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Journalism studies in an era of transition in public communications

the revolution in American journalism brought about by the penny press. From this perspective, journalists must abandon any delusions of special status, and learn how to compete among the array of informational sources; they may not be able to reach everyone, but will connect with those who care. And in 20 years, maybe today’s teenagers won’t be reading newspapers, but will access their electronic versions as they participate in a new democracy. All this is to say that there are myriad questions, and very few answers, facing journalism and its relationship with its audiences. The questions I have raised here are some of those that seem important in the United States, although many are completely irrelevant in other contexts. Here, we tend to forget that while we worry about the effects of addiction to computers, millions of people world-wide cannot even communicate by telephone. In a country where we agonize about political apathy, low voter turn-out, and the role of journalists in changing this, we forget about nations where people put themselves at risk for the right to vote or to read uncensored news. There is a world of difference between a news audience which is thirsty for information, and one which is saturated with it. Journalism has multiple meanings in many contexts, and I hope this new journal will help us consider some of those meanings in action.