More public and less experts : a normative framework for re-connecting the civic work of journalists with the civic work of citizens

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:In a system of representative government, the media is assumed as an important institution toreflect public concerns and holding government accountable for the way in which it addressesthese public concerns. Not only is this role imposed by a paradigm which views the media as oneof the institutions that sustain and consolidate liberal democracy – the so-called fourth estatealongside the legislative, executive and judicial pillars – but the media itself has conceptualisedits identity around the notion that journalists are a 'vital part of political life (Sparks, 1991:58).This study explores the validity of this authority. It suggests that the authority of the media toframe public concerns in a way that is useful for ordinary citizens to 'bridge the gap betweenthe private, domestic world and the concerns and activities of the wider society (McQuail,2005:432) has been eroded because citizens feel that their concerns and priorities have becomesecondary to the priorities of powerful state, economic and other 'experts who determine thenews agenda. At the same time, there is a general sense that representative government or whatis generally known as liberal democracy is losing its currency because citizens have developed a'habit of seeing the political system as indifferent and unresponsive to their problems and theircircumstances (Mathews, 1999:33).This study explores the potential of a more productive relationship between the mediaand citizens to rekindle and energise the role of citizens to contribute to the public work ofsolving common problems that face the wider society.This study proposes three theoretical frameworks – democratic professionalism, publicjournalism and deliberative democracy – with the potential to re-conceptualise the wayjournalists consider their professional role. This re-conceptualisation raises the possibility for reassessingthe political work of journalists and the political work of citizens and build new habitsof participation and discussion in the political process of communities.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University