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Public journalism as a journalism of publicsImplications of the Habermas–Fraser debate for public journalismDepartment of Speech Communication Arts & Sciences, Brooklyn College, 3439 Boylan Hall, Brooklyn, New York 11210–2889 thaas{at}brooklyn.cuny.edu
Department of Journalism and Media Studies, 4 Huntington Street, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901–1071 lsteiner{at}scils.rutgers.edu This article addresses the alleged gap between academic scholarship on the public sphere and journalistic work in the public sphere by demonstrating how Fraser's (1990) four-part critique of Habermas’ (1989) theory of the public sphere bears on the theory and practice of public journalism. Fraser's work not only directs attention to theoretical issues regarding ‘publicness’ that have received too little attention, but also implies pragmatic guidelines for public journalism efforts – a means of evaluating the democratic viability of public journalism theory, and a normative basis for promoting public journalism practice. Some practical implications of each of Fraser's lines of criticism are illustrated in a discussion of the Akron[Ohio] Beacon Journal's Pulitzer Prize winning race-relations initiative, ‘A Question of Color’. We show how Fraser's criticisms not only direct attention to problematic aspects of the campaign, but also indicate what the Beacon Journal could have done differently and better.
Key Words: civic journalism • journalism theory • Juergen Habermas • Nancy Fraser • public journalism • public sphere
Journalism, Vol. 2, No. 2,
123-147 (2001) This article has been cited by other articles:
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