The state of public journalism today

Drawing on various sources of evidence, this brief article shows that news organizations’ commitment to public journalism is best characterized as ambiguous. Following a description of the Associated Press Managing Editors’ efforts to promote public journalism through its “National Credibility Roundtables Project”, and other ongoing public journalism initiatives around the world, it discusses a number of efforts to nurture a critical public sphere about journalism through so-called “editorial (board) blogs”. Next, it briefly outlines how news organizations are using their interactive capabilities to promote interaction between newsroom staff and citizens and between citizens and government officials. The article concludes by summarizing what the evidence reveals about the state of public journalism today.