At a time of grave doubts about the future of the press and broad concern about the health of American democracy, those involved see this as the hour for creative experiment and piecemeal reform, for serious discussion about ultimate aims and possible ends, for innovations as bold and lasting as the arrival of the Op-Ed page. By changing what they do and how they approach their task, the journalists experimenting with public journalism have rediscovered the power of the democratic ideal as an organizing principle for their work. As many in the press have come to realize, this is a moment of truth in American newsrooms. At the same time, there is no telling where the floating discontent with politics and public life will lead. It suffers when public life deteriorates.
Public journalism provides one.
We are not social engineers, but each one of us has a stake in the health of this democracy. Democracy and the social contract that makes it work are held together by a delicate web of trust, and all of us in journalism hold edges of the web. These assertions, which hardly sound like radical demands, nonetheless collide with conventional thinking in journalism. The result has been some provocative headlines in the trade press. But so far the discussion has not moved beyond a superficial understanding of what the people who believe in this approach are doing and saying.