N
R NIEMAN REPORTS THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
VOL. 59 NO. 4 WINTER 2005 Five Dollars Citizen Journalism
Words & Reflections Intelligent Design Global Warming Hurricane Katrina Coverage “… to promote and elevate the standards of journalism”
—Agnes Wahl Nieman, the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation.
Vol. 59 No. 4 Nieman Reports Winter 2005 The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University
Publisher Bob Giles Editor Melissa Ludtke Assistant Editor Lois Fiore Editorial Assistant Sarah Hagedorn Design Editor Diane Novetsky
Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published Editorial in March, June, September and December Telephone: 617-496-6308 by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, E-Mail Address: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. [email protected]
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Please address all subscription correspondence to Postmaster: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Send address changes to and change of address information to Nieman Reports, P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. P.O. Box 4951, ISSN Number 0028-9817 Manchester, NH 03108. Vol. 59 No. 4 Nieman Reports Winter 2005 The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University
4 Citizen Journalism
6 The Future Is Here, But Do News Media Companies See It? By Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis
11 Where Citizens and Journalists Intersect By Dan Gillmor
13 Citizen Journalism and the BBC By Richard Sambrook
16 With Citizens’ Visual News Coverage Standards Don’t Change By Santiago Lyon and Lou Ferrara
17 Journalism as a Conversation By Jean K. Min
20 Fear, Loathing and the Promise of Public Insight Journalism By Michael Skoler
22 How Participatory Journalism Works By Steve Safran
24 Citizens Media: Has It Reached a Tipping Point? By Jan Schaffer
26 Reconnecting With the Audience By Clyde H. Bentley
28 Creating a New Town Square By Leslie Dreyfous McCarthy
29 Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Became a Citizen Journalist By Barry Parr
31 Defining a Journalist’s Function By William F. Woo
33 When the Internet Reveals a Story By Seth Hettena
35 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
36 Words Triumph Over Images By Curtis Wilkie
37 New Orleans’ Lower Nine Fades, Fades, Fades Away By Will Sutton
40 Witness to the Tragedy A Photo Essay by Carolyn Cole
43 Rumors, Race and Class Collide By Kevin Cullen
45 ‘It Looks Like the Third World’ Excerpt From an Article by Philip J. Cunningham
45 Seeing Is Believing A Photo Essay by Nuri Vallbona
50 Drawing the Mood of New Orleans A Cartoon Essay by Steve Kelley
54 The Messengers of Mississippi in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina By Elizabeth Mehren
56 Questions for Journalists to Ponder in the Aftermath of Katrina By Mary C. Curtis
Cover photo: Page from Thomas Paine’s “The Age of Reason” (Truth Seeker, 1889). Image courtesy of Geoff Price from www.rationalrevolution.net. 57 Words & Reflections: Intelligent Design and Global Warming 59 Science and Journalism Fail to Connect By Dan Fagin
60 Strengthening the Line Between News and Opinion By Jeff Bruce
63 Editorial Pages and Intelligent Design By Cynthia Tucker
65 In Kansas, the Debate About Science Evolves By Diane Carroll
67 When the Conflict Narrative Doesn’t Fit By Diane Winston
69 Courtroom Testimony Offers an Excellent Road Map for Reporters By Paul R. Gross
71 Probing Beneath the Surface of the Intelligent Design Controversy By Gailon Totheroh
73 Intelligent Design Has Not Surfaced in the British Press By Martin Redfern
75 Knowing Uncertainty for What It Is By David Michaels
77 Disinformation, Financial Pressures, and Misplaced Balance By Ross Gelbspan
80 Observing Those Who Observe A Photo Essay by Daniel Grossman
86 The Disconnect of News Reporting From Scientific Evidence By Max Boykoff
88 Context and Controversy: Global Warming Coverage By Jessica Durfee and Julia Corbett
89 Weight-of-Evidence Reporting: What Is It? Why Use It? By Sharon Dunwoody
91 Global Warming: What’s Known vs. What’s Told By Sandy Tolan and Alexandra Berzon
95 How Do We Cover Penguins and Politics of Denial? An Excerpt From a Speech by Bill Moyers
97 Accepting Global Warming as Fact By Markus Becker
99 Culture Contributes to Perceptions of Climate Change By Hans von Storch and Werner Krauss
103 Trying to Achieve Balance Against Great Odds By Jacques A. Rivard
104 Words & Reflections: Books, a Film, and Scandal 105 Bringing Iraqi Voices Into the Conversation About Their Country By Patrick J. McDonnell
106 Iraq’s Emerging Press By Maggy Zanger
108 Childhood Experiences Shape a Reporter’s Journey By Lester Sloan
110 Political Journalism: It’s Not the Good Old Days By David Yepsen
111 The Role Women Journalists Played in Poland’s Freedom By Peggy Simpson
113 The Life and Times of Foreign Correspondents in Russia By Alvin Shuster
115 Remembering One of Journalism’s Finest Moments By Don Aucoin
117 Knowing When to Stop Reporting About a Scandal By Madelaine Drohan
3 Curator’s Corner: Nieman Fellowships in Global Health Reporting By Bob Giles
119 Nieman Notes Compiled by Lois Fiore
119 Photojournalism Students Cover Hurricane Katrina By Eli Reed 120 Class Notes 125 End Note: Photo Essay by University of Texas Students
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Curator’s Corner Nieman Fellowships in Global Health Reporting Three fellows in the next three Nieman classes will focus their Harvard study—and four additional months of fieldwork—on health issues in the developing world.
By Bob Giles
he world is going through a cyclical period of high in- fieldwork in a developing country at the end of the Nieman terest in global health. Avian flu is on everyone’s mind year at Harvard. Adding four months of fieldwork is an exciting Tnow, with building anxiety about whether this deadly innovation in the Nieman program. It emphasizes the value of respiratory virus might spread across the planet and become sending fellows to places in the developing world where they a pandemic among humans. Two years ago the subject was can get closest to the problems of disease, prevention and SARS, and previously such illnesses as HIV/AIDS have been potential treatments. At the end of the fieldwork, the fellows the subjects of intense public interest that lose their urgency will be expected to produce stories that draw on their intense before long. exposure to health conditions in a developing country. The recent Time magazine Global Health Summit brought The decision to select fellows from the United States, Eu- together an extraordinary gathering of practitioners, research- rope and the developing world recognizes several important ers, scholars, public officials, activists and journalists to discuss realities about global health. The United States and Europe strategies for addressing global health issues. The magazine’s are among the richest places in the world. Major resources for special issue on global health and the six-part television se- research and treatment exist there. It is critical for the public ries on PBS explained the critical nature of global health to and policymakers in these countries to be better informed wide audiences. News reports from Africa about the poor about the problems of global health. Including a journal- populations affected by malaria and HIV/AIDS, and stories ist from a developing country recognizes the challenge of about international pressure on the Bush administration to providing basic knowledge about health to populations at commit the United States to paying a fair share of health costs risk in Africa and other parts of the developing world, where in Africa, are giving the American public other reasons to pay local reporters typically are ill-equipped, and sometimes ill- attention, for now. But it is difficult to maintain continuing informed, on these topics. public attention among Americans and Europeans on global We expect the fellowships will attract an applicant pool health; and people in the developing world, where the most both from journalists who have experience in reporting on serious health problems exist, have little access to accurate public health and who represent news organizations with a information. commitment to continuing coverage of global health and from To help educate journalists to cover these important sto- journalists with a strong interest in global health but little ries, the Nieman Foundation has begun a pilot program to actual experience in reporting on it. Dedicating three of our provide three annual Nieman Fellowships in global health 25 fellowships for each of the next three years to global health reporting for three years under a $1.19 million grant from reporting reflects our belief that the resources of the Nieman the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The fellowships are a Foundation and Harvard’s commitment to global health can joint initiative with the Harvard School of Public Health. The contribute to building broader public understanding about Nieman Foundation worked closely with the school’s Center illnesses that burden the world’s poorest people—and could for Health Communication in writing the grant proposal. Jay potentially threaten the entire globe. A. Winsten, an associate dean and director of that center, was A recent editorial in The Lancet, a British scientific journal, a true partner in persuading his faculty to enable the global said that “the eradication of disease and the alleviation of health fellows to have access to courses throughout the school suffering depend more on developing the skills of talented and work with advisors in course selection and in planning people than on technology.” fieldwork projects. Particularly important to the fellows’ In funding these Nieman Fellowships, the Gates Founda- experience is the opportunity to connect with Harvard’s Ini- tion is acknowledging the critical role journalism can play in tiative for Global Health, which was established in 2003 as a informing worldwide audiences of the complex problems in universitywide effort to bridge the gap from basic to applied global health and of the imperative for both effective public life sciences, including social, economic, political and ethical policies and for investment in research toward prevention issues that influence global health. and treatment. n The global health reporting fellows—one from the United States, one from Europe, and one from the developing Y [email protected] world—will be chosen annually, starting with the 2006-2007 academic year. The fellowships will include four months of
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism
With the arrival of the Internet, the ability of nonjournalists to “publish” their words and link them with those of other like-minded scribes has altered forever the balance of power between those who control the means to publish and those who have something they believe is important to say. This shift from journalists as gatekeepers to citizens as reporters has profound implications for news organizations that “might have completely underestimated the influence of this new medium.” Those are the words of Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis, authors of “We Media: How Audiences Are Shaping the Future of News and Information” and of the first article in our collection of stories exploring the emergence and practice of citizen journalism. “In the past two years, citizen media has grown from a promise to a legitimate presence in today’s media sphere,” they write, as they describe the new information ecosystems being developed. Dan Gillmor, author of “We the Media: Grassroots Journalism by the People, for the People,” picks up on the notion of an evolving media ecosystem that he envisions becoming “a multidirectional conversation, enriching civic dialogue at the local, national and international levels.” He believes “the crucial leap” for journalists “will be helping our audience become involved in the process much more directly.” At the BBC, audience members now contribute to news reports with images and words. Richard Sambrook, the director of the BBC’s World Service and Global News division, describes his network’s transformation into the era of digital technology that enables greater interactivity between the BBC and its audience. As a first step “in what appears likely to be a long journey into new territory,” he observes that BBC staff must “help those who receive our news to contribute to our services as we witness fundamental realignment of the relationship between broadcaster and the public.” Sambrook describes some of the network’s projects related to supporting “the public in learning and using digital technology.” Santiago Lyon and Lou Ferrara, director of photography and online editor at The Associated Press, respectively, explain how citizens caught in the midst of newsmaking moments are making their digital images part of international media coverage of these major events. Yet, they caution, “Most importantly, whatever we do decide to use must meet our editorial standards.” At OhmyNews, a citizen news service in Korea, stories are submitted by citizens, accepted (or rejected), then edited by frontline copyeditors before being posted online. As Jean K. Min, director of OhmyNews International, notes, “The readers, or news audience, are no longer passive consumers of news produced by a few privileged, arrogant reporters. They are active producers of the news they will consume ….” At Minnesota Public Radio, Michael Skoler, its managing director of news, is working in the third year of an effort to gather information and develop story ideas with the use of an expanded and improved Rolodex of sources. It’s called Public Insight Journalism® and relies on computer technology and the Internet to create new avenues of interaction to tap “the knowledge and insights of the public,” Skoler writes, “to make our reporters and editors and coverage even smarter and stronger.” He offers examples of stories on which this new approach has worked well. Steve Safran, the director of digital media at NECN, doesn’t like the term “citizen journalist,” preferring to call what his cable TV station does “participatory journalism.” Viewers are invited to send in video news clips from their desktop computers, but not everything that is
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 sent is broadcast or used on its Web site. As Safran writes, “It’s the New England town hall meeting format, writ large. Town members give us ideas and suggestions, but at the end of the meeting, the moderator—that’s us—decides how to proceed.” Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism at the University of Maryland, describes the growth in start-up community news ventures that citizens are creating as “counterpoints to their local journalism, which they described as polarizing, shrill, focused on the near term, and certainly not focused on them or their concerns.” At the University of Missouri, journalism students, under the direction of associate professor Clyde H. Bentley, launched a citizen journalism Web publication called MyMissourian where editors “encourage and they actively seek out community members eager to speak their minds. What they say—not what we think—is what counts.” Bentley also describes how online content became a popular weekly printed newspaper and how the new focus will be on “defining the role of the trained journalist in this citizen variant and on training them in the skills that role will require.” From the West Coast, Leslie Dreyfous McCarthy, a former national writer for The Associated Press, explains what isn’t working well with the local newspaper in her small town south of San Francisco and why a citizen journalist Web publication, Coastsider, serves as “a locus for the kind of civic trust and independence on which the idea of journalism, indeed, democracy, is based.” When Barry Parr started Coastsider in May 2004 as “a community Web site,” he wasn’t a journalist, but soon he was employing skills that reporters and editors are trained to use. He writes about what he wished he’d known before the launch of his site. Among his wishes: knowing “how hard it is to do journalism well.” Anticipating some of the difficulties that might arise in determining who in the evolving media landscape will merit special legal protections offered now to journalists employed by traditional news organizations, William F. Woo, who directs the graduate journalism program at Stanford University, sets forth what he thinks a functional definition for a journalist should be. At its core, his functional definition has as its premise the idea that “I do journalism, therefore I am a journalist.” Examples of what “doing journalism” means would include “there is a story … [it] is aimed at an audience … [and] there is a public benefit to the story or work product.” Seth Hettena, a military writer and supervisory correspondent for The Associated Press in San Diego, California, explores the role that an American citizen’s personal Web page played in his reporting about the death of an Iraqi terror suspect at Abu Ghraib prison. His use of photographs of Navy Seals and their prisoners in Iraq that he found on this Web site led to a federal court case accusing the A.P. of “invasion of privacy, publication of private facts, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.” The case was dismissed after the judge concluded that “Plaintiffs voluntarily assumed a position of public notoriety when they photographed themselves engaged in actions that seemed to suggest possible mistreatment of captive Iraqis and then allowed Jane Doe to post the photos on the Internet.” n
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism The Future Is Here, But Do News Media Companies See It? ‘Traditional news media are not yet willing to adopt the principals of the environment in which they find themselves.’ By Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis
he news industry is a resilient tion who finds it more natural to instant encore. Only a few exceedingly rare bunch. Newspapers, in particu- message someone than to call, a greater exceptions of online news operations Tlar, represent some of the United demand for niche information, and are profitable, such as The Wall Street States’s oldest and most respected a rapidly growing shift of advertising Journal, but most are still unwilling to companies. So far they have weathered dollars to online media—and you have engage in a different relationship with storms of significant social, economic a recipe for radical change in the news their audience. and technological change by figuring media landscape. In October, Bill Kovach, former New out how to transform themselves and Likewise, the list of online competi- York Times editor, Nieman Foundation what they produce. The creation of the tors is seemingly ever expanding. Search curator, and journalist for 43 years, told telegraph, for example, had doomsayers giants, such as Yahoo!, MSN and Google, the Society of Professional Journalists frothing, but instead newspapers turned continue their expansion and encroach- Convention and National Journalism a disruptive technology into a tool for ment into the news business, siphoning Conference that “… too many journal- better reporting. ad dollars and eyeballs from traditional ists, especially journalists of my gen- During periods of massive change, media Web sites. Craigslist, Monster, eration, remain in a state of confusion the death of the newspaper has always eBay and countless others have taken about the challenges of the new media been greatly exaggerated. So given the a more direct bite out of newspaper’s environment and remain dangerously industry’s survival skills, why worry bread-and-butter, classifieds. passive about the opportunities pre- now? One reason might be that the burst But the greater threat to the longevity sented to traditional journalism by the of the dot-com bubble during the late of established news media might not new communications technology.” ’90’s made many think they had overes- be a future that’s already arrived—it Perhaps it’s this simple: Traditional timated the impact of the Internet. But might be their inability to do anything news media are not yet willing to adopt in retrospect, the news media might about it. Bureaucratic inertia, hierar- the principals of the environment in have completely underestimated the chical organizational structure, and a which they find themselves. Consultant influence of this new medium. legacy mentality have paralyzed many and media critic Jeff Jarvis frames it this news organizations from developing way: “The Number One lesson of the A Recipe for Radical Change a meaningful strategy in this dynamic Internet, whether you’re Howard Dean information age. And their real Achil- or a media company or a marketer, is The Internet is a unique phenomenon les’ heel might be what made media that you have to give up control to gain that has delivered not just technologi- companies a favorite of Wall Street until control.” cal innovations but become a conduit recent years—an ability to consistently for change, accelerating the rate, garner operating profits double that The Blogosphere and diversity and circulation of ideas. It of your average Fortune 500 com- Shifting Authority affects nearly everything from culture pany. As the Project for Excellence in to competition. It has also altered the Journalism’s State of the News Media The venerable profession of journalism economics of media in two important 2005 observed, “If older media sectors finds itself at a rare moment in history ways. First, it enables nearly limitless focus on profit-taking and stock price, when, for the first time, its hegemony distribution of content for little or no they may do so at the expense of build- as gatekeeper of the news is threatened cost. Second, it has potentially put ing the new technologies that are vital by not just new technology and com- everyone on the planet into the media to the future. There are signs that that petitors but by the audience it serves. business, including the sources, busi- may be occurring.” Citizens everywhere are getting together nesses, governments and communities Some have suggested that such be- via the Internet in unprecedented ways newspapers cover. havior is a sign of an industry in a death to set the agenda for news, to inform Add other ingredients—easy-to-use, spiral. Cost cutting with no investment each other about hyper-local and global open-source publishing tools, a genera- for the future limits chances of an issues, and to create new services in
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism
ness from an authoritarian The Emerging Media Ecosystem “top-down” approach to The relationship between citizen media and mainstream media is symbiotic. Information communities and Weblogs integrate and report on discuss and extend the stories created by mainstream media. These communities and the blogosphere also produce user-generated news, as citizen journalism, grass-roots reporting, eyewitness accounts, annotative reporting, commentary, analysis, watchdogging well as establish ways to and fact-checking, which the mainstream media feed upon, developing them as a pool of tips, sources and story ideas. collaborate meaningfully NEWS FILTERING, FACT-CHECKING, with their audience. How- WATCHDOGGING, COMMENTARY, ANALYSIS ever, they still have trouble letting go of control. During Hurricane Ka- trina, many mainstream Information news sites like CNN, MS- Indices , Personal Communities Search Media NBC, and The New York Content-sharing, Engines Conversation Times made an effort to P2P Networks Communities solicit stories, photos and video from citizens. But Filtering of the News despite the tremendous amount of content gener- ated by citizens, only a small fraction found its News Iterates way onto large online news Journalists sites, where it was clearly Newspaper, Radio, TV, Cable, Web, Wire Services Sources segregated from the main coverage. Major news events such Conversation as Hurricane Katrina con- Story Ideas tinue to bring more citizens into the journalistic fray. And with them, a tangible indication that authority is shifting from once trusted Content-sharing, Conversation P2P Networks Communities institutions to communi- Indices Personal Gnutella, BitTorrent, Information Forums, Groups, ties or individuals who Search Engines, Media Sites like Ourmedia, Communities Story Comments, have discovered how to Aggregators, Weblogs, Flickr and Buzznet. Hyper-local, Instant Messaging, Social Video blogs, earn credibility and influ- Niche Content, Chat Rooms Bookmarking Photo blogs, ence online. Some of the Collaborative Podcasts Publishing top Weblogs and citizen media Web sites have traf- GRASSROOTS REPORTING, EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS fic and online reach that outpace mainstream news Source: Based in part on “Blogosphere: The Emerging Media Ecosystem” by John Hiler, Microcontent media destinations. They News. Graphic by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis. include:
• The Daily Kos, a Weblog a connected, always-on society. The are contributing many varieties of that offers political analysis on U.S. audience is now an active, important information and news: first-person, current events from a liberal perspec- participant in the creation and dis- grass-roots reporting, not only in text tive, averages more than 700,000 semination of news and information, but with photos, audio and video; com- visits per day. with or without the help of mainstream mentary and analysis; fact-checking and • Technorati, the real-time search news media. watchdogging, and filtering and editing engine that tracks the blogosphere, In the past two years, citizen me- the ever-growing mass of information measures linking behavior as a proxy dia has grown from a promise to a online. for attention and influence. Accord- legitimate presence in today’s media Citizen media is a trend that main- ing to their August 2005 State of the sphere. Armed with easy-to-use Web stream news media clearly recognize. Blogosphere report, Glenn Reynolds’ publishing tools, always-on connec- With great trepidation and reluctance, political and current events Weblog, tions, and increasingly powerful digital mainstream media are beginning Instapundit, has more authority in and mobile devices, citizen journalists to learn how to evolve their busi- the blogosphere (based on inbound
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism
links) than the Los Angeles Times and information needs of the community. forced dramatic change in the news busi- National Public Radio [NPR]. These sites look to engage citizens not ness. Collaboration is the driving force • The Wikipedia phenomenon has only as readers but also as coproducers behind the explosion of citizen media, taken off. Wikipedia is the interna- and see themselves as facilitators to the with new forms being regularly blazed tional, free content, collaboratively community. by passionate, motivated individuals. written and edited encyclopedia Talking with publishers and readers The Wikipedia project has spawned launched in 2001. According to Al- of sites such as Baristanet, iBrattleboro, more open-source, collaboratively writ- exa, Internet users are twice as likely MyMissourian, and The Northwest ten projects. Wikibooks is an attempt to to visit Wikipedia as The New York Voice, it is becoming clear that these create a comprehensive curriculum of Times. Since 2003, it has grown from efforts are giving a new identity to the free textbooks and manuals. It has more 200,000 articles to amass more than communities they serve. than 11,000 titles so far. Wikinews aims 800,000 articles in English as well Here’s what the most successful citi- to “create a diverse environment where as more than one million articles zen media efforts have learned: citizen journalists can independently in 100 other languages. Overall, report the news on a wide variety of approximately 55,000 Wikipedians • Most citizens don’t want to be jour- current events.” In its first eight months, are writing more than 4,500 articles nalists but do want to contribute in it accumulated more than 2,000 articles. per month. Wikipedia now has 4.5 small and meaningful ways. Citizens RSS, the XML-based technology used to times the number of articles and are interested in participating and syndicate headlines and other informa- nearly 2.5 times as many words as contributing to subjects that tra- tion, was the province of Weblogs in Encyclopaedia Britannica. ditional news outlets ignore or do 2003. Now it’s a fixture of mainstream not often cover. Clyde Bentley, an media Web sites. As well, RSS gave Weblogs are now an established, associate professor at the Missouri birth to a new form of participatory though rapidly expanding, force in news School of Journalism, notes, “The media—podcasting. and marketing. They will continue to main difference between traditional Podcasting, the creation and distri- disrupt and challenge with a staggering journalism and citizen journalism is bution of audio recording online, went pace of growth and influence. According that traditional journalists are sent from the fringe to the mainstream in to Technorati, the number of Weblogs is out to cover things they don’t re- about 18 months. In its infancy, podcasts doubling every five months. The blogo- ally care about; in other words, the were produced by the same folks writ- sphere is now over 30 times as big as it next city council meeting isn’t going ing most Weblogs, the everyday citizen. was three years ago, with approximately to make or break their lives. But a Then Apple integrated podcasting into 70,000 new Weblogs created daily. As of citizen journalist is not out to cover its popular iTunes software, with CEO October 2005, Technorati was tracking something, but to share it. For them, Steve Jobs calling it “a TiVo for radio: 20.1 million Weblogs. However, some they want to tell everybody about you can download radio shows and reports estimate the number of Weblogs their passion.” [See Bentley’s article listen to them on your computer or put created worldwide as being between on page 26.] them on your iPod anytime you want.” 50 and 100 million. According to For- • It’s easy to underestimate what it Now everyone from major radio and rester Research, 10 percent of online takes to be successful in an online TV news outlets (CNN, NPR, ABC), to consumers are reading blogs once a community. It’s more than Web sites newspapers and magazines (The Den- week or more. and tools. Communities will not ver Post, The Philadelphia Daily News, What has emerged in this new media survive on the “Build it and they will Forbes), to book publishers such as ecosystem is a stark contrast between come” ethos. They require constant Simon & Schuster, is experimenting the entrenched forces of big media do- attention, involved leadership and, with podcasting. ing what it knows and the rest of the most important, nurturing. Podcasts show that amateurs can Internet informing itself—reporting, • Advertising revenues suggest that gain mindshare in a new medium as, or discussing and vetting the news. such ventures could become a small more effectively than, pros. In less than but viable business. a year, the popular comedy podcast, New Media Forms Emerge • All are seeking to add greater interac- “The Dawn and Drew Show,” hosted tivity. More powerful tools and plat- by a husband and wife who describe In the ever-evolving citizen media world, forms (i.e. Google Maps) will provide themselves as “two ex-gutter punks new community Web sites designed to engines for citizen media innovation who fell in love, bought a farm in Wis- fill the gaps or augment the coverage of such as “public service hacks” like consin, and share their dirty secrets,” local and national media have begun to those found on HousingMaps.com, has attracted an audience of more than carve out a delicate but important niche ChicagoCrime.org, and the Katrina 200,000 listeners. Their podcast is now in both rural and urban communities. Information Map. simulcast on Sirius satellite radio. These so-called “hyper-local” sites rep- Photo-sharing Web sites such as resent a fertile ground where citizens The democratization of media has Flickr, acquired by Yahoo! in March contribute to the unique and specific leveled the competitive landscape and 2005, are becoming hubs for citizen
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism photojournalists. In The Rise of Citizen Media a June 2005 report by InternetNews.com, Participation has been a fundamental component of the Internet since its inception. Newsgroups, mailing lists and bulletin boards were the early cousins to the forums, Weblogs and collaborative communities flourishing today. Those early forms are still a Flickr spokesman thriving, a testament to our need to stay connected to our social networks. said the service has 775,000 registered First Wave: The Daily Me Second Wave: The Daily We users and hosts 19.5 million photos, with Social Bookmarking growth of about 30 percent monthly in Podcasting users and 50 per- cent monthly in pho- tos. Since Hurricane Social Networking Katrina, more than RDF/RSS 11,500 images related to it were uploaded and shared. Even Blogs Blogger Movable Type mainstream news sites such as the BBC Napster Gnutella BitTorrent have begun to use im- ages from Flickr users Wikis Wikipedia Wikinews to accompany their news stories. ICQ AIM Jabber
The Future Forums Yahoo! Groups
Citizen journalism 1988: IRC continues to be an evolving and frus- 1979: Usenet trating concept for mainstream media. It 1978: BBS offers the tantalizing idea of an active and engaged democracy 1990 1995 2000 2005 better informing it- Lotus IMDB Yahoo! eBay Slashdot OhmyNews Google Flickr self. It also can repre- Notes moves Drupal CMS News to WWW sent an evolving and GeoCities Napster SideKick Skype Ourmedia reckless endeavor that might result in Graphic by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis. just the opposite. Yet citizen media is a world that is starting the right mix of community, content, gin to blog, providing them a means to mature and develop in interesting commerce and tools. There is tre- to find a more authentic voice with ways, with or without the involvement mendous opportunity to leverage the their audience—a conversation. of the mainstream media. Proponents power of the many, and mainstream • Authority will continue to shift from of citizen media point to the successful media will more tightly integrate once trusted institutions to commu- open-source software movement, which citizen content with the core news nities or individuals who have earned is mature by comparison, saying it shows offerings. Some media will begin credibility though hard-won public the promise of the kinds of innovation to pay for the best citizen contribu- discourse and will directly impact that communities can produce. tions. news media. Like the early days of the Internet, • The mobile Internet will proliferate • Journalism education, like other insti- there is a palpable optimism driving (Nokia estimates two billion cell- tutions, has been slow to change. In experimentation and the idea that any phone subscribers worldwide by the past year, change has begun and effort could become the next big thing. 2006) and bring about more dramatic will continue to happen dramatically Here are some emerging changes we change in how news is covered. in the next five years. As well, expect see in the media landscape: • Citizens will demand greater trans- media organizations to take a leader- parency in reporting. As a result, ship role in educating its audience • Successful news sites will discover more professional journalists will be- in becoming better news creators,
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism
such as the BCC has done with their community to transact in a safe market- ing respectable returns on investment, free broadcast and new media online place. Both eBay and Google show that the smart money will be on those training and the forthcoming BBC there is great value to be created if you organizations like the BBC that can College of Journalism. [See box on are willing to embrace a different role integrate successful citizen journalism page 15 for more about this BBC in the value creation process. experiments supported by better staff college.] Media companies and those starting training, equipment and practices that citizen journalism endeavors need to encourage reporters and editors to col- Citizen media represents not the end understand that media are becoming laborate with their audience. n of journalism or news media companies more social entities. As in any social but a shift in where value is being cre- environment, there are participants Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis are ated. In the traditional broadcast model, who serve different roles in the creation, the coauthors of “We Media: How value was created solely by the newspa- consumption, sharing and transforma- Audiences Are Shaping the Future per or TV station. In the future, more tion. This is giving rise to information of News and Information,” a 2003 of the value will come from creating an ecosystems, such as the blogosphere, research report on the emergence of infrastructure for citizen participation which we are just starting to recognize participatory journalism. An up- and nurturing trusted communities. and understand. date to the report, commissioned by Google understands how powerful “Any media organization only exists The Media Center and The Ameri- and profitable building infrastructure on the quality and depth of its relation- can Press Institute, will be released but not the end product can be. Google ship with the public,” says Richard Sam- online in January 2006. This article Maps, for example, offers an easy way brook, director of the BBC World Service is adapted from the We Media 2.0 to add sophisticated maps customized and Global News division. “You’ve got to Executive Summary written for The with whatever data and designed for have a healthy and strong relationship Media Center. The report can be whatever purpose on any Web site. for people to come to you. Technology downloaded at www.hypergene. Google AdSense is another variation that is changing that relationship fundamen- net/wemedia/. provides an easy means for people to tally.” Sambrook says the BBC’s role is make money from the traffic on their site shifting from broadcaster and mediator Y [email protected] without requiring too much control on to facilitator, enabler and teacher. “We how or where the ads must be placed. don’t own the news anymore. Our job is Y [email protected] eBay earned $1.1 billion in the third to make connections with and between quarter of 2005, yet it builds no prod- different audiences,” he said. [See article ucts or houses any inventory. Instead it by Sambrook on page 13.] has created value by enabling a trusted With media companies still generat-
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Publisher
This display illustrates three ways in which media connect with people. Graphic by Shayne Bowman and Chris Willis.
10 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism Where Citizens and Journalists Intersect ‘The crucial leap will be helping our audience become involved in the process much more directly.’
