Committee of Concerned Journalists -

The Rules of the Journalism Game

Tracy Thompson — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:43:02 -0400

Most reporters think that the average reader is totally in the dark about the rules of the journalism game. After the Washington Post fired one of its bloggers last week, readers would be justified in concluding that they know more about the rules than the journalists do.

Everybody Likes a Good Story

Jon Margolis — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:15:04 -0400

Everybody likes a good story, the kind with a beginning, a middle, and a satisfying end. To be satisfying, the end need not be happy. But it has to mean something. Not that every story needs a moral, as such. But it should have a coherent theme, so that it isn’t just a hodge-podge of unrelated incidents.

Shopping the Media Market

Tracy Thompson — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:34:03 -0400

Once I was a news producer. Now I am a news consumer. It’s been a tough transition. Being a reporter is a cross between of being in the Mafia and being a human racehorse: once a member of the Media Tribe, it’s hard to disaffiliate—and once the speed and thrill of news gathering is in your DNA, the advent of any major news event jangles your neurons like the clang of a racetrack starting bell.

Column of the Week

Fri, 28 May 2010 13:15:00 -0400

Reality Check

Wally Dean — Mon, 17 May 2010 13:50:32 -0400

In the frenzy to reinvent journalism, a couple of fundamental realities about the production and consumption of news seem to be getting lost amid all the commotion of our blogging, tweeting, linking-in, facebooking, and more recently, going mobile. The first is that mainstream media, particularly the institution formerly known as print, supplies virtually all the reportorial journalism of civic decision-making. The other is that local TV – and its visual story telling – remains the most popular way to consume news and information.

Montage

Mon, 17 May 2010 11:53:28 -0400

Bill Kovach Image

Tue, 11 May 2010 15:43:58 -0400

A Slippery Slope?

Jon Margolis — Tue, 11 May 2010 10:16:13 -0400

This was going to be—indeed was first written as—a simple examination of what might go wrong when a newspaper runs stories written not by its reporters, but by an employee of the subject of its coverage. But you know how it is. You make that one more phone call to ask the obvious question, and, bingo, you get new information that challenges the original premise.

Meet Some of our Featured Columnists

Wed, 05 May 2010 14:31:04 -0400

Each week, a CCJ columnist will explore that question, from the impact of new technologies to the coverage of politics and government to the impressions of those who’ve gone from news reporter to news consumer.

CCJ's Comment to the FCC on the Future of Media

Bill Kovach — Tue, 04 May 2010 09:49:10 -0400

Providing citizens the news they need to make good decisions is about providing verified information gathered by journalists and others who understand, embrace, and can apply these principles. It is about finding a way to pay people to do this work and to create economic models so they can do this work under the umbrella of sustainable, independent institution.

CCJ's Questions for the FCC's Future of Media Project

CCJ — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:26:45 -0400

In order to shape comments to the Federal Communications Commission about the future of media and the information needs of communities, CCJ surveyed its membership on the current state of journalism.

Queen of Queens and the News of New York

Jon Margolis — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:47:08 -0400

Queen of Queens was the big news in New York on the last day of March. It had to be the big news because it was the headline, in big, black, four-and-a-half-inch-high letters, of the lead story in New York's Daily News.

The Lives of the Party

Jon Margolis — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:13:41 -0400

Like many periodicals, The New York Review of Books covered last month’s Tea Party Convention in Nashville. Considering that what the computer nerds would call NYRB’s default political position is decidedly left of center, some readers might have been surprised at the result.

Journalists Love Polls

Jon Margolis — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:18:56 -0500

Journalists love polls. And how could they not? Polls contain information. Objective, mathematical, precise information, presented with scientific certainty. No opinion. No fuzziness. Just the facts, ma'am.

Kovach's Comments on receiving the Kiplinger Award

Bill Kovach — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 20:44:44 -0500

Henry Paulson to Speak at CCJ annual Event

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:55:54 -0500

A Panel of Top Financial Journalists

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:43:28 -0500

Village People

Jon Margolis — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:14:54 -0500

Timing may not be as vital in journalism as it is in comedy, but prominent pundits David Broder and Joe Klein might have been at least a tad embarrassed by the concurrence of their recent columns on Sarah Palin and the latest poll about her.

