Book Review: Shaping public opinion: how real advocacy journalism™ should be practiced by Ellis J.S.

Abstract

In professional role conception, journalists are depicted as ‘watchdogs’ or ‘advocates’ (Shoemaker & Vos, 2009). Both concepts suggest that journalists should work for the public, provide information in a way which helps them to create effective public opinion important for democratic decision-making (Tsfati et al., 2006). Some scholars also argue that the practice of socially responsible journalism is helping shape more transparent public opinion (Kempf, 2007). Janice S. Ellis (2021) refers to these practices as ‘real advocacy journalism.’According to her, Real Advocacy JournalismTM is a form of public discourse free of propaganda, not for the interest of any vested quarter, but for the benefit of the people. She suggests journalists should strive to create this type of effective public opinion in politics, economics, social, and other matters. In her 2021 book titled, “Shaping Public Opinion: How Real Advocacy JournalismTM Should be Practiced,” Ellis explains how to apply the concept of ‘real advocacy journalism’ in the profession. In most parts of the book, the author draws the examples from the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Walter Lippmann, whose articles, columns, and books had great influence, not only in the United States but also around the world during the 20th century. In Chapter 1 the author introduces journalist, writer and columnist Walter Lippman, his role as a guardian of public interest, and his moral obligation ‘to elucidate what is good’. Ellis asserts that reasoned discourse had always been at the core of Lippmann’s writings as he had taken over the responsibility of sharing the burden of the average person and always considered what was best for them. Lippmann was a political and social theorist who advocated practicing liberal democracy in his numerous books, articles and columns. Lippmann’s columns were syndicated in more than 250 newspapers across the United States and in 25 countries around the world. Ellis claimed that Lippman, through his columns in the New York Herald Tribune from Book Review