COMJIG's Reader quoted in AJR 'Disconnected' Article

Will Bunch of Philadelpha's "Attytood" blog writes in American Journalism Review this month about the disconnect between journalists and the communities they write about, especially at the big metros.

Bunch quotes Bill Reader, COMJIG head:

"Honestly, I think the solution is not to be big," says Bill Reader, a career journalist who now teaches at Ohio University and heads the Community Journalism Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication. Like many, he bemoans a system that lavishes major awards and higher salaries on those who practice detached reporting with a broad focus, when it is highly localized journalism that best connects with the public. "Your job is to be the connection. The cultural role of the newspaper is the inherent value of the newspaper, because what you're selling and what you're doing is holding the community together – and everything else will fall into place."