promoting fairness, accuracy, & balance in the news media
The “TAO of Journalism” is the subject of a terrific column by Craig Silverman in Columbia Journalism Review online:
http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/the_tao_of_journalism.php
Craig interviewed me for nearly an hour yesterday and posted his piece today.
He got it right — but then, he writes “Regret the Error,” so he’s always extra careful.
Comments and feedback welcome, either at CJR.org or on this page. Just TAO it!
Sometimes I think if I have to attend one more conference or panel on the future of journalism, I’ll throw up.
But I went to another one last night – and boy, I’m glad I did. [Read more...]
At the sold-out “Journalism That Matters” event at the University of Washington (Jan. 7-10), over 200 people came together to “Re-imagine News & Community in the Pacific Northwest.”
Mainstream journalists, community journalists, freelancers, bloggers, tweeters, academics, students and other interested parties gathered to confront some pretty tough questions, such as:
Who can be trusted in the “new news ecosystem”? What media sources are reliable, factual and accurate? How have the new media changed the rules of the game? Can the mainstream or “legacy” media survive?
Here’s an idea I floated at the event that I believe could greatly help increase public trust in journalism:
A voluntary “TAO of Journalism Seal — A Commitment to Transparency, Accountability and Openness.” It was designed by Kathy Schrier, my colleague at the Washington News Council. [Read more...]
Journalists are radiating angst these days, and with good reason.
A perfect storm has hit the news industry: a broken business model, loss of advertising, cancelled subscriptions, low ratings, rising costs, financial losses, a stampede to the Internet, proliferation of news sources, newsroom layoffs/buyouts, folding newspapers – and demoralized journalists.
What’s worse, many people don’t like, respect or trust journalists and media outlets anymore. They rank low in most public-opinion polls. The latest Edelman Global Trust Index found that media companies are the least trusted in this country, behind automotive, banking, energy and pharmaceutical firms.
There’s no quick fix for the woes that plague the news media – but some things could help. [Read more...]
The Washington News Council has signed an agreement with the Spokane Spokesman-Review to conduct an independent outside review and analysis of that newspaper’s coverage of the River Park Square (RPS) garage controversy from 1994 through 2005.
Steve Smith, Editor of the Spokesman-Review, first approached the News Council in 2005 to propose the project. Smith had pledged shortly after coming to Spokane in 2002 to conduct such an independent review.
“The review will consider some of the allegations made against the news staff by RPS critics that our coverage was slanted and unethical because the newspaper is owned by the same people who own River Park Square,” Smith said in an Aug. 29, 2006, posting on the newspaper’s website.
John Hamer, Executive Director of the News Council, who signed the agreement along with WNC President Stephen Silha, said: “This is a daunting task, but the Washington News Council is honored that the editor of one of the largest newspapers in the state believes we have the credibility, the expertise and the professionalism to undertake this project.”
The review team will be co-chaired by: Cliff Rowe, founder of the journalism program at Pacific Lutheran University and a WNC Media Member Emeritus; and Chuck Nordhoff, former state director for U.S. Senator Slade Gorton and a WNC Public Member Emeritus.
Several other members of the current WNC Board of Directors will help oversee the project, including Media Members and Public Members.
The WNC has contracted with Bill Richards, a former Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporter, to do much of the research, interviews and writing. Richards formerly had a three-year contract with The Seattle Times to cover the joint-operating agreement dispute between The Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
“This critique will give our reporters a chance to speak up for the first time, will give us a chance to acknowledge those failures that did occur (and apologize for them) and provide us with an ethical framework that will guide decisions when faced with similar conflicts of interest in the future,” Smith said in his website posting.
“Our goal is to make this an educational project and a case study that can be used in journalism classes in this state and around the nation,” said Hamer.
The review will be conducted pursuant to an agreement signed by representatives of the newspaper and the news council. The agreement is posted on the Spokesman-Review’s website.
The project will take several months to complete. To contribute information or comments, please email info@wanewscouncil.org or call 206.262.9793.
See also: more about the WNC Team
JACOB CAGGIANO is the Council’s Communication Strategist. It’s his job to pitch ideas and get audiences to latch on. He also dedicates long hours behind the scenes working with the website, the Washington News Lab, and other experiments designed to change the way we interact with news and information.
Connect with Jacob in the Washington News Council Community.
TAO seal featured in Poynter article
The TAO of Journalism” by WNC Executive Director John Hamer was posted on Jim Romenesko’s widely read media news/commentary site. Read about it HERE.