Change Name, Re-invite Journalists to Conversation
Here is University of Missouri professor emeritus Ed Lambeth’s thoughts about changing the name of the AEJMC’s Civic Journalism Interest Group:
The best argument for changing the name of the Civic Journalism Interest Group is to attract not only new, creative members throughout AEJMC, but to re-invite journalists themselves into the conversation.
Great volumes of water have rushed under the bridge since the civic/public journalism surfaced in the early 1990s. To name a few – the big waves include the pace and nature of new media technology, heightened commercialism, cultural changes that foreshadow different species of news and information consumers.
And the rising fear by journalists young and old that these changes are negatively affecting commitment to a journalism that serves the needs of citizens and the common good.
Civic and Citizen Journalists Interest Group is not a phrase that, in my judgment, flows from the mind with clarity. Nor is it easy to speak.
Nor, I hazard a guess, would it attract many new AEJMC members or reform-minded journalists to our fold. I share some of the concerns articulated by Jan Schaffer and Cole Campbell. I especially share Cole’s emphasis on improving public deliberation.
What will keep us moving forward will be carefully located and planned summer, fall and/or spring meetings that build upon the attention generated by the kind of programming we enjoyed from the CJIG in San Antonio. Salutes to CJIG officers, and to Cole Campbell, Jay Rosen, Jan Schaffer, Leonard Witt, and others. I hope room can be found in all of these initiatives for reporters, editors on the way “up,” and higher media executives who are open to constructive change.
Sharon Iorio, associate dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Wichita State University, writes:
…whatever the name of the interest group, faculty and
students will make individual choices as to what divisions and interest groups would make the best venues for their papers. And that’s as it should be. Many of us are familiar with the old adage that trying to get concenus from a group of academics is more difficult than herding cats. The cliché is humorous because it strikes a chord that resonates throughout academe.
Openness to diversity of thought and willingness to explore to new ideas(and interest groups) is what drew many of us to academic life and AEJMC. If the interest group’s name preserves the original goal of fostering democracy through mass media, then let the papers go where they may. I’d say, we’ll all be the better for it.
