Definitions

When seeking answers to questions of relevance and importance to the improvement of politics, in any society, the best place to start is with the theory and practice of public interest journalism. 

Societies in which public interest journalism is suppressed, discouraged, or even entirely absent, cannot thrive.  Their populations are oppressed.

The people with power in such societies are perpetrators of evil.  Yet little is usually achieved, in a peaceful and practical way, from within or outside those societies, to improve the situation.

Awareness of evil does not prevent it.

Awareness of good does not discourage evil.

Structures and systems to address evil usually fail if they are inadequately good themselves.

Please ensure your understanding of important definitions is adequately clear.

 

• What is Public Interest Journalism?
• Where is Public Interest Journalism?
• What Public Interest Journalism is NOT

 

The practice of public interest journalism is all about the assessment of reasoning within and between structures and systems. 

When reasoning is unclear, definitions are likely to be unclear.  Accountability depends on clarity, and honesty.

• Where Public Interest Journalism is NOT Located
• Addressing the Most Important Issues in the Public Interest
• Paying for Public Interest Journalism

 

Who has the right to decide whether a situation must be addressed urgently, or later, or not at all, and why?

Is it the people with the most money?

Is it the people with the most political power?

Is it the people with large social media followings?

Is it the people most likely to be detrimentally affected by the likely consequences of the situation? 

Is it the people most interested in addressing the situation?

Is it the people with most knowledge of the situation?

Is it a combination of the above?

Is it someone else entirely?

Perhaps you regard the provision of public interest journalism as an urgent response to emergencies, including hidden ones.

Most "news organisations" are not providers of public interest journalism, except when mixed with matters not in the public interest at all.

Most "news" is not public interest journalism, by any reasonable definition.

A news service is meant to be a tool for making better decisions.  Its products are most appropriately combined with many other informational tools to determine available choices.

 

• Introduction
• Latest
• Research
• Importance
• Trustworthiness
• Accountability
• Moderation

 

How consistently do you uphold the standards, values and practices you associate with quality leadership?

How does public interest journalism relate to freedom, in your view?

How does public interest satire relate to freedom, in your view?

How should legal and financial structures support freedom, in your view?

If 'journalists' are not the main protectors of the public interest, who is?

What are the values and practices most associated with public interest "journalism'?

What is the information the public most needs before and during emergencies and/or election campaigns, and where should that information be located?

When public interest journalism is absent or distorted or hidden behind a mass of triviality, what does freedom mean?

 

• News
• Discussions
• Politics
• Funding
• Distribution
• Access

 

What do you know about the reshaping of news reporting during the digital age so that it is ethically, epistemologically and aesthetically appropriate to the public interest?

What do you know about the current epistemic crisis relating to the provision of news?

What do you know about the current epistemic crisis relating to the replication of scientific results?

How do you define a crisis?

The public interest implies that information should be presented where and when it is most needed.

It also implies that the information should be easily understandable to the people most in need of it.

Who is interested in high quality news, and why?

Who can tell the difference between high quality news and other information?

What is news, and to whom?

What is the public and what are its interests, and in whose opinion?

As you may have noticed, the questions here can be answered from a wide range of perspectives.

Most people are unlikely to be interested in answering the questions here, even if they have legal and/or financial qualifications and/or well-paying jobs.

 

• Legal and Financial Structures to Support Public Interest Journalism
• The Right to Know
• This is Serious
• Relevance to the Public

 

How do you assess needs and attempt to meet them, directly and indirectly, if not through clear definitions?

Conflicts of interest are common, whether in the provision of journalism, public policy or through academic assessments of situations.

Perhaps you define public interest journalism as being relatively free of bias.

Perhaps you define public interest journalism in terms of accessibility.

How do you define conflicts of interest, and address them?

Perhaps you define public interest journalism in relation to its independence from vested interests.

Journalism has long served many different purposes, few of which have ever been associated with the public interest.