Fears of Corporate Colonization in Journalism Reviews' Critiques of Public Journalism

Abstract

This article examines almost a decade of reporting on public journalism published in the two largest and most widely read US journalism reviews: Columbia Journalism Review and American Journalism Review . It argues that instead of examining its historical underpinnings, theoretical claims, and practical manifestations, these two publications treated public journalism at best as just another manifestation of the increasing profit orientation of news media. At worst, it was scapegoated for the failings of all news organizations, including pandering to local communities and other practices that put immediate market interests ahead of democratic processes. While this description finds little support in the empirical research literature on public journalism, it may reflect mainstream journalists' increasing fears of a corporate colonization of journalism. Critics used the introduction of public journalism into newsrooms as an opportunity to express anxiety about how extra-journalistic (primarily economic) forces are encroaching upon journalists' professional autonomy and undermining the quality of news coverage.