Larry Hollon has a blog, where he is commenting upon faith, media and Culture, and has an entry about “Civic Journalism”; which is the approach of journalists to keep their own communities informed about what kind of dialogue is going on at the local level, or what NEEDS to be become the subject of dialogue; matters which concern the public and personal welfare of individual communities.
Dan Gillmor, author of We, The Media has recently left his position at The San Jose Mercury News to venture out into being a freelance advocate for public media and , no doubt, blogging in collaboration with traditional media sources, in order to expand the reach of the dialogue at a variety of levels.
Another hope is the “Civic Journalism ” movement. This form of journalism seeks to generate dialogue that ultimately leads to stronger civic community. Where journalists have practiced it intentionally it has resulted in a higher quality of journalism and better informed communities. We need wider discussion and better informed conversation.
Gillmor’s blog mentioned above includes this: A Newspaper Gets Serious About the People’s Voices about a Newspaper getting serious about giving its readers a larger voice (see the paper’s editor’s blog
All good exemplary moves, and instructional for the Church (aka “following suit”). In the Church as much as (and for me, more) any institution/community/group, the idea of collaboration, dailogue, and interdependence, is paramount, and a priority. It all goes back to that “Cluetrain” principle, that what matters to people is the stuff we need to be encouraging, enabling, and eliciting, as a central effort in our mission.
I think journalism is a very important thing as well, and after the shit that went on in the media over the past 10 years with the endless, mindnumbing but unfounded attack on the Clintons and the run up to war on Iraq, all based on shoddy journalism, we definitely need something new. I explained part of the problem and linked to some good articles in the Columbia Journalism Review in my essay Epistemological Relativism Runs Rampant.
However, being truth-tellers is only the first step for us Christians. The second step becomes how to turn that anger or other emotion about what is really the truth (as it will be truthfully reported, hopefully) and turn it into the right kind of action to further God’s Kingdom.