W. Davis Merritt

W. Davis Merritt

W. Davis "Buzz" Merritt Jr. was editor of The Wichita Eagle from 1975 to 1996.[1] He is considered one of the fathers of civic journalism, a new school of thought that advocates using public opinion and involving citizens in the journalistic process, and journalists in community, to set an issues-focused agenda for political coverage,[2] rather than focusing on the political process or the agendas of politicians. Merritt is the author of three books on journalism, "Public Journalism and Public Life," "The Two W's of Journalism", the latest being Knightfall: Knight Ridder and How the Erosion of Newspaper Journalism Is Putting Democracy at Risk, a critique of corporate ownership of newspapers that reserves its most pointed criticism for Knight Ridder, which was the longtime owner of The Wichita Eagle.

He is especially known for his project "We the People" where he transformed his newspaper.

Notes

  1. ^ Charity, Arthur, Doing public journalism, (The Guildford Press, 1995), 164.
  2. ^ Bennett, W. Lance, Mediated politics: communication and the future of democracy, (Cambridge University Press, 2001), 109.


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