The main purpose of this website is to develop some ideas on what online ‘public journalism’ could look like. I became interested in ‘public journalism’ after reading a book by Tanni Haas called The pursuit of public journalism: theory, practice and criticism (2007, Routledge).
watchandact.net: ‘Watch and Act’ means there is a heightened level of threat. Conditions are changing and you need to start taking action now to protect you and your family. Everyone in Australia who remembers the bushfires of the summer of 2019/20 knows that meaning. Fewer people understand the threats we face from climate change, biodiversity loss, the erosion of our democracy and so on. Yet these threaten our survival and well-being too and are looming larger on a not too distant horizon. We need to be aware of these threats and to take action, political action. That fits neatly with the theory and practice of public journalism, a kind of journalism which aims to help people become political actors and not just passive consumers of news.
A few posts on this website focus on public journalism itself:
A to Z –– some theoretical, legal and administrative issues.
Roundtable: Demo –– a practical demonstration of how a roundtable or panel discussion could be organised on a website.
Our City Our Future –– ditto but adding some content, in this case urban planning issues.
In other posts I try to do something that no other media outlet is doing, all the while with an eye to helping readers become political actors rather than just passive consumers of news.
If you have any ideas you can send me a message using the contact form below.
Gary Shapcott, Taxpayer, Canberra, Australia
Some longer essays that I have written can be found at
< academia.edu >.
** No taxation without representation **
watchandact.net 