Watchdog or Good Neighbor?

Abstract

After an earlier study found the public’s dominant expectation of the press was to be a good neighbor and not a watchdog, the present study set out to determine what being a good neighbor meant for different segments of the public. The analysis revealed that being a good neighbor was strongly valued by women, African Americans, and Hispanics. Many in these groups wanted more coverage of education, health and medicine, science, and arts and culture. The segment of the public that expected the press to be a good neighbor was concerned about crime and social issues, and television was viewed as best able to address these concerns. This study fills a void in the empirical public journalism literature that has primarily focused on journalists’ opinions, the content of public journalism projects, and the impact of public journalism projects on the public. Unlike most of the previous literature, which has ignored the public’s opinions about journalistic practices associated with public journalism, the present study connects the public’s expectations of local news as a good neighbor with techniques that epitomize public journalism, that is, caring about the community, reporting on interesting people and groups, understanding the local community, and offering solutions.