On September 22nd, Dan Gillmor, The citizen journalists, responding to have done this work without them.” the founder of Grassroots Media Inc., our invitations and consistent guidance Here’s one more wishful-thinking a project aimed at bringing more throughout the process, did enormous report from the future: The voters who voices into journalism, delivered the amounts of original reporting. They ex- read these stories got mad. When the 2005 Graham Hovey Lecture at the amined local, state and federal records, 2008 elections came around, they got University of Michigan. He titled his and documented what they’d found. revenge. And in a region of the country talk, “We the Media: Online Journalism They conducted interviews. They told where good and honest government has and Democracy,” and what follows is us, and the rest of the world via blogs frequently been an oxymoron, things an adapted version of the words he and online forums, their personal sto- began to change. spoke that day. ries. We shared preliminary findings with them, and they responded with a The Shift Toward the Citizen et’s take a hopeful look ahead, flood of corrections, clarifications, data say to April 2007. The I don’t know if something like LPulitzer Prizes have just this will occur as soon as I’d like. been awarded for work done But I do know that something in 2006. Fresh off its almost When I went to Silicon Valley to write like this scenario is coming. It’s heroic efforts in the days and about technology, I learned quickly a coming because of the way media weeks after Hurricane Katrina, are evolving. If we’re both smart The (New Orleans) Times- fact of life that has been at the heart and lucky, future media will be an Picayune wins its second of my grass-roots journalism notions ecosystem that is vastly richer and consecutive Public Service more diverse than we have today. medal. The 2007 award is for ever since. It was simple: My readers— It will become a multidirectional the paper’s powerful expo- many of whom were in the technology conversation, enriching civic sés of corruption, cronyism dialogue at the local, national and other malfeasance, not business—knew more than I did. They and international levels. to mention sheer ineptitude, told me things I did not know. They made Inspiring grass-roots activities in how billions of dollars are happening not just in jour- in federal taxpayers’ money my work better. I believe this concept is nalism, but all across society. In were stolen, wasted or went true for all journalists. business, for example, the Web unaccounted for. The Pulitzer and open-source concepts are jury takes special note of the transforming not just software paper’s methods. The citation development but the relation- for the medal cites “an innovative col- and new topics to pursue. ship companies have with their custom- laboration with ‘citizen journalists’ in “We were, of course, responsible ers and other constituencies. Walter reporting and telling stories of wrong- for what we printed, so we applied Lippmann, in his 1914 book, “Drift doing.” journalistic principles and practices to and Mastery,” warned that civilization What has gone into that collabora- this project. We explained to our citizen was becoming so complex that “the tion? Many things, including the stan- journalists that they were responsible purchaser can’t pit himself against the dard tools of investigative journalism for their words, that the laws of defa- producer, for he lacks knowledge and reported and edited by professionals. mation applied to them as they do to power to make the bargain a fair one.” But the essential element was this: in- us. We verified identities. We did extra Knowledge is shifting back towards volvement of citizens as journalists. fact-checking when potential legal ques- the purchaser, and the power is fol- As The Times-Picayune writes in its tions might have arisen. lowing. Pulitzer contest entry: “With few exceptions, we found The distributed-media model goes “Our citizen reporters were as es- the citizen journalists’ work to be of far beyond the business world. In sential to this coverage as our staff and exceptionally high quality. They cared, the arts, the democratization of once- more essential than the standard hu- because this story was in the end about unaffordable tools of production and man sources we have always relied on their own lives as citizens of this region distribution are unleashing creativity to tell us what is happening and why. and this nation. In the end, we could not on a fantastic scale. In war zones, smart
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 11 Citizen Journalism
military people are pushing informa- logs, even though blogs are getting it. We are fond of holding everyone else tion and much of the decision-making most of the attention today, at least in to account. More scrutiny of our own out to the edges and away from central the United States. Think of blogs as a methods and motives is not a bad idea. commands. They’re learning, often the proxy for an explosion of citizen-media News media have been opaque—black hard way, that agility can outfox brute tools, including audio podcasts, Wikis, boxes producing products. Now they force. interactive presentations such as user- are becoming more transparent. I’m In the citizen-media sphere, remark- annotated Web maps, and increasingly glad to see that CBS News now has a able new tools are under development, sophisticated amateur videos. resident blogger whose job is, in part, extending the early efforts such as Remember, too, that this is more to explain what’s happening behind Technorati, a search engine that indexes about people than gadgets. Citizen the scenes. blogs. There’s enormous potential for journalism is made possible by what’s But the biggest jump for journalists is understanding current events in a far new. It will be made excellent because not just opening up, or creating blogs, better way by aggregating the stand- of what people do with it, and the most or letting people comment on our alone media producers—bloggers, creative work lies ahead of us, not be- sites. The crucial leap will be helping podcasters and the like—into a coher- hind. Experiments in citizen journalism our audience become involved in the ent overall news medium. We’re some are a global phenomenon, moreover, process much more directly. We can start time away from this becoming a main- not just an American one. Some have with simple moves, such as linking to stream technology, but the progress is been done, or at least assisted, by major the best local blogs covering issues we unmistakable. news organizations. Most have not. don’t have enough staff to cover. We can I’m not in the camp that wishes for Professional journalists have a lot to give readers their own blogs to cover the demise of Big Media. The work they learn. If we accept the idea that we are things we don’t cover ourselves. We do is too important. But it’s essential moving toward a more conversational don’t have to vouch for everything on for professional journalists to adapt to system, then we must remember that our sites, but we do have to distinguish what’s happening, to use these tech- the first rule in having a conversation between what we’ve done ourselves and niques themselves, of course, but also is to listen. We don’t listen very well. what we haven’t. to become allies of the grass-roots prac- When I went to Silicon Valley to write titioners. Bringing more voices into the about technology, I learned quickly a Creating a Virtual Town conversation is smart from a journalistic fact of life that has been at the heart of Square point of view. It’s also part of a survival my grass-roots journalism notions ever strategy. The long-range financial salva- since. It was simple: My readers—many The Web is an increasingly versatile tion of what some people sneeringly of whom were in the technology busi- platform. Several Canadian newspa- call the MSM, or mainstream media, ness—knew more than I did. They told pers have set up interactive maps that may depend—at least in part—on a me things I did not know. They made readers will annotate with all kinds of collaboration with what I like to call my work better. I believe this concept useful local information. How about a the “former audience.” is true for all journalists. No matter map showing potholes, street by street, The pros can bring valuable prin- what the topic you are writing about, annotated with readers’ photos? If news ciples and practices to this table. They your collected readers know more than organizations don’t do these things, no also need to listen better and help their you about the subject. This is true by big deal. Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft citizen-journalist allies understand definition. will—as will lots of startups. They’ve what is at stake, namely the informed The value in this should be clear to all already begun. citizenry that is crucial to democracy’s of us. Our audience can help us under- At the very least, with more reader very survival. stand our subjects better. The readers action, people become engaged with can give us facts we did not know. They the news, which is an improvement The Value of Listening can add nuance. They can ask follow- all by itself. When enough of them do up questions. And, of course, they can it, with our assistance and recognition The collision of journalism and tech- tell us when we are wrong, or at least and with the benefit of the very real nology enables the conversation we raise vital questions, as CBS News and resources that a local media organiza- need to foster. If telephone epitomized its “60 Minutes II” team found out so tion can bring to bear, they can be part one-to-one communications, and 20th dramatically in 2004. of a virtual town square. century mass media epitomized one- The CBS case was an exception, be- For local newspapers and TV stations, to-many, we’re moving into an era cause the major media do in the end this is an opportunity of some size—and of many-to-many. We can thank—or work hard to get stories right, and they a market just begging to be served, not curse, depending on our view of these succeed for the most part. But bloggers just for the journalism but the adver- shifts—the Internet’s increasing reach have become media watchdogs. This is tisers who can’t afford print editions. and the availability of low-cost and not the most pleasant notion for jour- Again, the stakes are not merely about easy-to-use communications tools. nalists whose every public move is now news companies’ markets. This is also This evolution is not only about Web- under observation. Too bad, get used to about something much more important:
12 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism
When you give power to what has been people who want to be involved, and the people, and for the people—takes a passive audience, and they start using then create the campaign. BBC report- work. Instead of lecturing our audi- it, you start people on the road toward ers and editors watch what the citizens ences, let’s ask for their help and offer being even better citizens. do and cover the most active campaigns. ours. We can do great things together, News organizations should involve (In the Department of Irony, one of and we should. n the audience deeply in investigative the first citizen campaigns on the site journalism. The Katrina recovery spend- was devoted to withdrawing taxpayer Dan Gillmor, a newspaper journalist ing story in my fantasy scenario is simply support for the BBC.) Action Network from 1980-2004, including 10 years too big for the professional media. It is still a fledgling operation, but it’s a as business and technology colum- demands citizen involvement. great experiment. [See the article below nist for the San Jose Mercury News, is But we should go further. The by Richard Sambrook, who directs the the author of “We the Media: Grass- BBC has a Web project called Action BBC’s World Service and Global News roots Journalism by the People, for Network, on which it offers tools that division.] the People.” He is founder of several help citizens create campaigns—social, Democracy is not a passive activity, initiatives to advocate and promote political, whatever. Anyone can use it to not if you want an outcome that includes grass-roots media. research a topic, including stories and justice and honest government and lib- video from the BBC archives, find other erty itself. Democracy—of the people, by Y [email protected]
Citizen Journalism and the BBC ‘… when major events occur, the public can offer us as much new information as we are able to broadcast to them. From now on, news coverage is a partnership.’
By Richard Sambrook
n July 7th, when terrorist bombs exploded on London Osubway trains and a bus, it was a day of intense pressure for our news teams to get things first, but more im- portantly to get things right. Our initial indication that we were facing more than the “power surge” the transport authorities were reporting came in an e-mail a viewer sent us. Before long, many more text and e-mail messages containing images and information ar- rived from the public, and these became an integral part of how the BBC reported the day’s events. Within six hours we received more than 1,000 photographs, 20 pieces of amateur video, 4,000 text messages, and 20,000 e-mails. People were participating in our coverage in a way we had never seen before. By the next day, our main evening TV newscast began with a package edited entirely from video sent in by viewers. Our audiences had become involved On the day of the London bombings, the BBC News’s Web site used images sent to them in telling this story as they never had by citizens who were affected by the attacks. On the site, people could learn how to sub- before. By day’s end, the BBC’s news- mit their video, photographs and words for use by the BBC.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 13 Citizen Journalism
citizen journalism and social networks. As a public broadcaster, funded by the license fee every homeowner with a TV has to pay, its focus is on providing value to its audience—even in small communities. This circumstance allows it to try things that commercial broad- casters, with an eye to the bottom line and share value, would not attempt. The BBC has long been expected, by virtue of its public funding, to innovate and lead industry developments. During the 1990’s, the BBC was swift to move its news coverage onto the Internet and has since consolidated that early lead. The BBC believes its role is to sup- port the public in learning and using digital technology to engage with the world. What follows are some examples of how this has worked: A citizen near the explosion of a bus in Tavistock Square sent this image, which was then used by the BBC and other news organizations. Photo by Toby Mason. • Since 2001, Digital Storytelling has been a flagship project. It takes the gathering had crossed a Rubicon. The used as a notice board for families try- tools of digital media production into quantity and quality of the public’s ing to contact each other. communities across the United King- contributions moved them beyond In September of this year, the BBC dom, enabling people to tell their novelty, tokenism or the exceptional, focused for a day on broadcasting from stories in their own way. Through and raises major implications that we Afghanistan. As part of this coverage, one local workshops, held in a portable are still working through. Not the least of our reporters took a laptop and satel- studio, 10 people at a time learn of these is how to handle this volume of lite phone into the village of Asad Khyl, new skills such as crafting scripts, material. Our small hub of four people where about 300 families live and work recording voices, laying down music, was overwhelmed and is clearly going on small grape farms or do odd jobs. and editing stills and video. Their to be inadequate as we go forward. Of Many live in huts after the Taliban de- stories are then produced as short course, the BBC has used phone-ins, stroyed their homes. We reported what programs and broadcast either as amateur video, and e-mail in its pro- an ordinary day was like for them—and inserts to the news or with other grams for years, but what was happening allowed those who came to our Web BBC programs with related themes. now was moving us way beyond where site to question them directly. It became To date, more than 500 people of all we’d been before. an extraordinary global conversation; ages and backgrounds have made Our reporting on this story was a questions were asked by people in Azer- such programs. In 2006, the BBC will genuine collaboration, enabled by con- baijan, Switzerland, the United States, launch community TV—broadband sumer technology—the camera phone Korea and Japan, among many other services with ultralocal content pro- in particular—and supported by trust places. Questioners wanted to know vided by community-based reporters between broadcaster and audience. And about their lives, their families, their equipped with camera and laptop. the result was transformational in its concerns, and their view of the world. With the emergence of community impact: We know now that when major These conversational links created a TV, many of these people will become events occur, the public can offer us as unique cultural connection. regular contributors for the BBC. much new information as we are able to • In 2003, Argyll and Bute Council, broadcast to them. From now on, news The BBC’s Citizen on the West Coast of Scotland, coverage is a partnership. Journalism joined a Scottish Executive project After the earthquake in Pakistan and called Digital Communities and is- India in October, the most vivid descrip- These three examples from recent news sued every household in the North tions of what happened and its effects coverage show how BBC’s viewers and Argyll Islands a personal computer came in e-mails and texts from the area. listeners contribute to our daily jour- and narrowband Web connection. On page after page of the BBC’s News’s nalism and how they are fast becoming Working directly with islanders, BBC Web site we carried the most compelling part of our core editorial endeavor. The Scotland launched a participatory eyewitness testimony. And as happened BBC holds a license from the govern- media project called Island Blogging. during previous disasters, our site was ment that enables it to experiment with Using a blog interface built by the
14 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism
team, bloggers aged 17 to 70 began to write about their lives and the is- The BBC’s College of Journalism sues that affected them—from being storm-bound in the spring to the de- The BBC is establishing a College of on key themes and issues, such as Europe lights of the local horticultural show, Journalism to raise and support editorial and the Middle East. The college will complete with pictures. Comment standards. All journalistic staff in the be fully operational in 2006, but the areas on the blogs lead to contribu- BBC will be given a minimum level enhanced training is already underway. tions and, sometimes, heated debates of training each year, and in the future So far, 10,000 staffers have completed an from those living on other islands in the completion of required training will online editorial policy course (the biggest the United Kingdom and in countries be seen as integral to promotion. The BBC interactive training initiative yet), throughout the world. Subjects like college will have an annual budget of $15 and 8,000 staff members have attended wind turbine energy prompted com- million and be based within the BBC’s workshops on sources and attribution. ments from around the globe while current offices in London. In addition to The college will work in partnership with post-match debate over the Coll Bar’s the core journalistic craft and production other journalism training institutions and Pool ladder generated posts from skills, which have been the mainstay of news organizations. If the BBC wants Coll and the neighboring islands. journalist training in recent years, the to broadcast world-class journalism, it Some stories—like the beaching of College of Journalism will also focus on must offer its staff world-class training. a whale on Coll—actually broke first ethics and values and building knowledge n —R.S. on Island Blogging and were quickly picked up by the mainstream Scottish media. • The BBC’s Action Network (formerly openness and trust distorts the public from different countries and cultures to called iCan) was launched as a Web debate. Former Vice President Al Gore, connect with each other and with the site in November 2003 to help people who is now the chairman of Current TV, BBC and through this site with commen- become more involved in their com- told participants at a new media confer- tators and decision makers—perhaps a munity and take steps in addressing ence in October that “some extremely global public space. issues of concern to them. Users find important elements of American democ- others who share their concerns, racy have been pushed to the sidelines. Changing Journalism exchange information and advice, And the most prominent casualty has and organize campaigns. There is been the marketplace of ideas that was What makes these projects interest- also material provided by the BBC, so beloved and so carefully protected ing—and of importance to journal- such as authoritative guides on how by our Founders. It effectively no lon- ists—is not simply the innovations they to negotiate civic life, briefings on is- ger exists.” offer in interactive communication. sues, and a database of organizations It’s possible that initiatives like Ac- They also point to some of the funda- covering about a thousand different tion Network (and there are likely to mental changes in the news business issues. be many others like it throughout the that are being brought about by digital The site was created after turnout world) hold some promise for how technology. at the last general election fell below public participation might revive the While all of these online changes are 60 percent and is aimed at people marketplace of ideas and how citizen taking place, the BBC is undergoing a who feel the mainstream political journalism might enlarge the civic space. restructuring that will result in the loss process at Westminster and the town Much of the strength of Action Network of some 3,000 jobs. This job reduction hall (as well as its coverage in the derives from the tenor of impartiality will allow the savings to be invested in media) is too remote and irrelevant that the BBC brings to the project. The transforming the entire news organiza- to their lives. The number of users civic space it creates is a neutral area, a tion, including the news division, into has grown since its launch to about place where anyone can put any issue one that is ready for the fully digital, 170,000 per month, with 14,000 on the agenda, as long as they comply on-demand age. The broadcast world registered members. with basic house rules. Participants are is changing rapidly, and the traditional likely to encounter opponents to their model of channels and schedules might Enlarging the Civic Space point of view, but the environment en- not survive the decade. courages them to engage in a dialogue Digital technology is also fundamen- While the BBC’s Action Network oper- rather than a diatribe. tally changing our relationship with the ates on a tiny scale, it might hold the At the other end of the scale, we’re audience—how they use these new digi- seeds of something more profound. going to be launching The Global tal tools and what they expect from us. Many people in the United Kingdom Conversation, which is an aggregation For the BBC to retain—and enhance— (and elsewhere) believe politics and of what is provided to us by the public its relevance, its news services must be the news media are engaged in a dys- for use on our global TV, radio and Web able to provide content that can be seen, functional embrace, in which a lack of services. This service will allow people heard or read any time and any place.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 15 Citizen Journalism
We must also help those who receive news organizations. As we open up to But with the Internet’s emergence, in- our news to contribute to our services contributions from the public, we must formation has broken free and become as we witness fundamental realignment do so in a way that is consistent with commoditized and democratized. Such of the relationship between broadcaster our editorial values. However, I believe change also puts the gatekeeper under and the public. And these are only first that truth, accuracy, impartiality and the spotlight. We are watched and steps in what appears likely to be a long diversity of opinion are strengthened by assessed more closely now by those journey into new territory. being open to a wider range of opinion whom we serve. Such observation can Not everyone in the organization and perspective, brought to us through be very uncomfortable, but we’d better recognizes that this shift is happening or the knowledge and understanding of get used to it. Transparency about the accepts it. Several of the kinds of initia- our audience. news selection and editing process is tives I’ve described above have existed at The journalists’ role is now to con- now as important as the journalism the margins of our services and are only centrate harder on how, when and itself in retaining public trust. If we act just beginning to move toward center where we can add value through our openly and honestly, even in the face stage. Such changes raise policy issues strengths of analysis, context, back- of criticism, it will increase confidence that disturb some colleagues. How can ground and range. But as we do this in what we do. n our journalistic reputation be protected we must be open to what members of when we are not fully in control of our the public bring to our attention. And Richard Sambrook is director of content? As someone who supports this as long as what they do bring is clearly the BBC’s World Service and Global new direction, I don’t suggest the BBC labeled and attributed, I see no inherent News division, responsible for lead- staff abdicate their responsibility for ac- problem with sharing it widely. When ing the BBC’s overall international curacy, fairness or objectivity. There will handled properly, it adds value and news strategy across radio, TV and always be a central place for editorial improves quality. new media. judgment to be applied. That judgment News organizations are accustomed is the essential brand value of major to being the gatekeepers of information. Y [email protected]
With Citizens’ Visual News Coverage Standards Don’t Change ‘In an era in which digital alteration of images is increasingly easy, credibility is everything.’
By Santiago Lyon and Lou Ferrara
he explosions that rocked the derground. [See this image on page 13.] source of visual journalism. In the age London subway system on July The photograph had been taken by a of the Web and e-mail, these images can T 7th transformed the conversa- commuter on his cell phone. Contacting be rapidly e-mailed across the globe and tion about citizen journalism. Journal- the commuter, we obtained rights to the published. While the news industry has ists waited at the entrances to a series photograph, which we then distributed used citizen-produced photographs and of subway stations and were able to on our service and which was, despite film in the past—the Kennedy assas- interview, photograph and video shaken the borderline image quality, widely sination, for example—we have never survivors as they emerged from the used on the front pages of newspapers experienced the volume of content that tunnels. But how were we and other and Web sites around the globe. is now at our fingertips. news organizations to get images and This was citizen journalism in ac- No longer is the conversation in jour- accounts of what was happening deep tion. nalism about whether we are going to underground? With recent technical advances in use citizen-produced material, but how At The Associated Press headquarters cell-phone technology, many of them we are going to use it. Most importantly, in New York, we saw a dramatic grainy now produce acceptable quality still im- whatever we do decide to use must meet image on a BBC Web site of people being ages (and video) and have the potential our editorial standards. led out of a darkened tunnel deep un- to become a new, relatively untapped There are issues, of course:
16 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism
• Quality: Image quality and content to mainstream media sources will Once these issues have been ad- quality are very important. In the need to be applied to all citizen- dressed to everyone’s satisfaction, there case of the London bombing pho- produced material. Verification is is no reason why citizens cannot offer tograph, the news value outweighed crucial. their perspectives on global events. Of the quality issue, but this will not • Rights: Who can use the images? course, the challenge will be finding always be the case. Professional Media organizations will have to issue ways in our newsrooms to sift through photojournalists will often do a bet- the relevant legal language so that the millions of images that people take ter job recording a news event than the amateur photographer under- on their cell-phone cameras every day citizens because they are trained and stands what distribution rights they and to determine what meets the stan- better equipped. The citizen element are agreeing to. This will need to be dards of journalism. n will emerge most strongly when no done, probably electronically, before journalists are present. citizen images are distributed. Santiago Lyon, a 2004 Nieman Fel- • Veracity: How do we know what we • Compensation: What are the images low, is director of photography for are seeing is true? Determining that worth? Generally a middle ground is The Associated Press. Lou Ferrara the images show what the photog- reached between what the photogra- is online editor for The Associated rapher says they show is crucial. In pher demands and what the market Press. an era in which digital alteration of will bear, and that will determine the images is increasingly easy, credibility price. These details need to be agreed Y [email protected] is everything. The same journalistic upon before any of these images are standards that are currently applied distributed. Y [email protected]
Journalism as a Conversation ‘Only as an afterthought did it dawn on us that the audience is the real content on the Web.’
By Jean K. Min
n a surrealistic bout of fate, pas- longer my situation; it was broadcast now number more than 40,000 and sengers on JetBlue 292 en route for everyone to see. It only exacerbated are no strangers to the sensation that Ito New York were watching their the situation and my fear.” comes from producing their own news. aircraft broadcast live on the screens A couple of NBC executives were also It is this transforming and empowering of the in-flight DirecTV. The pilot was flying in the JetBlue plane and managed experience that attracts thousands of attempting an emergency landing on to set up a mobile phone call to report “citizen reporters” to OhmyNews every the tarmac of the Los Angeles Inter- the situation back to NBC headquarters. day. Kim Hye Won, a longtime citizen national Airport with its front landing What if the rest of the passengers were reporter of OhmyNews, described her gear, clipped at a wrong angle, jutting able to hook up to a high-speed wire- excitement when she found her story out of the fuselage. less network and report the situation published on OhmyNews for the first While millions of viewers in America inside the aircraft back to a television time: “As soon as I saw my article with watched this nail-biting drama, 140 station? Instead of watching their mile- my name, Kim Hye Won, attached to it, passengers aboard the Airbus A320 high ordeal covered by someone else my heart fluttered. A housewife who for found themselves the subject of live in a remote station, they would have the last 18 years has been caught up in television news unfolding before their been the ultimate producer of their own housework raising her children has now own eyes. news, delivering the story to millions become a reporter. This was possible “It was absolutely terrifying, actually. in real time, including on JetBlue’s in- thanks to the OhmyNews spirit of ‘every Seeing the events broadcast made it flight screens. citizen is a reporter.’” completely surreal and detached me For lots of angry young Korean from the event,” said Zachary Mastoon Featured on OhmyNews “Netizens” who felt their voice was in an interview with The Associated perennially ignored by the overwhelm- Press. “It became this television show Citizen reporters of OhmyNews, a ingly conservative Korean mainstream I was inextricably linked to. It was no unique news organization in Korea, media, OhmyNews was a godsend when
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 17 Citizen Journalism
it was launched in February 2000. They for the first time in my life. On that with editorial advice by OhmyNews’s were angry because the mainstream day, OhmyNews transformed me from copyeditors, gives citizen reporters media constantly manipulated the a reader into a reporter .…” invaluable lessons in writing. A quick nation’s important agenda in politics, Typical citizen reporters write a story online search through the OhmyNews the economy, and society for their own or two per week. After submitting a database yields 500 to 600 stories for taste and purpose. story, they can track their status. Stories some of our diligent citizen reporters, Oh Yeon Ho, the founder of Oh- remain as “Saengnamu” articles before and the difference in quality between myNews, left his job at a monthly being accepted by OhmyNews copyedi- their first and more recent writing is magazine to test his ideas about this tors. Once accepted, citizen reporters remarkable. Nearly 70 OhmyNews new form of journalism through the can follow the status of their words citizen reporters now have contracts Internet. He deeply sympathized with in real time, observing the number of to write books. Believing, as I do, that these young Netizens in their anger readers’ clicks into each of the stories, an adequate level of writing skills is an against the mainstream media. In an the number of comments, or the money important ability for citizens to have in interview with The New York Times in collected in the “tip jar.” a civil democracy, then OhmyNews’s early 2003, Oh hinted that a part of his citizen reporters can proudly be named motivation in launching Ohm- the most capable practitioners yNews was to fix this skewed of “the Emersonian vision of an Korean news market: “We have I 'wanted to start a tradition free of expressive society.” a real imbalance in our me- newspaper company elitism where The New York Times—and dia—80 percent conservative many other prominent news and 20 percent liberal—and news was evaluated based on quality, organizations—appears to it needs to be corrected. My regardless of whether it came from a consider the Web as simply goal is 50-50.” More recently another format in which to sell Oh has written of his original major newspaper, a local reporter, their news content. They sold vision that he “wanted to start an educated journalist, or a the news once in the paper a tradition free of newspaper medium, now they will sell it company elitism where news neighborhood housewife …. again to an online audience and was evaluated based on quality, So I decided to make the plunge increase the return on their in- regardless of whether it came vestment. For OhmyNews, the from a major newspaper, a into the sea of the Internet, even though Web is seen neither as a channel local reporter, an educated I feared that which was different from for information flow nor as a journalist, or a neighborhood pipeline for news delivery. It is housewife …. So I decided to what I was accustomed.' — Oh Yeon Ho a playground for our readers, a make the plunge into the sea cyberspace for Netizens. of the Internet, even though I In accepting this Internet feared that which was different vision, a whole new horizon from what I was accustomed.” The Audience Is the Content opens for us. The readers, or news audi- Many young Koreans who were ence, are no longer passive consumers already sharing their thoughts on the What happens on OhmyNews is an of news produced by a few privileged, Internet found that it made infinitely intensely interactive online conversa- arrogant reporters. They are active pro- more sense to write for a news media tion. Citizen reporters have to persuade ducers of the news they will consume with a strong national brand and for- OhmyNews’s frontline copyeditors to at the end of the day. Participation in midable presence in the news market have their stories accepted in the first this great news sphere is realized for than scribble their anger in a puny blog. place. As much as 30 percent of daily them either by joining OhmyNews as Goh Tae Jin, a citizen reporter turned submissions are rejected for various a citizen reporter or by participating cyber columnist, shared his revelations reasons, such as poor sentence con- in the online forum offered at the very about how he felt when his harshly struction, factual errors, or its lack of bottom of every story we publish. critical piece appeared on OhmyNews news value. After stories are accepted Only as an afterthought did it dawn in 2000. In it, he attacked one of the and edited, then placed in a more promi- on us that the audience is the real con- nation’s top newspaper columnists for nent space, usually within minutes they tent on the Web. Like any nimble disk “factionalism and arrogance” that he’d draw scores of readers’ feedback. When jockey in a cool nightclub in town would exhibited in his column. the story is controversial, as in the case do, we gave them a place to hang out “Unexpectedly, my article was chosen of Goh’s, the number of readers’ com- and mingle with the brightest minds as the top story and suddenly sparked ments can shoot up to hundreds and in Korean cyberspace. One survey by a numerous heated opinions. It was an even thousands. major Korean portal revealed nearly 40 astounding experience for me to have This feedback from readers, coupled percent of users’ daily mouse clicks on
18 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism it were for user-generated content, such and citizen reporters. Citizen report- would enhance the visibility of their as readers’ comments and blog posts. ers understand that instead of copying writing as a means of effective com- A similar result was also found for Oh- the styles of trained journalists, they munication. myNews. OhmyNews readers generate will shine brighter when they remain on average somewhere between 30 to 50 true to themselves. Citizen reporters Harnessing Collective percent of daily traffic on the Web site excel when they write something they Intelligence through their participation in various understand well and have a strong online forums (other than their read- inkling for. Recently, OhmyNews opened a new ing of the news). This is surely a wealth No story is published before it goes service feature in which our readers of eyeballs that any shrewd advertiser through an extensive screening and can participate in the editorial process would salivate for. The “audience as the copyediting process. Citizen reporters by voting for their favorite writers or content” model makes a lot of sense for realize their edited text looks better stories. OhmyNews servers collect the our business as well. with snazzy headlines and sometimes data and sort out the stories according eye-catching thumbnail pictures. They to the number of votes each received. Bloggers, Citizen Reporters, also find their stories more polished If we can define the first generation and Journalists after proofreading and editorial re- OhmyNews as “a massively distributed collaborative news operation For many, citizen participa- on the Web,” OhmyNews 2.0 tion on a news site seems We believe bloggers can work better with can be described as “a mas- identical to blogging. But professional assistance from trained sively distributed collaborative while Weblogs stimulate editorial participation on the colorful outpourings of journalists. On the other hand, we also Web.” For example, when citi- citizens’ voices on the Web, believe professional journalists can expand zen reporters set up their per- most of the time a blog is a sonal blog site in OhmyNews, one-person operation, and their view and scope greatly with fresh we encourage them to become many bloggers are pursuing input from citizen reporters. News media an editor for their own edi- their journalistic passion at tion of OhmyNews. They can their own peril. Without ad- as a whole can offer more diverse and rich drag and drop any of the few equate advice from trained content to readers by tapping into the hundred stories available on journalists, they risk being OhmyNews each day to build ensnared into potential legal wealth of Netizens’ collective wisdom. their personal edition. Now disputes involving, for ex- every citizen can be an editor ample, a defamation case. at OhmyNews. The OhmyNews model In OhmyNews 1.0, we tried is fundamentally different. We believe touching by professionals, even if they to bridge the gap between pros and bloggers can work better with profes- occasionally face frustrating rejections amateurs by introducing “journalism as sional assistance from trained journal- of their stories. a conversation” as opposed to “journal- ists. On the other hand, we also believe A recurring fear among journalists is ism as a lecture.” OhmyNews 2.0 will professional journalists can expand that the coming age of citizen journalism continue to evolve with the develop- their view and scope greatly with fresh would signal the end of “journalism as ment of more Web tools that will help input from citizen reporters. News me- a serious profession.” On the contrary, us to harness the collective intelligence dia as a whole can offer more diverse the OhmyNews experience shows that of Netizens on a global scale. n and rich content to readers by tapping trained journalists will be in greater de- into the wealth of Netizens’ collective mand as an increasing number of citizen Jean K. Min is director of OhmyNews wisdom. journalists start to produce explosive International. He also contributed Unlike Wikinews, which restricts amounts of news themselves. Alas, if to the launching of seoprise.com, an their oversight role to a “janitor,” Oh- only journalists would understand how influential political Webzine in Korea myNews works as a convener by actively to reinvent themselves in this age of that together with OhmyNews played promoting conversation among editors, citizen journalism! a vital role in electing the current citizen reporters, and professional OhmyNews editors spend a lot of South Korean President Roh Moo journalists. (We also, however, have time educating aspiring citizen journal- Hyun in 2002. a cyber janitor to clean up any mess ists. We regularly invite them to our that might be left in the aftermath of newsroom and give them “Journalism Y [email protected] fierce online debate.) However, there 101” classes. We encourage them to seems to be a subtle division of roles keep keen eyes on things going on and between the OhmyNews staff reporters give advice that, if properly applied,
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 19 Citizen Journalism Fear, Loathing and the Promise of Public Insight Journalism A journalist wonders whether the mainstream news media will adapt fast enough to their changing relationship with the public to survive.
