Academic

First published: December 16, 2004

The news media have little influence on public opinion and voters during Canadian Elections, according to most studies done by academics, but public journalism could hold a key to resolving this disconnection with our audience. This essay explores some of the current literature and delves into public journalism as a potential solution. Studies done on the role of media in Canadian elections present an interesting tension between the perceived importance of the press and its actual influence on voters and public opinion. Beginning with Walter Lippmann’s seminal work Public Opinion in 1922, he successfully framed the role of journalists and journalism as having a huge influence on citizens, their thoughts about politics, and public life. He also created a doctrine of journalism that sets in motion a separation between the public and the press, which over decades would evolve into a significant chasm that has yet to be successfully bridged. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Academic

First published: December 16, 2004

Rather than complain about the state of journalism, I would like to suggest Canadian journalists take a serious look at public journalism as part of the solution. Scholarly studies of media and public opinion clearly show we have very little influence. Beginning with Walter Lippmann’s seminal work Public Opinion in 1922, he successfully framed the role of journalists and journalism as having a huge influence on citizens, their thoughts about politics, and public life. He also created a doctrine of journalism that sets in motion a separation between the public and the press, which over decades would evolve into a significant chasm that has yet to be successfully bridged. While further studies show, news media can exercise an agenda-setting role, our influence is nowhere near what we think it is or it should be. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Academic

January 26, 2005

In the readings from Mariana Valverde, The Age of Light, Soap and Water, along with Canadian Women: A History by Alison Prentice et. al., the social reform movement is examined from the 1870s through to the 1920s. Based on a moral and social agenda, these organizations consisting mostly of women, but included men, who worked to achieve the moral regeneration of the state, society, the family and individuals. Also known as the social purity movement, the ideology of these groups, made up of mainly middle-class church goers, educators, doctors and community/social workers, focused on ending prostitutions, divorce, illegitimacy, public education, obscene literature, rescuing fallen women and shelters for women and children, along with converting Native and Chinese cultures. Valverde’s two chapters look specifically at the movement using race, gender and class as tools to interpret it, staying away from previous analysis focusing on the moral aspects, which often narrowly define the movements as Puritanical efforts at censorship and repression. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Academic

February 16, 2005

The contrasting efforts by Quebec and First Nations to achieve their respective nationalist dreams as described in the readings, Quebec: social change and political crisis by Kenneth McRoberts and Skyscrapers hide the heavens; a history of Indian-white relations in Canada by J.R. Miller, present a valuable comparison on the relative successes and challenges both face. McRoberts describes the importance of the emerging Francophone middle class, acting with the aid of state intervention, known as the Quite Revolution, starting with the creation of Quebec Hydro and the formation of government sponsored business aid programs. These efforts created white collar, professional jobs that would raise the economic and social status of an entire generation during the 1960s. This economic empowerment would redefine Anglo-Franco relations in Quebec, particularly in business, but also extending into key areas such as language, immigration and provincial/federal relations. Through key victories, Quebec would plant its nationalist seeds that would eventually grow into a strong, effective separatist movement seeking to recognize Quebec’s nationhood. The First Nations struggle for recognition presents a very different, and by contrast, less successful effort to achieve a similar goal. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Academic

First published: May 10, 2005

I expect to be blogging from the CAJ convention this weekend using the breaking news page. There will be two workshops on Civic Journalism I will be leading, one Friday morning and another Sunday morning. But, it is an important weekend for the organization. It is having a rough go of it since the board of directors put out a press release condemning the action of investigative journalists Stevie Cameron. A subsequent press release was meant to be a retraction, but some of the membership are not pleased. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Academic

First published: May 18, 2005

“Ever since agriculture first began in Canada, farmers have from time to time become extremely discontented, which has resulted in them periodically joining together to form organizations on the assumption that ‘in Union there is Strength’ and success is attained in proportion to unity of purpose.” (Schulz 1955 p.3)

If New Social Movement theorist Donatella della Porta is correct, the process of construction of collective identity is an integral component of collective action. (Della Porta and Diani 2000) The central struggle of the farmers’ movement in Canada is one of identity. The successes and failures of farmers to achieve their goals can be marked by the ability of farmers to clearly define themselves. The family farm is an iconic symbol for Canadian farmers, represented by the family-owned and operated business for the production of food. And yet, this central image would not fully unify the movement. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Academic

An amazing speech about the importance of public media serving citizens at the recent National Conference on Media Reform. I CAN’T IMAGINE BETTER COMPANY ON THIS BEAUTIFUL SUNDAY MORNING IN ST. LOUIS. You’re church for me today, and there’s no congregation in the country where I would be more likely to find more kindred souls than are gathered here. More… Continue Reading →

Filed under: Academic

Democracy Independence: Sharing News and Politics in a Connected World is the title of a major conference I will be attending from June 28 to June 30 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Put on by the Media Giraffe Project, it involves traditional, citizen journalists, political strategist, educators, bloggers, developers, technology and media researchers from a huge geographic area. The Media Giraffe Project is a non-partisan, interdisciplinary research project of the UMass Journalism Program, which started just over a year ago. While I sent them information about our Online Democracy Project, there was no response. The conference is in two parts, a roundtable summit (the part I am attending and most interested in) and a conference consisting of how-to sessions. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Academic

The Media Giraffe conference will be emphasizing the collaborative news production model championed by scholars like Axel Bruns, who wrote an excellent book called Gatewatching. The role of the press in the formation of the public sphere is clearly set out and debated by critical theorists such as Jürgen Habermas; yet, traditional journalism today is facing tremendous pressure from new forms of news media, particularly those being created on the Internet. And, while Habermas outlined the positive role the press played in the early formation of the public sphere in his book The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, he was highly critical of modern media in its ultimate failure to support it. His notion of a public place where private individuals could come together to participate in rational-critical discourse on the important issues of the day was energized through the early press and publications in the 17th and 18th century. But with the subsequent rise of liberalism, consumerism and capitalism, the public sphere suffered and simultaneously, journalism lost its focus, along with its credibility, as it became a tool to be used by these political-economic forces to suppress debate. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Academic