a strategy of competitiveness to one of collaboration,
from a perspective of scarcity to one of sufficiency and inclusion, and from a
stance that looks for expedient solutions to one that engages and commits to a
series of values and a way of life." (Gabelnick: 1997, 30). President Gabelnick
continues by describing various programs on college and university campuses
across the country directed at helping students become involved in their
communities. "It is an exciting time to be a student, and an exciting time to be
a faculty member. Our educational landscape has been ignited by a "common fire"
of civic involvement and change," writes President Gabelnick.
Universities and colleges have taken up the challenge of citizenship education
in a number of ways. For instance, the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at
the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs, University of Minnesota and the Walt
Witman Center at Rutgers University are attempting to engage their universities
and the nation in a dialogue regarding the importance of "renewed citizenship
and effective public work." (Sirianni and Friedland, 1997, 20). The Center for
Human Resources at the Heller School of Advanced Studies in Social Welfare at
Brandeis University and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1995 established the Civic Practices Network
to share civic innovations around the country. (Sirianni and Friedland, 1997,
20) The CPN makes available on the World Wide Web the "broadest array of tools
that can be utilized by innovative practitioners, policymakers, and ordinary
citizens in every arena." (Sirianni and Friedland, 1997, 21). Other universities
include civic education elements in their general education programs.
THE UNIVERSITY AND THE TOOLS OF CIVIC JOURNALISM
The most effective role a university or college can perform in helping to
prepare students as effective civic journalists is to provide students the
opportunity to become more involved in community life. In other words, colleges
and universities need to encourage students to leave their class rooms and dorm
rooms to gain a better understanding of the hopes and fears of a cross section
of those who live around them and who are not part of the immediate university
community.
Educational Record devoted its Summer/Fall 1997 edition to "College &
character: preparing students for lives of civic responsibility (King, 1997:
7-44). A number of the articles in the edition, emphasizes the importance of
colleges and universities taking responsibility for the moral development of
college students (King, 1997: 87-93).
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
Service Learning and Public Journalism
A common feature of college and university character development programs has
been the establishment of service learning programs (Jarpsz, 1997: 83).
University sponsored service learning programs help college students find
volunteer positions in public, private and non profit organizations that
operate various programs designed to help to deal with a wide variety of
problems in their communities. College students may work as tutors in elementary
schools or community shelters (Berson, 1993: 30). More recently, advocates of
service learning have begun to stress the direct relationship between service
learning and civic education (Clark, 1997: 164).
One can make a persuasive argument that service learning programs can
constitute an important part of any university program designed to help students
prepare to be effective civic journalists. Numerous opportunities exist for
college students to work in public schools, criminal justice organizations,
non-profit social service agencies, environmental organizations and other
community organizations. Such assignments provide students the opportunity to
gain a much better understanding of how communities behave and how difficult it
is to solve problems such as
poverty, poor educational performance and substandard housing.
A number of studies have found a strong relationship between service learning
activities and the development of a sense of civic responsibility among college
students (Sax and Astin, 1997, 28).
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
Civic Journalism Internships
In addition to encouraging students to participate in service learning
projects, journalism and mass communications programs should encourage students
to complete civic journalism internships. More and more newspapers, radio
stations and television stations are participating in civic journalism projects
(Porter, 1997: 5-6). This fact provides students more opportunities for
journalism and mass communication internships. At the same time, journalism and
mass communication programs have a long history of students doing internships in
various types of media organizations. Yearly, thousands of journalism and mass
communication students complete media internships. For example, Peterson's Guide
to Internships list hundreds of journalism internships for college and
university students (Peterson's: 1997). A 1996 survey of journalism students who
had completed an internship found that all of those surveyed believed that
colleges should require students to complete internships. (Hilt, 1996: 36).
Because the civic journalism movement grew out of concern over inadequate media
coverage of the 1988 presidential election, journalism and mass communication
programs should encourage students to complete internships which give them the
opportunity to cover political campaigns. During the 1996 election, a
significant number of television stations launched election projects directed at
improving the coverage of issues and candidates. (Porter, 1997, 4-6).
These projects typically involved carefully surveying individuals in their
communities to determine the issues that concerned them. Election projects also
sponsored town meetings to provide potential voters to express their opinion and
to meet with candidates.
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
The Radio Television News Directors Foundation and the Poynter Institute has
devoted considerable time and resources to helping journalists improve media
coverage of elections (Potter, 1997). The Political Coverage Project of the
Radio Television News Directors Foundation has brought together a resource that
news directors can use to improve their coverage of elections.
(http://www.rtndf.org/rtndf/96/index.html).
Election coverage internships can prove extremely valuable in helping
journalism and mass communication students learn to cover elections using civic
journalism methods. For instance, Project Vote Smart has successfully collected
information on some 13,000 local and state officials. The non-profit public
interest organization relies heavily on volunteers and interns to collect the
information and make the information available on the World Wide Web
(http://www.veto-smart.org/about/help/nip/). Much like advocates of civic
journalism, Project Vote Smart argues that voters cannot make informed decisions
without accurate information on the candidates and the issues. Project Vote
Smart has numerous internship opportunities for interested college students.
