Abstract
Efforts to reimagine journalism are underway amid a deepening crisis of the news media in the United States. Digital disruption has deprived the media of its traditional role as the gatekeeper of information, thrown doubts on its raison d'être, and forced a review of its business model as well as a re-examination of the practice of journalism. In an age of information overload, journalism is being challenged whether it can deliver the information people need and can trust, in a way people can digest and make use of. At a time of growing public scrutiny, journalism needs to increase transparency to gain trust, do more explaining to gain understanding, to engage and interact to connect with the public. This is the thinking behind Engaged Journalism—which starts with listening. It’s journalism that centers on nurturing trust and relationship with the people it serves, an approach that treats the people as ‘partners’ rather than just ‘audiences’, This paper reports on the background to the expanding practice of Engaged Journalism in the news media, and their diverse practice of engagement, in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, focusing on the interviews the author conducted with journalists in October 2019, in the U.S.
