CMP Critical Evaluation

By Frank Hermus and Kezia Swanepoel

In relation to Haas’s public philosophy for public journalism, we believe we accomplished to the best of our abilities what was required for public deliberation. In my opinion, we succeeded in what, according to Haas (2007:29), should be central to public journalism – “journalists should help create and sustain an open-ended, unbounded public sphere to which all citizens have access and in which all topics of concern to citizens and all opinions available can be articulated, deliberated, and critiqued”. By organizing a public meeting to which the entire community was invited, we created a public space where ordinary citizens could voice their opinions and concerns regarding their community, and the problems they face within their daily lives. Hence, we had created a place where a “citizen’s agenda” could be formulated, and we could have “citizens as active partners” in the news-making process. Haas (2007:30) states that “journalists should be committed to hearing out all citizens and providing a forum through which citizens can hear each other out and evaluate conflicting, if not competing, values and interest claims.” We did this by hosting a public meeting within the community where issues affecting the community at a hyper-local level were raised and taken into account.
In terms of the specialized pairs of writers and designers, we had created a wallpaper to be put up in very central locations around the community. These were places like spaza shops, taverns, public libraries and community halls. These places were ideal to set up mini-forums of citizens to discuss the litter management issue we had gleaned from the town hall meeting. The writers produced the news stories for the wallpaper, and the designers created the wallpaper incorporating the news stories. The centre of the wallpaper held a large photograph of a little girl playing in trash, highlighting the concern for more activities for children as well as proper waste management. People were extremely interested as we put up the wallpaper and it caused many people to gather around it and talk amongst themselves about it. When displaying the wallpaper to a local man, he was very excited to point out to that his friend’s house/shack can be seen in the background of the large photograph. This did not seem particularly important to me at first, but then the importance became apparent. The man was filled with such excitement when notifying something he recognized about the wall in the background due to the fact that the community has been so neglected for so long. This man was thrilled to be witnessing some attention being placed on his township and community. Other people were also pointing at things they recognised and children they knew that were in the photos. The people could see that their issues had been put into a formal part of media and they were free to discuss it.
The designers created a poster which advertised the soccer tournament which was to be held and it also displayed on the original wallpaper. This put forward another issue raised at the town hall meeting: the lack of recreational activities for the youth. The soccer day was a great success. This was an ideal method for gathering and unifying the community through public journalism. We identified their issue as news and also managed to solve it in some way. The public responded well as the attendance to the soccer day exceeded all our group’s expectations.
In terms of what was either ‘lost’ or ‘gained’ by using public journalism methods, we firmly believe that more was gained than lost. We were able to gain some measure of trust and respect from the community, especially after the successful soccer day and the discussions that followed display of the wallpaper. This was trust we truly had to work for as at first the community assumed that we would simply milk them for story ideas, obtain our marks and move on – “taking and forgetting” as one man mentioned in the community meeting. However, it can safely be said that a connection has been established between our group and the community. There has been a creation of a new deliberating public that has the power to set their own news agendas once they have been given the time to be listened to by journalists. The only loss we see is that the local governments have not been getting as involved as they should. Media can only do so much and that is a worry. However the efforts put forward by the designers and writers have been positive and inspiring. They have been able to create a great wallpaper that encourages public debate, public opinion and the essence of being a community that does things together.


This course has been very different as we normally work on our own. Any group is diverse and their own stories and opinions were individual. Somehow we managed to fit them into the criteria of public journalism. Ideas raised involved the retelling of the history behind the wards and their soccer heydays, profiling a woman who runs a children’s care centre from her own home and a look into the dismal youth recreational facilities. These ideas came from the new “civic journalist” identities we had to adopt. Adapting to Haas’s theory and ideas, our own ideas of civic journalism sought to breathe new life into a once-neglected community through different forms of media.
These ideas have differed a lot from the stories we normally produce. They have been human interest and community interest stories at an intimate level. This kind of journalism has enabled us to not just “go out and get the stories” but to build social capital within a neglected community. We have been working in the field amongst sombre conditions and this has made us more effective in getting the stories we want while being able to empathise with the community. Civic journalist identities require more sensitivity towards such emotional stories as these dire conditions are the people of Ward 7 and 8’s realities. This has only improved the group as we have learned to use our journalistic skills for the betterment of the community. One idea that the group participated in together was the soccer day to provide a solution to the earlier issues raised about the lack of soccer teams and of recreational activities for the youth. This fulfilled a main objective set out by the group. We did not just want to get our stories and leave but to nurture the public sphere with them. By being more involving the community in and through media, they have been able to voice opinions. The soccer day provided us with an opportunity to follow through with the opinions raised by the town meeting.
The main change in our identities as young journalists has also been in the way we put together and produce media. Now, we must think of the news the community has raised and think more about what is affecting them. The new ideas of creating a deliberating public and engaging the public to give them a voice was daunting at first. Now it has become a new kind of journalism we are adapting to. The group has found it challenging but worthwhile. The ideas raised have produced good work that has fulfilled the objectives of bettering a community, even if it is in a small way. As student journalists, we have looked at many different ways of reporting and gathering information. This new form of public journalism has definitely been different but extremely worthwhile and has completed our identities as journalists working in such an unequal society. We have realised it is not enough to just report, the alternative is public journalism.