They are simply creating a neutral zone of empowerment, arming citizens with information and sometimes with methods to shoulder some responsibility and offer some imagination or solutions for fixing a problem. Civic journalists believe you can be a guide dog without relinquishing your watchdog role. And they are all too happy to abandon the attack-dog role. Now, depending on your point of view, this is either a return to the fundamentals of good journalism or a revolutionary new approach to reporting the news. I personally believe it's more than just good journalism, at least the kind of journalism that I practiced for 22 years at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Civic journalism seeks to expand that definition.
It seeks to go beyond covering an event, a meeting, or a controversy. It tries to convey knowledge, not just news developments. Civic journalism is trying to come up with some new models of reporting that might be more in tune with new models of governance. We do a great job of covering the conflict, stalking, and keeping score of the winners and losers. There's no story.