Community Journalism Relationship b/w Journalists, Community & the Media

 The journalists and the community come together as one.  The journalists are sympathetic to the community's issues because the media see themselves as part of that community.  People are given a chance to be citizens by letting them talk about their problems and identifying the people who can solve these problems.  Journalists try to find solutions to community problems with the input of the community. Working in Unison

 The media is a forum for the community, not a problem solver.  The media empowers the citizens to solve problems on their own as a community, as a group.  Reliance on an entity like the newspaper, or the television, or the government, to solve all their problems is finished.  The journalists bring the public’s problems to the attention of the community. They are not in any way trying to impose solutions on the citizens. Working in Unison

 Media highlight the problems, but try not to solve the problems.  Community solves problems for themselves and takes ownership of the problems and the solutions.  Important to match the type of news media that people already use to help them to solve a particular problem.  Each medium has its strengths and weaknesses but each can be utilized effectively. Key elements of community journalism

 Example: While dealing with the community journalism issue of education, there might be collaboration between newspapers, radio and television on the news coverage of the issues surrounding education.  Each media would take different angles; each would follow up regarding education in different ways.  Information in a newspaper will intimate people about a radio broadcast or TV program on the same subject.  Different angles and different stories, with each one promoting the other, help in this collaboration. Collaboration in Media

 Community journalism is a conversation, a dialogue, a two-way exchange.  The media talking to the people and the people talking back to the media.  To explore all the various viewpoints of an issue, and not to draw a judgment that one person is right or one person is wrong.  Present a variety of sides of the issue so that the people can be informed about the issue as they find their own solutions to problems. Collaboration between Citizens

 Community journalism is not a debate; it is a conversation about all the various elements or aspects of an issue and its potential solutions.  Media just focus on all the different angles of an issue through these discussions.  Media are promoting people acting on their own to address a problem issue.  Then the people feel strong enough, informed enough, to pursue their own solutions to problems. Collaboration b/w Media & Citizens

 A "Deliberative discourse" is established. It is a lengthy discussion of issues resulting from the investigation within the community.  The media and citizens are fellow problem solvers but what the people decide, is what is best.  When the people decide, they do so by weighing the strengths of all the various sides of an issue to come to a compromise,  The media’s job is only to help them understand and appreciate how other people think and feel in order to reach a decision. Collaboration b/w Media & Citizens

 Community journalism model is described as “working toward a choice” that everybody can agree upon.  Community journalism is a grassroots movement, a way in which the media serve the citizens of a community.  Journalists should find out not only the facts but what’s important to the community and report in media.  If then the media ask the right questions, they are providing an in-depth opportunity for analysis far more than news. Collaboration b/w Media & Journalists

 Community journalism is about establishing trust.  The people tell the media what’s important and the media give them as much information/opportunity to discuss the issues as possible  The public judgment, when made on an informed basis, is always right, regardless of whether the media agree with it or not.  Community journalism helps to build some common ground between the community, the media and the political system Collaboration b/w Media, Journalists & the Community

 What brought you into this issue?  What experiences or beliefs might lead decent and caring people to support that point of view?  Is that where the disagreement lies?  What's your underlying interest? Is that something you personally believe? What's your reason for saying that?  Describe the other side's position to me.  What point, that the other side makes, makes the most sense to you?  What trade-offs would you be willing to live with? What sacrifices are you unwilling to accept?  What alternative is the least persuasive? What makes this issue so difficult? Key Questions Journalists should Ask