The Pew Center s own study concludes, there are significant limits at least in the short term to the ability of journalists to reconnect citizens with democratic institutions solely by altering the way they write about them. However, most of the criticism of public journalists comes from their colleagues at larger news organizations. The New York Times, the New Yorker magazine, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal have been harshly critical of public journalism. Journalists also criticize the practicality of such efforts, citing problems such as high expense and lack of longevity. Finally, the newsroom was wary of lending theorists the power to define the role of news.
Journalists resist thinking about what they do.
News is set up to be efficient. It's a pretty well-oiled machine. I don't think that the people who run newsrooms really want that upset. Gil Thelen, editor of The State in Columbia, South Carolina, believes that public journalism will be resisted because news workers fear close examination of their work. She suggests that journalists do not like being asked to let other people into the house, let others into the definition of what is news and that there is going to be a more interactive role with journalists and feedback on how we fare.