A new kind of journalism is being born in Philadelphia. It’s manifested in The Philadelphia Citizen, and its purpose is nothing less than to spark a new movement of citizens who refuse to outsource leadership to a political class. 

The Citizen hopes to convince Philadelphians that citizenship is something they must actively and urgently claim. 

Jeremy Nowak is chairman of the Citizen’s board of directors and an opinion writer for the organization. Here are five things you should know from my conversation with him.

1.     To have a great city, you have to have active citizenship.

2.     Citizenship shouldn’t be viewed as something passive, but rather something you must actively claim.

3.     Attitude is not a substitute for content in journalism.  

4.     Covering politics like a horse race breeds apathy. 

5.     Reporting what happened is just the beginning of the story. Reporting ought to be linked to events where citizens then continue and “own” the conversation so that they can find answers to issues that face their city.

Listen to my conversation with Jeremy here. And sign up for the “Knight Cities” newsletter to get alerts as soon as new conversations are posted.

Look for new “Knight Cities” content posted every Wednesday. You can follow us on Twitter at #knightcities or @knightfdn. And if you have ideas for people you’d like to hear from, please email me.

Carol Coletta is vice president of community and national initiatives at Knight Foundation. Follow her on Twitter @ccoletta.