A Poverty of Voices

Abstract

The 1990s witnessed two distinct but related trends in journalism: the rise of public journalism and the emergence of street newspapers. This article contrasts public journalism and street newspapers in an effort to explicate the distinguishing features of each. In doing so, it illuminates the distinctions between liberal-minded media reform movements, such as public journalism, and far more radical alternatives to journalistic practice as represented by street newspapers. Throughout it is argued that street papers are a unique form of communicative democracy. In their capacity as the voice of the poor, street newspapers seek to critically engage the reading public in ongoing deliberations over fundamental issues of economic, social and political justice. A brief assessment of Street Feat - a street newspaper in Halifax, Nova Scotia - provides an empirical basis for this discussion.