Village People

Jon Margolis — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:14:54 -0500

Bill Kovach, CCJ founder, Receives the National Press Foundation's Kiplinger Award

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:05:34 -0500

Bill Kovach, founding chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, will be presented with the National Press Foundations 2010 W.M. Kiplinger Award on February 16th in Washington DC, at the annual NPF awards dinner. The Kiplinger Award is presented for distinguished contributions to journalism and was created to honor individuals who have worked to preserve and strengthen American journalism while ensuring its quality.

You talkin' to us, Mr. President?

Jon Margolis — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:08:56 -0500

You talkin' to us, Mr. President? Sure sounded that way: "The more that TV pundits reduce serious debates to silly arguments, big issues into sound bites, our citizens turn away", he said toward the end of his State of the Union speech.

The Color of Money

Jon Margolis — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 09:57:30 -0500

Nobody ever said it was easy, being in this news biz. One blankety-blank thing happens right after another, or worse, now that there's this 24-hour-a-day cable/talk radio/blog domination-the next thing happens even before the first thing has stopped happening. They're yelling at you from the right side, scoffing at you from the left, lying to you from both sides, and, well hell you know how it is...a fella (and we're talking here about fellas of both genders) can get confused.

Probing Behind The Process

Jon Margolis — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:50:35 -0500

Some weeks ago, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered ran a report about Marco Rubio, the young Florida conservative who is challenging his party’s establishment—and its governor—by running for the GOP nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat against Gov. Charlie Crist.

The Journalists-in-Residence Program

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:43:21 -0500

The Journalists-in-Residence Program

Conduct on the ground reporting from the United States and gain a perspective on American politics, business, culture and media that cannot be fully examined or understood from abroad. CCJ’s new Journalists-in-Residence program is for mid-career or senior print, broadcast, or online journalists and provides:

A temporary base in Washington, DC, from which to conduct reporting,
Assistance finding research, sources, and contacting experts and newsmakers,
A program of journalism seminars based on The Elements of Journalism,
Visits to major newspaper, TV, and online newsrooms,
One-on-one meetings with important American journalists.

Anthony Akaeze, a Principal Staff Writer for Newswatch in Lagos, Nigeria, used his four-week visit to explore issues including U.S. foreign policy toward Africa, the relationship between government and the news media, and issues of race in America.

No, Virginia (and New Jersey), the World Did Not Begin in 2006

Jon Margolis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:05:29 -0500

One the morning of Election Day, David Plouffe, who managed Barack Obama’s campaign last year, was on NBC’s Today show to plug his new book, The Audacity to Win. But first, co-host Meredith Vieira had to ask him about that day’s elections

Getting it Wrong in the Neighborhood.

Jon Margolis — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:50:13 -0500

Anybody who’s been in this business for a week or more has heard the gripe of someone who lost all faith in news coverage the first time there was a story in the neighborhood

The Press Pass Shield

Tracy Thompson — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:13:16 -0400

Way back when I was still young and green enough to be thrilled to be in possession of an honest-to-God press pass, an old-timer passed on a piece of wisdom. “Having a press pass,” he said, “has kept me out of a lot of places I coulda gotten into if I hadn’t had a press pass.”

CCJ Founding Mission

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:37:19 -0400

Watch video of how our organization was born

Reason and Its Discontents

Jon Margolis — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:30:53 -0400

Are we all forgetting something? Or, more precisely, ignoring something? Well, not entirely, at least not any more. Not since Maureen Dowd’s column in Sunday’s New York Times declared that one reason for the current political tumult

Elements of Journalism Training

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:02:09 -0400

For a decade CCJ, an affiliate of the Reynolds Journalism Institute, has been conducting in-depth seminars with mid-career journalists from the U.S. and around the world. In June 2009 a group of Portuguese journalists came to DC for training.

