I've just helped judge a journalism contest for my alma mater, McClatchy, and have a couple of observations to report: First, don't believe those who argue that newspapers' investigative reporting is so minimal that it's easily replaced. It isn't small, and if newspapers couldn't do it anymore, the void would be very deep. Second, high-quality watchdog reporting isn't simply the province of big national players doing "secret prisons" or "secret eavesdropping" stories. It's also the heart and soul of newsrooms across the country that keep watch over their communities and regions. I say these things not primarily to brag about……Continue Reading Watchdog journalism: Hardly a newspaper afterthought
News
State of the Black Union: Young Scholars Forum
In association with USC Annenberg’s Johnson Communication Leadership Center and the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy, the Tavis Smiley Foundation presents the Young Scholars Forum as part of the foundation’s 10th annual State of the Black Union symposium. The program, hosted by Tavis Smiley, features remarks by Dean Ernest J. Wilson III and a panel of distinguished contemporary young adult leaders before an audience of outstanding student leaders from high schools and colleges in Southern California. Lunch follows discussion. This event is free, but registration is required. For more information, click here. 8:30 a.m. – 12 noon. USC Bovard……Continue Reading State of the Black Union: Young Scholars Forum
The public gets a voice in the ‘future of news’
The media revolution has reached a new and important stage: The American public is being let in on the discussion. In the last two weeks' articles in the New York Times and Time Magazine have helped push the question of "whither news media" before a much bigger audience. I say it's about time. Of course, it's not as if the industry's increasingly dire business outlook has been a secret. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings of the Tribune Co. and the Minneapolis Star Tribune were plenty telling. So was the Detroit newspapers' decision to limit home delivery to three days a……Continue Reading The public gets a voice in the ‘future of news’
Public policy and the crisis in the news business
Newspapers are for sale across the country. National Public Radio and television news shows are laying off staff. The Tribune Company is in bankruptcy. It's clear that journalism is in crisis, and in the current recession, things are likely to get much worse. That's alarming. A robust press is vital to our democracy. And while bloggers and other new-media news operations have enriched the public dialogue in important ways, their work still depends on the painstaking – and expensive – reporting supplied by traditional journalists…….Continue Reading Public policy and the crisis in the news business
Nonprofit news roundup for Jan. 23, 2009
Philanthropy Journal highlighted a column by Senior Fellow David Westphal on the role of philanthropy in producing quality journalism. For-profit newspapers and nonprofit foundations are not opposed to joining forces to promote innovative reporting, Westphal wrote in his column, which appeared in the Online Journalism Review…….Continue Reading Nonprofit news roundup for Jan. 23, 2009
Inauguration Watch
USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy and the USC Unruh Institute of Politics, invite students, faculty and friends to watch the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Following the ceremony, there will be a discussion on the inaugural speech and the future of Obama’s presidency. Guests TBA. Refreshments will be served. 8:00 a.m. USC Ground Zero Coffee House, 615 Childs Way. Postscript: For information and pictures from this event and others, visit the CCLP Collection on Flickr …….Continue Reading Inauguration Watch
Free press, with profits
The Los Angeles Times ran an op-ed by Geneva Overholser and CCLP Director Geoffrey Cowan about the important role government plays in sustaining serious journalism. "It's clear that journalism is in crisis, and in the current recession, things are likely to get much worse," they wrote. "With a new administration and a new Congress seeking fresh solutions to other crises, we need to consider new possibilities to help ensure that journalism remains able to provide the information needed by a great democracy."……Continue Reading Free press, with profits
Lofty expectations for Obama’s inaugural speech
The San Francisco Chronicle quoted Faculty Fellow Thomas Hollihan and Morley Winograd of the USC Marshall School about Barack Obama's inauguration address. "An inaugural speech is very different from the annual State of the Union address," Hollihan said. "By its very nature, it's a speech that celebrates the continuity of the compact between people and the democratic process." The article also included a list of tips from Hollihan on what to expect from the speech…….Continue Reading Lofty expectations for Obama’s inaugural speech
Kennedy and Obama
The New York Times ran an op-ed by Senior Fellow Richard Reeves about President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address. "The speech was bellicose and conciliatory at the same," Reeves wrote. "Kennedy was a man who knew that in his new job, words were often more important than deeds," Reeves added. "Few people would remember whether he balanced the budget. Almost all Americans would remember his lines, particularly, 'Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.'"……Continue Reading Kennedy and Obama
From a press scholar, a rousing vote for the journalist
New media thinker Jay Rosen has been using the work of press scholar Daniel C. Hallin to explain how the Internet has eroded journalists' traditional power to define what issues are legitimate for proper debate. Hallin wrote that journalists tend to place public issues into three categories: a sphere of consensus, a sphere of legitimate controversy and a sphere of deviance. In a post on his blog, Press Think, Rosen argued that the press has done a lousy, unthinking job of deciding what goes into each category, and that through the Internet American citizens might assume this role for themselves…….Continue Reading From a press scholar, a rousing vote for the journalist