Missouri Grant: We Vote for Public Journalism Institute
This post from Tom Warhover, Associate Professor and Executive Editor of Columbia Missourian, at the University of Missouri:
On Monday, official types showed up with the long-awaited announcement of a $31 million donation from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to create the Reynolds Journalism Institute. Its stated goal, beyond giving the Missouri School of Journalism a cool new building, is to advance journalism and its role in democratic societies.
At first blush, the institute might be called the Public Journalism Institute. The j-school dean has talked about the need for the institute to bring journalists, educators and citizens together. The day after the announcement, he talked about the arrogance of journalists and journalism and how the public might help better inform our work.
The language sounds familiar.
More interesting to me is that it is an institute with a vague idea but no specific plan, or at least none that Ive been privy to. There are outlines for an executive director and for visiting professors, but no manifesto outlining the work of the institute.
In other words, the institute is a work in progress. Potentially that is its greatest strength, and one of the real lessons of public journalism. I hope the Reynolds Journalism Institute can begin in a spirit of humility and curiosity. I hope it can do what the academy doesnt or wont worry not only about what is but also about what might be. I hope that it can be a true place of collaboration among citizens, educators and working journalists a partnership that helped public journalism become public journalism. Odds are against all those things happening. Already the special interests are circling the doors (technology, convergence, and yes, public journalism). At least, though, the early signs are encouraging.
