Civic journalists broaden their agenda from the usual overwhelming focus on political and governmental news to aggressively ferret out issues of interest to citizens who are not members of the elite. That means things like the education of their children, the security of themselves and their families, and the economic future they face. That means covering an agenda that is set more by citizens, by the people, and less by those who would manipulate them. That means, for journalists, thinking about the news not only from the standpoint of conventional journalistic practice but taking it a step further and thinking about a subject from the standpoint of the public and the public interest. The first habit many journalists follow when framing a story is to find conflict.
Conflict is the chief ingredient of much news coverage.
Republicans versus Democrats, Dole versus Clinton, Serbs against Croats. Conflict is an element in drama. Shakespeare's plays all are based on conflict. Some journalists feel they have to dramatize the news. Another journalistic habit is there are two sides to every story.