The Washington News Council will hold a public hearing on a formal complaint against The Seattle Times from Dr. Richard Wollert, a Vancouver psychologist. The hearing will take place on June 1, 2013, from 9 a.m. to noon, at Town Hall Seattle (Downstairs) . The complaint concerns a series of stories, “Price of Protection,” that appeared in January, 2012. All complainant [...]

SPECIAL OFFER: If you GiveBIG! on May 15 as part of The Seattle Foundation’s campaign to help ALL non-profit organizations in our community, then you can GetBEER! on May 15, 16 or 17 (noon-6 pm) at the WNC office above the Pyramid Alehouse across from Safeco Field. Seriously! The Washington News Council is offering ONE FREE BEER [...]

In the wake of recent scandals, Britain’s politicians want to regulate the country’s naughty media. Our own Washington News Council might make a better model. England may soon have its own NPR: the “National Press Regulator.” Sound scary? It is. The Economist calls it a “ rotten deal ,” arguing that the British NPR would be “set up by a [...]

The Washington News Council added Gabriel Boehmer, Vice President of Communications for Wells Fargo Bank, to its Board. It earlier added Caren Crockett, President of Adrenaline Consulting, plus 14 other new Board members: 1. Anne Bremner – Trial Attorney & Legal Analyst 2. Shauna Causey – Decide.com Vice President 3. Todd Dean — Partner, Angel Market [...]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 1, 2013 The Washington News Council , which just began its 15th year of operations and added 15 new members to its Board of Directors (Fact Check: True), announced that it will close its Seattle office on May 1. The WNC will move lock, stock and beer barrel to London and “reboot” itself [...]

Applications are now closed for the Washington News Council’s two $2,000 scholarships to be awarded in 2013 to Washington state students planning careers in communications: The Dick Larsen Scholarship will go to a past graduate of a Washington high school currently enrolled in a public or private college/university in this state. The Herb Robinson Scholarship will go to [...]

Our phone continues to ring and our emails continue to “ping” with citizens’ questions and serious complaints about the media. 2012 was quite a year for the Washington News Council — in fact, our most active ever! Click here to download a copy of our 2012 highlights , including: Leschi Elementary Community Stands Up to KIRO TV A Community [...]

Imagine it’s a few days after Election Day. Your candidate(s) won! You had a big victory party to celebrate. Now what? Well, one thing you can’t wait to do is see your friends whose candidate(s) lost, right? Come on, admit it: You know you do. You’ll give them a big grin, slap them on the back and [...]

On Saturday March 31st, 2012, The Washington News Council had a hearing on the Vitae Foundation v. KUOW case involving a story on Vitae’s youroptions.com website. You can read about the results of the case and watch the hearing in its entirety below. Also feel free to check out some of the “press” surrounding the case. Part 1 – [...]

Media watchdog Craig Silverman is a stickler for accuracy. We’re a big fan of his work, and are pleased to hear his interest in our nation’s last remaining news council. Check out his piece on Poynter:

How the last U.S. news council hopes to survive

Craig let us review parts of the draft for factual accuracy [...]

The Washington News Council received two strong   “testimonials” about our work during Rotary Club of Seattle meetings in recent weeks – one from Rotary President Paul Ishii and the other from former Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Bob Herbold. On Oct. 3, Rotary President Paul Ishii told the 500+ club members that he had been [...]

The Washington News Council sends our deepest sympathies to the family of Kathi Goertzen, KOMO 4 anchor, and to all our friends and colleagues at the station. On Nov. 11, 2001, the WNC ‘toasted and roasted’ Kathi, along with Jean Enersen and Susan Hutchison, at our 3rd annual Gridiron West Dinner. The evening included a tribute [...]

The Washington News Council held a hearing on  Saturday, June 16, from 9 am to noon at Town Hall (downstairs) to consider multiple complaints against KIRO7 Eyewitness News. After hearing detailed presentations from the complainants, the WNC’s Hearings Board voted to uphold the complaints almost unanimously.

NOTE: You can watch the original KIRO story here . You can also watch a full [...]

The Washington News Council has awarded three $2,000 scholarships to Washington state students planning careers in communications. Two Dick Larsen Scholarships , which go to a past graduate of a Washington high school currently enrolled in a public or private college/university in this state: Erin Flemming, 21, a University of Washington student and graduate of Evergreen High School . [...]

Mike Flynn, the former publisher of the Puget Sound Business journal, just wrote a piece supporting our nation’s last standing news council (yours truly!). Have a look over at Flynn’s Harp and consider supporting us as we keep up the fight against unfair and unethical media practices.

The challenge has been the reluctance of the media to help [...]

SPECIAL OFFER: If you GaveBIG! on May 2 as part of The Seattle Foundation’s campaign to help ALL non-profit organizations in our community, then you can GetBEER! any day in May (M-F, noon-6 pm) at the WNC office above the Pyramid Alehouse across from Safeco Field. The Washington News Council is offering ONE FREE BEER to [...]

“Do you like tattoos?” was my standard pickup line. OK, pretty cheesy, but hey, it worked most of the time. I was sitting at a table at the Washington State Convention Center for two days last week surrounded by about 4,000 high-school journalists from all over the country. It was the national Journalism Education Association /National [...]

Mike Wallace changed my life. I never actually met him, but he had a huge influence on my career. Here’s how: Back in the 1990s, I co-edited a media-critique newsletter called CounterPoint  (motto: “Who Will Watch the Watchdogs?”) and co-wrote a column that ran in Seattle Weekly and Eastsideweek called “Watchdogs” (motto: “Woof!”). Barking at journalists, [...]

Watch the hearing video in its entirety National coverage from CPB Ombudsman Joel Kaplan National coverage by Mike Janssen of Current.org National coverage by Valerie Richardson of The Washington Times Local coverage from Mark Griswold of Sound Politics Local coverage from NW Daily Marker’s Bryan Myrick Local coverage from PubliCola’s Erica Barnett

The Washington News Council (WNC) held a three-hour public hearing Saturday, [...]