PJNet: Refocusing Direction
In a recent Columbia Journalism Review article, I wrote: “to rename public or civic journalism would be like dropping the name Protestant because it outraged the Catholics.”
Now, since public journalism has taken on a new strand of DNA, it might be time to refocus the direction of the PJNet.
In the past, public journalism theory and practice was driven by journalists and educators. Now public journalism’s tenets have the best chance of being advanced by the public using weblogs and other electronic communication tools. Citizens, who are so much a part of the public journalism philosophy, no longer have to be invited into the mix. They are part of the mix.
A year ago we decided on:
The Public Journalism Network (PJNet): A Professional Society for Journalists and Educators.
What if, picking up on We Media terminology, it became:
PJNet: A Public and Participatory Journalism Network.