By Michael Skoler
ringing the public into the news- room is dangerous. Longtime Bcolleagues have been ready to stab me with the nearest implement over dinner when I mention changes at Minnesota Public Radio/American Pub- lic Media. I have been quietly advised to stop making statements like, “On any given story, someone in our audience is bound to know more than even our most experienced reporters and edi- tors.” And I understand why. That statement sounds downright disrespectful to the people who put their blood, sweat and passion into dig- ging up the news and making sense of it for the public. Sure, involving the public in newsgathering sounds friendly and inclusive at conferences on the future of journalism. But in the newsroom, it can feel like a hook to the jaw. This Minnesota Public Radio Web page gave people the information necessary for them For so long, journalists have consid- to try to balance the state’s budget and explain their choices. From those plans and com- ered themselves the arbiters of the news ments story assignments were made by newsroom staff. Graphic supplied by Michael Skoler. for “the great unwashed,” as one col- league half-jokingly puts it. For so long, and expert spokespeople who try to Our rallying cry to the public has journalists have seen their Rolodex of manage the press. been “share what you know.” We don’t powerful sources as a measure of their The MPR newsroom has invested want opinion, we want knowledge. And worth. The idea of including the public, nearly three years in defining a new we have amassed our public-source day in and day out, in newsgathering way of working we have dubbed “Pub- network over time by asking people seems like pandering to public opinion lic Insight Journalism®.” We’ve built to help us with specific stories and is- at best and abandonment of our mis- software that keeps track of more than sues, using our airwaves and Web site sion to inform and of our journalistic 12,000 public sources who share their to reach and engage them. With an values at worst. expertise and experience. We’ve hired audience of more than 500,000 listen- “analysts” to manage and mine those ers, MPR News continues to develop Bringing in the Audience relationships. We’ve held meetings this network. We have avoided using in people’s homes and at community our tools to do pseudoscientific online Yet my experiences at Minnesota Pub- centers. We’ve invited regular folks into polls or collect person-on-the-street lic Radio (MPR) convince me that we studios and mobile recording booths. reactions. Instead, we actively look should fight past our gut reactions. And we’ve run gaming software on our for public sources who have firsthand Working with the audience can reinvigo- Web site. All this interaction is aimed at knowledge, whether it comes from their rate journalism, open the newsroom tapping the knowledge and insights of jobs, their hobbies, their relationships, to more diversity than we could ever the public to make our reporters and or their life experiences, on stories that achieve through hiring alone, and break editors and coverage even smarter and interest us or would interest us if we the media’s overreliance on officials stronger. knew about them.
20 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism
Expanding Our Sources
At the simplest level, the Public Insight Journalism (PIJ) process expands a journalist’s Rolodex, finding sources that would be hard to find. When MPR reporter Tim Post heard a couple of hunters complaining how more and more landowners were cutting off ac- cess to hunting land, Post wondered if this shrinking access was a trend. A public insight analyst sent e-mail surveys to those in our source network who had listed hunting as a “passion” or lived near prime hunting areas. The informal hunters network then kicked in. Within a day or two, Post had nine new sources from e-mails. He followed up, added other sources, confirmed the trend, and wrote a story on grow- ing disputes between landowners and Graphic supplied by Michael Skoler. hunters and among hunters themselves, over access to hunting land. A few weeks With successes like these, MPR porter Jeff Horwich wanted to see if later, a St. Paul man named Chai Vang reporters and editors who were origi- Minnesotans had felt the effects yet. killed six hunters in Wisconsin in what nally skeptical have welcomed PIJ for Instead of surveying business leaders started as a dispute over a deer stand but its expanded source network. “It vastly and economists, our newsroom sent also had racial overtones. That shooting speeds up the process of collecting in- e-mail surveys to 500 sources in our became national news. formation and sources,” says reporter public insight network. We asked 1. if This fall, we used PIJ to deepen our Dan Olson. “And it gives more credibility they had experienced the recession, 2. if coverage of the mechanics’ strike and to the reporting because it draws on they had experienced the recovery, and bankruptcy of Minnesota-based North- many more voices.” Our reporters have 3. what signs they saw of an economic west Airlines. On the air, MPR News access to an extra Rolodex of thousands recovery. hosts asked listeners to call a toll-free of public sources with known expertise Seventy-six (15 percent) of the e-mail number or fill out an online survey to and the viral web of connections these surveys were returned, coming from share their experiences as passengers, people have via the Internet. teachers, government employees, small Northwest employees, former em- Yet this expanded Rolodex is a fairly business owners, high-tech workers, ployees, or replacement workers. MPR rudimentary use of PIJ, made possible blue-collar workers, and entrepreneurs. analysts handed out cards at the airport by linking knowledge management The responses gave us a sort of topo- explaining how to contact the news- software with today’s fast online com- graphic map of the economic landscape room and posted links to our survey on munications. To me, the real promise showing where the recovery was gaining online bulletin boards and chat rooms of PIJ lies in using public insight to traction, where it was stalled, and where popular with airline staff. They sent help frame stories and set a distinct the recession was still deepening. e-mails to those in our public source coverage agenda. The audience can The idea for one short piece on the network. Nearly 200 responded. guide us to important stories that are recovery turned into a weeklong series For weeks, MPR analyst Melody happening outside the controlled leaks on the uneven recovery, including an Ng verified new sources, confirmed and made-for-media events organized hourlong talk show. Public insight information, and passed vetted leads by vested interests. The audience can framed the series and revealed trends to reporters, editors and talk show get us beyond our own social networks. that economists couldn’t see. Reporters producers. One source tipped us off to And they can give us perspectives un- used the information as a starting point, an FBI investigation into possible crew filtered by experts. rounded out their reporting with other tampering—a story we confirmed and sources and experts, and more than 20 broke. An FAA inspector offered us ac- Reporting From the public sources ended up on the air. Our cess to an online database for tracking Bottom Up reporting was praised by the competi- aircraft maintenance problems. Sources tion for exposing and explaining the helped us track and report on passenger In the fall of 2004, as macroeconomic wildly varying impact of the recovery. service problems and provided leads numbers showed the nation had It was a story our audience revealed to for many stories. entered a recovery, MPR business re- us. They made the series stronger, and
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 21 Citizen Journalism
they made us sound smarter. and minority students. We have since brought us blogs, citizen journalism and Another experience with PIJ: In the used it to gather hundreds of ideas and Wikis, is an assault on a traditional news- last two budget cycles of the Minne- leads for coverage of low high school room culture that Patrick Dougherty of sota legislature, MPR offered an online graduation rates and the risks to small the Anchorage Daily News described as “Budget Balancer” where people could town survival. a “priesthood, delivering truth to the create their own balanced budgets from But in honesty, while MPR has made masses” in the last issue of Nieman Re- dozens of options and explain their great headway, PIJ has had a tough road ports. Used well, online tools can open choices. MPR’s Senior Analyst Andrew to acceptance in the newsroom. One the newsroom to more input, more Haeg led the project. He analyzed the reason is that PIJ grew out of a manage- diverse voices, and more questioning thousands of plans submitted and read ment vision, not a perceived need by of our editorial instincts. But we have every comment and then used that reporters and editors to increase their to change how we make coverage deci- detailed look into how people thought sources or connection to the audience. sions if we are going to let insight from through the budget debate to suggest Another is that we have defined it by the public affect us. And that is hard, story assignments. doing it, which has left some of us really hard, because it challenges our For example, in the balancer many confused at times. image of the profession and ourselves people used sin taxes to balance the as authorities on the news. budget, which had not been part of Opening the Priesthood The need to remake our culture the budget debate. That led us to do is why many wonder if mainstream a story on these taxes, like the to- The real challenge beckons. Public In- journalism can change fast enough bacco tax, well before the governor sight Journalism, if successful, should to survive the online revolution. And and legislators shifted their focus and change us journalists, and not superfi- why the board and senior management settled on that option. The newsroom cially. I don’t believe mainstream news at Minnesota Public Radio/American also used a scientific poll to confirm a organizations will create a new and Public Media have made Public Insight surprising trend we saw in the Budget better journalism simply by turning Journalism a strategic priority—one we Balancer—that Minnesotans, mostly over the microphone or pen to citizens. hope to share widely with other media opposed to tax hikes in principle, were What we need to do is listen, collabo- as we figure it out.n willing to raise taxes to avoid specific rate and learn from the knowledge in spending cuts. our audience. Sometimes this means Michael Skoler, a 1993 Nieman Fel- Then there’s the “Idea Genera- turning over the microphone or pen, low, is managing director of news, tor”—an online collaborative tool we or letting people talk back through the Minnesota Public Radio/American created to let the audience inform and Web, or Webcasting editorial meetings. Public Media. strengthen our coverage of the educa- But it really means opening up. tional performance gap between white The online media revolution that has Y [email protected]
How Participatory Journalism Works A journalist describes why and how ‘a news organization works with its audience to have that “conversation” that is news.’ By Steve Safran
e’re all citizens, but not all there—but they’re often presented as was much debated, since an increasing of us are journalists. And fact. There is some journalism happen- number of news organization Web sites W the term “citizen journal- ing in the blogosphere, but not much. now invite user participation. That part ism” is one I’ve never cared for. It’s It’s mostly meta-journalism—reporting is terrific. What seems less praiseworthy inaccurate. on reporting. is the apparent lack of understanding Journalism requires more than one I don’t like the “citizen” part, either. of the basic rules of journalism. person and it needs a support structure. The term is self-congratulatory and, A number of those who run these Web It’s about editing, questioning and chal- frankly, a little smug. The notion that sites are thrilled about receiving user lenging assumptions. Much of what is the bloggers and citizens will rise up and content—they’re just not interested in put on blogs right now is “opinion.” make the mainstream media obsolete is vetting any of it. What surfaced in this There are good, thoughtful opinions out naive. At a recent seminar, the subject seminar was the notion that “if we don’t
22 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism edit it, they can’t sue,” an assumption recently attended. Some participants We empowered our audience to tell us based in part on a pair of rulings from even took offense to the idea I would the story. And they did. the 1990’s. In Kenneth M. Zeran v. AOL, look at content without putting it on- That’s why we call what we do “par- the court held that AOL, as an Internet line. One editor of a weekly newspaper ticipatory journalism.” There is an idea, Service Provider (ISP) could not be held wondered aloud, “Who am I to decide and a good one at that, that “news is responsible for a defamatory posting what people are interested in?” a conversation.” But even this phrase on one of its bulletin boards. Zeran You’re the editor, that’s who. often seems to be applied wrongly; a was an early test case of the Telecom- conversation is not 1,000 people shout- munications Act of 1996 that says ISP Images, the Web, and ing at once. Good conversation is two- can’t possibly monitor every bit of com- Responsibility way, among a few people. If viewers are munication that passes through their allowed to post anything they want on space and therefore cannot be held At NECN (New England Cable News), the message board I host, it invites all liable. In Blumenthal v. Matt Drudge we started an experiment in July 2005 sorts of dangers, not the least of which and America Online, the court refused inviting our viewers to send in video is a defamation lawsuit. to hold AOL responsible for content news. The program is called “Video New Another assumption being made by Drudge posted on his some of the newspaper site that quoted a source and TV Web sites is that as saying newly named their organization’s staff White House Advisor There is an idea, and a good one at that, that ‘news will not be held respon- Sidney Blumenthal had is a conversation.’ But even this phrase often sible if they simply take abused his wife. down “offensive mate- In 1998, Tech Law seems to be applied wrongly; a conversation is not rial.” That’s an interesting Journal wrote about 1,000 people shouting at once. choice of words, since the Blumenthal suit: “offensive” material is in “Section 230 of the Good conversation is two-way, the eye of the beholder. massive Telecom Act of among a few people. One site that invited local 1996 protects interac- bands to post their flyers tive computer services got complaints about a from lawsuits based on neo-Nazi band posting defamation by informa- there. The editor proudly tion content providers. It provides in England.” We have made it very easy announced to us at the seminar that he part that: ‘No provider or user of an for people to send us video clips from had taken down the offending flyer. I interactive computer service shall be their desktop computers. Anyone who asked him if he would take down rap treated as the publisher or speaker of has uploaded a picture to a file-sharing music with violent lyrics, or heavy metal any information provided by another site like Flickr, or to a printing service Satan-rock. He wasn’t sure he knew. information content provider.’” like Snapfish, can easily send video to Consider this: If a TV station airs Examine more closely the final sen- our news desk. a slanderous news report and it is tence of that excerpt and ask yourself At first, the response was slow. We ex- “taken down” the moment it ends (in what constitutes an “information con- pected that. We also anticipated that we the sense that it’s done being aired), tent provider.” It is reasonable to assume would see a spike in contributions dur- does that mean the TV station is not not every single person is an information ing the first big storm after launch. Sure liable for its content? Let’s look for a content provider. The Telecom Act’s enough, that happened. We thought it moment at a good theoretical example: intent appears to be protecting ISP’s would be a snowstorm that did it, but Suppose someone can post any picture from lawsuits stemming from defama- when New England got hit with major they want at MyNewspaperName.com. tion on Web pages and message boards rainstorms and flooding through much Suppose that picture is a Photoshopped they don’t control. of October, rivers overflowed and so did composite, showing a local school News organization’s Web sites are not our viewer video contributions. teacher’s head on the body of a naked ISP’s. They are editorially driven, and Most of the videos that reached us model. The teacher complains, and their content is vetted by professionals. were excellent. And by that, I don’t mean MyNewspaperName.com takes down We might want viewers and users to “broadcast quality” or even “VHS qual- the picture. In the intervening time, contribute content, but it seems a weak ity.” Some of the video was quite grainy every student in her class has seen the argument to claim that a defamatory and even a little on the shaky side, but picture, and some have downloaded letter, for example, which would never we didn’t care a bit. For us, “Video New it and sent it to their friends. By the be published in a newspaper, could England” offered viewers a valuable end of the day, it’s even appeared on be posted on the paper’s Web site. Yet source of information. We could show pornographic Web sites. there was substantial debate over this flooding scenes from around the region This teacher isn’t going to try and topic at that citizen media seminar I in ways we simply aren’t staffed to do. find the anonymous poster. She will
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 23 Citizen Journalism
sue MyNewspaperName.com, and it’s without so much as a glance? ment is used to make the final call, but my guess a jury will award her a few Even if it turns out that news organi- we listen closely to what New England- million dollars. “We took it down” is zations cannot be sued for defamatory ers tell us. It’s the New England town simply a lousy defense. postings—and I believe the issue will hall meeting format, writ large. Town One question that keeps popping up one day be in the courts—I question why members give us ideas and sugges- in conversations about citizen journal- they would want to offer this new op- tions, but at the end of the meeting, the ism is, “We can’t be expected to monitor portunity. If a news desk cannot monitor moderator—that’s us—decides how to every single post that comes in, can we?” and edit material that appears under proceed. Everyone is a citizen, everyone The answer: “Yes.” The contributions their banner, it seems their message contributes, and everyone wins. n must be edited, just as any good news ought to be, “We can’t decide what news organization would do with their own is anymore—why don’t you do it?” Steve Safran is the director of digital staffers’ contributions. I wouldn’t put A better model is participatory jour- media at NECN and managing editor a report on air or online without vet- nalism, in which a news organization of LostRemote.com. ting it, so why would anyone publish works with its audience to have that content from someone they’d never met “conversation” that is news. Our judg- Y [email protected]
Citizens Media: Has It Reached a Tipping Point? New media initiatives emerge when citizens feel ‘shortchanged, bereft or angered by their available media choices.’
By Jan Schaffer
irst off, let’s address one thing: Now that doesn’t mean that com- or angered by their available media Citizen journalists don’t par- munity media pioneers won’t commit choices. Fticularly aspire to be called acts of journalism as they go about “journalists.” That’s a label mainstream contributing or creating content or Media Participation journalists often apply when writing fulfilling their visions for community about this mutating media ecosystem. news and information. If anything, many No one size fits all in this evolving Many citizen media folks are reacting citizen media ventures exhibit a lot of landscape. But an overarching narra- to journalism, not embracing it—at journalistic DNA. tive emerges: We are witnessing the least to the journalism they see in their So what does it mean that in 2005 creation of a robust infrastructure of communities. Meanwhile, some main- citizens media initiatives are cropping media participation. And it is now far stream media folks are reacting to these up all around us? These initiatives are surpassing the efforts of individual upstart citizens with skepticism and generating hyperlocal and special-inter- bloggers. It’s emerging to serve a new even hostility. est news and information and breaking- “culture of contribution,” asserts “We The fretting usually goes like this: news eyewitness accounts from far, far Media” coauthor Chris Willis. [See the Citizen media participants are not part away—from the perimeters of major article by Willis and “We Media” coau- of the journalistic club. They don’t media markets to the outer reaches thor Shayne Bowman on page 6.] In this do real journalism. What if they get of rural areas. They are rolled out as ecosystem, “not everyone wants to be something wrong? What if they only franchise opportunities by legacy news a journalist, soup to nuts,” Willis told a print news releases? How do we know organizations seeking new revenue Media Center gathering in October that if they are credible? Do they have any centers; they are bankrolled by venture was cohosted in New York City by The ethics? How will they make money? capitalists seeing future business mod- Associated Press. But they might want And, of course, what if they siphon off els; they are supported by foundations to contribute something—to upload “our” money? hoping to bolster community building, photos, shoot video, post a comment And the complaints look like this: and they are launched by retired or just or item, or write a full-blown story. Hey, they are not reporting “news;” they plain tired, solo journalists as sideline “We used to call them citizen journal- don’t know the “rules” and, of course, enterprises. Most important, they are ists, but we stopped using that term,” they are not producing “quality journal- blossoming from the fertile imagina- says Jonathan Weber, founder and editor ism.” Only we anointed big-J journalists tions of a new cast of visionaries—usu- of NewWest.net, the “voice of the Rocky can manage all that, right? ally citizens feeling shortchanged, bereft Mountains.” The term “intimidated”
24 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism people who were not journalists, he of The Washington Post, the project’s “news”—from municipal agendas to said. Now citizen contributions to the managing partners said: “Today, there announcements to photos to pats on site are simply labeled “unfiltered.” At are no local media organizations that the back to pleas for help. VoiceofSanDiego.com, more than half explore Loudoun’s future—no presen- Susan DeFife, CEO of Backfence. the content now comes from “contrib- tation of ideas and solutions to long- com, which has launched hyper-lo- uted voices” and “guest columnists,” term problems. Current media focuses cal community Web sites for McLean says founding editor Barbara Bry. on the short term and is, by nature, and Reston, Virginia, and Bethesda, Readily available tech tools teamed reacting to events.” Their announced Maryland, told the October “We Me- with the growing tech savvy of ordinary aspiration: to make LoudounForward. dia” gathering: “We’re not there to be citizens are making this all possible. org into a nonpartisan, forward-looking journalists or to ask the questions. The “public think tank,” using the Web, e- community is asking the questions. They Community News Ventures newsletters and public forums. are doing that quite well. It also means The Madison (Wis.) Commons Proj- the sites may not deliver the answer Just a little over a year ago, I proposed ect has just finished training its first unless someone in the community has a project to the Knight Foundation to corps of “civic mappers” to cover two the answer.” Backfence.com just an- fund some start-up community news neighborhoods, and they’ve already nounced it has $3 million in venture ventures. Little did I expect to be on the turned up good stories. And The Fo- funding to go national. cusp of the next wave in journalism, but rum in Deerfield, New Hampshire, the clues came pretty fast. Two months which was launched as an alternative to Civic Participation via Media after receiving the New Voices grant, we issued a national call There are emerging signs that for proposals. Ten weeks later, Again and again, the applicants said citizen participation in the we had received an astonishing media can fuel civic participa- 243 vision statements. no news organizations were covering tion. That feeds into a current The proposals were eye their concerns or their communities— debate in academic circles: Is opening—innovative, ambi- citizen journalism the same as tious and poignant. Again whether they lived in cities or villages, civic journalism? and again, the applicants said military bases or university towns, ethnic Civic journalism seeks to get no news organizations were citizens to participate in civic covering their concerns or enclaves or Indian reservations. So, they life; citizen journalism seeks their communities—whether proposed, they would do so themselves— to engage them in the media. they lived in cities or villages, They’re not synonymous, but military bases or university through Web sites, podcasts, low-power they can be symbiotic. One towns, ethnic enclaves or FM radio, and ink on paper. can fuel the other: Soon after Indian reservations. So, they former Wall Street bond analyst proposed, they would do so Jarah Euston launched Fresno- themselves—through Web Famous.com to cover the city’s sites, podcasts, low-power FM radio, coverage from the Concord and Man- local arts scene, the mayor invited the and ink on paper. chester television stations, dailies and 26-year-old to join the city’s Creative “There was passion in what these weeklies, urges contributors to “Be the Economy Council. “He probably didn’t community news ventures said they news, not just read the news”—hardly want me to write about him,” she wryly wanted to accomplish,” said Bruce a prescription for the typical journalist. told a recent Fetzer Institute gathering Koon, a Knight Ridder executive and It’s worth noting that, two months after in Kalamazoo. She now writes weekly New Voices advisor who helped select launch, the all-volunteer project views summations of the council’s meetings the projects. Usually the applicants en- its mission as filling a new void: Voters on her Sour Grapes blog on FresnoFa- visioned their projects as counterpoints recently ended Deerfield’s participatory mous, and the blog helps the public to their local journalism, which they town-meeting tradition. The Web site give the council input. described as polarizing, shrill, focused (forumhome.org) is filled with content OneKCvoice.org in Kansas City tries on the near term, and certainly not and is already moving on its plans to to engage users in wrestling with big focused on them or their concerns. At expand to three more communities. community questions, such as whether times, their ambitions could put jour- I see some common denominators there should be a sales tax for big metro nalists to shame. in these and other citizen media efforts: projects. Its “You Decide” feature pro- Consider the Loudoun Forward proj- They seldom frame news coverage vides pros, cons and places for users ect, starting up in one of the nation’s around “conflict.” They don’t invest to weigh in. fastest growing counties in Northern Vir- in keeping score on who’s winning Of course, much has been written ginia. Even though Loudoun County has or losing in their communities. And about the role that citizen reporters two weeklies and a weekly zoned edition they embrace different definitions of at OhmyNews played in getting Roh
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 25 Citizen Journalism
Moo Hyun nominated and then elected before at the BBC,” Richard Sambrook, Greensboro, North Carolina News as South Korea’s president in 2002. director of the BBC’s World Services and & Record’s community blog project, OhmyNews uses stories from journal- Global News division, said at the “We Me- has urged news organizations to start ists and citizen contributors. Citizen dia” conference. [See Sambrook’s article labeling content that is initiated by contributions helped the news site on page 13.] The BBC’s Kate Goldberg readers or viewers. Soon we’ll see the become enough of a force in those has reported that eyewitnesses sent the next new thing, and I believe Alexander 2002 elections to challenge the con- BBC more than 20,000 e-mails, 1,000 foreshadowed that at the New York City servative news organizations that had photos, and 20 videos in just the first gathering: “Once we have this up and monopolized coverage of the nation’s six hours after the bombing. “This is not running,” he said, “ I’d like to work with politics. [See story about OhmyNews just a toe in the water,” Sambrook said. citizen readers on some investigative on page 17.] “Even calling it a movement sells it a bit journalism.” short. It’s a fundamental realignment That evokes new images of citizens The Tipping Point of the relations between Big Media and as parajournalists, akin to the paramili- the public.” tary forces waging new-age wars. Can Beginning in December 2004, coverage Then in August, Hurricane Katrina the era of “guerrilla journalism” be far of calamities has brought us to a tipping opened the doors to even more citizen behind? n point for user-generated content, a new contributions—and news organizations term for citizen involvement in the themselves stepped forward to facilitate Jan Schaffer is executive director of news. When the tsunami hit South Asia, relief and rescue activity. J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive tourists readily captured the tidal waves Citizen content does not create an Journalism at the University of Mary- and their aftermath on cameras and either/or paradigm. It’s an “and.” Citi- land, a spin-off of the Pew Center for videocams. More than 20,000 tsunami zen-contributed content can do much Civic Journalism. photos are posted on Flickr.com. to enrich traditional journalism: It will Then the July 7th bombings in Lon- complement as well as compete with Y [email protected] don set a new standard. Video shot from mainstream offerings. Citizens can serve camera phones led the BBC’s coverage as guide dogs as well as watchdogs. that night. “That had never happened Lex Alexander, cocreator of the
Reconnecting With the Audience ‘What they say—not what we think—is what counts.’
By Clyde H. Bentley
itizen journalism is the refresh- Oh Yeon Ho launched a Korean jour- AOL journalist, created The Northwest ing bouquet that traditional nalistic and social revolution with the Voice as the Californian’s combined Web Cnewspapers can give to readers battle cry “Every citizen is a reporter.” site and suburban newspaper edition. who increasingly say the fire has gone His Web publication, OhmyNews, used The Northwest Voice used Oh’s concept from our romance with them. It’s a way stories submitted by volunteer citizen of citizen journalists but had a much to say, “We’re sorry,” but also a promise reporters, edited by paid journalists, less political tone than OhmyNews. A to do better. For the last year and a half, to successfully challenge the dominant key difference in The Northwest Voice with the launch of MyMissourian, we conservative newspapers and con- approach was a link to the free-circu- at the University of Missouri have tried tribute to the electoral defeat of that lation, market-shopper product of its to demonstrate how a newspaper gives nation’s conservative government. parent newspaper, The Bakersfield this gift without abandoning its role in [See the article about OhmyNews on Californian. Fulton used The Northwest the community or the ethics of good page 17.] Voice to gather content that could then journalism. Wooing our audience back We followed Oh’s progress with be published in the free print shopper, with something they really want is no detached interest until The Bakersfield thus tapping into a proven revenue easy task, but our efforts to do so appear Californian announced it had American- stream and the resources of an estab- to be paying off with dividends. ized Oh’s concept. Mary Lou Fulton, a lished publication. Our foray into citizen journalism former Associated Press (A.P.), Los An- A flurry of reports in journalism started with two news reports. In 2000, geles Times, washingtonpost.com and journals and online bulletin boards in
26 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism spring of 2004 caught the attention of college town, so count on a lot of swear- we pride ourselves as guardians of the the faculty at the Missouri School of ing. What if they want to write about language and protectors of the correctly Journalism. Mizzou is a very practical trivial events or “tabloid trash?” spelled word. But newspapers helped school—our students staff a community I was equally nervous, but we ap- solve that problem by their advocacy of daily newspaper, a network television proached the challenge with a balance better writing education in the 1980’s station, and several Web sites. While we of cold-blooded research and warm- and 1990’s and, thanks to Silicon Valley, pondered how best to approach the new hearted humanism. Earlier research on people have spell checkers. We found, concept, I casually offered to revamp our daily newspaper, the Columbia Mis- too, that Americans are much better my online journalism course to create a sourian, had shown that many people writers than we’d been willing to credit trial citizen journalism Web publication. thought it and other newspapers were them. Commercialism in print is noth- When word of this idea spread, more both arrogant and oblivious to the re- ing new to readers. Pick up almost any than a few of my journalism colleagues quests of the reading public. When we magazine, but also look back in the old came to me with concerns. “Why in the boiled that reader attitude down to its issues of newspapers, and they reveal world would a hardball that we once had less journalist who dedi- defined lines between cated his career to the news and local busi- scrappy community Editors work closely with authors who ‘share’ ness promotion. The newspaper business information rather than ‘cover’ stories. We edit for issue for us was not be willing to turn over commercialism but control of the ‘presses’ readability and civility, not A.P. style and newspaper dealing with it without to amateurs?,” they tradition. We know how to keep our reporters out of libel abandoning our jour- wanted to know. nalistic ethics. That just Fortunately, Dean court, so this responsibility doesn’t change because our left the banal to cope Mills, the school of authors are not on the payroll. We let writers get trivial with, and we conclud- journalism dean, was ed that in light of some not among the doubt- and let them talk about what interests them. of our own actions, ers, and he wasted journalists are not no time in taking me great judges of what is up on the offer. “Can dumb or boring. we proceed with all deliberate speed? simplest factors, we ended up at “No.” We require original work from our I’m in no hurry. Next week would be In the public’s eye, newspapers are a citizen writers, but we managed to cut soon enough,” he e-mailed. Although world of “No.” Our space constraints, our litany of “No” to just four: he might have said it half in jest, his high “quality” standards, and often-inex- comment became the impetus for plicable traditions create more reasons • No profanity innovation. With Online Editor Curt for not accepting material than John • No nudity Wohleber, we assembled a team of and Jane reader can imagine. Format • No personal attacks graduate students and worked through and timeliness rules may be forgivable, • No attacks on race, religion, national the summer on the procedures and tech- but try explaining why we don’t publish origin, gender or sexual orientation. nology needed to launch a site. By fall, Little League results. Or why we will undergraduate students in the online publish a 25th wedding anniversary but Each submission is edited by a trained journalism class were contacting com- not a 27th. We’re leery also of any story journalist before it is published. Editors munity sources for content. By October that might “promote” a business, and work closely with authors who “share” 1st, MyMissourian.com was online. we don’t allow authors to show emo- information rather than “cover” stories. tion about anything—even the death We edit for readability and civility, not Research and Results of a loved one. A.P. style and newspaper tradition. We As we resolved to eliminate most of know how to keep our reporters out of The key to the success of MyMissourian the “No” in MyMissourian, we bumped libel court, so this responsibility doesn’t turned out to be the summer planning into a few longer words like decency, change because our authors are not on session. By taking a hard look at the literacy, commercialism and outright the payroll. We let writers get trivial and task ahead, we answered many of our banality. Fortunately, we found that jour- let them talk about what interests them. critics before we even heard from them. nalism had faced up to these issues. Fear No one is anonymous and, if we have Traditional journalists are wracked with of regulating indecent language is more questions, we get back to the authors fear about untrained “civilians” dab- of an issue within the die-hard Internet by e-mail or phone before publication. bling in their domain. How could we culture, and most newspapers already Editors also do much more than edit; have credibility without fact-checkers? have checks on profanity that are seldom they encourage and they actively seek Citizens won’t have a clue about the A.P. cited as reason to cancel subscriptions. out community members eager to speak stylebook or standard spelling. This is a Literacy was somewhat tougher since their minds. What they say—not what
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 27 Citizen Journalism
we think—is what counts. similar to a bakery handing out stale them in the skills that role will require. bread as samples. Giving up the power to craft a story A Viable Economic Model Now 23,000 homes in Columbia is probably the toughest assignment receive a unique newspaper. Six days I hand to young journalists who have We could have stopped there, but we a week, journalists deliver “our” paper. been well trained to observe closely and had another gift bouquet to deliver— Now, on our normally dark Saturday, we translate those observations into must- this time to the newspaper industry. On deliver “their” newspaper—a print edi- read prose. I am working to convince the first anniversary of MyMissourian, tion containing what citizens produce them that the basic reporting skills will we launched what we believe will be a online. Probably we should not have not go away, but will be supplemented viable economic model for online news been surprised that interest in MyMis- by the skills of becoming the journalistic products. Up to that time, none of our sourian has exploded since the print “guide.” As we continue to publish a effort had gone into building online edition hit the streets. In the first months good newspaper, we’ll also give citizens readership but had been focused on of this effort, 200 new citizen writers their voice in MyMissourian. building “writership.” registered, and page views increased The bouquet MyMissourian sends its Like almost all newspapers, the similarly. Perhaps more important to my readers is a sincere invitation into our Columbia Missourian gets a big share staff is that we now receive many stories world. By embracing citizen journalism, of its revenue from a free Total Market submitted by citizens who we didn’t we have conceded that it doesn’t take Coverage (TMC) edition. Although we even know were out there. Advertisers a journalism degree to have something try to avoid the label “shopper,” his- also have good reason to be excited. worthwhile to say. To help them say it, torically the newspaper received the Fewer copies of the TMC are left out in we’ve become colleagues, mentors and second-rate attention that name implies. the rain, and merchants can play to the good partners. n It was filled with old stories, syndicated “just folks” theme of MyMissourian. entertainment news, and games. News- The print edition does not represent Clyde H. Bentley is associate profes- room veterans told us the strategy was an end to our project, just a way station. sor at the Missouri School of Journal- to use the TMC to give nonsubscribers a In the next several years we will focus on ism. mere taste of the Columbia Missourian, defining the role of the trained journalist but my staff thought that approach was in this citizen variant and on training Y [email protected]
Creating a New Town Square ‘It’s a locus for the kind of civic trust and independence on which the idea of journalism, indeed democracy, is based.’
