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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 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 [...]

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, [...]

The Washington News Council is accepting applications for two $2,000 scholarships to be awarded in 2012 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. NOTE: Application deadline is June [...]

***UPDATE*** we now have the hearing video and full set of documents involved with the complaint as a downloadable PDF. We also have national coverage by The Washington Times and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Ombudsman . Plus local coverage in Sound Politics and the Northwest Daily Marker .

The Washington News Council’s Board of Directors has set a date for a hearing [...]

The Washington News Council has just been awarded two new grants to sustain our operations in 2012: A $100,000 matching grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This is the third year of a Gates challenge grant, which the WNC matched by raising more than $100,000 from other sources in 2011. A $10,000 community activities grant from [...]

Chris Stein of The Pacific Northwest Inlander gave The News Council a little coverage in an article about Spokane Police ombudsman Tim Burns. The article says:

When police ombudsman Tim Burns laid out his ideas for reforming the police department to a Spokane City Council committee last month, he also had a few choice words for the [...]

From time to time we receive correspondence from fellow news junkies outside of Washington State, and sometimes overseas as well . As the last fully operating news council , we’re starting to show up in search engines for people who need answers on accountability in the news media. A fellow named Bill Santagata wrote to us asking for advice on [...]

Watch it on the Seattle Channel Visit the photo album from Team Photogenic

The Washington News Council’s “Toast and Roast” of Dale Chihuly at our 13th Annual Gridiron West Dinner on December 15 at Fremont Studios was a smashing success. About 400 people enjoyed a raucous and rollicking evening of comedy, songs, videos, slideshows and affectionate “toasts” of Dale [...]