This two-week seminar typical of CCJ's work, brought together news professionals from print, broadcast, on-line, and academia under the auspices of the Luso-American Foundation, which provided funding for a second year. It was held at the CCJ offices in the National Press Building in Washington, DC.

Self Knowledge

Tracy Thompson — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:25:20 -0400

There are a lot of skills involved in being a good journalist, but here’s one that often gets left off the list: self-knowledge. What kind of journalist are you? What methods are your strengths? What are you not so good at?

It’s My Business or, Is the Personal Always Political?

Tom Avila — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:01:24 -0400

I spent my Saturday in the capital of “The Hoosier State,” Indianapolis Ind. While Indianapolis is a beautiful city worth a visit on its own merits, this was a working trip to lead a panel called “When the Story Hits Home” at SPJ’s national convention. The question we were trying to answer? Can lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) journalists cover issues like marriage,

A Summit to Improve Journalistic Coverage of Public Education

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:11:48 -0400

June 15, 2009, The Harvard Club of New York City

The Shape of the World

Jon Margolis — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:03:01 -0400

Opinions over the shape of the world still differ. So, it seems, do opinions over whether accurately reporting those conflicting opinions constitutes good journalism

It's Not a Job--It's an Adventure!

Tracy Thompson — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 15:20:25 -0400

There are times when I wonder at my own presumption, writing a column intended mostly for journalists out there in the trenches. It’s been 13 years since I worked in a newsroom, and those have been some of the most eventful years this industry has ever known.

PULP FICTION

Jon Margolis — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:31:25 -0400

Back in 1998, Patricia Smith, then and now a prize-winning poet, was fired by (technically asked to resign from) the Boston Globe because she had been making stuff up.

A Horse is a Horse, Even if You Buy It a Beer

Tom Avila — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:53:17 -0400

I know that we’re all sick of hearing about it, but I have to talk a bit longer about the so-called “Beer Summit.” To his credit, President Obama called out the fact that while it was “… a clever term…” the “Beer Summit” was not a summit.

The Devil Is In the Paradigm

Jon Margolis — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:48:36 -0400

Last week the New England Cable Network ran a story on how much of the federal stimulus money was actually making its way to the cities and towns of the region. Not much, as it turns out,

A Few Buttons Missing?

Jon Margolis — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:33:09 -0400

It was Samuel Goldwyn who first noted that “anybody who goes to see a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined.” But just going to a psychiatrist is easy.

Accentuating the Negative

Jon Margolis — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:03:10 -0400

As the week began, Time Magazine political sage Mark Halperin offered “5 reasons to bet AGAINST major health care reform passing this year.” His first four reasons were logical, if debatable—that one sixth of the economy “can’t be remade

As Time Goes By

Tracy Thompson — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:28:30 -0400

This moment in the history of journalism is like being present at the Big Bang, and reality has turned inside out. Mighty and once-monolithic outlets are going poof! into black holes, and the news business itself is disintegrating into a million little pieces. Meanwhile, an audience which used to consist of billions of individuals is congealing into one gigantic, sticky web

Such a Tizzy Over 32 Words

Jon Margolis — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:46:26 -0400

Such a tizzy over 32 words. Twice as many, if perhaps not yet as famous and controversial as George W. Bush’s 16 inaccurate words about African yellowcake, but getting there,

I’m Not Dead Yet…Some Slightly Angry Thoughts about Journalism

Tom Avila — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:25:26 -0400

“Journalism isn’t dying. More people than ever are consuming news.” This is said to me by someone with the best of intentions. I’m meant to see this as a reason for feeling positive, optimistic. A sunny little factoid pulled from a statistic that I don’t necessarily believe or trust.

We Begin with an Anecdote

Jon Margolis — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:46:06 -0400

In 1991, when newspapers made money and spent some of it sending reporters off on stories, one of those newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, sent one of its reporters, me, off on a story.

Thriving in Apocalypse

Tracy Thompson — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:54:59 -0400

Truly, the End Times are upon us. The Rocky Mountain News is kaput. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is now online-only, with a skeleton staff. Since 2001, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism and figures from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the print industry has lost about 16 percent of its newsroom jobs

Let's Talk Money

Jon Margolis — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:35:13 -0400

Yeah, the gig here is Talking Journalism. But it’s hard to deny the connection the week after hundreds of journalists at the New York Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere took a big pay cut, apparently necessary because the companies they work for aren’t making money.

