Do the facts matter?
January 14, 2012
So how far should real journalists go in saying that someone is “misstating” the facts, i.e. lying? This was raised recently by the NYTimes ombudsman. http://t.co/rn2GLZrx ...Everyone came down on the poor fellow to say DUH, of course, that’s what real journalists are supposed to do! But it’s not so simple. Most politics is entirely faith-based. Why else would someone listen to those blow-hards on radio and tv, who lie day after day to paint a scary world full of conspiracies?
Catapults and Critics
November 13, 2011
Report from Budapest
It was a bit dizzying to have both Larry Lessig, who loves the Internet and social networks, and Evgeny Mrozov, who doesn’t, in town the same week. Larry held forth Monday on how money drives the legislative process in Congress, and Evgeny gave us some dark thoughts on Friday from his Net Delusion book about how slacktivism can divert us from genuine civic activity, even as dictators effectively nail folks down with heat-seeking propaganda tools and tracking technologies.
What it will take...
September 11, 2011
The quote of the day comes from, of all people, a GOP President of long ago: "Now it is true that I believe this country is following a dangerous trend when it permits too great a degree of centralization of governmental functions. I oppose this--in some instances the fight is a rather desperate one. But to attain any success it is quite clear that the Federal government cannot avoid or escape responsibilities which the mass of the people firmly believe should be undertaken by it.
The Death of Newspapers?
December 01, 2009
Why should we worry about the death of newspapers?
Reading any newspaper is pretty much a two-dimensional, impersonal, top-down, one-way, and often stupefying experience. News reports are infuriatingly self-referential and incomplete. If they stir us up they don’t give us any place to go. Is this civic engagement? The endless stream of revelations and problems, celebrities and disasters, seems disconnected from our own personal choices and public solutions. Too often, newspaper readers feel like “passengers in the back seat of the car, howling at the driver,” as MIT Prof.
I am thinking about the future of news. Recently…
June 01, 2009
…MIT Prof. William Uricchio observed that old media make us feel like “a passenger in the back seat of the car, howling at the driver.”
…Phil Balboni debated a skeptical MIT student about news “objectivity” at Balboni’s new online GlobalPost venture.
Reversing the Trend Away from Journalism
January 01, 2005
Published in the January 2005 issue of Nieman Reports Magazine.
Journalism will survive, but it might appear in the form of Web sites designed for people who want to check in on the real news when they don’t get the jokes on the Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show.”
I have had mixed feelings about teaching "News Media and Political Power during this presidential election season.
November 12, 2004My premise is that the facts matter, and that journalists are in an ideal position to hold the powerful accountable. This is what I tried to do for 19 years as a reporter. The news media also must be held accountable themselves-because they, too, are among the powerful forces that shape our policy, politics and preoccupations. That is why I quit journalism in 1988 to be part of a group that is trying to hold the news media themselves accountable, and to improve their quality and role, from within the business.
Swift Boats Run Aground
August 11, 2004It is tempting to accept news as fact if it's coming from a neighbor, a funny blog, a likeable person, or someone else who seems to start from a grain of truth. But there are people who like to take that small truth and use it as a talisman to lend credibility to some spurious idea they may have, however fantastic or untrue. They use false analogies, deliberate misquotes, they change the context entirely, or they omit key facts to distort the meaning of the original fact or statement.
A Time for Mischief
June 11, 2004Boston, Summer, 2004--Political conventions are the perfect time for mischief. In the 21st century they don’t have a real job to do because the primaries have selected the presidential nominee. Yet they get the world’s media spotlight for four days, as if they were up to something important. Think about it: a phenomenal 15,000 journalists will be scouring Boston in July, looking for a story. It is the dirty prankster’s dream.
Getting to Real
May 10, 2004The core mission of independent watchdog journalism is to hold the powerful accountable on behalf of the “little people.” This seems a hopeless dream in our era of corporate media conglomeration, but in fact there are pockets of success. Courageous journalists are struggling to work even in the most dangerous corners of the earth. “Media Missionaries,” my updated report on American international journalism training, shares stories from the front lines of this global battle to tell the truth.
