| Public, or civic, journalism emerged in the early 1990s as a reform movement aimed at making the news media more socially responsible. It urges the practice of community-connected newswork as a way to reinvigorate the public's interest and participation in democracy, civic life and the press. To date, however, few scholars have explored this new approach to newswork.;In this study, a normative theory of public journalism's practice is proposed and four hypotheses deriving from it are tested. Central to the study is the proposition that public-journalism newswork will elevate the prominence and dominance of "average citizens," or a community's nonelite citizens, as sources of news-story information. This was explored in a content analysis of the pre- and post-public-journalism local news of the Tallahassee (Florida) Democrat, a nationally recognized example of a public-journalism newspaper. The traditional-journalism Gainesville (Florida) Sun was included as a control. Three samples of seven constructed-weeks each were drawn, yielding a total of 722 articles.;The findings suggest a weak public-journalism effect on nonelite sourcing. There were more nonelite sources in the public-journalism Democrat's local news, yet they were neither otherwise more prominent nor more dominant as compared to its non-public-journalism self and the traditionalist Sun. A stronger effect was found in the arena of elite sourcing, however. The public-journalism Democrat used fewer elite sources and used them less prominently.;Six tentative conclusions are suggested about the limitations of public journalism's effectiveness as a vehicle for newswork reform. Suggestions for future research are made. |
