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 [...]

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 – [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

by John Bowen and Kathy Schrier from the Washington Journalism Education Association to the Student Press Rights Commission blog

Principals will not have a chance to prior review Seattle School District journalism students because the school board recently withdrew its proposed and controversial policy change. “As a former journalism teacher, it is important for me — as I [...]

We’re pleased to announce the details of our 13th Annual Gridiron West Dinner A “roast/toast” to the one and only DALE CHIHULY The Gridiron Dinner is our signature fundraising event, which allows all our vital programs to continue, and is seriously a romping good time. Last year we had the mayors in stitches, and this year we’ll be shattering a [...]

Amy Meyer , who is studying journalism and visual communication design at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, was awarded the Washington News Council’s $2,000 Dick Larsen Scholarship at a reception June 10 in the WNC office in Seattle. In an essay submitted as part of the scholarship application, Meyer wrote: “Journalists are agents of accountability to government, corporations [...]

As you may have heard, we are keeping up the fight as the last fully operating News Council standing in America. This has perked some attention from others who do the kind of work we strive for, to create a world of honest, accurate, news. The Art Science Research Laboratory was founded by the late Stephen [...]

We were thrilled to hear from Lauren Rabaino who blogs for 10,000 Words “Where Journalism and Technology Meet.” Lauren was equally thrilled to find out about our TAO of Journalism campaign and called up Executive Director John Hame r for a nice little feature piece. Read about it here and share the love! “TAO Of Journalism” Project Wants [...]

From time to time we get get interesting emails from journalists and academics overseas who are interested in the News Council process here in the USA. Since we are the last fully operating News Council standing in America, these questions are especially relevant. It’s also important to note that there is generally stronger support for News Councils [...]

The WNC is offering two $2,000 WNC Scholarships!
Application deadline – April 15

Herb Robinson Scholarship – high school seniors apply;
Dick Larsen Scholarship – current college or university students apply.
CLICK HERE to download our APPLICATION FORM
and be sure to have a look at last year’s scholarship winners

Watch WNC President and Executive Director John Hamer on KCTS Connects with host Enrique Cerna, discussing the NPR “sting” video and subsequent resignations of Ron Schiller and Vivian Schiller. This 12-minute excerpt also features Doug Underwood, journalism professor at the University of Washington. They focus on media ethics, public accountability and the WNC’s TAO of Journalism project . As [...]

Last month a group of local journalism creators/innovators/enthusiasts convened at the Alki Arts Studio in West Seattle to welcome Reynolds Journalism Institute Fellow Lisa Skube. Skube has been trekking the country as part of her mission to accelerate the field of journalism in the digital media world, and she provided great fodder for discussion on the [...]

Thursday, December 16, 2010 | 7:30 – 9pm Location: Great Hall, enter on 8th Avenue between Spring and Seneca Amid all the anxiety over the “death of newspapers” and the reliability of a crowdsourced encyclopedia and opinion-based “news,” seeking the truth remains the purpose of journalism—and the object for those who consume it. Veteran journalists Bill Kovach [...]