By Leslie Dreyfous McCarthy
ucked between a verdant coastal and agricultural community, open to It’s a familiar small-town story, for mountain range and stark Pacific sweeping vistas and closed to shopping sure. At its heart is the flow of informa- T Ocean bluff tops, Half Moon Bay mall sprawl? Or do we make Faustian tion driving—or distorting—so much of is one of those rare, spectacular natural bargains, trading bits of historic identity the civic ecosystem. The weekly newspa- places. It’s also a classic small town, for real estate deals dressed up in the per amounts to a water cooler, a town time-warped only by the happy accident shroud of progress? square, the proverbial grapevine. Quite of relative geographic inaccessibility to These questions lend themselves a sacred trust—and it comes with un- the suburbanized San Francisco-Silicon to endless political soap-opera gy- believable, often unchecked, power to Valley corridor just 20 minutes “over rations among “pro-growthers,” influence discourse among citizens. the hill.” “no-growthers,” “slow-growthers,” Not unlike major market media, most Not everyone here is involved in lo- “managed growthers” and … (fill-in-the- small newspapers are driven by bottom- cal politics, but pretty much everyone blank). Meanwhile, an alienated “silent line profit. And that pressure is more has an opinion. What it boils down majority” tunes in to the local cable obvious in some places than others. to is development. What’s our civic access channel to watch, and perhaps In the case of our chain-owned local vision? Do we continue to define our- ruefully to laugh at, the routine Kabuki weekly, ad space is dominated by—what selves fundamentally as a rural fishing of another public meeting. else, in California?—real estate. The
28 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism pressure to develop subdivisions and in circulation, it’s too late. suppress opposing points of view. He golf courses on every last, highly valu- That’s why it was such a breath of has created a civilized space for alterna- able inch of available coastal property is fresh air when an online citizen jour- tive voices—and unsponsored truth. intense. Environmental law is for some a nalist stepped up to offer a different It might sound overblown, but Coast- nuisance to be gotten around. This ten- point of view. More than that, Barry Parr sider.com provides an unbelievably sion is the subtext of everything, from has brought integrity, wit and profes- critical public service. It’s a locus for the elections to infrastructure to public sionalism to Coastsider.com. Though kind of civic trust and independence on school education to which watering- familiar with newsrooms as a result of which the idea of journalism, indeed hole people choose to frequent. Take his work designing early Web sites for democracy, is based. And he doesn’t a side. Our local newspaper unques- Silicon Valley news outlets such as the even own a printing press. n tionably has. San Jose Mercury News, Parr had no The local paper’s version of truth is professional reporting experience. He’s Leslie Dreyfous McCarthy, a 1995 constantly rebutted for its misrepresen- gotten his cub training as a middle-aged, Nieman Fellow and former national tations and insinuations. Starting with computer-age Thomas Paine—a classic writer for The Associated Press, has city council members who have gone on watchdog journalist, with a take-no- come in for her share of local news- record with their frustration and refusal prisoners pay scale to match. [See Parr’s paper coverage as the author of a even to read the paper, many consider story below.] controversial local ballot initiative it advocacy rather than journalism. Ask To the amusement and relief of de- and an advocate for environmental for a correction or clarification and, if voted readers, Parr has at times posted responsibility and smart-growth on one appears, it will likely have a snarky line-edited-for-accuracy versions of the California coast. editor’s note appended. In any case, pieces featured in the weekly. He has once something falsely damaging is out outed those who would intimidate or Y [email protected]
Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Became a Citizen Journalist
In May 2004, Barry Parr, a former Web site architect for the San Jose Mercury News and CNET’s News.com, introduced his own new Web site to an online audience. His initial goal was to apply what he’d learned about building news sites to the California coastal community where he lived. He described Coastsider—the name he gave his Web site—as “a community Web site for coastal San Mateo County.” Readers who came to this site, he said, would be able “to find out what’s happening now in this amazing community, dig deeper into topics that interest you, and discuss these things with your fellow residents.” Until Parr started to gather local news and commentary on this Web site, he had not practiced journalism. In this article, Parr writes about what he would like to have understood better before he launched his site and found himself becoming a journalist.
By Barry Parr
or starters, I wish I’d known I San Francisco and Silicon Valley by a had to depend on the weekly for the was becoming a citizen journal- wall of fog and a cliff-hugging highway news. If you’ve ever mourned the bland- Fist—before it actually happened. ominously called the “Devil’s Slide.” We ness of corporate journalism, you might My original plan was to set up a little Web still have Halloween costume parades have forgotten the pungent taste of old- site where community members could on Main Street, run into our kids’ teach- fashioned, biased, winner-take-all jour- share news and link to interesting Bay ers in restaurants, and pick up our mail nalism. Imagine a small-town Colonel Area newspaper stories featuring a San at the post office. Robert McCormick or Harry Chandler Mateo County Coastside angle. And our only local newspaper is a and you have an idea how many of us Sometimes I feel like we live in one weekly. Nominally we’re in the coverage feel about our local paper. of those weird little towns that kept area of the San Francisco Chronicle and There’s one way the Coastside is not popping up in “Twilight Zone” episodes. the San Jose Mercury News. But you stuck in the ’50’s. We have the Internet. The Coastside, or coastal San Mateo wouldn’t know it from reading them. My original plan was to build a Web site County, is a 1950’s town separated from Until I started my site, we Coastsiders using the contributions of my friends
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 29 Citizen Journalism
and neighbors, among whom constantly in conflict. I can’t many were already tearing up be objective, because I have the infosphere with pithy posts a point of view. And Coast- on a local e-mail list. It would be sider is fresher and more a place where local experts could interesting when I don’t help me and others like me un- try to hide it. To abandon derstand the issues that mattered objectivity, I must replace in our community. I decided to it with other strong, clearly call it Coastsider. established values. I’ve Despite all my planning, Coast- chosen openness, accuracy, sider became something I hadn’t fairness and thoroughness. anticipated. The good news is that To be honest, it would be it turned out much better than I’d easier to let everyone have a hoped, both for the community say, regardless of how valid and me. I learned a few things their opinions. One reason along the way and realized what I’m able to write from a very I wish I’d known before. personal point of view and keep a large audience happy 1. I wish I’d known how difficult is that everyone is encour- it is to get smart people who aged to add comments to write well to post on a Web stories. If I get my facts site. Suddenly, faced with the Homepage of Coastsider. wrong, someone is always prospect of writing for an ready to point it out. online publication, all those clever what happened. On more than one 5. I wish I’d fully anticipated the depth writers clammed up. If I was going occasion, after covering a story, I’ve of this conflict from the beginning, to have information on Coastsider, I been surprised to read an account but I’m starting to understand it. was going to have to write it myself. in our local newspaper that is com- The only thing you can do is to wear So there I was, happily running links pletely different from my own. your point of view on your sleeve to meager Coastside news in the 3. I wish I’d known how fun it is to and try to be fair. One way I signal regional dailies, when someone e- beat the competition. I would have my readers that they’re entering an mailed me a tip on a real news story started in the news business a lot objectivity-free zone is by writing my that hadn’t been covered by the local sooner. It’s really addictive. There news stories in the first person. Read- paper. An endangered frog had been are weeks now when every story on ers welcome a point of view—as long sighted in the middle of the most the front page of the local paper has as it’s clear what you’re doing. contentious development site on already been covered in Coastsider. 6. I wish I’d known how influential I the coast. I called up the biologist And I love it. You might think I have would become. I’m now reaching who’d discovered the hapless frog an unfair advantage, competing with about 2,000 readers every week, and learned that he was happy to a weekly. But I’m just one guy work- a significant fraction of our local talk to me. Until that moment, my ing part time and they have a half- paper’s circulation of 7,000. When reportorial background consisted of dozen full-time editors and reporters you Google local bigwigs, the first a year of high school journalism class, backed by a newspaper corporation result is almost always a Coastsider which I’d managed to skate through that owns a lot of weekly newspapers. story. Coastsider is usually the top without actually having to interview In thinking about the competition, result when you search most local anyone. The biologist not only gave my motto is “Coastsider is not about issues. me a great story but also a picture what’s wrong with the local paper.” 7. I wish I’d known how many friends I’d of the endangered frog squatting in Any news source needs to succeed make doing this. In the past year, I’ve the field in question. on its own terms. It needs to beat met dozens of people through Coast- 2. I wish I’d known how easy it is to get the competition, but the competition sider and gotten strong expressions people to talk to you. Well, most of can’t be its reason for existing. of support from dozens of others. the time, anyway, I get calls back from 4. I wish I’d known how hard it is to These days when I go downtown or public officials and private parties. do journalism well. I’ve now learned to the post office, I bump into people And I’ve discovered some people by doing it how time-consuming it is I know. I’ve become integrated into choose not to return my calls when to report, write, edit and fact-check this community in a way that I’d never they don’t like the way I cover the news stories with integrity. Every been before. news. Perhaps most startling, I’ve also citizen journalist is also a citizen pub- now seen firsthand that what appears lisher. My roles as editor, publisher, I don’t wear the label “citizen journal- in the newspaper is not necessarily reporter, citizen and neighbor are ist” comfortably. It implies that the roles
30 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism of citizen and journalist are separate, and do more in-depth coverage of the Since starting Coastsider (http:// and I’m some weird sort of hybrid. All Coastside. Or I could make it broader coastsider.com), Barry Parr has journalists are citizens, aren’t we? and cover similar issues in neighboring joined Jupiter Research as a media I wish I could know now how this coastal communities. What I’ve come analyst. He was one of the architects story would end. In its current state, to realize is that the Web is an ideal of the San Jose Mercury News and Coastsider could generate enough ad medium for delivering ultralocal news CNET’s News.com Web sites. He also revenue to be a good part-time job, and bringing a community together. writes the Weblog MediaSavvy (http:// and its audience is growing steadily, As much as I love the printed page, mediasavvy.com/). doubling in the past six months. I’m I’ve done things with Coastsider that beginning to wonder whether it could would have been impossible without Y [email protected] be a career. I could make it deeper the Internet. n
Defining a Journalist’s Function In one approach to finding a definition, it turns out thatbeing a journalist is about doing journalism.
By William F. Woo
he emergence of citizen or journalists, bloggers or anyone else,” erers’ privilege is determined not by grassroots journalism inevitably he wrote in his decision, which was the reporter’s formal status as a ‘pro- Traises the question of whether handed down last March. Moreover, fessional journalist,’ but rather by the bloggers, the operators of online news Kleinberg stated: reporter’s functional conduct in gath- sites, or even freelancers should be con- “Defining what is a ‘journalist’ has ering information with the purpose of sidered journalists with the same legal become more complicated as the disseminating widely to the public.” rights as reporters who are employed variety of media has expanded. But The brief, in short, proposed a by traditional news organizations. Some even if the movants [defendants] are functional test for determining who is interpretations of the California shield journalists, this is not the equivalent a journalist. law assert that they do, though so far of a free pass.” this has been little help to the unnamed And, in reaffirming Apple’s right to Pondering the Definition defendants sued by Apple Computer protect trade secrets, Kleinberg went (Apple v. Does) in 2004 for leaking de- on to state: As it happened, the decision in the tails about the company’s new products “The Court sees no reason to aban- Apple case in March also had started to online sites. don that right even if it were to assume, me thinking about a functional defini- That the defendants should be arguendo, movants are ‘journalists’ as tion for journalists. I had a telephone treated as journalists resided at the they claim to be.” conversation or two about it with my heart of their case. As journalists, they The case is now under appeal, but old Nieman classmate, Philip Meyer, sought the protection of both the First the argument that the defendants are the Knight Professor of Journalism at Amendment and California’s shield journalists entitled to special protection the University of North Carolina, and law. Santa Clara County Superior Court is far from resolved. An amicus brief filed on April 7, 2005, I sent him a memo- Judge James P. Kleinberg found such in a state appellate court for the defen- randum setting forth some ideas, which arguments unpersuasive and irrelevant. dants states that to serve the important I discuss here. The case, he declared in deciding for purposes of the First Amendment, this The traditional definition of a jour- Apple, was not about journalists and “newsgatherers’ privilege” should be nalist is based on employment or asso- privilege; it was about trade secrets and interpreted to allow for a multitude of ciation. The California shield law, whose “stolen property.” “vital sources of information.” language is typical of such measures and In addressing whether the defen- The brief, submitted on April 11th that appears in Article 1, Section 2 (b) of dants were journalists, the judge said by Lauren Gelman, associate director the state constitution, says that: “A pub- the question was beside the point: “The of the Stanford Center for Internet and lisher, editor, reporter, or other person California legislature has not carved Society, declares that: connected with or employed upon a out any exception to these statutes for “The applicability of the newsgath- newspaper, magazine, or other periodi-
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 31 Citizen Journalism
cal publication, or by a press associa- park all enjoy the protection of the that would pass the test of reasonable tion or wire service, or any person who First Amendment, but only the first people on a case-by-case basis. has been so connected or employed, three are likely to be covered by a shall not be adjudged in contempt by shield law that turns on function. Qualifying for Protection a judicial, legislative, or administrative 2. It relies on tradition, common sense, body … for refusing to disclose the and an appeal to “the reasonable per- To qualify for protection, not all of source of any information procured son,” sometimes called the average the definitions need apply. But some while so connected or employed for person (or the average man) or an might be sufficiently compelling in the publication in a newspaper, magazine audience of reasonable people. The absence of others. Here, then, are some or other periodical publication, or for concept is widely used in law and examples of what might be considered refusing to disclose any unpublished moral philosophy. A recent Supreme doing journalism. information obtained or prepared in Court decision in an employment gathering, receiving or processing of case involving a 53-year-old female • It means there is a story (or a series information for communication to the elevator operator held that to dem- of stories/articles) that is being pur- public.” The law also protects “a radio onstrate a hostile working environ- sued. That is, the activity is aimed at or television news reporter or other ment, a showing would have to be producing a journalistic work prod- person connected with or employed by made that “the working conditions uct. Whether it’s a story would have a radio or television station.” were so intolerable that a reasonable to meet the test of the reasonable It is noteworthy that in addition to person would have felt compelled person. In most cases, I suspect, he the employment and association re- to resign.” (The emphasis is mine.) or she would not have to think too quirements the only words directed at What is a reasonable person? Legal hard about it. Whether the story is actually doing journalism are concerned dictionaries suggest that he or she published or distributed is relevant with refusing to disclose “unpublished is appropriately informed, capable, but not controlling. Many journal- information obtained in the reporting aware of the law, and fair-minded. ists pursue stories that don’t pan process” or “receiving or processing However extraordinary the circum- out. Nonetheless they do legitimate information to be communicated to stances, such a person will act and journalism in the reporting. the public.” The last—communication think in a way that is reasonable. • It means that the work product to the public—is relevant to a point I’ll And there are examples from moral or story is aimed at an audience. make later about the functional require- philosophy. In Sissela Bok’s book It must be intended to be read or ment for an audience. “Lying,” she asserts that publicity seen or heard. The poet, the lonely It had been thought or hoped by is crucial to all moral choice. “The pamphleteer or blogger (or New organizations such as California’s First test of publicity asks which lies, if York Times reporter) writing only Amendment Project that the law’s any, would survive the appeal for for personal satisfaction would not protection would apply to “stringers, justification to reasonable persons,” qualify for shield protection. freelancers and perhaps authors.” From she writes. • It means that there is a public benefit there, it would only be a short step to 3. It would clarify shield laws such as to the story or work product. The include bloggers, operators of online California’s, which extends protec- shield laws themselves exist because sites, people who send their cell-phone tion “for refusing to disclose the of the assumption that there is a photographs of newsworthy people source of any information procured public benefit to journalism and as or events to be published, broadcast while so connected or employed for a result society is justified in extend- or posted, and other distributors of publication in a newspaper, maga- ing special protection to those who information using new technology and zine or other periodical publication.” practice it. software. Under the functional principle, the As I thought more about all of this, protected activity would have to have I do not think, as a practical matter, I came up with a list of elements of a occurred while the employee of such that a public benefit would be hard to functional approach to journalism and an organization was doing journal- recognize or define were the question how they might work. ism. That requirement, I suspect, put to our reasonable people. In Roth is implied in the shield law, though v. United States, the Supreme Court 1. It rejects both the employment/asso- it is not stated. But merely being held that one test for obscenity is that ciation-based definition of a journal- employed by a news organization the material is “without redeeming ist as well as the Cartesian definition: would not protect someone from social importance.” In other words, it I think (or say) I am a journalist, the consequences of nonjournalistic is without public benefit. therefore I am a journalist. It holds: activities. The court also recognized in Roth I do journalism, therefore I am a 4. It would set forth some (though not that “ideas having even the slightest journalist. The lonely pamphleteer, all) definitions of what constitutes social importance—unorthodox ideas, the blogger, the metropolitan daily doing journalism. By the phrase controversial ideas, even ideas hateful to reporter, the soap box orator in the “not all,” I have in mind activities the prevailing climate of opinion”—have
32 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Citizen Journalism the full protection of the First Amend- At its core, the functional definition William F. Woo, a 1967 Nieman Fel- ment. Under my proposed functional of journalism is much like the functional low, directs the graduate journalism definition of journalism, the phrase definition of a duck. If it looks like program at Stanford University. He slightest redeeming social importance journalism, acts like journalism, and formerly was editor of the St. Louis would extend to the work of citizen or produces the work of journalism, then Post-Dispatch. grass-roots journalists, as long as they it’s journalism, and the people doing it were doing journalism. are journalists. Whoever they are. n Y [email protected]
When the Internet Reveals a Story ‘The challenge for me was to get the story off the Internet and into print.’
By Seth Hettena
ast year I was working a Sunday few Web sites that popped up, one stood Publishing a Story About shift at my job in the San Diego out—a commercial photo-sharing Web Prisoner Abuse L bureau of The Associated Press site called smugmug.com. Amazingly, (A.P.) when I typed three words into what I saw on this site were photo- I let my editors know what I’d found Google that led me to photos posted graphs of Navy Seal Team Five in Iraq, and e-mailed links to the Web site so on the Internet of Navy Seals and their hundreds of images of the super-secret they could view the images themselves. Iraqi prisoners. The resulting story Seals smiling for the camera, stretch- Guidance I received from editors at A.P. would trigger a criminal investigation ing in their bunks, playing volleyball, headquarters in New York was to focus by the military as well as a lawsuit filed drinking beer, and eating cake on the on whether the photos showed anything against me by a group of six Navy Seals. Fourth of July. that might be illegal. With that in mind, Recently a judge threw out the case, More ominously, however, there Justin Pritchard, A.P.’s news editor in Los allowing me to tell the back story that were about 40 photographs involving Angeles, and I mapped out a reporting began on that quiet afternoon. prisoners. In an eerie echo of the Abu plan, and I provided him with detailed I had been covering the mysterious Ghraib images, grinning Navy Seals updates throughout the process. death of Manadel al-Jamadi, an Iraqi took turns sitting on top of hooded At the outset, we wanted to make terror suspect who met a gruesome end and handcuffed detainees in the back sure the images weren’t fakes. I tracked in CIA custody in 2003 in Abu Ghraib of a pickup truck. Other of these images down the home address of where the prison in Iraq. Photos of al-Jamadi’s appeared to be taken in the immediate wife of a Seal whose name appeared on bruised, ice-packed corpse emerged aftermath of raids on civilian homes, and the site lived. One day, I dropped by her in the scandal at the notorious prison. they offered an unusual glimpse into San Diego apartment and, since no one Hours before he died, al-Jamadi was commando operations in Iraq. In one, was home, I left a note asking someone captured from his home by Navy Seals an Iraqi was on his back with a boot on to call me. The Seal’s wife called a short on a joint CIA-special operations mis- his chest. Another image showed a man while later and told me that she had sion. Last year, a group of Seals were with an automatic weapon pointed at posted all the photos her husband had prosecuted in military court in San Di- his head and a gloved thumb jabbed brought back from Iraq. She was also ego for abusing al-Jamadi. The secrecy into his throat. Blood dripped from upset that I had looked at her personal surrounding the case was extreme; some of the prisoners and someone family photos. When I pointed out that defendants weren’t named in most had blacked out faces of many, but not there were photos of prisoners, she said court proceedings. all, of them. that those were “CIA photos” and went That Sunday, I was chatting with a Once I saw these photographs, I on to imply that her husband and other source who had a copy of al-Jamadi’s couldn’t ignore them. There was a story Seals were rounding up people wanted autopsy. Buried in the report was a refer- here. Some of them were dated May by the spy agency. ence to Camp Jenny Pozzi, a Seal base 2003, which could make them among It was becoming clearer to me that in Iraq. So I did what I imagine every the earliest evidence of prisoner abuse there was a story that needed to be told. journalist would do these days: I typed in Iraq. The challenge for me was to Our next step was to bring copies of the name of the base into Google, the get the story off the Internet and into photographs to Naval Special Warfare popular Internet search engine. Of the print. Command, the Seals’ headquarters in
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 33 Citizen Journalism
Coronado, outside San Diego. To show ers, and it became something of a joke San Diego—parried the Seals’ claims how easily the site could be accessed, I in his unit’s morning briefings. with the strong protections afforded had ordered copies of photos mailed to to journalists by California law. The me through smugmug.com for 29 cents The Lawsuit Against Our state’s “anti-SLAPP” law (SLAPP stands each, and I shared these copies with the Reporting for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Seals’ public affairs staff. Soon the Seals Participation) allows defendants to opened a criminal investigation, and One day in December, someone obtain quick dismissal of claims based we heard that the photos were being knocked at the door of my home and on speech about matters of public im- circulated at the Pentagon. handed my wife a letter. A lawyer rep- portance unless the plaintiffs can show The A.P.’s attorneys reviewed the resenting the Seal wife who posted the they are likely to win. Defendants can photos, and on December 3, 2004 we photos claimed everything I’d written also demand reimbursement of their decided to move the story, along with about our conversation was untrue. legal fees. 15 photos just as we found them on The next day, six Navy Seals and two of On July 12, 2005, U.S. District Judge the Internet. their wives sued the A.P. and me. (Two Jeffrey T. Miller decided the Seals could The story was explosive. Hundreds Seals and one wife later dropped out not win and dismissed the case. “The of media outlets around the country ran of the case.) Associated Press merely distributed a the story, including The New York Times, The lawsuit, filed in San Diego Supe- truthful story, with photos that depict Los Angeles Times, The Washington rior Court and then moved to federal a topic of great public interest,” Miller Post, and CNN. Media organizations in court, accused us, among other things, wrote. The judge said he had reviewed the Middle East reacted with predictable of invasion of privacy, publication of the photos and found they showed outrage. Cuba put a billboard with the private facts, and intentional infliction possible abuse: “Plaintiffs voluntarily photos outside Guantanamo Bay—a of emotional distress. The Seals claimed assumed a position of public notoriety point the Seals would later use against we deliberately endangered their lives when they photographed themselves us. General Mark Kimmitt, a former and distorted the truth “in a quest to engaged in actions that seemed to sug- military spokesman in Iraq, told the break the latest unsupported story gest possible mistreatment of captive pan-Arab television network the next against our troops in Iraq.” Iraqis and then allowed Jane Doe to day that the photos showed the acts of The attorney for the Seals (who post the photos on the Internet.” In an isolated few. never revealed their names) was James August, the Seals agreed not to appeal A few days after the story ran, Naval Huston. His name might be familiar to the dismissal, and the A.P. and I agreed Special Warfare Command said some fans of military techno-thrillers. He’s not to seek reimbursement of our legal of the photos were taken for legitimate written several mass-market novels expenses. intelligence-gathering purposes and featuring Navy Seal Kent “Rat” Rath- In the end, however, the larger is- showed commandos using approved man, an undercover CIA operative who sues raised by our initial story got lost procedures. For instance, in a photo of hunts terrorists. Huston, a former Navy and distorted. Questions about who a detainee with a weapon pointed at his aviator, still had his old pilot’s swagger. the commandos were capturing, why head, the Seals said the weapon wasn’t In court papers, he insinuated that I they needed to use so much force, and being used to terrorize him. Rather, a hacked into the smugmug.com Web site. whether they faced any consequences flashlight attached to the top of the He said his clients feared for their lives. after the photos were revealed have weapon was being used to illuminate He also suggested that I committed a never been fully answered and remain his face. But the Seals offered no expla- felony straight out of the Valerie Plame shrouded in government secrecy. nation for other photos, including the case by publishing identifiable photos of Earlier this year, the Seals told us grinning Seals photographed sitting on “covert operatives.” This charge ignored the criminal investigation into how top of prisoners. At a minimum, Navy the fact that, unlike CIA operatives, the photos were made and posted on policy forbids such unofficial detainee Seals’ identities are not classified. the Internet was closed. A Freedom of photos. The lawsuit generated a second Information Act request I filed in August Later our reporting revealed that wave of coverage. I’d be lying if I said I asked for the results of such an investi- Army soldiers in Iraq were worried didn’t lose any sleep over it. I think my gation. As this story goes to press, my about the way members of Seal Team mother, too, preferred to see my name request is still being reviewed. n Five were treating prisoners. Accord- in bold at the top of a story, not in the ing to Army documents in 2003, an middle of one in her beloved New York Seth Hettena is a military writer and interrogator said some of the prisoners Times. The A.P. rushed to my defense supervisory correspondent for The brought in by the Seals “appeared to be and never wavered. “We stand together,” Associated Press in San Diego, Cali- very severely beaten.” A former soldier A.P.’s Assistant General Counsel David fornia. who worked at a detainee holding fa- Tomlin told me. Attorneys who the A.P. cility in 2003 told me it was common hired to represent me—David Schulz Y [email protected] knowledge Seals were beating prison- in New York and Robert Steiner in
34 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
“Let me begin with a confession. After watching television coverage of Katrina for nearly every wakeful moment over the first few dramatic days, I quit. Cold turkey,” writes Curtis Wilkie, who holds the Cook Chair in Journalism at the University of Mississippi, after a lengthy reporting career at The Boston Globe that included being a correspondent in New Orleans, where his home is located. “TV news had morphed into a mutant reality show: ‘Survivor’ gone berserk.” With those words, Wilkie opens our collection of reflective essays written in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by journalists who either went to the devastated region to report or grew up in a place the floodwaters destroyed. Will Sutton, the Scripps Howard Visiting Professional at the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University, grew up in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and recalls a vibrant neighborhood routinely ignored by local and national media. “As we look for what ‘sells,’ improving the human condition doesn’t sell as well as news where there is clear conflict … news where more affluent people are affected,” he writes, and explains why the press should pay attention now. Carolyn Cole, a photojournalist with the Los Angeles Times, shares words and images about her experiences in New Orleans, and her photographs also accompany a poignant account by Los Angeles Times correspondent Elizabeth Mehren of the human misery and resilience her stories portrayed. Mehren writes, “It is impossible to exaggerate the devastation I encountered in 10 days on the Mississippi Gulf Coast immediately after Hurricane Katrina.” Boston Globe reporter Kevin Cullen writes about the reporting of rumors and how race played out in the coverage of Katrina: “Class and race are inextricably bound up in New Orleans, and trying to make sense of it was as hard as trying to get accurate information.” From Southeast Asia, freelance journalist Philip J. Cunningham shares observations about reporters’ frequent use of the words “Third World” in their hurricane coverage. And Nuri Vallbona, photojournalist with The Miami Herald, describes photographing Katrina’s destruction from a plane, then later at ground level. “… each bank of the chopper revealed more devastation, more than I’d seen in my career as a photojournalist,” she writes. The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune cartoonist, Steve Kelley, explains what it was like to create cartoons about Katrina’s aftermath when he was stuck thousands of miles away, unable to get back home. “People would ask how I could draw cartoons about a story from so far away. The answer is that political cartoonists … don’t report the news, we tailgate it,” he writes. And Mary C. Curtis, executive features editor and columnist at The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, offers journalists some questions to think about in the aftermath of what Katrina revealed about poverty and race, as she wonders whether “this catastrophe will affect the topics that journalists decide to cover and how they practice their craft.” n
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 35 Hurricane Katrina Coverage Words Triumph Over Images ‘The human element was accentuated, and the best of the writing was impressionistic.’
