Journalism and the public interest

American Public Media, which producer Marketplace and other public radio shows, has a job opening in Los Angeles for something called a "public insight analyst." The job entails gauging public opinion through the use of surveys, meetings and games to shape news coverage.

Here's how the listing describes it:

The analyst job involves using many tools - from knowledge management and database software to interactive games and public meetings – and applying news judgment to turn public insight into coverage.

The hybrid PR-news position stems for Minnesota Public Radio's Public Insight Journalism initiative, which helped launch the Center for Innovation in Journalism.

The CIJ sounds a little like the community journalism movement of old, except with more sophisticated tools. Here's CIJ what it has to say about traditional newsers:

Yet most newsrooms still operate with a "we know best—and we'll tell you what you need to know" model. That world is vanishing and taking the audience with it.