The public (or civic) journalism movement has sparked an ongoing debate within journalistic circles. In this book, leading journalists, communication scholars, and political scientists assess the state of contemporary public journalism, looking at its origins, the arguments for and against public journalism, and the state of political knowledge. Addressing theoretical and academic notions of public journalism_in conjunction with the possible role of the modern university_this timely volume explores the potential of public journalism to help elevate the publicOs political knowledge.