THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 16, 1995 TAG: 9504160045
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAT RICHARDSON
LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
It's 3:30 Friday afternoon and I've just taken my seat in a large hotel conference room with 45 journalists and a sprinkling of other individuals. I'm one of the non-journalists at this workshop. It would seem like a dream except that our setting is not very dreamlike.
We are arranged in an austere, ``let's-get-down-to-business'' formation of a large open square of tables. Our backs are near the walls; we're facing into the square's empty center.
Our assigned seats will be our primary bases for the weekend. We will leave them for brief breaks, for meals, for occasional discussion groups, for after-dinner social time and for much-needed sleep. I learn quickly that the term ``lockdown,'' used jokingly by workshop participants, has not been given without reason.
We glimpse the beach outside our hotel at dawn or after dark.
So why am I here? I've been asked by The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star to represent the public at their workshop on public journalism.
My first question was, ``What's public journalism?'' My second was, ``How can one person represent the public?'' After noting that I would be bringing all my biases with me and being assured that was understood, I leapt at the opportunity.
I would learn firsthand about public journalism - this new concept that sees readers as citizens and approaches the news from the citizens' perspective.
My assignment: Read the notebook full of articles assigned to the participants, attend the sessions, give the group my observations at the end, and write a follow-up article for the paper. You're now into the final piece of my homework.
It was a fascinating experience, a special privilege. I even had the opportunity to dispel a myth. Despite staying up with the die-hards until the wee hours Friday night, I didn't note any hard-drinking journalists. They were high, all right - on stimulating, intellectual conversation.
The workshop was part of a process that has been going on over several years, with much effort and with significant results. The approximately 50 workshop participants were primarily reporters and editors from The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, with a few others from Landmark newspapers in Roanoke and Greensboro. Their sex and racial mix was impressive, their combined intellectual level awesome. Jay Rosen, associate professor of journalism at New York University and director of the Project on Public Life and the Press, was the visiting expert.
Did I say expert? Rosen would be the first to tell you there is no such thing yet for public journalism. It's a concept that's still evolving. Expressions of frustration erupted frequently during the weekend as participants struggled to get a better handle on how to develop articles within the framework of public journalism.
Despite that, the group clearly left energized, stimulated to continue incorporating public journalism throughout the paper.
The simple definition of public journalism: a movement that examines journalism's role in public life and how journalism can help inspire and motivate citizens to participate fully in a democratic way of life. It admits that journalism is at least partly culpable in the development of the current public cynicism.
Cynical? Us?
``Why bother getting involved in health care issues? It will be decided by the special interest groups.'' ``Why should I talk to anybody on the City Council? Everything gets decided behind the scenes anyway.'' ``You think I'm going to talk to the newspaper? They just try to dig for dirt so people will buy their papers.''
Public journalism intends to turn these attitudes around. A big undertaking? Yes. A courageous one? I believe so. According to Rosen, The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star is further along in its public journalism efforts and is pursuing it in a more comprehensive way than any of the more than 170 papers that have joined the movement.
Editor Cole Campbell's column last weekend described the three-legged stool of public journalism, which adds citizen conversation to the other two time-honored traditions of journalism: investigation and storytelling.
That's one of the main things you should look for: Notice that we're beginning to be heard.
Reporters are not just deciding the questions they want to ask, finding their sources, asking the questions and writing their articles. Whenever possible, they are engaging in conversations with a number of people, sometimes even in formal ways. What they are discovering is that, by allowing citizens to speak out and often to guide the dialogue, they gain more insight into true community feelings.
Another key element to watch for: the viewpoint of the story. In journalistic jargon it's called ``positioning'' or ``framing.''
We learned over the weekend that journalism's turn toward ``going for the jugular'' has become pronounced since Watergate. Most journalists have aspired to a Woodward and Bernstein journalism style, which has created a ``gotcha'' mentality. To be truly successful, a story has to go for the kill.
It's a destructive rather than constructive approach.
Obviously, the story can be told in a way that will serve the public better. Part of the weekend frustration came from trying to figure how to do that and still create journalistic tension and interest.
The overarching goal of public journalism is to assist individuals in their efforts to be active, involved citizens in their communities. A recent column quoted Hal Conklin, vice president for the National League of Cities: ``In our quest for efficiency, we forgot democracy is the least efficient idea on earth. . . . We forget that the fundamental role of democracy is that it is a participatory experience.''
Journalism remains the institution with the most power to make or break the ability of democracy to work as its creators intended. Within public journalism, changes are taking place in what is written, how it is written and about whom it is written.
Reviewing newspaper articles collected over the past few months, I realized that most of the articles fit the description of public journalism.
On Feb. 12 there was a front page story by Toni Whitt - ``When citizens take charge: We have to do it ourselves'' - about the work of community activists and the increased positive interaction between them and city governments. Three companion articles detailed the activities of several individuals. We, the readers (citizens), were given information about how to get involved - complete with phone numbers.
In the Feb. 17 Beacon, the community section for Virginia Beach readers, Karen Weintraub described a conversation with a group of citizens where the journalists were seeking input on what can be done about the lack of community.
And on April 2, the last day of our workshop, Mike Knepler's article told us about wonderful work being done at Park Place United Methodist Church.
I am encouraged that a significant number of other newspapers are participating in the public journalism movement. At the forefront of my own field, community leadership, is a concept called community trusteeship, closely related to public journalism. Other institutions are moving in the same direction - universities and foundations are examining their traditional ways and realizing the need to respond to community and consumer needs, ``to listen to citizens.''
Now if only TV. . . . ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Pat Richardson is executive director of CIVIC, an organization
formed to develop and enhance leadership in Norfolk and the region.
She and her husband live in Virginia Beach.
by CNB