Toward a “Philosophy of Framing”: News Narratives for Public Journalism

Abstract

Civic journalism advances discussion of news as a coherent narrative of the world, serving particular interests. But in practice, it limits its horizons to community news agendas and solutions. To define a truly public journalism, a story on the threat of environmental catastrophe is analyzed. The analysis suggests that journalism must in significant part be an active narrative initiative carried forward by journalists themselves. The difficulties lying in the way of realizing public journalism are also discussed.