I would like to see a newspaper try satire on its front page, or open advocacy, or polemics. Beyond that, all styles or methods are open. We despair that fewer people are reading newspapers yet we hesitate to try things that might thrill, anger, or amuse them. Let's put some more colors on the canvas. Va. With the ability to hand out large sums of money to those who will do their bidding, the foundations that back civic journalism projects represent a threat to buy the kind of journalism their benefactors desire.
Journalists already are too prone to allow awards and prizes to guide their agenda.
Foundation executives are typically well connected to community power structures and serve those interests, not the requirements of a free press. Newspapers are lax enough in not examining the real power in any community. Corporate control of the media is already rampant and will get worse. We are still in the dark as to what kind of deal Microsoft made to get all that free publicity. Consider, for example, cjr's own Darts and Laurels column.