South Africa: The end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?

Keith Somerville — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:28:16 -0400

The British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once said that a week is a long time in politics, so 15 years since the election of Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s seems a lifetime. When the victorious ANC leader Jacob Zuma is sworn in as president he will be the third ANC leader, the third black politician and the first Zulu to hold that position.

Unequal Revisionism

Jon Margolis — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 11:31:22 -0400

Personal attacks are all the rage these days in both politics and journalism. It’s as though anyone coming upon a policy or a news story with which he or she disagrees is constitutionally incapable of criticizing the policy or story without also proclaiming that the advocate of the policy and/or the writer of the story is not simply ill-advised, but the lowest form of animal life.

FRONTLINE EXAMINES NEWEST HEALTH HAZARDS IN NATION’S CONTAMINATED WATERWAYS

Frontline: Poisoned Waters - Hedrick Smith — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:29:03 -0400

As a new president, Congress, and states set new agendas and spending priorities, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith examines the growing hazards to human health and the ecosystem, and why it’s so hard to keep our waters clean in FRONTLINE’s Poisoned Waters, airing Tuesday, April 21, 2009, from 9 to 11 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings).

Watching TV News: How To Be A Smarter Viewer Watching TV News: How To Be A Smarter Viewer

News University — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:48:20 -0400

This course is designed to help you become more discriminating television news consumer at a time when the digital revolution is creating an unprecedented flood of information and images every day.

Motors, Murders and Mugabe: A Car Crash Or a Conspiracy to Kill?

Keith Somerville — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:00:21 -0400

It's easy to think the worst of the world's despots. It's often a well-informed guess, maybe even a correct one. Certainly, it's cathartic. But is it what journalists should do?

I Could Call You an Elitist for Reading This, But That Would Be Wrong

Jon Margolis — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:00:33 -0400

Mark Twain had it right when it comes to lightning and lightning bugs. Distinctions matter when we decide which word to use. Take the socialist label, for example, and whether Barack Obama is one. If you use "socialist" correctly, Obama is not one - and nobody else is, either.

If Knowing You Might Be Wrong is Wrong, I Don’t Want to Be Right

Tom Avila — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:59:13 -0400

Go home, shut the bathroom door, look straight at the mirror and repeat after me: It's possible I don't have the answer. Maybe I don't know. My story could be ... wrong. There - doesn't that feel better? Acceptance of infallibility puts you on the road to real answers.

Ignorance is Bliss - Unless You're a Reporter, And Then It's Infuriating

Jon Margolis — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 15:09:04 -0400

Is it too much to ask journalists to know a little something about the subject they're reporting on? Maybe ask a question or two? Challenge their assumptions? Sometimes, apparently, it is.

Why Tweeting is for the Birds: The World is Way Too Much With Us

Tracy Thompson — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:20:57 -0500

The next time your iPod or cell phone seals you in a world of unceasing sound and babble, remember the thousands who would give anything for a few minutes of peace and quiet.

When Real News Didn't Come To Me, I Decided to Go Get It Myself

Jon Margolis — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:21:44 -0500

Fed up with bland "he said/she said" news? Tired of shrinking newspapers doing less and charging more? I was, so I decided it was time to stop complaining and start doing the reporting myself. Let me tell you how it's going.

More Than Skin Deep: The Need - and Benefits - of Newsroom Diversity

Tom Avila — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 12:33:32 -0500

Journalism's job-ocalypse underscores the problem with making diversity a numbers game: Hire so many blacks or Hispanics and you win! True diversity is a staff that reflects the community, not just in race but also in faith, personal backgrounds and in all the ways that make us different.

If Culture Wars Are Over, Why Is Journalism’s Body Count Still Rising?

Jon Margolis — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:17:31 -0500

President Obama may be a child of the '80s, presumably free of the previous generation's "Us vs. Them" battle plan, but many in journalism seem unwilling to stand down. Just take a look at some of the recent skirmishes.

