Public Journalism

Good public journalism is key to maintaining a true democratic debate, where citizens are informed and interested in the issue at hand. In an article by Philip Meyer, called "Public Journalism and the Problem with Objectivity" there is a set of goals in which public journalism aspires to achieve. "Their purpose is to focus the watchdog's effort in a time of information overload."
With this in mind, some of the elements are as follows:
-Public journalism should rebuild a community's sense of self
-Public journalism should stay with a specific issue until all aspects are carried out to inform the citizens
-Public journalism should deeply explain the systems that influence people rather than focus on topical aspects/events
-Public journalism should give respectable attention to the middle ground of issues as opposed to extremes
-Public journalism should favor substance over tactics in regards to political arguments
-Public journalism should encourage the community to understand and respond to issues

By abiding by the above goals of public journalism, citizens can gain an optimal perspective of what is going on within the community, nation, and world.
Our rainforest blog has attempted to achieve this public journalism ideal, to better inform those who are interested in the idea of having a large-scale rainforest in the city of Coralville. The situation is still on debate, as funds have not yet been achieved, so the site can be found very useful for those who have stake in the issue or care to offer support or opinion. With that said, we hope that what ever comes out of the debate is in the citizen's and state's best interest. Of course there are both pros and cons that need to be wieghed, which is why we find it so important to clearly lay out the issue, with out holding back any information or viewpoints.
Public journalism at its best is an incredible advantage for an issue to have, so hopefully people will look to this site when interested in learning more about the Iowa rainforest project.