By Curtis Wilkie
et me begin with a confession. I heard one correspondent reporting taken. Some of the scenes, it turns out, After watching television cover- “from the heart of the French Quarter,” were coming from the Mississippi Gulf L age of Katrina for nearly every yet saw in the background that he was Coast. Katrina’s devastation was terrible wakeful moment over the first few actually speaking from a part of the city there, too. But that part of the story was dramatic days, I quit. Cold turkey. we know as the CBD (Central Business given short shrift during the first days TV news had morphed into a mutant District). of coverage. reality show: “Survivor” gone berserk. Not everyone was as careful as Jeanne I have empathy for the reporters, on Even The Weather Channel seemed Meserve of CNN. During a live telecast, TV and in print, whose knowledge of to be anchored by Chicken Little. So I New Orleans did not extend beyond turned it off. An odd reaction, I know, Bourbon Street. Many times during for someone who spent nearly 40 years Operating under heavy my years as a national and foreign as a reporter and visited his share of correspondent for The Boston Globe catastrophes. But I was suffering sen- stress in difficult I arrived at the scene of a news story a sory overload and found my spirits in conditions can be an alibi, complete stranger. I committed gaffes free fall, because my home is in New and gave credence to bogus informa- Orleans. but it’s not a good excuse tion, too. But I also learned that these Long ago, I had given up on radio, for sloppy journalism. experiences cry for a reporter to learn the happy medium of my childhood, quickly as much background as pos- as a news source. With the exception sible about the assignment, to be able of National Public Radio, the airwaves to ask the right questions rather than to seem to have been taken over by talk she was asked by her anchor to describe appear to know all the answers, to put shows promulgating nonsense, rumors conditions in one neighborhood. She the story in proper perspective, and to and invective or music stations carrying simply said she did not know, that she be skeptical of tales that might heighten the sameness of Clear Channel play had not yet been able to reach that part the drama but prove to be false. lists. I’m not adept at the Internet, the of the city. Others seemed reluctant to latest means to obtain information—as acknowledge that they did not know. Reckless Reporting well as all sorts of misinformation. I Instead, they spoke, in authoritative am—another admission—wedded to terms, of that which they knew little. Operating under heavy stress in difficult print journalism. So I began to rely When the city began to flood, we conditions can be an alibi, but it’s not a entirely on newspapers as I followed were told that the waters were drown- good excuse for sloppy journalism. events from Oxford, Mississippi, where ing “the Lower Ninth Ward.” It begged Katrina gave new meaning to the I teach and have a second home. And as the question: Where is the Ninth Ward? term “urban legends.” They grew up the disaster played out for weeks, I felt New Orleanians knew, but many of them in the wake of the storm like mold and satisfied I was getting a clearer and more were scrambling for their lives. Those in mildew in the flooded homes of New detailed picture from the written words the rest of the country were deep into Orleans: stories we now know to be than from the frantic scenes on TV. crisis coverage before finally learning overwrought. So far as I know, the first Television had the advantage of im- its location—after someone thought news organization to investigate the mediacy and the ability to transmit visual to cut through the clutter of graphics credibility of lurid accounts of mur- images. But so much of what I saw and and crawls to display an old-fashioned der, rape and wanton terrorism was heard in those early days was unfiltered, device: a map. The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, not always factual, and too often failed Another kvetch: Television played which heroically continued to publish to provide any context. repeated loops of video shot from under the worst circumstances. Oth- While Brian Williams of NBC News helicopter fly-bys, grim sights of shat- ers followed their lead and discovered provided strong first-hand reporting tered buildings or families stranded on many exaggerations and lies and cases from the Superdome within hours after rooftops or frightened people wading where officials, who should have been the storm hit, others relied on hearsay through foul waters, without any expla- dependable sources, turned out to have and repeated it in apocalyptic voices. nation of where the pictures had been been unreliable.
36 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
From my vantage point, I became In these cases, reporters were unwit- by providing pages and pages on the suspicious after reading—high in a front ting accomplices. They trusted official plight in Mississippi. page story in The New York Times—a sources, when it would have been better The coverage was comprehensive, yet fuzzy anecdote concerning a Corps to have sniffed the malodor. When I was measured. The most powerful stories of Engineers crew that came under in the Middle East, correspondents fre- singled out individuals caught up in the fire from mysterious assailants. Police quently encountered wild and flagrantly greatest crisis of their lifetimes. The hu- officers were said to have retaliated, biased testimony from partisans in man element was accentuated, and the shooting dead four or five of the gang conflicts. These highly charged accounts best of the writing was impressionistic. members. It was attributed to police were known, with some amusement in Of the hundreds of stories I saw, I espe- sources. This was one hell of a episode, the trade, as “stories too good to check,” cially remember Dan Barry’s article in I thought, and waited to learn more. because we knew we’d invariably lose The New York Times, a macabre account The story simply disappeared. rich and colorful copy if, indeed, we of the horror, focused on an abandoned New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s double-checked. But double-check we corpse in downtown New Orleans. assertion on the third day that “most did, and the tales usually wound up Reading it, I thought: I would always likely, thousands” of bodies would be on the newsroom’s equivalent of the prefer Conrad to cheesy television discovered amid the carnage titillated cutting-room floor. where desperate people were treated the tabloids and served as the sound Throughout September, when I like “Desperate Housewives.” n bite of the day. His estimate helped basically confined my television watch- to underscore the dire situation in his ing to baseball and football, I kept up Curtis Wilkie holds the Cook Chair city, but it was highly inflated. Before with post-Katrina through wire stories in Journalism at the University of the month was out, Nagin’s police in local papers and reading The New Mississippi. His house in the French superintendent, Eddie Compass, paid York Times and The Clarion-Ledger Quarter survived the storm. with his job for his own fabrications of of Jackson, which defied Gannett’s anarchy in the city. customary penury over the news hole Y [email protected]
New Orleans’ Lower Nine Fades, Fades, Fades Away ‘Our neighborhood should’ve gotten more media attention well before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.’
By Will Sutton
ntil recently, not many people of time, it was home. It was where we Our Neighborhood around the world, or around kids played kickball, where neighbors Uthe nation, had heard of the lit paper Japanese lanterns at night, Most of us weren’t there because we New Orleans neighborhood where I where we would watch the Holy Cross wanted to be there but because it was grew up. As a matter of fact, not many in High School band or football team for what our families could afford. Some Louisiana or in the Crescent City could entertainment, or catch crawfish in the of us were trying to move on up to a find their way to the Lower Ninth Ward canal or along the rocky shores of the better quality apartment or home in the if they were forced to do so. Mississippi River. Ninth. We could’ve been in a shotgun The Lower Nine, as we often call it, Heck, when it got dark and the lights house in another neighborhood or the has been a bit of a forgotten land. If you went on we, too, left—except we left brick house we had in the Ninth. Some had a business, church, home, friends the streets to go inside to the loving in the Ninth wouldn’t think of leaving. or a school there, you knew how to get arms of our families, a delicious meal Some were trying to move on up to other in and get out before dark. Otherwise, of red beans and rice, and the warmth New Orleans neighborhoods. When we you might have heard something about of family fellowship. were able, we moved to a tree-lined it, but you didn’t want to know much, The Ninth Ward might have seemed neighborhood called Gentilly just a few and you really didn’t have much reason pretty bad to others, but we saw years later. Some we left behind were to want to know much about our part more good than bad. Like many other just struggling day-by-day, not thinking of the city. However, for those of us neighborhoods, we went with what much about the future. who lived there for whatever length we had. What’s been missing in a lot of the
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 37 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
media coverage is a sense of who used the Lower Nine wasn’t always nearly to be in the neighborhood. I went to all black. high school with a guy named Antonio My family wasn’t rich, and we weren’t Domino. He was named after his dad. poor. My dad was a newly minted PhD His dad had another, more familiar who landed a job as a professor at Dil- name, however. Fats. Fats Domino. I lard University, a small, historically black remember going to their home after college where he and my mom went to school and band practice sometimes school, met and fell in love. Though and wondering why a man with a lot of there were two parents and six kids, money would have such a large house we always knew we’d eat dinner each in our old neighborhood when he day, wore nice clothes and shoes, and could live almost anywhere else. The did a few family entertainment things. real answer, of course, was because it But money was tight, and the one-story was home. It was comfortable. They house where we lived on Rampart Street were with family and friends. Besides, was what we could afford. We kids felt another neighborhood might not have good that we could live in a brick house. understood why Domino wanted a Cousin Lynne Aung lived right behind purple roof atop his home. us with her husband. That made it even This section of one of the nation’s The author at age 13 as a Boy Scout. more special. most prominent tourist cities is seldom Sure, the impoverished neighbor- visited by residents of other city neigh- Blacks and whites attended Semmes hood has had its share of crime, poor borhoods or tourists. Water surrounds Elementary School, just a short walk education, and worse. Still, some of us it on three sides: the mighty Mississippi down North Rampart Street from our rose from the pressures to become rea- River to the south, the beautiful Bayou home. People might forget that white sonably successful. One of my brothers Bienvenue to the east, and the some- folks used to live in the Ninth, too. They and one of my sisters are doctors. One times stench-filled Industrial Canal to really did. Like us, they were working brother is a mortgage broker and an the west. It’s not that businessmen, to provide homes for their families and independent businessman. A sister is a government bureaucrats, journalists working to make a better life. There university professor of research library and politicians never found their way were fine times at school. But this was science. Another brother, like me, is a to our neighborhood. It’s just that the 1960’s, so there was definite friction. journalist. Oh, and Cousin Lynne is a whenever they came, they so frequently One of my sisters was called a nigger successful psychologist in California, left without any real hope or promise and bullied by some of the white kids who once headed that state’s psychol- among those they left behind. who didn’t want her there. You see, ogy association. That hard-working mother of ours raised six kids and still managed to earn a masters and teach elementary education at the college level. That hard-working father of ours sometimes worked two jobs to keep everything going through our times in the Ninth, in Gentilly, and even after I left home for college. That man became a college president in his home state of Mississippi. The Lower Nine has produced some famous names who have stayed in the neighborhood, some who have wanted to leave but couldn’t, and a bunch of black professionals like us who moved to the Gentilly, New Orleans East or West Bank neighborhoods. Post-Katrina, a lot of those professionals who have tried to make the old neighborhood more than it has been aren’t likely to return. Those who moved to other neighbor- hoods with fond memories of the Ninth Three generations of the Sutton family gather in a sibling’s New Orleans home in 1992. Ward aren’t likely to return to the city. Will Sutton is second from right, standing. We’re talking about Catholic and pub-
38 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage lic school teachers, firefighters, police The Vital Role Journalists the human condition doesn’t sell as officers, longshoremen, doctors and Can Play well as news where there is clear con- attorneys. Many of them have left the flict, news where there is immediacy, city for other parts of Louisiana, Texas Our neighborhood didn’t get a lot of news where more affluent people are and states beyond. local and national media attention, affected. Even so, The Times-Picayune, We always knew the city was below but we should’ve. Our neighborhood The Advocate in Baton Rouge, and other sea level. We even knew that we were should’ve gotten more national media state newspapers and television stations lower than other parts of the city and ex- attention well before Hurricane Katrina should force the connected and the pected flooding with heavy rains. If there hit the Gulf Coast. It certainly deserves powerful to discuss these options with were only puddles, the people whose no standing water, lives would be af- it meant the good fected most. Lord had granted I fear that most us a reprieve. When New Orleanians heavy rains, tropical won’t have a say storms, or tremen- about the Cres- dous hurricanes like cent City’s future. Hurricane Betsy in They won’t have a 1965 or Camille in say about how the 1969 hit New Or- city is rezoned, leans, we frequently which parts of suffered more than the city are razed, any other section of which parts are the city. revitalized, and O u r f a m i l y ’ s which parts get parish church, St. special jobs at- David’s, was about tention. It doesn’t seven blocks north of have to be that the Mississippi and way if the news 10 to 12 blocks to media step up and the east of the Inner make these issues Harbor Navigation important local, Canal. I earned my state and national Eagle Scout award issues. This situa- at St. David’s. So did This map was created by © J. Thomas McGlothlin. tion isn’t a matter my brother, Ave. We for local business- made The Louisiana men and politi- Weekly. I don’t remember making The more media attention now that Katrina cians. It’s a matter of great national Times-Picayune, the major daily. Far and Hurricane Rita have devastated so importance—and it should be covered too often it’s the little “big” things like much of the Lower Nine. With more that way. The media should work to that that are indicative of what the me- media attention, more journalistic ex- show readers and viewers everywhere dia think is most important about our amination of the pros and cons of razing why they should care about what hap- neighborhood and others like it. A short hundreds of businesses and homes in pens to New Orleans. Everyone will public bus ride away is the world-famous this special part of the city, the news want to know about future Mardi Gras French Quarter. The quarter isn’t that media can be at the center of helping celebrations, the French Quarter, and far away, yet the neighborhoods are New Orleanians and Louisianians de- whether the annual Jazz Fest will con- worlds apart. cide whether it is worth it to start from tinue, but this is a much bigger story, Other city neighborhoods seemed to scratch or save what can be saved and one that deserves deeper, critical re- make the news for all kinds of reasons. make some progress. porting. Without that type of coverage Bad news. Good news. Breaking news. There’s much debate in the press from within and outside of Louisiana, Feature news. When it came to our old about public journalism, civic journal- the Lower Ninth Ward and all of New neighborhood, however, it seemed that ism, and other forms of journalism Orleans will never be in the best inter- we only made television or made the geared toward getting citizens and est of all. What I knew and what others paper when someone was shot and readers involved in the decision-mak- have known will never be the same. killed or when there was enough water ing. Journalists have some responsibil- That might be okay with me, depend- to show cars slowly driving through the ity. Maybe even a lot of responsibility. ing on whether the media does its job floodwaters. As we look for what “sells,” improving and whether the people have a chance
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 39 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
to have a say. Thank goodness the lo- horrible to get attention for people who Virginia. A Hampton graduate, he is cal daily, the Times-Picayune, has been really need help. Maybe the media can the director of the school’s Academy brave enough to start some serious bring more attention to the nation’s of Writing Excellence (AWE). A native digging already. Lower Ninth wards and thereby shine a of New Orleans and former resident What’s happened in the Lower Ninth spotlight on the nation’s economic and of the city’s Lower Ninth Ward, he Ward pre-Katrina is not that unusual. racial parity, diversity that goes beyond is at least a fourth-generation New It isn’t unlike so many other urban skin color and ethnicity, and go deep Orleanian who lives in Cary, North areas or sections of cities like Camden enough with investigations and research Carolina with his wife and son. He and East Orange, New Jersey; East St. to show readers and viewers why they is a former president of the National Louis, Illinois, and so on. These other should care, how they are being af- Association of Black Journalists and situations simply haven’t gained the fected, and how they will be affected a cofounder of what became UNITY: same amount of coverage, at least not if somebody, somewhere doesn’t do Journalists of Color, Inc.. nationally. Things happen there every something—and soon. n day and every night that get little or no Y [email protected] coverage unless and until a “visitor” to Will Sutton, a 1988 Nieman Fellow, the neighborhood is hurt or killed or is the Scripps Howard Visiting Profes- unless and until there is a major disaster sional at the Scripps Howard School that just cannot be ignored. of Journalism and Communications It’s a shame that it takes something at Hampton University in Hampton,
Witness to the Tragedy A veteran photojournalist observes that ‘… even during war the deceased are treated with some respect ….’
By Carolyn Cole he aftermath of Hurricane Katrina was unlike anything I had ever Tseen in America. I had covered the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11, the Columbine massacre, along with earthquakes and wildfires in California, but this was different. In most disasters I have witnessed, there is finality from the start. But when I arrived in New Orleans on the second day of flooding, masses of people were still trapped in their homes, the Superdome, and stranded on freeway overpasses. I saw people wading chest-deep down Canal Street, along with a pregnant cat swim- ming for her life. One man stood calmly holding onto a lamppost, only his head showing above water, while others begged to be rescued from the second floor of their homes. In Mississippi, a young boy from Biloxi sat exhausted in the rubble, after he and his parents survived the storm surge by swimming Graves remained flooded in the Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans. In this graveyard, among the rooftops. some of the crypt doors came open. Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times.
40 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
Members of the 82nd Airborne of In those early days, rescue teams Fort Bragg, North Carolina went were overwhelmed trying to evacuate door-to-door in search of New Or- thousands who pushed their way onto leans residents who had not yet been buses, their babies and bags in hand. I evacuated. saw one child resting in a discarded box and a new litter of puppies in another. Survival is a natural instinct, but for some the horrendous conditions were too much. One of the most shocking moments for me was seeing a woman’s body, half submerged in water near the Superdome parking garage, as military vehicles passed her by. I had seen many bodies covering conflict zones around the world, but even during war the de- ceased are treated with some respect, their bodies covered, removed, or bur- ied as soon as possible. It would be days, even weeks before the fatal victims of New Orleans were finally retrieved. The only uplifting aspect of covering this tragedy was the immediate response from readers. Each day, several people would write to me offering money or housing for those in the pictures. Others were relieved to see someone they rec- ognized in a photograph still alive. Some wanted to know if stranded animals I’d seen had been rescued, or begged me to do more. I transported many animals while continuing my work, but the task was endless. After nearly three weeks, I Ceasar Martin, 20, was fanned with a Bible by his mother, Linda Brown, as they waited left New Orleans expecting to return in at the New Orleans Convention Center to be evacuated. Martin was suffering from dehy- a month, but the public attention had dration and lack of food. already drifted away. n
Carolyn Cole is a photojournalist with the Los Angeles Times. In 2004 she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature photography for her cov- erage of the Liberian civil war. Her work was cited for its “special atten- tion to innocent citizens caught in the conflict.”
Residents of New Orleans were exhausted from waiting to be evacuated from the city after days of uncertainty. Many were suffering from dehydration, such as the woman lying down, as they waited to board buses to the Houston Astrodome.
Photos by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 41 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
The streets of Mid City, the second oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, were completely flooded.
A family waded towards the New Orleans Superdome, where thousands of people hoped to be evacuated from living condi- tions that had become almost unbearable.
Photos by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times.
42 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage Rumors, Race and Class Collide ‘Class and race are inextricably bound up in New Orleans, and trying to make sense of it was as hard as trying to get accurate information.’
By Kevin Cullen
fter a while, the daily news brief- corps that the feds fumbled the im- know about something didn’t mean it ings at the Louisiana State Police mediate relief effort because most of didn’t happen. Corroboration became A complex in Baton Rouge, which Katrina’s victims were black and poor. If hearing something more than once, served as a command center for relief ef- Jackson’s critics dismiss him as a self-ap- but Katrina’s victims repeated what forts following Hurricane Katrina, took pointed self-promoter, they sometimes they heard on the street or on radio or on a familiar, if increasingly surreal, rou- fail to give him credit for getting the big TV, producing an echo chamber effect. tine. Governor Kathleen Blanco would picture right. And if his logic is applied Add to this the difficult task of judging talk in a folksy, upbeat way about the to the news coverage, Jackson got that the credibility of someone who has unique resilience of Louisianians. Then big picture right, too, while huge chunks just lost everything and is suffering an some big shot from the federal govern- of the news media got it wrong, as they unimaginable trauma. ment, Michael Chertoff, the secretary of flooded the airwaves and newspapers Reporters had to spend a lot of time Homeland Security, or Michael Brown, with unconfirmed tales of murder, may- chasing down rumors. In part, this was then known around the White House hem and anarchy that were exaggerated to assuage editors who heard some of as “Brownie” and not “the former, dis- or just flat out wrong. the more sensational things back in graced head of FEMA,” would insist that So how did we get it so wrong? the newsroom. Something moved on things were well in control when one While many would be loathe to admit the wires suggesting police had mis- cursory hip-boot stroll around flooded it, the idea of poor black folks simulta- takenly gunned down engineers who New Orleans would tell anyone they neously looting Wal-Mart of guns and had gone to fix the levees. Wasn’t true. patently were not. wide-screen TVs in some apocalyptic A local TV reporter told a bunch of us In the evening, after the governor “Get whitey!” frenzy seemed perfectly that there were 40 people trapped in and Brownie had finished briefing, the feasible to many reporters and editors, an elementary school just south of New Reverend Jesse Jackson would stroll not to mention readers, listeners and Orleans. It wasn’t just a tip, she said, in, usually while print reporters were viewers. Hundreds of cowardly cops her colleagues were at the scene. I got on deadline and, without a word of walking off the job so they could join our national desk at The Boston Globe introduction, start talking. Venezuelan the looters, but not before gunning to send a colleague of mine there. In President Hugo Chavez, he assured us, down innocents on the streets? Hey, if an intrepid piece of getting around a was prepared to help if only the neo- you saw “The Big Easy,” the 1987 movie tightly controlled area, he got there cons at the White House would deign with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin, you quickly and found the school empty. I to accept aid from this leader whom know the New Orleans Police Depart- rushed to what was supposed to be a they have demonized. Just who Jackson ment is corrupt. hostage situation, with 20 people held was representing, aside from himself, at gunpoint in the French Quarter; was never quite clear but, after all, he’d Chasing Rumors when police stormed the apartment, managed to get a fleet of buses to the they found it empty. Superdome, which was a lot more than Katrina unveiled the news media’s bias New Orleans’s mayor and police Brownie could say in the days follow- against poor people, especially poor chief, who are black, did little to chal- ing Katrina. And he’s a preacher, so black people. Too many of us trying to lenge and quite a bit to enhance the his words were often more stimulating report this story were too credulous portrait of a city out of control. Mayor than a lot of what the officials had to when it came to passing on informa- C. Ray Nagin, repeatedly asked for an say. With editors howling for copy, his tion that had very weak sourcing. As the estimated death toll, suggested that as daily sermons managed to be distract- floodwaters receded, something very many as 10,000 had perished in the city; ing, oddly entertaining, and sometimes disturbing was revealed: In a 24-hour the official count is much lower. What illuminating. One evening, Jackson took news cycle, in the absence of solid in- he based that estimate on was never to the podium to explain that American formation, weak speculation flourishes. quite explained. Police Chief Eddie citizens left homeless by Katrina’s wrath With communication difficult, getting Compass went on Oprah Winfrey’s TV and governmental incompetence are accurate information was especially show to say that babies had been raped not refugees, they are evacuees. hard, and confirming it was often impos- in the Superdome. Not to be outdone, Jackson also kept telling the press sible to do. Because an official didn’t Nagin told Oprah that “hundreds of
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 43 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
armed gang members” were, as he put city, and during that time the image of pass. But, as we talked, he kept using the it, “running the show” inside the dome. widespread murder and mayhem was N word, saying the disaster could turn The idea of a TV show controlled by the firmly planted in many minds, includ- out to be a blessing in disguise because richest, most powerful African-American ing reporters’. it had driven out many undesirables. woman in the country perpetuating the The guy used the N word so many times stereotype of heavily armed black guys Interweaving Race and Class in the course of our conversation that running amok is beyond ironic. I felt compelled to ask him to stop. He I couldn’t confirm any of the wild If it’s too simplistic to chalk up the hys- couldn’t understand why it bothered me stories, but in one story I quoted Com- teria to racism, there is no doubt that so much. And when I asked him why he pass saying that the city’s SWAT team, race played a huge role. Repetitious would use that word so casually, after he headed by Captain Jeff Winn, had run TV images showed almost exclusively had spoken so highly of Jackson, Nagin toward muzzle flashes and, holding their black people caught in the squalor and Compass, he seemed genuinely fire lest they hit innocent bystanders, of the flooded city. Those who knew surprised. “Oh,” he replied, waving his tackled and disarmed gunmen no fewer little or nothing about New Orleans hand, “they’re not niggers.” than 30 times. About a week later, I saw could be forgiven for thinking that only Class and race are inextricably bound Winn and told him what Compass had black folks were caught in the madness. up in New Orleans, and trying to make said. He didn’t deny it, but he gave me Those images convinced even some of sense of it was as hard as trying to get a look that left me uneasy in the Big the locals that the poor had risen up accurate information. About a week after Easy. A few weeks later, the chief’s claim in righteous anger to engage in a class we had fanned out across southeastern about 30 cases of tackling and disarm- and race war. In his first-person account Louisiana, I met up with two Globe ing gunmen was discounted, along colleagues, Tom Farragher and Brian with some other things he’d said, and MacQuarrie, for what amounted to a Compass resigned. The reality is that for the beer and bitch session in Houma, about What Nagin and Compass said was on 60 miles south of New Orleans. the record, but that didn’t make it accu- first couple of weeks it “Have you noticed,” Farragher began, rate. Still, it was hard to probe what they was hard to find anyone “how many people down here use the said or challenge them. Nagin did few N word?” interviews, and in the crush of reporters who really knew what was As well-traveled and experienced as surrounding Compass, follow-up ques- going on in the city …. we thought we were, for a trio of white tions weren’t possible. Captain Marlon Irish Catholic guys from Boston, the Defillo, the police department’s affable open use of such an offensive, racist press liaison, looked uncomfortable in The New York Times Magazine of word was shocking. We wondered if when asked about some of the chief’s returning to the city where he grew there was anything that we did or said more questionable comments, but he up, Michael Lewis observed, “If the im- as reporters that somehow invited other wasn’t about to publicly contradict him, ages were to be reduced to a sentence white people to say this to us, as if it was especially since he was having trouble in the minds of Uptown New Orleans, acceptable. The stereotype of bigoted getting accurate, current information that sentence would be: Crazy black white southerners was as pernicious himself. On several occasions, Defillo people with automatic weapons are a stereotype as the one attributed to told me to go find the various captains out hunting white people, and there’s the black guys with the doo rags at the or deputy chiefs in charge of specific no bag limit!” Superdome, and we told ourselves that areas and tasks. When I found Deputy It’s just that Lewis was being deco- there are just as many bigoted people Chief Lonnie Swain, who was in charge rous when he suggested that “black up north, except that they were prob- of the Superdome, he was genuinely people” would be the chosen descrip- ably not as brazen as to use that word surprised to hear that various news tion. “Those people” was the most polite around reporters with open notebooks. outlets had reported dozens of deaths term I heard used; other times it was But it left us deeply unsettled and think- and murder and mayhem there. He the N word. ing the real story lay somewhere at the thought there were, at most, a dozen On the deserted streets of Uptown, confused and confusing intersection of bodies recovered there, most of them a week after the storm, I found a race and class. people who were very ill when they ar- guy who had been rescued from his “It’s different down here,” Farragher rived at the dome. (The official count, mother’s house after spending a week said. a month later, was six dead, none by surrounded by the floodwaters. After He got that right. n violence.) As for babies being raped, being rescued, he went to stay at his Swain said he had heard of just one store, worried about looters. His elderly Kevin Cullen, a 2003 Nieman Fellow, attempted rape of an adult. mother, he told me, had been rescued is a reporter for The Boston Globe. The reality is that for the first couple from the Superdome by Jesse Jackson, of weeks it was hard to find anyone who who put her on one of his buses. He also Y [email protected] really knew what was going on in the spoke approvingly of Nagin and Com-
44 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
‘It Looks Like the Third World’ Writing in Southeast Asia, an American journalist comments on reporters’ use of this descriptive phrase in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
On September 10, 2005, about two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit America’s southern coast, Philip J. Cunningham, a 1998 Nieman Fellow and a journalist working in China and Southeast Asia, wrote an article about the use of the phrase “Third World” by journalists covering the hurricane’s aftermath. His words were published in the Bangkok Post, and excerpts from his commentary, “We are the Third World,” follow.
“It’s like the Third World out here. It on the victims themselves and darkly requisitioned car, 100 tired and hungry looks like the Third World.” Dozens of hinted at the need for martial law. people walked miles on foot without news reports used the same curious Third World? This tired, overweight- food or water only to be denied access term repeatedly, presumably imply- ed term has been bandied about quite to a bridge by gun-toting officials, or ing that America wasn’t quite itself unfairly. First a corrective: For every found themselves ensconced in the anymore. report of looting or antisocial behavior filth of a concentration center such as Safe to say, American reporters in New Orleans, there are dozens of the Superdome. weren’t doling out a compliment when reports of quiet courage and stoicism The criminal lawlessness of put-upon they described conditions as Third in the face of stunning government poor people was generally matched, if World. It’s at best a neutral term for the neglect. The orders to evacuate only not systematically created, generated global South, but more often a term of made sense if you had a car and a credit and exacerbated, by the criminal reck- contempt. Used and abused as it was in card for a hotel down the road. No lessness with which the irresponsible the aftermath of Katrina, Third World transportation or housing was provided power-holders lorded over them. If could be seen to mean, variously and at the outset. there is a hidden Third-Worldish ele- in sum, black poor powerless and pa- Then the storm of the century hit. ment to New Orleans, it is not a ques- thetic. It took on a life as a code word, Six hundred police went missing; tion of skin color or even poverty, but a shorthand for chaos, for garbage in the among those accounted for, some case of government greed, neglect and streets, for looting and rape, for a break- were caught scavenging stores for food ineptitude. n down in law and order. It put the blame themselves. For every borrowed boat or
Seeing Is Believing ‘There was so much destruction that I couldn’t put down my camera.’
By Nuri Vallbona
was sent to Mississippi to cover Agency (FEMA) officials, engineers, helicopters taking off and landing that Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath after supplies and others to assess damage the pilots asked me to point out any IThe Miami Herald’s sister paper, The in the area. We could get on a flight if that I saw to them. They seemed to pop Sun Herald in Biloxi, found itself short- there was an empty seat, so I ended up out of nowhere, below us, beside us, handed. Many of the paper’s employees waiting two days before finally taking in front of us. I’d never seen so much had just lost their homes, some were off on a Saturday morning. chopper traffic in such a small area. missing, and the area was in chaos. On As we stopped to refuel in Mobile, “This isn’t as bad as it has been,” one my way there, editors diverted me to Alabama, the pilots got word that a heli- of them told me. Pensacola, Florida, when they learned copter had been fired on that morning. Flying from Florida’s Panhandle re- there might be room on a U.S. Customs Jan Makiewicz, an aviation enforcement gion to New Orleans allowed me to see and Border Protection chopper flight to officer, put on a bulletproof vest and the extent of damage all along the Gulf New Orleans. Customs pilots were fer- placed what looked like a rifle case Coast. I could see New Orleans under rying Federal Emergency Management behind his seat. There were so many water—dilapidated wooden houses,
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 45 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
elderly who had no other way out of New Orleans. Now they sat empty and unusable. We flew over towns in Mississippi with names like Waveland, Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, and Long Beach. The coast’s beaches were wiped clean as though a giant hand had swept across a game board scattering its pieces and leaving gray slabs of nothingness. A few blocks inland, homes and buildings were reduced to wooden piles resembling stacks of broken matchsticks. At times I felt like I was looking down on black and white photographs of Hiroshima after the bomb fell. But these images were real, in color, and in America. There was so much destruction that I couldn’t put down my camera. I kept shooting even though I knew that if I didn’t look up now and then to scan the horizon I’d be airsick. However, each bank of the chopper revealed more devastation, more than I’d seen in my career as a photojournalist. I’d been to Mexico City for the earthquake of 1985, seen the town of Armero, Co- lombia buried by mud, and witnessed the destruction of hurricanes Charley and Frances and Jeanne. What I’d never seen was devastation as vast as this, stretching on and on for hundreds of miles through several states. I shot for so long that the pilots had to set down at a small airstrip so I could clear my head and pick up an airsick bag. One apartment complex caught my eye because you could see the progres- sion of damage in each of its build- ings. Closest to the beach, only slabs remained. A few yards back, structures were partially destroyed. Undamaged apartments were at the furthest distance from the ocean. I showed my photo- The rooftops of flooded homes in New Orleans. Photo by Nuri Vallbona/The Miami graphs to several people to see if they Herald. could tell me where the apartments were located. “Where is this?” I’d ask, elegant mansions, tall office build- the water only to pop back up again “I want to go to that complex.” ings, and the Superdome immersed yards away. About 100 school buses By coincidence a few days later, I in a lake of brownish green goo. From sat still in water that lapped up their teamed up with the City of Miami Urban above, it seemed nothing had escaped sides. Only their tops poked out like Search and Rescue team as it worked in Katrina’s destructive power. Part of the giant yellow turtles sitting in the murky Long Beach, Mississippi. We ended up Superdome’s roof had blown off, and soup. I photographed them because at an apartment complex that looked rows and rows of people were visible, they looked so pretty compared to the identical to what I’d photographed from though almost swallowed by piles and ugly sludge around them. Later I’d read the air. Rescuers worked throughout the piles of trash. about how the buses could have been day in over 95-degree heat stopping now Big concrete highways sloped below used to evacuate many of the poor and and then to sniff the air. Once they pin-
46 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage pointed where a washed ashore. rotten stench came Given what I from, heavy ma- saw, I left Mis- chinery was called sissippi feeling in to lift up the disappointed by boards. Twice they the inability of found refrigerators the press to tell full of rotting meat. a more complete Still the workers story of Katrina’s continued climb- destructive con- ing and search- sequences and ing debris fields of to share it with a two-by-fours that wider audience. rose up 20 feet in New Orleans some places. At didn’t deserve one point, feeling less coverage, overcome by the but Mississippi heat, I sat in my deserved more, air-conditioned car much more, and for about an hour by our inatten- while I transmitted Angela Reed of New Orleans tried to calm her four-month-old daughter, Laila, while the tion there, we photos. The search family stayed in the Pensacola Civic Center after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina. failed. and rescue team Were media paused for only 30 outlets too over- minutes to eat. year Punta Gorda in Florida became a whelmed by the chaos in New Orleans I talked with hurricane survivors in household name in the wake of Hur- to look beyond that city? Was there so Mississippi who described walls of water ricane Charley, but very few people much to cover there that stations and coming over their homes. Four adults are aware of the devastation that is Bay newspapers didn’t have the resourc- had to pull eight children through win- St. Louis, Diamondhead, Long Beach, es—the newsroom budget or report- dows and ferry them through the ocean Waveland, Pass Christian. The video ing staff—to send crews to Mississippi that had swept through their house images that I saw played over and or Alabama? Was it because the burial during the raging storm. A national over again were of Biloxi’s casino bars of a major metropolitan city is a more guardswoman watched as water flowed onto the balcony of her apartment, the one I had visited with search and rescue workers. She was forced to swim to a nearby apartment where she spent five hours huddled on a porch as Katrina’s winds raged. Her building was now a concrete slab. At a police station, many officers clung to trees as water drowned their building. They called out to each other through the storm to make sure their comrades were alive.
