Lighting it up: Journalism as a conversation at the private university

Dr. Joanne Lisosky and I are pleased to announce the publication of our article, “Lighting it up: Journalism as a conversation at the private university,” in College Media Review Vol. 54. You can read the article in its entirety at CMR or at my Academia.edu page as a PDF. The abstract is reproduced below:

Student journalists at private universities do the hard work of turning the lights on in the darkened, pseudo-public spheres on their campus. Without a clear idea of who is obligated to be the teller of unsavory truths on the private university’s campus, student media must often take up the torch. Building on Jurgen Habermas’s and Alexander Kluge’s work on the “public sphere” and Doreen Marchionni’s “journalism as a conversation,” student media publications can be examined for their coorientation, informality, and interactivity. Using two stories from the student media of Pacific Lutheran University as a case study illustrates how a robust student journalism outlet is a vital component of initiating important conversations in the public sphere of the private university. This investigation includes suggestions for implementing these strategies at other private universities.