A Place Where Print Still Reigns Supreme - and It Needs You

Tracy Thompson — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:36:30 -0500

Want to do something that makes an impact for decades? Need to remember why you became a journalist? Start a newspaper in your local grade school and meet some natural-born communicators just itching to become reporters.

Impartial or Cowardly: A Journalist's View of BBC Rejection of Gaza Aid Plea

Keith Somerville — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:42:37 -0500

The BBC's decision against airing an appeal for humanitarian aid for Gaza after the Israeli invasion was met with scorn by many in Britain's journalism community. What the BBC saw as a defense of its impartiality was seen by one such journalist as a way to dodge Israeli criticism.

On Faith, Journalism and Having Faith in Journalism

Tom Avila — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 21:01:51 -0500

My faith is personal. My faith in journalism, however, is professional, and that faith is tested when journalists give simplistic coverage to matters of faith, instead of treating it as the complex story it is. That said, let's talk about Pastor Rick Warren.

A Path Forward

Committee of Concerned Journalists — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:55:49 -0500

CCJ and Tom Brokaw hosted a dinner and a panel discussion with some of the most respected reporters and political thinkers in the country.

TV exhausts, athletics can bleed. Movies cost. Journalists, we might as well read.

Jon Margolis — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:31:58 -0500

Nat Hentoff's departure from the Village Voice reminds us that once upon a time, journalism and the arts were members of the same literary family - and journalists were proud of their parentage.

Shaky ethics: There's iffy, there's shameful, then there's NBC News

Jon Margolis — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:18:14 -0500

When NBC News enlisted retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey as a military analyst, its journalistic sin was not merely withholding his ties to defense contractors. The greater sin was using him at all.

Africa is Tribal, Europe is Ethnic: The Power of Words in the Media

Keith Somerville — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:19:44 -0500

Media outlets blamed this summer's fighting in South Ossetia on nationalism. But when post-election violence swept Kenya, the media pointed the finger at tribalism. It's a difference of just one word, but oh, such a word.

Chill, Baby, Chill: The Campaign Is Over, But We Keep Talking

Jon Margolis — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:38:41 -0500

The search for meaning is a never-ending quest for political reporters. Just because we have no news to support a supposition is no reason to stop now. Actually, come to think of it, it is.

Don’t Know Much About History - And Why That Matters

Tom Avila — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 13:17:08 -0500

What journalists don't know about the past jeopardizes their ability to put the present in context. And if voters don't fully understand the present, what kind of decisions will we make about the future?

In Defense of Weeping: It's My Country, I'll Cry If I Want To

Tracy Thompson — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:37:47 -0500

Regardless of whom you voted for, you might have cried, too, when the nation elected its first black president Tuesday. How can I be objective and a little misty-eyed? Because nothing in the journalist's rule book precludes us from being human.

Covering Political Campaigns: Maybe Someday, We'll Get It Right

Jon Margolis — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:28:33 -0500

The winner in the presidential race is finally known, but we've known for awhile that in many ways, journalism has been the loser this campaign season. Here's why.

What the Campaign is Teaching Me: The Opposite of Hate is Journalism

Tom Avila — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:46:10 -0400

The single best antidote to hate is knowledge. Not of plumbing licenses and long-ago associates, but of the things that help us understand our lives and society. What the world needs now is not love, but journalism.

Sports Coverage at Your Station Getting Low Ratings? Don't Drop It; Fix It

C.A. Tuggle — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:14:06 -0400

TV consultants say only 25% of viewers care about sports, prompting stations to reduce sports coverage. But maybe that missing 75% of the audience just doesn't like how sports are covered. Want to win back those viewers?

Social Security Doomed! Not True, But It Is a Bad Master Narrative

Jon Margolis — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 11:36:47 -0400

Remember when your mom chided you with, "If everyone jumped off a cliff, would you jump, too?" Tom Brokaw - and all reporters - would do well to remember that just because everyone says the same thing doesn't make it true.

