ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how journalism may have come to represent the public as opposed to counterpublics. It discusses the varied nature and importance of the existence of diverse publics to minority communities. The focus in journalistic practice as well as scholarship on universal and inclusive reporting, which supports a community of people, can be explained by the impact of Habermas’ concept, the public sphere. While Fraser acknowledges the importance of Habermas’ concept primarily due to its ability to discern between the systemic state apparatus and the discursive life worlds, she also critiques the idea of the public sphere on the grounds of its fundamental idealization. Counterpublics – as all publics – need to acquire agency, which may pose a challenge. The particular use of digital media to record and disseminate knowledge of the injustices against African American youths at the hands of United States’ police, Alissa V. Richardson calls mobile protest journalism.
