ABSTRACT
Social responsibility was revitalized during the 'civic' or 'public' journalism movement of the 1990's. Civic journalism was intended to engage, inform, and encourage citizens to actively participate in their communities. Civic journalism seeks to address some of this detachment and improve journalism in a way that may help stimulate civic discourse. During an address to the British House of Commons in the late 1700s, Irish Statesman Edmund Burke gave credence to the press role as the bedrock to a democratic system. American journalism has tussled with freedom and responsibility since its inception. As newspaper journalists continued to embrace the notions of social responsibility, fulfilling the mission had become far more complex. The social responsibility adopted by United States' newspapers was cultivated in the First Amendment, nurtured by passionate journalists fostering great communities, and re-enforced by movements such as those initiated by the Hutchins' Commission and civic journalism.