Yikes! The Sky is Falling and We're All Going to Die! Eeeeeaaaah...

Tom Avila — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 09:18:47 -0400

It's true. The sky IS falling - if you consider plunging comets part of the sky. And we ARE all going to die - if you consider life a terminal condition. But in today's drive-by media culture, we may not notice that being accurate and being right aren't always the same thing.

An Unasked Question in the Fiscal Crisis: What Were We Thinking?

Tracy Thompson — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 17:21:26 -0400

The single mom whose mortgage cost more than her entire annual salary? The engineer who had two mortgages to buy a $725,000 house with no money down? Understanding those motivations, along with whatever thinking was done on Wall Street, would help explain our financial mess.

Welcome to My Small Town, a Place Political Types Really Should Visit

Jon Margolis — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:41:51 -0400

My Main Street is not the busiest street in town. People here know that a "blank check" is not the same thing as "carte blsnche." And their values? Let me tell you ...

Post-Modern Campaign Needs Reporters Rooted in the Now

Jon Margolis — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 12:17:53 -0400

Take the "ironic self-reference" definition of post-modern, and you have an apt description of the race for the White House: Can John McCain use e-mail? Did Barack Obama call Sarah Palin a pig? Can we get back to the issues?

We Have Met the Copy Editor, and He Is Now Us, the Reporters

Tracy Thompson — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:25:44 -0400

I used to think that copy editors were put in the newsroom to irritate me by asking tedious questions. But now their ranks are dwindling, forcing all of us to become copy editors. The consequence? Errors that make it into the paper are rising. How can we monetize accuracy?

The Quaintness of Fact-Checking in the Blogosphere

Jon Margolis — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:02:24 -0400

Old Media have one approach: Hear something, verify it, print it. Some members of the New Media take a different tack: Weave some facts into an assumption and then go to town with it. Which method serves the public better?

Get Out of Your Chair and Yell, 'I'm an Elitist and I'm Proud as Heck'

Tom Avila — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:37:45 -0400

Worried about looking smarter than your audience? Maybe you are smarter, if only because you're smart enough to have questions and get answers. Here's why you need to embrace your inner nerd.

For a Look at Election Coverage, Head to the Shallow End of the Pool

Jon Margolis — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:26:45 -0400

Political news has taken a short holiday, giving us a chance to do what we often don't have time for - think about how we do our jobs. We'll start with whether journalists should cover the conventions.

Behind Politicians is the Process, Where Principles Confront Reality

Jon Margolis — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:07:06 -0400

Take a look behind Barack Obama's statement last week on offshore drilling, and you'll get a good look at the Washington culture of horsetrading. Some of the media's coverage, however, was rooted in quite another culture.

When Life's Private Twists & Turns Become the Stuff of Book Tours

Tracy Thompson — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:54:02 -0400

One writes about her sex life. Another about his drug life, and yet another about his role in a national scandal. Are we reading journalism, learning about the human condition, or have we become the literary equivalent of peeping Toms?

We Knew We Were Doomed When CBS Led With Tiger Woods

Beth Malicki — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:17:14 -0400

Little more than a month ago, Beth Malicki and her colleagues at KCRG-TV9 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, were broadcasting up to 20 hours a day to cover the flood that had crippled their town. Now, the water is down and the national media have gone. But for local journalists, the story continues.

You Want to Label Journalists? Can You Come Up With 52,000 Labels?

Jon Margolis — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:33:15 -0400

The liberals think journalists are too conservative, just as conservatives think journalists are too liberal. Who's right? Everyone is, and here's why.

New Yorker started a joke, which started the whole blogosphere yelping

Tom Avila — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:01:45 -0400

Here's a novel idea: Instead of leaping to the barricades in high dudgeon over the hyperbolic sarcasm of the New Yorker's Obama cover, how about taking a long, honest look at it first?

Everyone Has an Angle - Even Historians & Other Academics

Bob Bateman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:59:18 -0400

Looking for a dispassionate opinion, a source who has no dog in the particular fight that you're writing about? Don't let that Ph.D. or other academic trappings fool you - such experts usually have a bias that your readers should know about.

