Rick Stengel, TIME Magazine Managing Editor and NCoC’s 2010 Joseph H. Kanter Citizen of the Year, remarked in his speech last month in Washington, DC that “journalism itself is an actual act of service…In a democracy you need a robust exchange of ideas.”

Stengel goes on to say that if the work he does in media inspires “people to do the hard work of service, so much the better.” The link between journalism and democracy is one of the tightest bonds among any industry, but its evolving nature means that many are drawing a line in the sand between objectivity and other forms of journalism.

If journalism is an act of service in a democracy, then its execution is paramount, as journalism comes in many forms and in many mediums. Some forms of journalism require objectivity while others involve active investigation in the public’s interest. Yet, there is a single type of journalism that is growing ahead of all others – breaking-news. Digital and cable news excel at this, as evidenced by their third consecutive year of audience growth according to State of The Media, a comprehensive report on American journalism from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Breaking-news, evolving business models, and citizen journalism are just a few of the developments in the deepening discussion of 21st century journalism. How does this affect journalism as an act of service?

A new generation of journalists, entering the profession at a time of industry uncertainty, is well aware of the forces that are push and pull factors, such as citizen journalists.

A Kansas-based broadcast reporter, Amy Wolf points out that citizen journalists “may not be held accountable for objectivity within their reports. For less savvy consumers of news, the distinction might be lost. The onus lies now with the consumer to know what type of information he or she is looking for, and to know where to find it.” While there is evidence of “citizen journalists” who have rigorously fact-checked and maintain objectivity in their stories, it’s usually the case that these same folks were trained as journalists.

The New York Times Ethical Journalism Guidebook outlines that journalists should not participate in public life, in so much as these activities are newsworthy. For example, ”journalists do not take part in politics”, nor should they “march or rally in support of public causes”. Of course, journalists do this all the time but they are practicing another form of journalism, and not so much the observe-and-report-the-facts variety. Wolf agrees: “true objective journalism should show and tell stories, but not encourage.” This type of journalism allows us, the consumers, to have a baseline of knowledge about certain events and people. But what about when journalists hope to inspire? Like when Stengel’s 2007 article entitled, “A Time to Serve”, argued for compulsory national service. Depending on how “service” is defined by the reader (and maybe even the journalist), inspiring citizens to get involved in their democracy, is, on its face, a neutral-issue.

Paris Schutz, a producer for a daily news program on WTTW - Chicago, sees value in efforts like Stengel’s 2007 piece: “Certain institutions should have [inspiration] as their mission - to inform in order to elicit some sort of response or action. Magazines, editorialists, and long-form books fall into this category. For instance, Michael Pollan wrote The Omnivore's Dilemma…to motivate people to make better choices about food and food policy.”

Better Government Association (BGA), a Chicago-based not-for-profit, is an example of an institution that inspires people. The BGA has a team of award-winning investigative journalists that not only report stories on corruption in Illinois government; it also trains grassroots members on how to request documents through FOIA and how to observe community meetings. Together with the investigative team at BGA, grassroots activists and journalists team-up to improve their government. The executive director is Andy Shaw, a journalist by training, who now runs what is a combination media outlet and citizen action tank. Is this the direction of journalism as service?

We want to hear from you: Is journalism as a form of service? Should it be? Should it be a new field, like innovation journalism or does it try new models, like the BGA, involving both journalists and citizens in the process?


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Piece contributed by NCoC.net commentator Karlo Barrios Marcelo, CEO of Karlo Marcelo Consulting, LLC.