Cultivating criticisms : how journalism students critique the news

Abstract

Scholars note the importance of press criticism to the journalism-democracy framework, yet press criticism is underdeveloped as an academic pursuit. This study seeks to develop the study of press criticism by examining press criticism using focus groups as a simulated public sphere. Using Wyatt's (2007) normative theory of press criticism, the design allowed for press criticisms to occur in a deliberative setting. The method and theory offer a neat fit, because the theory proposes a discursive model for the press and press criticism. Journalism students were used due to their dual role as students and not-yet-deeply-institutionalized practitioners. Students critiqued the press with specificity, accuracy, and thoughtfulness. The research calls scholarship on press criticism more directly back to Wyatt's (2007) normative theory and encourages more research on press criticism using the deliberative method.