Newsroom disconnect
Russell Baker and Tim Rutten are on target when they point out that the newsroom is middleclass and divorced from the everyday realities of the poor and disenfranchised.
That disconnect was one of the primary reasons some the top public journalism scholars and practitioners came together at Kennesaw State University outside of Atlanta last January to form the Public Journalism Network (PJNet.org).
Newsrooms, no matter how diverse in ethnicity they might become, will remain well educated and middleclass and thus out of touch with the poor and under-educated. The PJNet.org charter declaration says:
We believe we must articulate a public philosophy for journalism that helps journalists reach deeper into the communities they serve and that helps communities work more closely with the journalists who serve them.
That attitude and the work that grows from it are the reasons public journalism will not go away.
Leonard Witt
President
The Public Journalism Network (PJNet.org)