Stories That Were Not Told
But stories like these were mostly ignored by the national media. New Orleans suffered catastrophic damage, but what Mississippians experienced was horrible, too, and has left scars on people and communities. While work- ing out of Biloxi for a week, I saw only This aerial view of the Mississippi coastline shows how devastating the storm surge was one television crew and a few print from Hurricane Katrina. Some survivors described a tidal wave coming over their houses. reporters and photographers, but never did I see any in the damaged areas. Last Photos by Nuri Vallbona/The Miami Herald.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 47 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
Roads outside of New Orleans sit under water after Hurricane Katrina flooded the area.
Photo by Nuri Vallbona/The Miami Herald.
48 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage dramatic and “sexy” story than those that could be told in washed-away, small rural towns? It became hard for me to under- stand how news organizations could ignore the tsunami-like destruction in these areas. With their houses demol- ished, people wondered whether to leave or rebuild, to stay or to go—the same questions many in New Orleans were asking except, in this case, few people heard them. At the same time, lasting images from the other coastal states were not of people—their loss and resolve—but of wrecked casino barges. Yet little reporting was done at ground level, where interviews with shell-shocked residents and footage of the barren coastline would have given viewers a more complete picture. While reporters rightly criticized the poor response by state and federal officials Local high school students helped to clean up Haney’s Pawn Shop before rushing off to to the situation in New Orleans, they football practice in D’Iberville, Mississippi. Pam Haney, the owner of the shop, said, also irresponsibly transmitted stories “We will reopen.” from there about murder and mayhem, rumors that later would prove untrue. In doing so we, as journalists, showed our hypocrisy in criticizing others for their efforts while not being as willing to look closely at the sloppiness of our own practice. As I moved through small towns along the Gulf Coast, again and again people thanked me for taking their picture, even though I photographed them often at their worst—as they sobbed or swept empty concrete slabs or waded through mud-soaked buildings. “Thank you for coming,” they’d say to me. “We need the attention.” Hearing their words made me feel badly, too, since I didn’t know if the photographs I was taking of them would be picked up on Knight Ridder’s wire service or even go out to local subscribers of The Sun Herald in Biloxi. In some ways, to them, it didn’t seem to matter. “We just want people to know what happened here,” one person said, as he reached out to shake my hand. n A neighborhood near Gulfport, Mississippi lies in ruins.
Nuri Vallbona, a 2001 Nieman Fel- low, is a photojournalist with The Miami Herald.
Y [email protected] Photos by Nuri Vallbona/The Miami Herald.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 49 Hurricane Katrina Coverage Drawing the Mood of New Orleans ‘Cartoon ideas presented themselves, but none embraced the gravity of the situation.’
By Steve Kelley
y girlfriend called it “survivor’s guilt.” The stress—the anxiety Mtormenting my sleep at night and by day squeezing the throat of my creative process—was in fact a perverse remorse, a sense of regret that I hadn’t suffered Hurricane Katrina’s onslaught alongside my friends and colleagues at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. Maybe she was onto something. As I read accounts of the newspaper staff’s persistent heroics in the face of all that Mother Nature and wholesale government incompetence conspired to produce, I wondered if I should be there, too, drawing cartoons about the disaster from ground zero instead of half a continent away. I could not shake the feeling that somehow, even if inadver- tently, I had abandoned my post. Five days before the storm struck, I’d flown to San Diego to host a comedy benefit for the Thousand Smiles Foun- dation, an alliance of oral and cosmetic surgeons who volunteer their time and © 2005 Steve Kelley. Reproduced by permission. skills for children in Mexico and Costa Rica. I closely monitored Katrina’s deter- mined path across the Gulf of Mexico, newspaper. several weeks, I should confine myself a curved trajectory that rolled toward to cartoons about the hurricane, and our coastline like an enormous bowl- Constraints of Tragedy the tone must be “appropriate.” ing ball. As landfall neared, computer Dear God, no—anything but ap- models projected that New Orleans Nothing—and I mean nothing—is propriate. would be its headpin. more difficult to address in a political Understand that for a quarter century U.S. Airways left a phone message cartoon than the deadly duo of tragedy of commenting on the news, one of my to say it was canceling my flight home and despair. Calamitous events demand goals has been to amuse people. I’ve because of the hurricane. I felt anxious comment, yet defy the kind of treat- established an unspoken covenant with because I hadn’t prepared my house ment—sarcasm, cynicism, pies in the readers: They look at what I produce for the storm, yet somewhat relieved, face—that cartoonists usually adminis- each day, and I provide something in- as evacuating New Orleans on Sunday ter. There is simply a limit to how many sightful and humorous or, at the very would have meant confronting 150 mile times a cartoonist can draw Uncle Sam, least, ironic about the world around per hour winds in my 1970 two-seater. hat in hand and his head bowed, and them—in short, something worth their Anticipating a stay in San Diego of sev- I had succumbed to that image most trouble. What I’ve labored assiduously eral days, I began mentally to organize. recently when Ronald Reagan died. to avoid is any sense of “appropriate- I would dismiss further thought about So it was with acute trepidation that ness,” which to a political cartoonist is my house, the fate of which I could not on the day after Katrina made landfall, about as appealing as a game of chess influence, and concentrate my hopes I called my editor to see what direction might be to a Hell’s Angel. on the people of New Orleans and on she wanted my cartoons to take. She Worse than the restrictions on tone, I providing the best work I could for my confirmed my darkest fears. For the next knew that addressing a single, depress-
50 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage ing topic every day would lead to stag- nation and paralysis. It was as though the editors had put me in a tiny room with only one building block and asked me to construct something new and compelling five times a week. So although I covered Hurricane Katrina and her aftermath from a safe and pleasant location, I will forever look back on that time in San Diego the way a grizzled, despondent war veteran with a vacant stare might recall time in a dank, filthy trench under fire. Years from now at our cartoonists’ conven- tion, I’ll tell and retell how for six weeks back in the fall of ’05 I did nothing but hurricane cartoons, one right after the other. Everyone, especially the young guys, will gasp wide-eyed and plead to know, “Damn it, man, how did you do it?” Like much of the world, and the rest of the country’s cartoonists, I watched our nation’s worst natural disaster © 2005 Steve Kelley. Reproduced by permission. unfold on CNN and Fox News. People would ask how I could draw cartoons Cartoon ideas presented themselves, ues, “But nothing important.” about a story from so far away. The but none embraced the gravity of the I attached the cartoon to an e-mail answer is that political cartoonists, like situation. It wouldn’t be enough to say addressed to our photo department, hit opinion columnists, don’t report the hurricanes are bad or to entreat the send, and felt a simultaneous, precipi- news, we tailgate it—offering commen- country to feel sorry for the victims. As tous decline in my blood pressure, a tary on events only after readers have the cartoonist of record in New Orleans, moment of misty tranquility that would absorbed the basic reporting from a the city whose fate everyone was sud- evaporate as I confronted the awful and variety of sources. This degree of separa- denly intent upon, what I produced the obvious: What would I do tomor- tion offers certain advantages, much as that day might actually matter. Though row? It was as though I had just crossed watching a sporting event on television I knew the paper’s readers had greater the finish line of a marathon only to does. Multiple camera angles, running concerns, I felt responsible somehow to see a guy with a stopwatch, pointing a commentary, and especially specific, speak for them in what was surely their pistol in the air and saying, “On your repeated broadcast images imprint on most grievous period of need. mark ….” a cartoonist’s brain and oil the gears of Still, there I sat, comprehending all of In the days that followed, I came his creativity. it, and nowhere close to a viable idea. to realize that the hurricane was not I began to wonder if this was it—the a single event. Initial stories of the Searching for Ideas choking point I always dreaded. In the storm’s ferocity gave way to reports of midst of the most compelling news levee breaks, flooded homes, and epic On the Monday that Katrina plowed into story I’d ever had to address, taking incompetence by government at every New Orleans I sat, heart racing, before place in my own city, was I going to level, all begging for comment. Even a computer terminal at a San Diego come up empty? For all of my effort, I before credible assessments of Katrina’s Kinko’s alternating among the Web sites had nothing to show anyone but half a damage could be tolled, Hurricane of CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and NOLA, dozen wads of crumpled paper and a Rita tore across the Gulf and thrashed my newspaper’s site. The early morning sharply elevated pulse. southwest Louisiana and areas of Texas, hours I spent watching CNN’s Anderson It is axiomatic that deadlines compel reflooding parts of New Orleans and Cooper vaporized without ink touching results and, with only 90 minutes left to terrorizing tens of thousands of Katrina paper, and as the clock ticked and my draw, the muse arrived. My first cartoon evacuees anew. fourth espresso-laced beverage grew in the storm’s wake would be of a man I drew a towering Mother Nature, cold, a clammy panic set in. looking out and saying that Katrina had rolling pin in hand, a few steps behind Journalists long for grand-scale destroyed his home, his car, and most two nervous Katrina evacuees on a events, but the enormity of the Katrina of his belongings. In the next frame, he Houston street. One evacuee remarks, “I story seemed to work against me. hugs his wife and children and contin- think we’re being followed.” Days later,
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 51 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
I depicted an enormous woman, “RITA,” first, who is dressed as Frankenstein. Steve Kelley is editorial cartoon- pulling a welcome mat from beneath “I’m a witch,” declares a little girl in a ist with The Times-Picayune in New a man labeled “Returning Evacuees.” black dress and pointed hat. The third, Orleans. His work has won numer- Another cartoon noted the irony of the a boy wearing a sports jacket and tie, ous awards, including the National New Orleans Saints’ 2005 marketing says, “I’m a weatherman.” The home’s Headliner Award in 2001. slogan. A man standing amid the ruins mortified owner recoils in fear, “Aaagh!! of his home points to the words on his A weatherman!” n Y [email protected] shirt, “You Gotta Have Faith,” and says, “Guess it’s not just the Saints slogan anymore.” Despite presidential admonitions against playing the blame game, in- competents needed outing, and I was all too eager to help. I drew a cartoon entitled “Forced Evacuations We’d Like to See,” showing FEMA director Michael Brown and Homeland Security Secre- tary Michael Chertoff being loaded onto a departing bus. I happily put a knee in the groin of insurance adjusters who were busily informing policyholders that homeowners insurance, which pro- tects against loss from hurricanes, does not cover damage from rising water, a distinction understandably lost on the thousands of newly homeless. On October 10th I returned, along with most of the newspaper’s staff, to our New Orleans offices. We remain fixated, like the rest of the city, on what the hurricanes did and where all of it will lead. Everyone is eager for a measure of normalcy to return and, to that end, I am trying to infuse my work with humor. Finally, funny feels appropriate again. Driving across New Orleans since the storms, regardless of the route people take, they now encounter spectacular visual incongruities created by the storms that after several weeks have begun to seem routine. To a cartoonist, they’re irresistible. All I had to do was contrive a situation to list them. So I drew a mother saying to her daughter, “Yes, sweetheart, things are different since Katrina.” Across the living room, Dad is on the phone, giving directions: “Make a right at the second boat in the road, then a left at the overturned pick-up—our driveway is the fourth refrigerator on the right.” And as Halloween approached, I drew three children at a doorstep, ex- plaining their costumes to the home’s resident. “I’m a monster,” shouts the © 2005 Steve Kelley. Reproduced by permission.
52 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
© 2005 Steve Kelley. Reproduced by permission.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 53 Hurricane Katrina Coverage The Messengers of Mississippi in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina In small, forgotten towns of the Gulf Coast, a reporter tells the stories she heard amid the hurricane’s devastation.
By Elizabeth Mehren
magine if you woke up one day their own eyeballs around it.” home sites. They were looking for even and your entire house was gone. It Along with at least six other small the smallest material evidence of their Icould be a large house in a lovely towns along the Gulf in Mississippi, former lives. One woman in Waveland colonial town, such as the place where Long Beach lost its fire and police de- crowed with joy when she uncovered an I live. It could be a New York high- partments, city hall, post office, library intact teacup. Another walked in a daze rise apartment, a quaint townhouse and schools—in short, the entire in- through the empty lot where she and in Georgetown, or an address in any frastructure. The roads crumpled. All her husband had renovated their dream American suburb. house in Biloxi, Just picture it dis- overlooking the appearing, leav- sea. She kept won- ing only a con- dering how a whole crete foundation kitchen could fly slab. With it would away—and after it vanish everything flew, where did it you owned: Every go? This woman single thing. All freely admitted she your pictures, your was on heavy medi- family records, cation. The shock your clothes, your of losing it all was books, your music just too much. collections. Your Time and again, appliances would I heard every Ka- be gone and also trina cliché. This your car. If you was the end of were smart enough the world, people to keep valuables in said—and from a lock-box that, too, their perspective, would be missing. they were right. It Your most precious Seven-year-old Dillion Chancey is exhausted after four days during which he and his was Armageddon. objects would have parents rode out the hurricane in Biloxi, Mississippi, where they lost everything they had. It was a nuclear been no safer in a Photo by Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times. holocaust, wrought bank vault, for that, not by man but by too, would cease to exist. of these towns lost at least half of their nature. And yet, within this overwhelm- It is impossible to exaggerate the homes. In most of these seaside com- ing destruction, there was an astonish- devastation I encountered in 10 days on munities, the figure was closer to 80 to ing and unending spirit of resilience. the Mississippi Gulf Coast immediately 90 percent. “This is our new reality,” I never once heard anyone say “poor after Hurricane Katrina. Whatever you Bass said, barely a week after Katrina me.” Many people raged at FEMA—as think you have seen in television footage sent a 34-foot storm surge across the well they should have—and some were or in newspaper pictures is only a pale coast highway and into these towns. less than kind on the subject of their shadow. George Bass, the fire chief of a “We are only just starting to adjust to insurance companies. But not one of coast town called Long Beach, told me, this landscape ourselves.” the hundreds of people I talked with “I just tell people they haven’t really seen I met family after family, digging ranted at nature. For most of them, it until they come down here and wrap through the dirt on what used to be their it was too soon to talk about whether
54 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Hurricane Katrina Coverage
one of the most traumatic exercises anyone can endure. “You look like you could use some water,” they would say. “Can I get you some?” My reaction was to race back to the cooler in my car and reply, “No, I’m getting you some.”
Telling Their Stories
In the face of Katrina’s horror, I found people surprisingly eager to tell their stories. In their terrible situation, I might have been inclined to tell a nosy journalist to buzz off. But instead they opened their hearts. I heard amazing stories about people who survived by swimming for 13 hours. One couple, with their seven-year-old, said they held hands and prayed before leaping into the roiling waters around their house Standing on the roof of their demolished home, which had landed in a neighboring lot, in Biloxi. Along with their stamina and Bobby Underwood consoled his wife, Darlene, after the discovery of their seven-year-old self-sufficiency, their survival saga surely dog found dead in the rubble. They lived in Waveland, Mississippi for the past 25 years. would have earned them a ticket to the Photo by Carolyn Cole/ Los Angeles Times. White House if only they had bothered to get married sometime during their they would rebuild—but not too soon smell from all the mountains of dead 20 years together. to ask about other communities. They and rotting and mildewed detritus. I lost track of how many notebooks I were cut off: Cell-phone coverage was In the rural community of Escatawpa, filled up—a dozen, at least. Late one af- sporadic at best and most had no ternoon in Pass Christian, I listened electricity. Rather than wallowing spellbound to yet another breath- in how bad it was for them—and In the face of Katrina’s horror, I found taking Katrina odyssey. The 56-year- it was bad, trust me—they wanted old woman I was interviewing kept to know how other towns were people surprisingly eager to tell their right on digging, using heavy gloves faring. stories. In their terrible situation, I and a small rake, while she led me As they sifted through the rem- on a little neighborhood tour of nants of their lives, many people might have been inclined to tell a personal heroism—her own, and came across photographs of people nosy journalist to buzz off. But instead that of everyone around her. Finally they had never met. Instead of I stopped her. Her quotes were tossing them, they carried these they opened their hearts. almost too good to believe. pictures to the side of the road and “How come everybody around propped them against whatever here sounds like Faulkner?” I large object they could find—a asked. kitchen cabinet, perhaps. A woman in about 15 miles inland, one woman “Oh, Faulkner,” she replied. “He nev- Bay St. Louis likened these small dis- compared the aroma to—well, it was a er wrote anything. He just listened.” plays to roadside shrines and explained graphic medical analogy and let’s just In the crush of attention on New that the idea was that if people drove or leave it at that. Orleans, much of the national media walked by, they might spot the image I wore my trusty Los Angeles Times have overlooked the damage Katrina of one of their loved ones. hat and slathered myself constantly with inflicted on Mississippi. Much remains It was beastly, beastly hot in Mis- industrial strength sun block. But in that to be written—and much listening re- sissippi. I know that is a redundancy: heat, the lotion rolled right off. I bring mains to be done. n Mississippi and heat. But I was born in this up because on so many occasions, California’s Central Valley, and I spent the people I was interviewing stopped Elizabeth Mehren, New England bu- much of my childhood in Washington, their digging to express concern for my reau chief for the Los Angeles Times, D.C.—another hot place. The Gulf well-being. Here they were, camping out is the author of three books. Coast, post-Katrina, was so much hot- in tents on their former home sites and ter. And let’s not even talk about the going through what has to have been Y [email protected]
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 55 Hurricane Katrina Coverage Questions for Journalists to Ponder in the Aftermath of Katrina ‘The first step is admitting that you don’t know what you don’t know.’ By Mary C. Curtis
urricane Katrina blew its de- I am an African American. The people great job telling the story of Katrina, structive force ashore in Loui- on the rooftops of drowning New Or- and The Times-Picayune did even bet- Hsiana, Mississippi and Alabama. leans wards and parishes are me and ter with its years of prescient warnings Now, in its aftermath, journalists who yet they are not. Not many journalists about what eventually came to pass. The are rarely exposed to either the breadth live in such neighborhoods or in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and depth of poverty or the extent of projects or a trailer. Most I know own The Wall Street Journal, and others have devastation that these winds caused and a car. Their bank accounts might not be recently reported on class differences revealed struggle to understand in America. Still, when Katrina and find ways to convey what it hit, there was a hint of “Where is they witness. At a time like this, did all these poor, mostly black important questions should I am a journalist. I am an American. I people come from?,” and this surface about whether this ca- am an African American. The people on was not heard just from govern- tastrophe will affect the topics ment officials. that journalists decide to cover the rooftops of drowning New Orleans Journalists have already and how they practice their craft. wards and parishes are me and yet they debated, “Are they refugees, A few of these include: evacuees or survivors?” and are not. Not many journalists live in such “What’s the difference between • When journalists report on neighborhoods or in the projects or a scavenging and looting?.” To an America that is different that I would add: When is it and poorer from their own, trailer. Most I know own a car. “us,” and when is it “them”? how does their privileged Let’s talk about this—and these prism color the story? What other questions—before we can they do to ensure fair and parachute into another story, accurate reporting? another disaster. • Big stories—the Iraq prison torture fat, but they usually contain more than Every day journalists report on sub- scandal is one example—often fade eight dollars. That might be why one jects we know little about, from stem as a result of breaking news, as well television reporter seemed so shocked cell research to Greco-Roman wrestling. as public and press fatigue. How do when an evacuee gave her bank balance We research, ask questions, get up to journalists report the complicated as exactly that. How can someone live speed. Then we can report nuance and aftermath of Katrina—which involves like that? discover shades of gray. It can’t be that everything from wetlands protection Few journalists truly understand hard to do the same when the story in- to the role and effectiveness of the such things. volves the life circumstances of people. government in disaster relief—and My parents sold their first car for a The first step is admitting that you don’t keep themselves and the public in- down payment on their first and only know what you don’t know. Even if it terested? home, a modest, Baltimore row house. took your dad years to buy a car. n • As a result of what Katrina revealed, It took them nearly 10 years of saving will news organizations commit to to afford their next car. I explained to Mary C. Curtis, a 2006 Nieman Fel- more projects on class, poverty and my son that I—the youngest of five low, is executive features editor and race in America? children—clearly remember when the features columnist at The Charlotte family finally bought that Ford Fairlane. (N.C.) Observer. A version of this I was riveted as television and news- You can live a hard-working life without article appeared first on the Nieman papers recorded the escalating disaster a car—walking and public transporta- Watchdog Web site at the address of Hurricane Katrina. I was stunned tion are two alternatives. But it puts you www.niemanwatchdog.org. as the storm’s aftermath grew more at a disadvantage when you have to get disastrous. out of town fast. Y [email protected] I am a journalist. I am an American. For the most part, journalists did a
56 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Words & Reflections
In his opening essay, Dan Fagin, associate director of New York University’s Science and Environmental Reporting Program, plows the common ground beneath the coverage of intelligent design and global warming. Science, he observes, is not “adept at feeding the media’s craving for novelty, since the credibility of science depends on meticulous process in which each hypothesis builds incrementally on all the work that has come before. In science, nothing ever really comes out of left field. In journalism, it’s our favorite position.” Then we move on from his words to articles examining reporting about these two issues.
Intelligent Design
In Ohio, where the state board of education ruled that 10th graders must be taught about the “evolution debate,” including ideas such as intelligent design, Jeff Bruce, editor of the Dayton Daily News, explains the approaches to coverage of this issue on the paper’s news and opinion pages and raises a key question about efforts to balance news coverage: “At what point in our efforts to be neutral in our news coverage do we risk becoming misleading?” Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, speaks to the vital voice this page of the newspaper brings to the debate about this issue in Georgia. “We take credit for helping to turn the tide last year when Georgia’s State Superintendent of Schools, Kathy Cox, proposed striking the word ‘evolution’ from the state’s science curriculum because it is a ‘controversial buzzword.’” Diane Carroll, a reporter for The Kansas City Star, started covering this topic in 1999, on the day when the Kansas Board of Education voted to downplay evolution in the state’s public school science standards. Years of experience have taught her that “I.D. proponents tend to be very particular about how their views are presented in news reporting … the Discovery Institute even set up a Weblog to ‘educate’ reporters by critiquing their stories.” Diane Winston, the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the University of Southern California, explores the consequences of reporters’ tendency to use the conflict narrative in covering this issue. “If I were an editor,” she writes, “I’d ask my reporters to step back and consider how they, as purveyors of this narrative frame, might be embedded in the ‘conflict’ and its outcome.” Paul R. Gross, University Professor of Life Sciences, Emeritus, at the University of Virginia, laments journalists’ lost opportunities in coverage of a recent Pennsylvania court case in which parents challenged the Dover school board’s decision about changing the school’s ninth grade biology curriculum. “… it is vital,” Gross argues, “that journalists make certain that readers, listeners and viewers understand exactly what did and did not happen in the course of the trial, as opposed to relying on ‘he said, she said’ commentators who know precisely the words to use to skirt some of these key points.” Gailon Totheroh, science and medical reporter for the Christian Broadcasting Network, suggests that “it might help if reporters started to think about the Dover case as Scopes turned upside down … [and] explore the ways in which institutional power can now be found in the evolution establishment opposing freedom of thought and speech in the academy.” Martin Redfern, senior producer of the BBC Radio Science Unit in London, explains that British people regard intelligent design as a religious issue, not a scientific one. With British schools recently given “more freedom to innovate,” if efforts are made to bring “religious dogma into the classroom through the back door,” Redfern says reporters “will be waiting … to lift this largely untold story into headline news.”
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 57 Global Warming
David Michaels, a research professor in environmental and occupational health at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, describes how public- information campaigns, funded by the fossil fuel industry, insert skeptical views into journalists’ reporting on global warming. “… the skeptic’s assertions are often reported without identifying their corporate sponsors or letting readers know the person’s credentials for raising such doubts,” Michael writes. Ross Gelbspan, author of “Boiling Point,” criticizes reporters for their misplaced use of “balance” in the telling of the global warming story and writes that “it seems profoundly irresponsible for them to pass along a story that is ‘balanced’ with opposing quotes without doing the necessary digging to reach an informed judgment about the gravity of the situation.” In reporting on science and the environment for radio, print and the Web, Daniel Grossman travels with scientists to research sites as they study impacts of climate change. In a photo essay from his trips, many of which have taken him near the earth’s poles “since the Arctic and Antarctic are heating up faster than anywhere else,” Grossman shows and describes what he has observed. Max Boykoff, a doctoral student in environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, reports findings from a study he coauthored about “balanced reporting” in newspaper coverage of global warming. The conclusion: “… the reporting was found to be strikingly out of alignment with the top climate science.” University of Utah doctoral student Jessica Durfee and associate professor Julia Corbett examined how context and controversy in stories about global warming affect readers’ perceptions of the issue. One finding: “It is heartening to know that the simple inclusion of scientific context might help mitigate the readers’ level of uncertainty.” Sharon Dunwoody, who teaches science and environmental journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, wants journalists to use “weight-of-evidence” reporting in covering this issue. It is not up to journalists “to determine what’s true but, instead, to find out where the bulk of evidence and expert thought lies on the truth continuum and then communicate that to audiences.” University of California at Berkeley journalism professor Sandy Tolan and graduate student Alexandra Berzon provide an overview of coverage of this topic, and Tolan describes a class he designed, “Early Signs: How Global Warming Affects Commerce, Culture and Community,” in which journalism students learn how to document “the social, cultural, political and economic impact of climate change around the world.” In excerpts from a speech television journalist Bill Moyers delivered to the Society of Environmental Journalists, he offers ways to connect storytelling about global warming to evangelical concerns about preserving the earth. Markus Becker, who heads the science department at Spiegel Online, contrasts U.S. and German approaches and notes that American news media “are so intent on hearing both sides in a debate that they often are virtually incapable of showing where the majority opinion lies.” Hans von Storch, who directs the Institute for Coastal Research in Germany and Werner Krauss, who teaches at the University of Texas at Austin, explain how cultural orientations in the U.S. and Germany affect public perceptions about climate change and reporting about it. And former Canadian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Jacques A. Rivard describes why his editors rarely requested that he include “opposing views about global warming.” n
58 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Intelligent Design Science and Journalism Fail to Connect ‘How can we expect Americans to know anything beyond what they happen to remember from science class? Journalists certainly don’t tell them.’
By Dan Fagin
volution is “only a theory.” Global a priority to speak out on the compel- pen to remember from science class? warming is “unproven.” And ling issues of the day: E.O. Wilson and Journalists certainly don’t tell them. Escience itself is “just another Richard Dawkins, to name two, though When is the last time you heard a re- opinion.” neither has the public profile of his porter explain in print or on the air Critics of mainstream science seem predecessors. And a few mass-market that a scientific hypothesis is elevated to be everywhere these days, and we, media outlets still cover scientific de- to a “theory” only after it is supported as journalists, just can’t seem to get velopments in a sophisticated way: The by overwhelming observational and enough of them. It’s just about impos- Economist and The New York Times, experimental evidence and is widely sible to pick up a newspaper or watch to name two, though neither is as accepted by the scientific community? CNN for an hour without being con- comprehensive as it once was. The best Sure, evolution is a theory—and so is fronted by someone attacking ideas that coverage, as always, comes from many Mendelian heredity and Newtonian most scientists think are so settled that niche publications, but they reach rela- gravitation. they aren’t even worth discussing any tively small audiences. Most consumers When is the last time you heard a more. Meanwhile, the topics that many of news never hear about the work of journalist explain that the scientific scientists are working on—the almost contemporary science: the meticulous process is not about “proving” any- daily advances in nanotechnology and testing, honing and retesting of hypoth- thing? Instead, it’s about constructing genetics, to pick just two—are largely eses—the process that ended the Dark a hypothesis, disproving it, and then absent from mass-market media cover- Ages and continues to illuminate dark developing a better one that offers a age. What’s going on? corners of our world. slightly fuller explanation of the natural Nearly 50 years ago, the British physi- So we shouldn’t be surprised that world as we experience it. The cycle cist and novelist C.P. Snow published about 46 percent of American adults never stops. Science will never prove, his famous “two cultures” essay, which don’t know it takes a year for the earth in an absolute sense, that emissions deplores the widening gulf between to orbit the sun, according to a 2004 sur- of carbon dioxide from man-made scientists and their intellectual coun- vey by the National Science Foundation, sources are contributing to global terparts in the arts. If Snow was alive and that more than half of Americans warming, but science can show—and today, I think he might have extended think the earliest humans lived at the has shown—that no other idea comes his argument to apply to the chasm that same time as dinosaurs, not 60 million anywhere nearly as close to explaining now exists between science and just years later. But those errors of fact aren’t what’s happening to our world. about everyone else in society, includ- nearly as damaging as the widespread And when is the last time you heard ing journalists. ignorance of what “science” is and what a journalist explain that science’s sup- No longer seen as the public figures it isn’t. Most of us know almost nothing posed “weaknesses” are actually its great that many were in the days of Albert about bedrock scientific ideas such as strengths? Always self-critical, the best Einstein and Edward Teller, scientists the importance of being able to replicate scientists freely acknowledge the un- now are more reluctant than ever to an experiment, the meaning of statisti- certainties that remain in even the most venture out of their ivory towers. Shun- cal significance, and the use of control sophisticated theories. That’s the way ning messy public controversies, they groups. According to the same survey, science corrects its mistakes, but it is a tend to communicate only to each other for instance, most Americans wrongly grave shortcoming in a sound-bite world and through the rarified language of think that it’s better to test a drug by that prefers brash sloganeering. Nor is peer-reviewed journals. Meanwhile, far giving it to 1,000 people than to give science adept at feeding the media’s below, where the air is thicker, warring it to just 500 and compare their health craving for novelty, since the credibility special-interest groups hurl slogans and to 500 others who weren’t given the of science depends on a meticulous accusations, their every fractious word drug. It turns out that most of us not process in which each hypothesis builds amplified by media companies strug- only don’t know science, we don’t even incrementally on all the work that has gling to catch the attention of a jaded understand why it matters. come before. In science, nothing ever public, if only for a moment. How can we expect Americans to really comes out of left field. In journal- A few respected scientists do make it know anything beyond what they hap- ism, it’s our favorite position.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 59 Words & Reflections
Scientific Reasoning for in the general journalism department In short, we need to do all we can Journalists because we believe that journalists to show reporters how, even within the aren’t fully prepared to thrive in the tight constraints of the sound-bite soci- We shouldn’t be naive about efforts to professional world unless they know ety, it is possible to cover science stories bridge the chasm between mass-market something about statistical analysis and in ways that do credit to both science journalism and mainstream science. the scientific method. and journalism. Once we start doing The market forces driving journalism With this training, our goal should that, you can bet your Bunsen burners away from serious science coverage be to give reporters enough confidence that scientists will start climbing down are too strong to wish away with a to make reasoned judgments about the from those ivory towers, and maybe our five-point action plan. But surely there scientific legitimacy of competing argu- readers and viewers won’t be quite so are some steps we can take to improve ments whenever they’re doing a story quick to assume that all opinions are coverage. about a controversial issue, whether its created equal. n For starters, teaching journalists global warming, stem cells, intelligent scientific reasoning is vital. We should design, or something else. We need to Dan Fagin is an associate professor give that training not only to reporters show reporters how and why to resist of journalism at New York University who are new to science-related beats, the journalistic perversion of Newton’s (NYU) and the associate director of but also to those who cover business, third law of motion: For every assertion NYU’s Science and Environmental politics, culture or work in just about ev- in a news story, there must be an equal Reporting Program. Now a writer of ery other corner of the newsroom, and and opposite assertion. Phony “balance” books and magazine articles, he was to editors, too. In one way or another, is the bane of science journalism. the environmental writer at News- all of those journalists cover science, And finally, we have to be obsessive day for 14 years. In 2003, his stories whether or not they realize it. about the importance of storytelling, about cancer epidemiology won both Just as importantly, graduate and un- especially in science journalism geared of the best-known science journalism dergraduate journalism programs must to mass audiences. At NYU’s Science prizes in the United States. Last sum- offer, and even require, more science- and Environmental Reporting Program, mer, he was a Templeton-Cambridge related courses. Again, the emphasis even as we teach the subtleties of cut- Fellow in Science and Religion at the should be on scientific reasoning, not ting-edge science, we never stop talk- University of Cambridge. Fagin is merely the acquisition of dry facts. At ing about compelling narrative, clear also a former president of the 1,500- New York University (NYU), I help to explanation, and coherent organization. member Society of Environmental run a program that has been training Because if a reporter can’t tell a story, Journalists. science journalists for 24 years, but I it doesn’t matter how much science also teach science writing to students she knows. Y [email protected]
Strengthening the Line Between News and Opinion A newspaper editor asks, ‘At what point in our efforts to be neutral in our news coverage do we risk becoming misleading?’