Obama, McCain are Martian Spies! Time to Tune-up Your Spaminator

Tracy Thompson — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:15:08 -0400

The rampant rumors spawned on the campaign trail should be making everyone's spaminator - that filter that separates truth from hogwash - working overtime. And it raises an intriguing question: How do we know what we know?

The Wesley Clark Flappette: How the Media Picked a Fake Fight

Jon Margolis — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:00:33 -0400

Sure is a great story when a retired general casts aspersions on John McCain's military record. Too bad it never happened. Welcome to another episode of the soap opera that is this year's campaign coverage.

Common Ground: I Say Potato, You Say Farm-Raised Organic Arugula

Tom Avila — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:54:01 -0400

Language is such a wonderful, dangerous thing. We say one thing, but too often something else is heard. For example, there's this listserv in my neighborhood, and a recent controversy holds an important lesson for journalists.

Follow the Money: Great Advice for Hotel Break-Ins and Policy Decisions

Jon Margolis — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:55:21 -0400

When President Bush and John McCain came out in favor of lifting the ban on offshore drilling to lower the price of gas, did anyone ask whether it would actually work? Darned few - and here's how more could have done it.

'The Linn County Sheriff Cried Next To Me On The Air Tonight'

Beth Malicki — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 19:01:26 -0400

When the water started to rise in Iowa, Beth Malicki did what dozens of her fellow journalists did: She went to work. For 10 hours a day and more, day after day, the anchor and reporter for KCRG-TV9 in Cedar Rapids was on the air with the latest news. In an e-mail to friends, she describes the pain of watching a community she loves cope with the devastation.

Journalists & Bloggers: Mutual Incomprehension

Tracy Thompson — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:21:43 -0400

When do bloggers become journalists? We'll figure it out, but not until both camps understand what the other does.

It's Also the War, Stupid

Jon Margolis — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:17:48 -0400

To paraphase a slogan that James Carville used to help put Bill Clinton in the White House, political pundits are forgetting a significant nail in the coffin of Hillary's presidential hopes.

Watch Out, It's a Media Stampede!

Jon Margolis — Tue, 27 May 2008 08:02:30 -0400

The reporters and editors who cover campaigns can get mighty skittish out on the trail, especially when technology is involved. It doesn't take much - a Blackberry, a cell phone, a Web traffic report - to set off a mad rush to publication.

Same-Sex Marriage and Civility: Am I Talking to Myself?

Tom Avila — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:15:29 -0400

The online comments section that is attached to online news stories should be our new public square. But when the news story involves a hot-button topic like same-sex marriage, that public square often shrinks to the size of a single soap box.

Do You Know Your Stuff?

Jon Margolis — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:25:06 -0400

Reporters need to know stuff - not just the stuff of the immediate story, but the stuff of the world behind the story. It's the stuff sources might not mention, but it's the stuff that drives the story. Take, for example, the real reason behind Barack Obama's loss in West Virginia's primary.

Bad War, Bad Science, Bad Reporting: Take Your Pick

Bob Bateman — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:51:35 -0400

My job is to go to war, if ordered. Your job, the job of a journalist, is to challenge the facts you are given. One of us is not doing their job very well.

Miss Pettigrew Vents for a Day

Tracy Thompson — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:54:59 -0400

This year's White House correspondents dinner was a star-studded glamfest as journalistas-turned-fashionistas nibbled on Tunisian tabil-seared salmon and posed for pics with the prez. Huh? Are these really the people we trust to hold power to account on behalf of the average citizen? Let the venting begin.

'Elite' Is Not A Dirty Word

Jon Margolis — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:13:22 -0400

Yes, you heard me. Journalists, who should know the meaning of words, have the latest dustup on the campaign trail all wrong. An elite politician is somebody who could - and maybe should - be elected. Political snobs, however, are another matter.

The Care and Feeding of Military Analysts

Bob Bateman — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:25:00 -0400

A recent front-page story recently broke the news that civilians in the Pentagon try to influence the military analysts who appear on TV news shows. And if you read deep into the story, you might have found some real news.