National Public Radio also provides college students excellent internship
opportunities.
General Education Reform and the University
The demand from students, parents and prospective employers have placed
tremendous pressure on universities and colleges to permit students to take a
larger percentage of their course work in pre professional areas. The majority
of full-time undergraduate students now major in
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
business, journalism or mass communication, education and engineering. Most
colleges and universities continue to see a smaller and smaller number of
liberal arts majors. Major and minor trends has contributed to increased student
resistence to liberal or general education programs which students often regard
as irrelevant (Weeks, 1996: 50-3).
A recent Kettering Foundation study on the political life of college students
presents a complex picture of the attitudes of college students towards politics
and civic participation (Mathews, 1997: 15). "Despite charges that
undergraduates are preoccupied with personal self-interest," writes President of
the Kettering Foundation David Matthews, "the study revealed that the younger
generation is no more uncaring than the older generation is apathetic. In fact,
students care a great deal" (Mathews, 1997, 15). However, the survey found
college students "more cynical than their elders about the way the political
system operates-and far more pessimistic about their ability to reform it"
(Mathews, 1997, 15). And the survey found college students "particularly put off
by the tone of what they hear in politics--by the ideological extremes and
negative tenor of what appears to be a grossly adversarial system with no regard
for fair play" (Mathews, 1997, 15).
What can colleges and universities do to persuade their students that their
participation in politics can make a difference. David Mathews argues that
colleges and universities need to change the way they teach students about
politics and government. Specifically, Mathews argue that colleges need "more
contact with the democratic public, with those citizens who are creating a place
for themselves in politics, who are political actors serving the larger public
interest, who
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the Constitution
are building rather than escaping from communities, and who are addressing
causes rather than simply alleviating symptoms (Mathews, 1997, 17).
Much like the concern that led to the establishment of the civic or public
journalism movement, concern that students are leaving colleges and universities
with little interest in civic participation has led colleges and universities to
engage in serious debate over what they can do to prepare their graduates to
active civic participants. Educational Records, an influential higher education
journal, devoted its Fall/Summer issue to the subject of "College & Character:
Preparing Students for Lives of Civic Responsibility" (College & Character,
1997, 1-100). All of the articles stress the importance of colleges and
universities taking responsibility for fostering the development of a sense of
civic responsibility in their students.
CONCLUSION
Once considered a fad, strong evidence now exists that "civic journalism"
methods have gained much wider acceptance in traditional media outlets. Hundreds
of media outlets have established home pages which permit the public to comment
on current issues and talk directly to
reporters and editors. (PilotOnline, 1998) A growing number of media outlets
have participated in "civic education" partnerships funded by private
foundations such as the Pew Center for Civic Journalism. (Pew Projects, 1997)
The paper also argues that the civic journalism movement and civic
responsibility movement now taking root on college and university campuses
across the country have many
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
common features. Both movements seek overcome the cynicism of citizens to
politics as usual. Both are searching for ways to persuade citizens that they
can make a difference.
Table 1-- Political Awareness of Americans
Question
Percent Answering Correctly
Can you tell me who was president when the Watergate scandal took place
86
As far as you know, is there a limit on the number of terms in office a
president of the United States can serve, or not
81
Can you tell me which party- the Democrats or Republicans-has the most members
in the U.S. Senate
62
Can you tell me which party- the Democrats or Republicans-has the most members
in the U.S. House of Representatives
61
Can you tell me the name of current vice President of the United States
60
As far as you know, who has the final responsibility to decide if a law is
constitutional or not
54
Can you tell me the name of the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
53
Which party do you think is more conservative- the Republican Party or
Democratic Party
52
Can you tell me the name of the current majority leader of the U.S. Senate
34
During the past three years, do you think the number of people employed by the
federal government has increased, decreased, or stayed about the same
28
As far as you know, is more of the federal budget now spent on Medicare, or is
more spent on foreign aid
27
How many years is a single term in office for a U.S. senator
26
Can you tell me the name of the current chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
6
Source: The Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University Survey
Project 1996 --Why Don't Americans Trust the Government-- (The Kaiser Family
Foundation 1996)
Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
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Civic Journalism, Political Awareness and the University
Abstract
Civic journalism represents an attempt to connect journalists with the
residents of the communities in which they operate. The first part of the paper
examines the reasons for the growth of civic journalism in the context of
growing public cynicism over the political process. The second part of the paper
explores the possible relationship between journalistic practices and a decline
in civic consciousness on the part of the American public. The third part of the
paper explores the role of the university in preparing civic journalism. The
paper argues that universities and colleges can help to overcome the cynicism of
their students toward politics by expanding citizenship education programs. This
approach can also help to prepare graduates of journalism and mass communication
programs for civic journalism opportunities.
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