| Summary: | Journalism's dominant ideology, first articulated by Walter Lippmann in the early 20th century, sanctions a democratic politics of publicity and experts that produces a system in which citizens have little or no part in shaping public policy or resolving conflict. An alternative conception of democratic politics, and thus of the role and work of journalism, is the public knowledge model in which citizens, experts, and journalists collaborate to share their knowledge. This approach, advanced by John Dewey, has been considerably enriched by the recent work of John Willinsky, a professor of education, and Internet entrepreneur Pierre Omidyar, founder of the eBay auction website. The practical synthesis of their ideas to democratize knowledge as a journalistic enterprise is discussed.
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