By Jeff Bruce
s I dropped my son off at school the debate raging across the country guiding influence. Critics call I.D. mere the other day, I spied one of those over efforts to instill “intelligent de- creationism costumed to sneak past Aplastic fish affixed to the back of a sign,” or I.D., into public school sci- First Amendment prohibitions against sedan in front of me as we sat queued in ence curricula. Intelligent design is the church-state commingling. the parking lot. This one had the word controversial challenge to the theory As this article was being written, “Truth” inside a big fish devouring a of evolution being pushed by some the state school board in Kansas was smaller fish labeled “Darwin.” It served social conservatives who seek to offer nearing adoption of a plan requiring as an ironic counterpoint to a similar an alternative to Darwinism that is more that opposing views to the theory of fishy display on my own dashboard, an- compatible with the biblical story of cre- evolution be taught. A federal court was other big fish eating a smaller one with ation. Intelligent design advocates argue hearing an intelligent design lawsuit in the words “Reality Bites” inside. the universe is so complex it can only Pennsylvania, and in my home state of Our dueling fish are emblematic of be the consequence of an intelligent, Ohio, where I am editor of the Dayton
60 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Intelligent Design
Daily News, the state board for teaching evolution. That of education has already ruling was later overturned mandated that 10th graders by the Tennessee Supreme be taught about the “evolu- Court, and in 1968 the U.S. tion debate,” including com- Supreme Court ruled that peting ideas such as I.D. it is unconstitutional to ban I have been especially the teaching of the theory of interested in the Harrisburg, evolution. You might think Pennsylvania trial where 11 that would have settled the parents in the Dover Area matter. Think again. When School District filed suit in I Googled the phrase “intel- federal court to block the in- ligent design” in late October, clusion of intelligent design I found 61,900,000 entries. in the ninth-grade biology Impressive. Not even Jesus lesson plan. While a ruling Christ has those numbers in that court would have (26,600,000), or Genesis no direct bearing in Ohio, (32,200,000). God, of course, the judge’s decision could is well represented on the inform other courtroom Internet with 170,000,000 battles as they erupt, which listings, but even He is over- seems inevitable. shadowed by “evolution” at 227,000,000 Google hits. Reaction to the I.D. The idea of science trump- Coverage A blog about intelligent design written by Jeff Bruce, editor of the ing God in any setting sets Dayton Daily News. some people’s teeth on edge. I called Bill Toland, a re- It underscores the arguments porter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, think tank proselytizing I.D. as part of its and courtroom battles playing out over who has covered the trial, as part of my “wedge” strategy that seeks to displace whether “intelligent design” has a place research for this article. I was interested Darwin with “a science consonant with in public school classrooms. Already in the feedback he received from his Christian and theistic convictions.” But bubbling, the issue heated up even readers. Toland said he has postulated he was also taken to task by liberals who more earlier this year when President a new theory governing the speed of objected that “paying attention to the George W. Bush was asked by a reporter news as a result of his experience. “I I.D. crowd at all” falsely elevated the if intelligent design should be taught. call it the First Rule of Journaldynam- legitimacy of their arguments. His answer, I thought, was nuanced. “I ics,” he told me. “The speed at which a That matches our own experience in think that part of education is to expose story moves over the Internet is directly Dayton, where letters to the editor and people to different schools of thought,” proportional to the number of times e-mails have poured in from readers he said. “You’re asking me whether or you mention ‘gun rights,’ ‘evolution’ during the past several years as the state not people ought to be exposed to dif- or ‘liberal’ in your story.” board of education debated whether ferent ideas, the answer is yes.” But his Like many newspapers, including science lessons plans should include words ignited a firestorm of commen- mine, the Post-Gazette publishes re- challenges to Charles Darwin’s theories tary online and in the letters columns porters’ e-mail addresses and phone of the origin of life. The board finally of newspapers. numbers with their stories. During settled on a compromise proposal to the first few weeks of the Harrisburg “teach the controversy.” Coverage Stirs the Debate trial, Toland was getting calls and cor- “Ohio is now ground zero for the respondence from around the world. explosion of creationism that is sure to I blogged about Bush’s comments on my “It’s just remarkable the geography of follow,” warned Patricia Princehouse, a newspaper’s Web site, figuring it would the feedback,” he said, confessing “there Case Western Reserve University evolu- be a natural to stimulate comments from were some days” when it occurred to tionary biologist, when the new lesson readers. Little did I know. The debate my him it would not be a “bad idea to drop plans were adopted. Princehouse is an observations sparked among my blog’s the tag lines.” organizer of scientists opposed to teach- commenters raged for four weeks and While one might expect the major- ing “intelligent design.” Given recent sometimes got ugly. A sample: ity of feedback to have come from I.D. events, her warning seems prophetic. proponents, Toland said he heard from Some background: It has been 80 Spirilis: “The entire debate is about both ends of the debate. His stories were years since the so-called monkey trial your faith, Jen. We simply want it kept dissected for liberal bias by the Discov- in that other Dayton—Dayton, Tennes- out of the science classroom. I person- ery Institute, the Seattle, Washington see—where John Scopes was convicted ally don’t care if you believe that space
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 61 Words & Reflections
aliens originated life on earth but you Opinion vs. News Pages erage. And proponents of I.D. know have no right to teach your silly beliefs how to draw a crowd. This movement in a tax-supported institution. Worship The contention, raised by that last letter is arriving at a time when those of us whatever books you choose just quit writer and echoed by reporter Toland’s in the news media are acutely aware of trying to turn your fiction into my fact. I liberal critics, that in an effort to be fair the public’s perception of liberal bias. can accept that someone could want to and balanced we risk distorting the We’re familiar with the Pew Research remain ignorant but what is the benefit picture by giving undue credence to Center for the People and the Press in keeping the future in darkness? Why I.D., is a slippery one. It presupposes study showing two-thirds of Americans do you hate the children so? ….” a judgment of illegitimacy that most agree that “in dealing with political and Jen: “Awww, Spirilis! I expected more journalists would feel uncomfortable social issues, news organization tend to out of you than that! I gave you the making for the news pages. The opin- favor one side.” Moreover, a 2004 Gal- debate you wanted and you ended it ion pages, though, are another matter. lup Poll found that 45 percent of the with a desperate attempt to attack my We publish Leonard Pitts, Jr.’s syndi- American people think human beings faith and my personal life; did you run cated column, which our readers rank were created by God “pretty much in out of things to say? What I gave you among their favorites. is science, accept it! Everything I said Here’s his take on the is true, you know it. If you think I am question of whether wrong, PROVE IT! You can’t. … Spirilis, students have a right to you pick only specifics about what you be exposed to all sides want to hear, only when it supports what of the evolution issue, you want to believe, but then you ignore from his September all other evidences, facts and truths that 30th column: discredit your precious evolution …. As for your personal attack on me, I refuse “… for that argu- to even dignify that with a response; that ment to hold water, was just pathetic on your part. Great you must have more debate, Spirilis.” than one side. Where science and the the- The I.D. debate also filled the letters ory of evolution are columns of the Dayton Daily News. concerned, you do Some samples from just one day, Sep- not. It is the over- tember 2nd: whelming consensus of the mainstream John Garner: “It is depressing to have scientific community the apparently atheist Dayton Daily that Darwin had it News editors and cartoonist continue right. So pretending to deride the concept of intelligent there is another ‘side’ design…” to the question makes Thomas Brunsman: “Recently, the about as much sense Dayton Daily News reported that Har- as pretending there vard University is committing millions is another side to the of dollars to fund a research project to Klan. It reeks of false determine the origin of life …. Given equivalence, no-fault the growing discussion of intelligent scholarship, judg- design as a plausible explanation for ment-free education, the origin of life … could it be that the bogus notion that the evolutionists at Harvard feel that all points of view are evolutionary theory is not as strong as created equal and are they would have you believe?” equally deserving of John Strukamp: “The idea of intel- respect.” ligent design would seem to negate the need for science to explore the as yet Irrespective of in- unexplainable. Why bother with scien- telligent design’s le- tific research when we accept that God gitimacy as a scientific just made things this way? … Where theory, at some point did that notion come from, and why numbers matter when do some give it validity?” it comes to news cov-
62 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Intelligent Design their present form” sometime during Jana Collier organized the conference. our newspapers and online sites as the the past 10,000 years, a timeline that The feedback from participants, who ideal place for such debates to rage. In closely parallels the Old Testament story were a self-selected group of critics, so doing, though, we should be mindful of creation but is at wild variance with clearly showed that spillover from the that while clearly distinguishing news the scientific fossil evidence. opinion pages tinted their perception and opinion in our print products is Our newspaper’s instinctive re- of the paper. standard operating procedure, the lines sponse is to be careful, to be especially Interestingly, many of these critics can blur in the blogosphere. We need to mindful of the need to be balanced. But admitted they “shopped” the paper be cognizant of this and the implications Pitts’s objections of “false equivalence” for signs of bias, betraying their own for the newspaper’s overall credibility. are compelling. At what point in our foregone conclusions. Still they scored And we need to be mindful, as Toland efforts to be neutral in our news cover- some hits—a headline here, a phrase in discovered, that our audience is now age do we risk becoming misleading? a story there—that those of us observing worldwide, meaning, among other This is especially challenging with the the discussion agreed added legitimacy things, that there are more eyes than First Amendment on the line and the to their criticisms. The presidential ever before examining us and holding role newspapers have carved out for election, as well as hotly debated social us accountable. themselves as protectors of the Bill of issues (abortion, prayer in schools, gay For myself, I’ve taken that fish off Rights. marriage), was among the topics that my dashboard. There was a time when Even when we strive for balance fueled their perceptions of the paper’s these sorts of decals could be viewed in our news columns, the passionate prejudices. We left the roundtable dis- as friendly jousting. I think those days views expressed on our opinion pages cussion with a renewed determination are gone. n can carry over to color perceptions to police ourselves more vigorously, of the overall newspaper. Earlier this understanding how easily we can under- Jeff Bruce, as editor of the Dayton year, the Dayton Daily News hosted a cut our authority with even the smallest Daily News, is in charge of the news- roundtable meeting with members of lapses in diligence. paper’s newsgathering and opinion the community to explore their con- The good news is that our readers page staffs. His weekly column is cerns about liberal bias. We followed expect us to tee up controversial top- published on the News’s Sunday edi- the format established by the Associ- ics for discussion and that newspapers torial page, and his blog appears at ated Press Managing Editors (APME), and their Web sites can and do provide daytondailynews.com/jblog. which has pioneered the program. useful and provocative forums for these Steve Sidlo, the newspaper’s manag- conversations—with us and among our Y [email protected] ing editor and a member of the APME readers. In a world of multimedia com- board, and Assistant Managing Editor petition, it is crucial that we position Editorial Pages and Intelligent Design ‘Once upon a time, I would have been mortified at the thought of exposing my religious views to my readers.’
By Cynthia Tucker
grew up Baptist in Alabama—the Darwin’s theories, either. Alabama has developments—mapping the human buckle of the Bible belt—so I have never been known for the high quality genome, genetic manipulation, clon- Imore than a passing familiarity with of its public schools; I have no recol- ing—had. The public might debate the conservative Christianity. Where I come lection of anything more than a passing wisdom of research on stem cells, but from, there’s really no other kind. Yet reference to evolution in my high school surely we all accepted evolution as a battles over the teaching of evolution biology classes. cornerstone of modern biology. were not a feature of my childhood. (I I was a little surprised, then, when Apparently not. As a harsh and nar- first encountered the controversy when vigorous controversies over the teach- row Christian theology began to inject I was in my early 20’s, covering suburban ing of evolution erupted around the itself into public policy—first, not governments, including school boards, country during the past decade. If the surprisingly, in the southern United for The Philadelphia Inquirer.) Not that Scopes trial of 1925 had not quite settled States—the benighted forces who op- there was much teaching of Charles the matter, I thought recent scientific posed the teaching of evolution rose
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 63 Words & Reflections
again, intimidating textbook publishers, At the same time, on our op-ed pages or around the dinner table at Christmas. taking over school boards, and pushing we’ve gone to great lengths to reflect Editorial pages were not the appropriate for curricula that include the teaching the views of conservative Christians places for airing my religious beliefs. of “intelligent design.” who don’t want their children taught But during the last decade, I’ve changed It was in Cobb County, which boasts evolutionary theory. We’ve run op-eds my mind. No longer Baptist—I’m now some of Georgia’s best public schools, by parents, preachers and a gaggle of Episcopalian—I have concluded that where anti-Darwinians staged a surprise pseudoscientists using fancy words left-leaning Christians like me have al- attack on science in 2002. A group of and confusing data to try to justify lowed rightwing Christians to take over parents successfully lobbied the school their views. But their views are their the public square, leaving the uniniti- board to require stickers on new high views—and they have every right to ated to conclude that they exclusively school science texts with the following be heard. represent Christianity. So I am much disclaimer: “This textbook contains more comfortable now about present- material on evolution. Evolution is a Maintaining the Newspaper’s ing my contrasting view of Christianity, theory, not a fact, regarding the origin Tradition where the topic lends itself. of living things. This material should be Thus, my October 2nd column approached with an open mind, studied The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a ended with these words: “For those on carefully, and critically considered.” long and storied history of support for the Christian left—and I count myself Cobb is an affluent Atlanta suburb civil rights, civil liberties, and separation a member of that steadfast, if small, where most voters support Re- group—it does not matter publicans, attend church on Sun- one whit whether God cre- days, and equate low taxes with … we’ve written several editorials and ated the universe in seven good morals. But Cobb County days or several billion years. is also home to many well-edu- columns denouncing efforts to either ban Nor does it matter whether cated professionals who support the teaching of evolution or to supplement it she started all life in a pri- high academic achievement, take mordial soup and set a system pride in local public schools, and with something called ‘intelligent design’— in motion wherein species don’t want classrooms hijacked religion dressed up as pseudoscience. evolved over time. Her glory by pseudoscience. The Atlanta is not diminished.” (I couldn’t Journal-Constitution weighed resist having a little fun with in on their side—without hesi- the rightwingers by using the tation. of church and state. And the page has a feminine pronoun.) Around the editorial board’s confer- strong tradition of editorializing against Since then, we’ve written several edi- ence table, not a single member—in- any breach in that wall of separation. torials and columns denouncing efforts cluding our most conservative col- Our editorials in support of the teaching to either ban the teaching of evolution league, Associate Editorial Page Editor of evolution—a time-tested scientific or to supplement it with something Jim Wooten (a Cobb resident)—be- theory—honor that tradition. called “intelligent design”—religion lieved that evolution was inappropriate Moreover, as an editorial page editor dressed up as pseudoscience. We take in public school classrooms. Nor was who is intimately familiar with conserva- credit for helping to turn the tide last there any hesitation about our writing tive Christianity, I am not intimidated year when Georgia’s State Superinten- an editorial protesting the sticker on by religionists who would paint me as a dent of Schools, Kathy Cox, proposed textbooks; this was a matter of public “secular humanist,” “anti-Christian lib- striking the word “evolution” from the policy, education policy. On August 21, eral,” or “God-hating Satan-worshiper.” state’s science curriculum because it is 2002, editorial board member Maureen (Those are among the more colorful a “controversial buzzword.” Downey Downey, who includes education policy epithets flung at me by my fundamental- wrote several critical editorials, and among her areas of expertise, wrote an ist critics.) Indeed, growing up Baptist Cox reversed herself, bringing evolu- editorial headlined, “No faith-based sci- in Alabama probably provided me the tion back. ence in schools.” As the debate raged on, background to take on conservative No doubt we will have to continue I followed with a column on October 2, Christians in ways that other (saner) to fight efforts of certain conservative 2002, “Why pit God against evolution?” editorialists could not or would not. Christians determined to launch a fron- I argued that evolution doesn’t argue I know their beliefs. I can speak their tal assault on the teaching of science. for or against the existence of a divine language. I can quote the Bible back at The war is not yet over. n being. “The [text]book should not be them, chapter and verse. And I do. controversial to any but the most nar- Once upon a time, I would have been Cynthia Tucker, a 1989 Nieman Fel- row-minded. It does not rattle religious mortified at the thought of exposing my low, is editorial page editor of The views unless they adhere to the literal religious views to my readers. Like many Atlanta Journal-Constitution. story of the Creation in seven days,” I Americans, I believed my spirituality was wrote. best shared in church or Sunday School Y [email protected]
64 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Intelligent Design In Kansas, the Debate About Science Evolves One veteran reporter describes the complexities involved in telling this story as like entering ‘The Land of Muck.’
By Diane Carroll
volution entered my life as a tion that uses observations, hypothesis stories about evolution—and its teach- reporter on August 11, 1999. testing, measurement experimentation, ing in the public schools—this land can EBefore that day, I’d never writ- logical argument, and theory building be hard to avoid, especially when report- ten a word about it. But our education to lead to more adequate explanations ing on daily news developments. What’s reporter/evolution expert was far away of natural phenomena.” helped me get through it is learning a with her family in a cabin rented months Proponents of intelligent design few things about the terrain. earlier, so for two days, as speakers made their final pleas, Who’s Who—Or Does I observed the tension building By the time a reporter explains the It Even Matter? in a packed Kansas Board of Education meeting in Topeka. changes and describes why their There are creationists, young- Finally, the board members supporters want them and why earth creationists, and support- cast their long-awaited vote. ers of creation science. Then It was close, six to four. Those opponents object, readers might feel like there are supporters of intel- who wanted the state’s public they’ve been pulled into something ligent design. Usually the ideas school science standards to of the I.D. supporters match downplay evolution had pre- akin to dirty quicksand, or what I refer up, but even among them there vailed. Creationists had won to as ‘The Land of Muck.’ are differences. When Kansas a huge victory. And people adopted its new science stan- noticed. After The Kansas City dards in 1999 (which a newly Star published my story about the vote, (I.D.) contend that the current defini- elected board voted out in 2001), the e-mails from across the world clogged tion limits scientific inquiry because outcome was influenced by young-earth my computer. it allows only “natural” explanations. creationists, who interpret the Bible’s Big story, I thought. Indeed, it is, Scientists who oppose the proposed Genesis account literally and believe and a tough one to tell. Just how tough change say the new definition opens the God created the world in six days. In became clearer to me when I inherited door to “supernatural” explanations, their minds, the earth is no more than our paper’s evolution beat in 2002. which have no place in science. 10,000 years old. The changes the state’s board of Those are the proposal’s high- In 1999, as a result of the board’s vote, education made in 1999 were signifi- lights—and certainly these points are questions were deleted from our state’s cant and daunting for anyone to try to what will most likely appear the most science assessments about the age of the describe and explain in a few paragraphs in headlines as this debate is covered, earth, the big bang theory, and macro- of a news story. Nowadays, this same though there’s more to the proposal evolution, which refers to one species challenge holds true for the intelligent than this. By the time a reporter ex- changing into another as it adapts to design-inspired changes that the board plains the changes and describes why its environment. What this meant is approved this fall. The most recent their supporters want them and why that teachers in Kansas were no longer proposal in Kansas calls for students to opponents object, readers might feel responsible for teaching about these “learn about the best evidence for mod- like they’ve been pulled into something scientific topics. The state’s science ern evolutionary theory, but also to learn akin to dirty quicksand, or what I refer standards also were changed to reflect about areas where scientists are raising to as “The Land of Muck.” rejection of the idea that evolution is a scientific criticisms of the theory.” The It’s my belief that our newspaper’s unifying principle in the sciences. Even proposal also calls for changing the readers and its editors want students in the definition of science was altered definition of science from “Science is Kansas to receive a good science educa- to having it be a discipline that sought the human activity of seeking natural tion. So when proposals are put forth “logical” instead of “natural” explana- explanations for what we observe in the that cause them to feel that education tions, which is a difference significant world around us,” to “science is a sys- is being threatened, they care. But they to those who challenge evolution. temic method of continuing investiga- don’t like The Land of Muck. And with Creationists hold the same basic
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 65 Words & Reflections
views as young-earth creationists, but understand these differences among for Science Education claimed that believe the earth is much older. Those those who support these similar ideas the language didn’t change anything who support the teaching of creation to be able to convey this information because scientists continually analyze science believe the manifestations of to readers? evolution. It certainly is not unusual creation can be explored scientifically. To readers, I don’t think it matters for opposing parties to end up in such One doesn’t hear the term “creation all that much, since all of these forces a place, and by checking beyond the science” much anymore; today, talk are in some way involved in pushing press releases—and interviewing lead- centers on intelligent design, the idea intelligent design into the science cur- ers in Ohio on both sides of the issue—a that the world is so complex that it must ricula. But for reporters who are cover- clearer picture emerged. I ended up have been designed. But the creationists ing this story, knowing the background with a front-page story about the debate are still out there, and they’ve rallied of these different groups and figuring that went on in Ohio. around I.D. Also, bear in mind that I.D. pro- From what I can tell, cre- ponents tend to be very particular ationists’ motives are likely dif- about how their views are pre- ferent from I.D. proponents’, When all is said and done, the story sented in news reporting. There’s but it is possible their motives is all about religion. Or the story has a lot of very specific language that are the same. But this is hard some of them want to get into to determine because neither nothing to do with religion. Reporters the public discourse, and the group seems willing to say much hear both. So what is this story about? Discovery Institute even set up a about their motives, and this Weblog to “educate” reporters by makes it difficult for a reporter Surely it’s about more than showing critiquing their stories. Even with to really know how to accurately that evolution doesn’t answer all the these watchful eyes hovering over characterize the motives of I.D. the stories we write, what report- proponents. In Kansas, I.D. questions that scientists have about ers learn on this journey is that proponents like to talk about where we came from. not even the most conscientious intelligent design being “objec- among us will ever get through tive science,” but this is a term The Land of Muck by parroting that national I.D. leaders with what people say, no matter what the Discovery Institute shy away from. where their perspectives and strategies side of the debate they are on. According to intelligent design lead- diverge can help to cut through the ers here, the current definition of sci- confusion that seems to envelop this The Real Deal ence in Kansas promotes a “nontheistic” story. This knowledge puts a reporter point of view because it allows only on more solid ground, and that can be When all is said and done, the story is all “natural” explanations of the world. important to prevent the slide into The about religion. Or the story has nothing That view, they say, promotes naturalism Land of Muck. to do with religion. Reporters hear both. or materialism and eliminates the pos- When Ohio adopted its science stan- So what is this story about? Surely it’s sibility that some form of intelligence dards in 2002, the Discovery Institute about more than showing that evolution played a role. They want to change this put out a press release lauding the doesn’t answer all the questions scien- definition to include a “theistic” point of vote. Interestingly enough, so did the tists have about where we came from. view. Combining theistic and nontheis- National Center for Science Education. I once pressed a Discovery Institute tic views, they say, will result in “objec- How could that happen? And what leader to explain the fervor behind the tive science.” As one Kansas I.D. leader did this mean? After all, the two were movement: he said the real issue was puts it, “When you can detect design in on opposing sides during the debate. academic freedom. When I brought up a living system, the implications of that As it turned out, each side reached a the motives espoused in the “wedge” are very significant. If you conclude the different interpretation of some com- document, he responded to each of my system is designed, it shows life has an promise language that read, “Describe questions with a question. inherent purpose.” how scientists continue to investigate I have listened to intelligent design All of this sounds a little like the ideas and critically analyze aspects of evo- proponents explain their rationale for espoused in the Discovery Institute’s lution.” Attached to this clause there hours. I can report from those conver- “wedge” document, an internal memo was a note that said this language did sations that they believe in what they first publicized in 1999 that talks about not mandate the teaching or testing of are saying and think they are working the “devastating consequences of the intelligent design. toward some greater good. But even triumph of materialism.” The Discovery The Discovery Institute latched if one accepts their assertion that the Institute has tried to distance itself from onto the words “critically analyze” world was designed, where does that this memo and claims that the news and claimed these words supported leave the issue? In a science classroom, media have misinterpreted it. their push to “teach the controversy” if a designer is acknowledged, isn’t it Is it important, as a reporter, to about evolution. The National Center time then to turn back to science?
66 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Intelligent Design
After my years of coverage, I’ve of those who are behind them. For then slugging through the muck might reached the conclusion that the most example, are today’s I.D. proponents just be worthwhile. n worthwhile stories to pursue are those part of the conservative Christian faction that shed light on the emergence of trying to infuse their view of religion Diane Carroll is a reporter for The these movements and the passion into the public school curriculum? If Kansas City Star. She has been fol- driving them forward. This means also so, this information needs to be part of lowing the debate on the teaching of investigating how these movements the coverage the issue receives. evolution in Kansas since 1999. are funded, at their inception and also Questions such as these need to be now. Reporters also have to try to help explored. And if reporters can dig out Y [email protected] people to understand the motivation information to help in answering them, When the Conflict Narrative Doesn’t Fit ‘Conflict does attract readers. But pursued as a virtue unto itself, it can distort news stories and skew public understanding.’
By Diane Winston
ity the reporter assigned to cover free speech,” but Rawlings seemed to Journalism, Religion and the culture wars without the time, be “fanning the flames of intolerance” Science Pspace or resources to do the job and “implying that faculty don’t have right. That, at least, looked like the the right to discuss ideas.” The long-standing antagonism between backstory for an October 22, 2005 New Rawlings’ mistake? Stating that the the domains of religion and journalism York Times news story titled, “Intelligent “invasion of science by intelligent design is described in a recent essay, “Promot- Design Is Not for the Classroom, Cor- embodies … above all a cultural issue, ing a Secular Standard: Secularization nell President Says.” Armed with fewer not a scientific one.” York’s mistake? and Modern Journalism, 1870-1930,” by than 500 words, reporter Michelle York Dumbing down a complex issue with sociologist Richard W. Flory contained recapped Hunter R. Rawlings III’s nearly polarizing, oversimplified and lazy in “The Secular Revolution,” edited by 4,500-word State of the University ad- reporting. But this isn’t one reporter’s Christian Smith. Beginning in the late dress, in which he decided to devote the problem. The New York Times’s story— 19th century, publishers, editors and entire speech he delivered to the Cornell like most articles about the “clash” be- journalism educators “actively sought community to an issue he defined as tween religion and science—repeated to minimize and ultimately undermine “the challenge to science posed by reli- the miscues and misapprehensions that traditional religion,” Flory argues. In its giously based opposition to evolution.” have characterized coverage of this topic place, they advanced science, which was In the first paragraph of her story, York for almost a century. seen as progressive and inclusive, to quotes Rawlings calling the campaign Newsroom realities—including a be the authoritative voice for modern to add intelligent design to the science shrinking news hole, more deadline society. Their reasons were twofold. curriculum “very dangerous,” noting he pressures, and lack of in-depth knowl- The first was economic: Pressure to sell “denounced intelligent design ‘as a reli- edge—are part of the problem. But advertising and boost circulation ended gious belief masquerading as a secular these don’t justify ill-suited frames, the need for advocacy journalism, in- idea.’” Further down, York cites recent intellectual timidity, and rote reporting cluding sectarian religious coverage. In statistics on the percentage of Ameri- that typifies much of what is written in other words, newspapers now needed cans who favor teaching creationism general and on this subject in particular. to reach the widest possible public. The instead of evolution, then sums up the What happens with coverage of this second reason was that an increasingly conflict between religion and science in topic reflects many of the pitfalls that professionalized and secularized society a sentence or two. plague mainstream media. Journalists considered legal and scientific models The story ends with a quote from rely on narrative structures that mask more prestigious than those based in John G. West, a senior fellow at the more than they reveal and short-circuit the supernatural. Discovery Institute, a preeminent hub the kinds of contextualization, sourc- By diminishing the importance of for intelligent design theory. West says ing and analysis that can provide new faith and promoting science, journal- a “college president is in a unique insights on hot-button issues and move ists demonstrated that their field was position to create an atmosphere of public discussion forward. “best suited to succeed religion in the
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 67 Words & Reflections
modern world,” according to Flory. He Writing for The New Republic in 1920, issue is hotly debated. also explains that newspapers adopted he decried the Times’s coverage of the Santos passionately describes his the conflict narrative to improve their Russian Revolution as “a case of see- faith in God. But he is equally ardent commercial prospects, and editors en- ing, not what was there, but what men about his acceptance of science and couraged reporters to write colorful, wanted to see.” the theory of evolution. He explains lively stories. Charles Merz, who later The debate about the teaching of evo- that evolution, a scientific theory, became an editor of The New York lution and intelligent design shouldn’t should be taught in public schools, Times, advised reporters in 1925 whereas religious instruction to make conflict a key element in should come from the home or a their stories. He observed pre- religious institution. He suggests sciently (given the column inches The debate about the teaching of that those who are unhappy with subsequently allotted to clergy evolution and intelligent design that division of tasks should seek sex scandals), that “If theology redress in the democratic process. and religion envy sex and crime shouldn’t be cast, in the words The crowd—even those who dis- and sigh for front-page space, all of my first managing editor, as agreed—cheered wildly. that theology and religion need The Cornell University presi- to do is produce a good personal a ‘pissing match.’ Rather it’s a dent’s speech, which made similar encounter.” philosophical discussion about how points, also elicited strong sup- Conflict does attract readers. But port. In an interview I did with pursued as a virtue unto itself, it can we know what we know. him after his speech, Rawlings said distort news stories and skew pub- he’d received “an overwhelmingly lic understanding. Not everything positive response,” but he would fits a “he said, she said” structure, have preferred media coverage that and not all arguments are epistemo- be cast, in the words of my first manag- more accurately reported the address. “I logically equal. As Rawlings said in his ing editor, as a “pissing match.” Rather recognize the media has a tough job of talk, evolution is a scientific theory—a it’s a philosophical discussion about summarizing arguments,” he said. “But hypothesis, and that is demonstrated by how we know what we know. Unfortu- journalists should be extremely wary of observation or experiment. Intelligent nately, many of the sources who could oversimplifying and emphasizing polari- design is a religious belief. It is a theory offer thoughtful comments on how to ties instead of nuanced arguments.” according to its definition of being “an constructively discuss this aspect are Were I still working as a reporter, idea or belief arrived at by conjecture rarely quoted. The Center for Theology I’d visit Ithaca, New York to see how is- or speculation.” But that is a different and the Natural Sciences, the Institute sues of religion and science play out in understanding of theory than that used on Religion in an Age of Science, The Cornell’s classrooms, dormitories and in science. Proponents of intelligent Center for the Study of Science and houses of worship. I’d explore student, design obfuscate an important distinc- Religion, the Counterbalance Founda- faculty and staff response to Rawlings’ tion by blurring the two meanings of tion, as well as numerous smaller and contention that both faith and science theory. more religiously located groups, have are important to the university. Then That’s why Rawlings and West talk worked in this field for as along as half I’d visit Ithaca itself to see whether past each other: What is happening is a century. But their speakers, resources and how these issues surface in public not a conflict; it’s a disconnect. and publications are rarely cited. schools and community settings. And For a helpful case of art reflecting— if I were an editor, I’d ask my reporters Imposing an Ill-Fitting and besting—reality, reporters might to step back and consider how they, as Narrative watch the thoughtful treatment of the purveyors of this narrative frame, might evolution vs. intelligent design debate be embedded in the “conflict” and its So why do reporters use the conflict on a recent (October 16, 2005) episode outcome. One step back could be the narrative so frequently in covering of the TV drama, “The West Wing.” first step forward.n this story? It’s familiar, reliable and a Presidential candidate Matt Santos is lot easier than research and original dogged by reporters who want to know Diane Winston is the Knight Chair in thinking. In this case, it plays out the his position on the issue. Although his Media and Religion at the University trope of a culture war, propagated by Democratic Party handlers advise him of Southern California. She writes for the catchy notion of a “red-state/blue not to comment, Santos, piqued by the the “Faith Front” column of the Los state divide.” Do we think that Merz media’s insistent questioning, says he Angeles Times and reported at The ever imagined that conflict would be- believes in a God, whom he assumes (Baltimore) Sun, The Dallas Times come the primary frame for reporting is intelligent. The subsequent media Herald, and The (Raleigh) News and most of the news? I doubt it. In his own frenzy forces Santos to clarify his posi- Observer. writings, he emphasized a newspaper’s tion during a meeting with parents and responsibility to the pursuit of truth. teachers at a local school where the Y [email protected]
68 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Intelligent Design Courtroom Testimony Offers an Excellent Road Map for Reporters ‘… the usual “he said, she said” quotes I read in press accounts have little or nothing to do with the actual issues raised by the Pennsylvania case.’
