Public journalism no more: The digitally native news nonprofit and public service journalism

This study utilizes ethnography to examine whether a digitally native news nonprofit, The St. Louis Beacon, practices a new form of public journalism, a movement within the journalism industry that diminished and eventually died in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Using McManus’ market theory for news production as a lens, the data showed that the Beacon practiced a slightly different form of public journalism. Therefore, because of that concept’s negative perception within the industry, this study dubs this new form of public service journalism. Public service journalism still primarily focuses on engagement, but does so without the negative connotations of public journalism and also while allowing the journalists to retain news judgment.