About: @ConcernedJournalists.org

CCJ Chairman Bill Kovach

The practice of reporting has informed the work of the Committee of Concerned Journalists from its inception in 1997. It was the tool used to begin a national conversation among journalists in the United States in order to determine what sense of shared purpose remained in a time of technological and economic dislocation. We also hoped to tap into the collective experience and knowledge residing in the newsrooms.

What emerged from that national reporting exercise was the book, "The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect." [1] It was our report of what we found from several thousand journalists around the country who had joined the
Committee.

In order to continue the reporting, the material in the book was converted into a teaching curriculum [2] under the guidance of Dr. William Damon, a developmental psychologist at Stanford University. We have taken the curriculum into nearly 55 newsrooms around the country in the form of workshops. We share what we have learned elsewhere and gather new concepts, ideas and practices to carry to the next training session. In addition to Tom Rosenstiel and I, twenty journalists of exceptional accomplishment are now engaged in facilitating these workshops.

We are also able to make much of what we have learned available in the "Tools" [3] section of our website. The project also has an invaluable collection [4] of quantitative data on journalistic performance and practices. As a result of the international reach of the Web we have found an extraordinary interest in the CCJ's Statement of Purpose [5] among journalists around the world. Journalists from countries such as Pakistan and India, Colombia and Mexico, Egypt and Turkey, who face challenges far more difficult than anything faced here, are looking to the CCJ and its members for ideas, guidance and intellectual support.

This quarterly e-mail report is an attempt to expand on our conversation among journalists and to make it more useful. We may have found a great deal of unease and confusion among journalists in these past few years of reporting, but we have also found a deep and abiding sense of purpose. We hope to use these e-mail reports to reinforce and strengthen that sense of purpose by sharing ideas and information more frequently to help you cope with the economic and technological challenges you face and to strengthen the bond between journalists who share the notion that the central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society.

We hope you'll find the items below useful and of value.

Bill Kovach

Read Bill's postscript to the introduction [6]

 

Inside @Journalism.org

> The Toolbox:
Tools for Covering Politics [7]

How should you cover polls? What’s the best way to avoid the ruts and traps of political coverage? Journalism.org has added an entire new section to our tools area of the site. Gathered from some of the top political journalists in the country, the new tools deal with everything from creating a plan for coverage to indexing the reporting you gather along the way to simple strategies for covering a political campaign smartly and efficiently.

See all the Tools [8] that we have to offer.

> A Closer Look:
[9]Jessica Lynch: Media Myth-Making in the Iraq War [10]
A detailed chronology by The Project for Excellence in Journalism

From the moment of her rescue, the story of Private First Class Jessica Lynch garnered heavy coverage in the news media, but along with all that coverage came questions. What is the truth behind the Jessica Lynch story and how did the story morph over the weeks of coverage? Journalism.org went back and traced the day-to-day changes in the story to see where and how the coverage went awry.

> Road Trip/News From The Traveling Curriculum:
Two new modules now available.

In the three years since CCJ's Traveling Curriculum was launched, the program has worked with more than 2,800 journalists in 41 different news organizations and 14 additional organizations or associations. We are pleased to announce two new Traveling Curriculum modules: How to Cover Politics and Community Roundtable: How Citizens Can Help Your Newsroom.

"Reporting on government and campaigns is close to the heart of what journalists do. Yet how well, in an age of political alienation, do journalists do it? Are the old ways still relevant? Are there new approaches?" Learn more about How to Cover Politics [11].

"Many news organizations tell us they see value in having a closer connection with their community. But organizing those interactions in ways that make them useful is not always easy. This module facilitates a discussion that turns such efforts into something productive for your staff and for your audience." Learn more about Community Roundtable [12].

Find out more about the Traveling Curriculum [13]

> Speaking Of:
Snob Journalism: Elitism Versus Ethics for a Profession in Crisis [14]
Delivered by PEJ Director Tom Rosenstiel at the University of Oregon's Ruhl Symposium

Why do professionalism and a thorough discussion of ethics and high standards in journalism scare people? Professionalism should not be equated with elitism. Instead, journalists must look toward professionalism as a way to earn credibility with the public in order to fulfill their role in maintaining a healthy democracy.

Read the entire speech [15].

> Did You See?

"FCC: Ready, set, consolidate" [16]
Neil Hickey, Columbia Journalism Review, July/August 2003

"How far is too far? Recording gruesome photos on news pages" [17]
Don Wycliff, Chicago Tribune, July 31, 2003

Down with Top-down [18]
Lori Robertson, American Journalism Review, August/September 2003

> Get the Newsletter Emailed to You:
Sign up with the CCJ Mailing List [19] to have @ConcernedJournalists.org emailed to you.

> Past Newsletters [20]

> Contact Us:
ccj@concernedjournalists.org [21]

>Post Script to Bill Kovach's Introduction:

Tim Giago, the founder of at least three newspapers serving American Indian communities, including the Lakota Journal and Pueblo Journal of which he is now editor and publisher, has corrected me for what he rightly calls a "blanket statement" that the journalists from Pakistan, etc., have a much more difficult time than American journalists.

"That does not ring true to American Indian journalists," Tim writes. "Some of us have survived assaults upon our person, had windows shot out of our newspapers, and have been threatened with eviction from our own home reservations. We represent a segment of journalism that is too often overlooked or ignored."

Tim Giago is right. I should have written "most American journalists." And I should have noted that there are still some journalists in the United States who put much more than the possibility their feelings will be hurt on the line when they go to work each day. That would include not only the independent American Indian journalists but some serving ethnic communities and some alternative newspapers that challenge the establishment.

Tim Giago has always challenged the establishment in terms of its dealings with and treatment of American Indians. Once again he has justified the Sioux name, Nanwica Keiji, given him at birth. It means, "He Who Stands Up For You."

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