Leonard Witt of Kennesaw State U., runs PJNET, a weblog on public journalism. Leonard contacted me to note an interesting new post by Kate Parry, senior editor/politics and education at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, who writes about trends in civic journalism in Japan.
Parry writes that Japanese newspapers are actively working to help Japanese communities in various ways including: preparing their communities for the inevitable earthquakes that happen in Japan, helping communities combat gang violence, giving local communities a voice in food safety issues, and teaching child-rearing techniques to parents who might not have learned the latest information.
This kind of civic journalism is new for Japan and I think is an important trend that I hope will spread to other parts of Japan. It is efforts like these that can help to change the attitudes of the people, who may not feel like they have a voice or the ability to affect their communities.
