Preventive journalism is a
journalistic
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...
discipline that reports on urgent social problems at an early stage and on solutions proposed for these problems. It complements traditional
investigative journalism
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years res ...
and recognizes that journalism can alert government and society to problems before they become crises.
Michael O'Neill, editor of the
New York Daily News from 1975 to 1982 and former president of the
American Society of Newspaper Editors
The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of ...
, wrote i
1985that preventive journalism should "search in advance for the hidden forces of change
ndtry to identify the underlying causes of crises before, rather than after, they explode so that an alerted society might have time to protect itself from the ambushes of history."
The concept was also used in a 1996
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...
speec
1where he stressed the need for such a kind of journalism without further detailing its characteristics.
Peace Journalism follows similar tenets as preventive journalism, though preventive journalism extends its action range to
social
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives from ...
,
economic
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
,
institutional,
human rights
Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
, and
environmental
A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
concerns.
External links
The International a publication that encompasses preventive journalism standards.
Web of the Institute of Preventive Journalism and International Análisis (IPPAI),based in Madrid, SpainMagazine of the Institute of Preventive Journalism and International Análisis (IPPAI),based in Madrid, SpainWeb site of Understanding Government, based in Washington, D.C., USA, sponsor of the Prize for Preventive Journalism
Types of journalism
Prevention
{{Spoken Wikipedia, en-preventativejournalism.ogg, date=2010-03-08