Public journalism and the news gender agenda

Public journalism, with its citizen-centred approach, has been positioned as a way of changing journalists’ sourcing patterns. It is also supposed to be a method by which traditionally under-represented groups, such as women and indigenous people, can achieve a voice in the media. Some academics suggest it might even provide a way of addressing traditional journalism’s over-reliance on male sources. This paper examines a New Zealand newspaper’s use of public journalism to give voice to the voiceless. It focuses on how female sources fared during the project when compared to their male counterparts.