One of those new initiatives is called "deliberative journalism," which is a phrase that is not very clear on the face of it. I did find this brief explanation from a Colorado editor:
The concept of deliberative journalism focuses on a particular form of journalism focused on helping communities engage their shared problems more effectively. It will focus both on engaging local issues, as well as building civic capacity to address issues better through public lectures, workshops and learning exchanges.
BTW: my first reaction to this definition was that we get some from of "focus" over and over. The good news is that "focus" is really the point.
Groups and committees and public meetings are being organized and no one really knows where this "new" approach may lead, but I'm certain of one thing: high school journalism is well-placed to expand on this idea and may offer some ideas about how a publication can serve specific populations.
My skeptical self immediately thought that this "new" initiative is actually just striving to return to the roots of local news, with hyper-local approaches to what is going on and with a clear loyalty to the community the medium serves.
The somewhat musty journalism ideal of complete objectivity and strict attention to "just the facts" seems almost quaint these days. Objectivity is an unattainable ideal, for instance. If I am a journalist in, say, Fort Collins, isn't it OK and even preferable if I care about my community and want to see it thrive. Is it really defensible to just observe and not participate in any way? Should a journalist find ways to clearly separate basic emotions from raw facts and reactions?
I don't know exactly what "civic capacity" means, but suspect it has to do with civil debate and discussion. Few could argue that those things are common.
In a high school, "civic capacity" should be one major goal of the entire educational process. Name calling is immediately called out. People making claims MUST provide some sort of support for those claims. Critiquing various aspects of school should not be immediately labeled as disloyal or trouble-making, but instead thought of as desiring something better for the community, for the school, and for the students and faculty of the institution.
About 20 years ago, there was a short-lived trend in schools for the student newspaper to organize community events built around important issues, from school board elections to conversations about race, educational philosophy, or even the bell schedule or school start times.
If those issues were easy, we wouldn't need to bring people together to discuss various problems or solutions or confusion. As pressures on schools to raise scores, reinforce basic skills, and generally avoid messy controversies, the concept of student media creating forums and conversations basically disappeared.
One of the unfortunate results of the Internet is that many of us spend more time contemplating national or world events than what is happening just down the street. Most people in my neighborhood are much better informed about Ukraine, for instance, than about how our school district recruits and retains quality educators.
There's nothing wrong with being connected to the larger world, of course, but our foundation has to return to better understanding and better conversations about our cities and neighborhoods.
So if a bunch of smart people want to explore "deliberative journalism" (really, could there be any other kind of journalism?), more power to them.
Let's hear what people have to say.
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