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IN THE SPOTLIGHT ...
(1)_0_8.jpg) by Jon Margolis Dec 09, 2008 - When NBC News enlisted retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey as a military analyst, its journalistic sin was not merely withholding his ties to defense contractors. The greater sin was using him at all.
Talking Journalism
When NBC News enlisted retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey as a military analyst, its journalistic sin was not merely withholding his ties to defense contractors. The greater sin was using him at all. Media outlets blamed this summer's fighting in South Ossetia on nationalism. But when post-election violence swept Kenya, the media pointed the finger at tribalism. It's a difference of just one word, but oh, such a word. The search for meaning is a never-ending quest for political reporters. Just because we have no news to support a supposition is no reason to stop now. Actually, come to think of it, it is. What journalists don't know about the past jeopardizes their ability to put the present in context. And if voters don't fully understand the present, what kind of decisions will we make about the future? Regardless of whom you voted for, you might have cried, too, when the nation elected its first black president Tuesday. How can I be objective and a little misty-eyed? Because nothing in the journalist's rule book precludes us from being human. The winner in the presidential race is finally known, but we've known for awhile that in many ways, journalism has been the loser this campaign season. Here's why.
Articles
Obama could have been speaking for journalists when he spoke of choosing between "division, and conflict, and cynicism" or a new way. But not all reporting on how race and gender is playing a role -- and taking its toll -- is quite getting it. An original Marlette editorial cartoon that adorns our offices was drawn a generation ago about race and another presidential race. But it still speaks volumes about politics and the power of editorial illustration. Two stories with decidedly different trajectories -- the Iraq war and "the earliest-starting campaign in U.S. history" -- dominated the headlines in 2007, according to the 2008 Project for Excellence in Journalist State of the Media report. Mark Carter, a 20-year veteran media executive, strategist, reporter and executive producer, has been named Executive Director of the Committee of Concerned Journalists and the Goldenson Chair in Community Broadcasting at the Missouri School of Journalism. A lot of people thought the Washington Post opinion piece by Charlotte Allen – you remember, the one where she riffed on how women are weak and stupid after all -- was outrageous. Well, so does the Post ombud. That's 'community journalist' to you. A judge has ordered a USA Today reporter to reveal the names of confidential sources or pay more than $45,000 out of her own pocket – without help from others, including the newspaper – and to do so immediately, even pending appeal. Gerri Peev, the Scotsman reporter who quoted Samantha Power as calling Hillary Clinton 'a monster,' said she could not 'in good conscience' have agreed to keep the remark off the record.
Speeches
Journalists often discuss the issue of audience as a dichotomy – do we give people what they want or what they need? In the Committee’s work with journalists, we have been told that the question does not have to be either/or. Instead, why not find important news and then present it in ways that make it interesting? Minnesota State University's Scott Olson delivered this uniquely narrative speech to drive home the point that it's the stories - not the medium through which they're told - that matter most for journalists and all communicators. Huntly Collins outlines the potential the Web holds for journalism, and implores her audience to think creatively about how to overcome the Web's journalistic shortcomings. President and CEO of the AP Tom Curley says journalism needs to take bold, decisive steps to secure audiences and funding or risk fading into obscurity. CCJ Founding Chairman Bill Kovach's 2007 Baccalaureate Address to Boston University students invites graduates to view the world around them skeptically - to see it as it REALLY exists and not merely how those in powerful positions would have them see it.
Research
The Better Government Association and National Freedom of Information Coalition give 38 out of 50 states an 'F' grade in overall responsiveness to FOI requests. PEJ and the Shorenstein Center teamed up on a study aimed at learning early lessons about how the media is treating the 2008 presidential campaign. The Poynter Institute released the findings of its 2007 EyeTrack study at the ASNE conference earlier this year. The study aims to provide new insights into how readers consume the news. CJR's Curtis Brainard highlights a recent Pew Research Center report studying 20 years of American news consumption preferences. Harvard's Shorenstein Center recently released a report suggesting that the Internet is redistributing news audience in a way that benefits large national papers but hurts daily papers without nation-wide readership.
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