| Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, the civic journalism movement has sparked perhaps more debate than anything else among journalists and journalism educators. One goal of this dissertation is to explore the historical roots of civic journalism and compare it with previous 20th-century efforts to move journalists toward a more activist role. Another goal is to explore the philosophical and political theoretical roots of civic journalism by comparing the ideas of its leading proponents---in particular, Davis "Buzz" Merritt and Jay Rosen---with: (1) Recent writings on the decline of American civic and political life, including the work of Daniel Yankelovich and Robert D. Putnam. (2) The communitarianism of Clifford G. Christians, John P. Ferre, and P. Mark Fackler and others expressing similar philosophical views. (3) The writings of 20th-century theorists of the public sphere, such as John Dewey, James Carey, and Jurgen Habermas.; The search for the roots of civic journalism and an analysis of its impact leads to the conclusion that it has had a positive influence on American journalism. At the same time, its practice has not been as revolutionary as its theory, and civic journalism has remained within the liberal paradigm of press theory. As it has been practiced to date, civic journalism has not ushered in a communitarian world view for American journalism. |