By Paul R. Gross
rom late in September until early Backing up its announcement, the conflict is dealt with as if it was just November, journalists reported school district in effect recommends one more story of rival claimants to the Fon a battle being waged in a Har- and makes available a revised edition public esteem using a traditional “he risburg, Pennsylvania federal courtroom of a creationist textbook, which has said, she said” approach. The problem between “intelligent design” (I.D.) and just recently had all such words as “cre- is that the usual “he said, she said” the sciences of biology and geology, ation” and “creationism” deleted and quotes I read in press accounts have especially evolutionary biology. Their replaced with words like “intelligent little or nothing to do with the actual stories have unleashed another comber design.” That text presents the alterna- issues raised by the Pennsylvania case. in a media-coverage tidal wave. There tive “theory”—intelligent design. Life on At its core, this case is about a public have been some big waves on this topic earth, it argues, is too complex to have school initiative to pass judgment on the before, in Kansas, Texas, Georgia and arisen by chance. It must have been de- content of science in its curriculum—in Ohio, for example, each the result of the signed (that is, created) by an intelligent effect, about an action to correct what I.D. movement’s self-identified “wedge” agent or agents (like, say, God) working its supporters regard as an error, weak- initiative that has been in operation for supernaturally. No serious scientist, by ness, or imbalance in the state’s and the a decade. But with the Harrisburg trial the way, understands the mechanism of scientific community’s consensus. the stakes escalated, and the result has evolution as “chance.” been a tsunami of attention in print and Some press accounts, and I’ve read Ignoring the Testimony also in broadcast chatter. many of them, are conscientiously Though the case concerns a small evenhanded. When editors give enough Most disappointing about news cover- school district in Dover, Pennsylvania, column inches, some reporters have age of this court case is that a remark- this is not a mere local political chal- provided pretty good summaries of the able opportunity has been lost in the lenge of the kind taking place in other broad issues and make clear that I.D. is role journalists could have played in states. At its core, the issue here is a game being played centrally by a very educating Americans about some of the constitutional. The defendant in this small group of activists based in and sup- core issues, testimony and findings that case (the Dover school district) has ported by a conservative Christian think surfaced during the weeks of trial. Here mandated an official announcement tank, the Discovery Institute of Seattle, are a few of the conspicuous ones: be read to all ninth grade biology stu- Washington. Some describe in some dents that asserts—in effect—that what depth this small band of activists, some • The primary defendant claim is that the state’s science standards for K-12 of whom have science backgrounds (but I.D. is a fully qualified scientific require on the history of life on earth not one is a recognized, contributing theory, sufficiently well developed (organic evolution) is incomplete and, evolutionary biologist) and how they’ve and with sufficientpositive evidence well, just one theory and quite possibly relied on the reflex support of a vast to back it up, such that it constitutes wrong. More to the point, these words slice of the American populace—per- a serious challenge to the prevailing inform students that there is an alter- haps more than half of it. (Among this science of life’s history on earth. That native and, by implication, an equally half must be many people who know being so, the claimants continue, sound scientific theory, even though nothing about evolution except that it this challenge must be brought to evolution has for more than 100 years can’t be right.) Most journalists point the attention of all students. been employed in biology worldwide, out the magnitude of the rejection by • Another major claim is that there including its applied sciences such as the world scientific community of the are serious gaps and flaws in what is medicine, as the central organizing prin- I.D. claims, but at the same time allow being taught as the current standard ciple and has been recognized as such I.D. proponents their say. account of life’s history on earth. (It is and for that long by the overwhelming The problem in the reporting on this misnamed “Darwinism” even though majority of the world’s scientists—not case is a universal problem of journal- Darwin, were he to come alive, would just biologists. ism. In this case, this (manufactured) not recognize or understand it.) This
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 69 Words & Reflections
being so, the school district argues, fered and that those who testified the I.D. claim that there are deep and the flaws must be pointed out. for the plaintiffs, speaking for all of obvious flaws in Darwinism. Perhaps Good science and fairness demand the life sciences, argued (and docu- the most damaging testimony for the it. “Teach the controversy” is their mented their argument) that no such plaintiffs came, however, from expert battle cry. evidence has as yet been brought witness Barbara Forrest, a philosophy • Opponents of these claims (the forward, by anyone. professor at Southeastern Louisiana plaintiffs) pointed out that the I.D. • It is also important to point out that University, who has tracked closely the advocates want to introduce ideas the principal scientific witness for the operations of the I.D. movement. In not from anything in the scientific defense, biochemist Michael Behe, well-documented statements (written literature or recognized by any pro- agreed, albeit reluctantly, that there and on the stand), she demonstrated ductive evolutionary scientists, but has been no evidence for I.D.. As he that the I.D. movement had fundamen- from a program dedicated, by its was forced to admit in cross-examina- tally religious origins and purposes own announcements, that were announced at the to overturning modern start in an elaborate plan science and replacing it to destroy Darwinism and with a “theistic science.” [Barbara] Forrest used the proponents’ materialism and that they The hoped-for theistic words that they addressed to one another continue to be pursued science is one in which according to the “wedge” conservative Christianity and to their supporters to explode the claim plan. In detailed testimony is an ineluctable element of their secularist approach. Yet despite an (and writings), Forrest used of every undertaking and the proponents’ words that teaching. The movement, abundance of such evidence, reporters too they addressed to one an- the plaintiffs argued, is often take at face value the claim of other and to their support- inspired and supported ers to explode the claim of by a radical, sectarian re- I.D. proponents that their case is their secularist approach. ligious viewpoint that is purely scientific and secular. Yet despite an abun- hostile to evolution and to dance of such evidence, science generally. They ar- reporters too often take at gue that this nonscientific face value the claim of I.D. and antiscientific view has proponents that their case been promoted by a branch of gov- tion, his argument consists of incre- is purely scientific and secular. ernment (the defendants) into the dulity—he just doesn’t believe that Finally, there emerged in the course science curriculum, and the courts the standard Darwinian mechanisms of the trial information that is as gal- have held, repeatedly, that this is can explain the complexity of living lows-funny as it is tragic. Not one school unconstitutional. things. On the stand, he agreed that committee member among those most these mechanisms do work in many insistent on the importance of I.D. in Those are real issues examined in this cases, including in some of his own, the curriculum seemed to know much trial, which is therefore a very important original examples of this supposed or anything about it or about evolu- event. The decision in this case will be impossibility. tion. Nor would any of them admit to no less important for science education • It also emerged in the trial that having had any religious interest in this generally and for the general culture, nobody has found even one of the affair, despite damning evidence from whatever its outcome, than was that supposedly disabling flaws named the available records that there was 1925 Scopes trial in Dayton, Tennes- by the I.D. proponents to be such. nothing but religion in the arguments see. Given this trial’s prominence, and Quite the contrary: The strident I.D. that preceded the school board’s deci- the issue’s significance, it is vital that claims of error and fraud have them- sion to insert I.D.. According to their journalists make certain that readers, selves been shown, in an avalanche testimony, they simply took the word of listeners and viewers understand exactly of publications in scientific journals the Discovery Institute’s operators that what did and did not happen in the (unlike outlets used for I.D. claims) I.D. is good science and that Darwin- course of the trial, as opposed to relying to be grossly in error. This has been ism is false. The school district and its on “he said, she said” commentators reported in the primary scientific lit- legal team have evinced no little pique who know precisely the words to use erature and in the popular literature at having been hung out to dry by the to skirt some of these key points. for nearly a decade. Discovery Institute. Any journalist reading this essay will, • Readers, listeners and viewers need It is certainly true that some news of course, respond (correctly) by as- to know that in the course of the coverage of this trial did illuminate the suming that it is, or includes, spin. But trial no evidence in favor of the fact that scientists in evolutionary biol- the opportunity exists to go to the trial claim of intelligent agency was of- ogy (tens of thousands of them) reject transcripts, which are available online,
70 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Intelligent Design to see if what I’ve written is accurate. were and are. On the other hand, read versity of Virginia, is the author of (Start here: http://www2.ncseweb.org/ most of the press coverage of this trial a comprehensive review, sponsored wp/.) Or go to the literature on this is- and about these issues and come away by the Fordham Foundation, of K-12 sue, which includes the 2004 book that with no clear sense of what this sup- science standards issued by 49 states Barbara Forrest and I wrote entitled, posed conflict of scientific “alternatives” and the District of Columbia. The re- “Creationism’s Trojan horse: The Wedge is really about. n view was published by the Thomas B. of Intelligent Design.” Do this and I can Fordham Institute in early December. all but ensure that reporters will come Paul R. Gross, University Professor of to this understanding of the way things Life Sciences, Emeritus, at the Uni- Y [email protected]
Probing Beneath the Surface of the Intelligent Design Controversy ‘… to truly understand I.D., people need to look at things in ways that are different from our accustomed patterns.’
By Gailon Totheroh
n October 21st, Cornell Univer- an empirical one. this lack of awareness, we use clichés sity’s Interim President Hunter From my position as science and and boilerplate accusations in our re- OR. Rawlings III gave the school’s medical news reporter with The Chris- porting instead of working harder to annual State of the University speech. tian Broadcasting Network (CBN, an understand the issues. What this means Almost from the beginning of his talk, avowedly evangelical Christian organi- is that journalists might be missing or Dr. Rawlings attacked intelligent design zation), my sense is—as stories men- misinterpreting many stories related to (I.D.). The Cornell Daily Sun called the tioned above indicate—that there are our origins, design and evolution. president’s attack a “condemnation.” very deep issues involved in coverage Why would I.D. be an issue that would of this topic. This sense comes from Reporting on Intelligent sidetrack Rawlings from focusing on my personal observations and reading Design the usual topics college presidents during the past 20 years, as well as from talk about? Rawlings explained that the my reporting experiences for nearly I began to report on intelligent design threat to science and education from that long with CBN News. For example, just as the issue was entering the public I.D. was too great to remain silent. woven into this story are such critical dialogue. In September 1992, I first Other news reports tell of British issues as public education, freedom of interviewed Phillip E. Johnson, the philosopher Antony Flew’s change of speech and religious liberty, academic University of California at Berkeley law mind about the existence of some sort censorship, the nature of science, and professor, who had written “Darwin on of super-intelligence being involved the essence of religion. Trial.” Johnson, whose specialty is evi- in creating the universe. Last Decem- I believe that being well informed and dence, had been on sabbatical in Britain ber Flew, a lifelong atheist, said in a self-conscious about one’s worldview a few years earlier and had seen and video he released entitled, “Has Sci- can help reporters to convey the bigger read books by the noted evolutionist ence Discovered God?” that biologists’ picture as we cover the I.D. controversy Richard Dawkins. He analyzed Dawkins investigation of DNA demonstrates “by in this country. At times I fear that report- as being weak in evidence and claimed the almost unbelievable complexity of ers, and I include myself, are not asking that he relied too much on naturalistic the arrangements which are needed to the important questions we should be philosophy to make up for that absence. produce (life), that intelligence must asking. In part, this situation might be From my own reading about weaknesses have been involved.” He says that he blamed on the dearth of awareness of in evolutionary theory, I was aware of still rejects Christianity and monothe- the underlying philosophies connected some of this, but Johnson impressed me ism in general, indicating that his was with evolution and intelligent design. with his command of the issues. I left not so much a religious conversion as I also fear that too often, because of my interview with him with a sense that
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 71 Words & Reflections
I’d now be better able to direct a critical century as a way of attacking critics of much as they can about the complexi- eye toward science reporting when, for the theory. These historic controversies ties of these arguments, then look for example, such events as fossil finds were have a complexity that seems to be at ways to convey this understanding as in the news. In 1993, Johnson met with variance with their common usage by part of their news reporting. other scholars interested in intelligent journalists. My reporting on this controversy has design and they sparked what became Perhaps it might help if reporters been helped by a lot of background the intelligent design movement. started to think about the Dover case reading. Early on, I read about the dif- This fall an important legal case in- as Scopes turned upside down. By this ferences between microevolution and volving the teaching of I.D. in the public I mean they might want to explore the macroevolution, enough to know that schools, Kitzmiller v. Dover no one disagrees with mi- Area School District, was ar- croevolution, which gener- gued in Pennsylvania. Even ally refers to small changes when a decision is reached, A common thread in the news coverage in existing species or gene appeals might go on for of this trial is dueling accusations about pools, such as changes in some time, and one day it the size of finch beaks or the is possible this case might whether intelligent design is about religion development of antibiotic lead to a Supreme Court or about science. But this thread is only one resistance. By contrast, mac- decision about whether roevolution refers to the I.D. can be taught in public of many aspects of this story that is worthy of formation of fundamentally schools. Even now, the testi- journalists taking a closer look. new features and structures, mony in this case speaks to such as the origin of animal’s some of the deeper issues basic body plans during the animating public interest Cambrian explosion. When in this issue. ways in which institutional power can a scientist says evolution is a fact, he is A common thread in the news cover- now be found in the evolution estab- rightfully referring to microevolution. age of this trial is dueling accusations lishment opposing freedom of thought Yet macroevolution—what generally about whether intelligent design is and speech in the academy. If reporters is called the theory of evolution—is a about religion or about science. But were willing to take an even more his- contested issue. Recognizing one as this thread is only one of many aspects toric—and I’d argue relevant—leap they fact does not confer that status on the of this story that is worthy of journalists could help people realize how today’s other. taking a closer look. For instance, many issues compare with a similar debate There are unanswered questions, reporters refer to the Dover trial as a re- that occurred in ancient Greece among too, about the fossil record. Study peat of the 1925 Scopes “monkey” trial, philosophers, with the atomists (proto- of the fossil record, for example, led but many Americans (including some evolutionists) facing off against the First the late evolutionary author Stephen reporters) draw their understanding of Cause crowd (proto-design advocates). Jay Gould to develop the theory of Scopes from the 1960 movie “Inherit In doing this, reporters would help to punctuated equilibrium, which posits the Wind.” But like many movies, this clarify that this is a long-lived debate, great leaps forward in evolution in a one does not depict reality, as Edward one that is not likely to die out in the geologically short time span. Dawkins J. Larson’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize-winning foreseeable future. attacked Gould on this issue. If major history of Scopes, “Summer for the camps of evolutionists can’t agree on Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Complexity of Ideas such a central issue—one that Darwin Continuing Debate Over Science and said could contradict his theory (a clear Religion,” documented. And after I The issues at the heart of this debate fossil record)—a reporter might well learned about this disparity, I reported are complex. In the Dover trial, the have questions, too. about the film’s false image. complexity is apparent. Scientist Ken When Charles Darwin’s “On the Ori- Similarly, reporters would do well to Miller testifies one week about how gin of Species” was published in 1859, look into their overuse of other clichés evolution can explain the miniature people took a type of intelligent design that seem to be surfacing in coverage machines in bacteria. Then, in the next point of view for granted. To properly of this contemporary conflict between week, biochemist Michael Behe, the understand Darwin’s new theory of religion and science. Into this category author of “Darwin’s Black Box,” rebuts evolution, people had to think in an I’d put the Roman Catholic Church vs. Miller’s testimony, explaining how those entirely different way. Similarly, today, Galileo and the flat earth accusation. “machines” are products of design. to truly understand I.D., people need to In his book, “Inventing the Flat Earth,” Certainly it is a challenge to explain look at things in ways that are different University of California, Santa Barbara this conflicting testimony to readers from our accustomed patterns. historian emeritus Jeffrey Burton Rus- and viewers as part of daily news about When I was a graduate journalism sell describes, for example, how Darwin- the trial. But this difficulty should not student in 1985, a coauthor of “The ists marketed this myth in the late 19th deter reporters from trying to learn as Mystery of Life’s Origin,” scientist
72 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Intelligent Design
Charles Thaxton, spoke at Regent Uni- one student went up to him afterward phies of my sources. And delving into versity. Thaxton was one of the early and said, “I now know why I believe in those might produce a wealth of story advocates of intelligent design. A story evolution. It’s not because of the facts, ideas as we try to have the stories we he told struck me with its theological it’s because I hate God.” do help readers, listeners and viewers and philosophical implications, and Truly, evolution and intelligent de- think more expansively about intelligent it has remained as a backdrop of my sign are each connected with questions design and evolution. n reporting. He told of a time when about God and both have implications he’d spoken to a biology class at Johns for worldviews and elicit philosophical Gailon Totheroh is the CBN News Hopkins University. During the first overtones. Taking those considerations science and medical reporter. He half of the period, he gave a best-case seriously has been quite helpful to me worked for several years in media re- scenario for evolution. In the last half, in “getting under the story,” as one of lations before starting with CBN as a he critiqued evolution based on the my journalism mentors describes it. Be- general assignment reporter in 1988. science. Despite the fact that Thaxton ing aware of my own presuppositions had mentioned nothing but science, makes me more aware of the philoso- Y [email protected] Intelligent Design Has Not Surfaced in the British Press At a journalism seminar, a BBC producer was ‘struck by the concern about intelligent design amongst our transatlantic colleagues.’
By Martin Redfern
’ve been asking a few friends who are church schools with religious educa- but the evolution/creation debate regu- are neither journalists nor scien- tion a small but significant part of their larly rears its ugly head into journalists’ Itists—nor, for that matter, Ameri- curriculum, and a brief act of worship is lives. Almost whenever we broadcast cans—what they understand by the an almost daily event. But it is hard to anything substantial about evolution, term “intelligent design.” “Isn’t that the find anyone here who thinks that intel- we get a small but significant response slogan of that German car company?,” ligent design is serious science or that from lobbyists demanding that we give one said, in a remark typical of what I it should be taught as such in schools, equal time to creationist or intelligent often hear. In Europe, design arguments. It intelligent design is is relatively easy to nowhere near the Whether people believe in intelligent design or not, to reply—almost with a big issue that it is in stock letter—point- North America. Seri- most Brits this is clearly a religious issue. Since there is ing out that ours is a ous newspapers have religious education, if the topic is worthy of discussion science program, not been giving brief cov- one about religious erage to the Dover, then it seems logical that it should be discussed as part of belief. But these let- Pennsylvania court religious education, not in biology lessons. The American ters usually come case on their inner through formal chan- pages, but in the curriculum does not offer that option. nels, and thus they popular press and on demand time-con- television there is not suming paperwork. a mention made. or at least who is prepared to say so in We presume creationists monitor our It’s interesting to reflect on why that public. The Church of England, for the broadcasts with that in mind. might be. After all, according to the most part, seems to be on the side of the This past summer, I was fortunate U.S. Constitution, church and state are biologists, and even the Catholic Church to be a Templeton-Cambridge Journal- separate whereas over here, the queen has gone on record as saying that evolu- ism Fellow in Science and Religion, is both head of state and head of the tion is more than just a theory. which enabled me to attend a series Church of England. And many schools It might be a relatively untold story, of seminars in Cambridge, England.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 73 Words & Reflections
Both the journalists and the speakers of devotion is not the main reason why paper, the chief education advisor to were drawn from a mixture of faiths the issue of intelligent design has not the Vardy Foundation, John Burn, is a and included several atheists, but no yet become a major debate in education. founder of the Newcastle-based Chris- one seemed to be pushing the intel- Rather it could be because religious edu- tian Institute that has 12 full-time staff ligent design argument, and the Brits cation here is already part of the school promoting fundamentalist Christian among us were struck by the concern curriculum. Whether people believe in beliefs. The head teacher at Emman- about intelligent design amongst our intelligent design or not, to most Brits uel College suggested to a Guardian transatlantic colleagues. this is clearly a religious issue. Since reporter that it is “fascist” to say that One of the speakers at a seminar there is religious education, if the topic schools should not consider creation- was Professor Richard Dawkins, well is worthy of discussion then it seems ist theories, while the head of science known on both sides of the Atlantic logical that it should be discussed as at the school, Stephen Layfield, was for his almost fanatical quoted as having urged belief in evolution and his colleagues to “show the rejection of religion in all Such issues [as the teaching of creationist beliefs] superiority” of creation- its forms. He might appear ist beliefs. to be a fundamentalist have been reported in the British press, especially Such issues have scientist, but he does have in liberal or left-wing publications such as The been reported in the a way with metaphors. He British press, especially likened the theory of evo- Guardian, but they have not become headline news. in liberal or left-wing lution to a crane that can That may still happen, however. publications such as lift complex life, including The Guardian, but they human life, up from the have not become head- primordial slime. Evolu- line news. That may still tion is a theory, yes, but like a crane, part of religious education, not in biol- happen, however. In October, Prime he says, it is built on the firm ground ogy lessons. The American curriculum Minister Tony Blair announced that he of established scientific observation. By does not offer that option. wants all schools to have the chance to contrast, invoking God as an explana- Even though there seems to be no become “independent” to give them tion, through whatever subtle mecha- large, well-organized lobby group for in- more freedom to innovate, within nism such as intelligent design, is like telligent design in Britain, its teachings certain guidelines. Part of his motiva- a skyhook: It may offer an explanation have appeared in some of our schools. tion is probably to take some of the for the progression of life, but it has A few years ago, the government started control of schools away from the local itself no rational supporting structure to encourage the creation of so-called county education boards but, if there in science or observation. As William of technology colleges in deprived inner- are enough rich benefactors who believe Ockham would have put it in the 14th city areas where existing schools had in intelligent design, some believe he century, introducing God multiplies been failing. These have been set up could be letting religious dogma into the entities unnecessarily. as partnerships between the public classroom through the back door. That logical argument, one might sector and private benefactors. Though And if this shows signs of happening, think, would hold true everywhere. But they charge no fees, they are techni- many other British journalists and I will belief, to many British minds, including cally independent schools, and their be waiting with our pens and micro- my own, defies logic. I was stunned to benefactors get to appoint the school phones at the ready, to lift this largely read in an account of a U.S. poll that governors who, in turn, appoint the untold story into headline news. n “only” 26 percent of a sample of Ameri- teaching staff. cans believe in a literal six-day creation. One such benefactor is Sir Peter Vardy. Martin Redfern is senior producer For me, the figure of 26 percent would He made his fortune as a car dealer and of the BBC Radio Science Unit in have been shocking enough, but it was has now contributed to several schools London. Any views expressed in this the “only” that raised the hairs on the in the northeast of England, the first of article are his own, and not neces- back of my neck. I would be surprised them, called Emmanuel College, is in sarily those of the BBC. Messages for if “even” 2.6 percent of Brits held that Gateshead near Newcastle. It is clear Redfern can be left on the BBC Ra- belief. But then we do not appear to be a that Vardy has sympathy for intelligent dio Science message board at www. very devout lot. Church attendance here design and even for full-blown creation- bbc.co.uk/dna/mbradio4/F2766778. is low and falling—only a few percent ism. Another of the school’s directors Examples of this unit’s coverage of of the population attend church on a is the Conservative peer, Baroness Cox, the Dover trial are at http://news.bbc. regular basis. And those who do go are who, in 1988, sponsored amendments co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4353524. often elderly and attending services to an education reform bill stating that stm. that have changed little since the 19th religious education in state schools century. should be “in the main Christian.” But I suspect that our societal level According to The Guardian news-
74 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming Knowing Uncertainty for What It Is In reporting on the science of global warming, journalists contend with powerful, well-funded forces using strategies created by tobacco companies.
By David Michaels
or decades, the tobacco and on political and scientific debates that with a case of cholera. He quickly de- asbestos industries have worked arise about this issue, they can find termined that those who drank from Fhard to manufacture more than themselves transmitting information one particular water source were at just their products. While aggressively that conveys this frame of mind to the highest risk for the disease, and he marketing what they make, they’ve also readers, listeners and viewers. In part, recommended removal of the handle been successfully creating public-infor- this happens when reporters feel obli- from the pump supplying drinking mation campaigns designed to create gated to offer space and credibility to water from that source. By using the uncertainty in the minds of people skeptical perspectives, even when those best evidence available at the time, about claims made against the destruc- who espouse these views are funded hundreds of additional deaths were tive and lethal characteristics of their and promoted by corporations whose avoided. If government officials in Lon- products. Though discovery of these activities disproportionately contribute don had demanded absolute certainty, efforts has come too late for many of to the problem, which in this case is the epidemics might have continued their victims, documents unearthed in global warming. Further, the skeptic’s for another 30 years until the cholera lawsuits have revealed concerted efforts assertions are often reported without bacterium was identified. to avoid the imposition of government identifying their corporate sponsors In our time, it seems, debate over regulation by impugning public health or letting readers know the person’s science is replacing debate over policy, science. credentials for raising such doubts. and this can threaten the ability of the These days, the most well-known Recognizing the power of a sound government to protect the public’s (and likely also the best funded) of bite and memorable phrase, industries health and environment. As Snow’s these campaigns is the one in which responsible for creating what scientists story demonstrates, the desire to es- the fossil fuel industry manufactures contend are causing the climate to tablish absolute scientific certainty is uncertainty about environmental and warm often cry “junk science” at the both counterproductive and futile. public health claims raised by scientists appearance of studies reporting what This recognition is realized in the and others regarding climate change. they regard as unfavorable findings, wise words Sir Austin Bradford Hill, When confronted by an overwhelm- even when the quality of the research is a renowned biostatistician, delivered ing worldwide scientific consensus on high. Junk-science advocates allege that in an address to the Royal Society of the impact of human commerce in the many of the scientific studies (and even Medicine in 1965: global warming of the past century, the scientific methods) used in the regula- industry and its political allies follow tory and legal arenas are fundamentally “All scientific work is incomplete— the tobacco road. Evidence of this was flawed, contradictory or incomplete, whether it be observational or experi- illuminated when Frank Luntz, a lead- contending that it would be wrong or mental. All scientific work is liable to be ing Republican political consultant, premature to regulate the exposure in upset or modified by advancing knowl- sent a strategy memo to his clients question or compensate the worker or edge. That does not confer upon us a revealed in 2003, and his words were community resident who might have freedom to ignore the knowledge we widely circulated among scientists and been made sick by the exposure. already have, or to postpone action that policymakers. In it Luntz asserted that it appears to demand at a given time. “The scientific debate remains open. Certainty vs. Inaction “Who knows, asked Robert Brown- Voters believe that there is no consensus ing, but the world may end tonight? about global warming in the scientific Every first-year public health student is True, but on available evidence most community. Should the public come taught how John Snow in 1854 stopped of us make ready to commute on the to believe that the scientific issues are a cholera epidemic in London. During 8:30 next day.” settled, their views about global warm- a 10-day period in September during ing will change accordingly.” (Emphases which more than 500 Londoners died Yet in our time, the wisdom of in the original memo.) from the disease, Snow used a city map Hill’s words is being both twisted and Because journalists often report to mark the location of each household ignored. For example, take the case of
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 75 Words & Reflections
Philip A. Cooney, chief of staff for the nience and economic consequences of luted sites in the country. One of my White House Council on Environmen- public health protections. For 50 years, chief concerns was beryllium, a light- tal Quality, extending a political hand tobacco companies employed a stable weight metal vital to nuclear weapons into the editing of a federal report on of scientists to assert (sometimes under production. Hundreds of weapons climate change to magnify the level of oath) that they did not believe there workers have developed chronic beryl- uncertainty. Before his appointment to was conclusive evidence that cigarettes lium disease (CBD), a sometimes-fatal a top environmental protection job by caused lung cancer. Scientists paid to lung disease associated with breathing President Bush, Cooney worked as a lob- manufacture such uncertainty would tiny amounts of the metal. byist with the American Petroleum Insti- dissect every study, then highlight flaws Beryllium’s victims included not only tute (API), one of the nation’s leading and inconsistencies. Less well-known machinists and others who worked manufacturers of scientific uncertainty. but following the same pattern are the directly with the metal, but also others Subsequently he left the White House campaigns mounted to question stud- who were in the vicinity of beryllium for employment with ExxonMobil, ies documenting the adverse health work, often for very short periods of where his job title might have changed effects of exposure to lead, mercury, time. One accountant had developed but not his mission. CBD after working for a few Another example of tearing weeks each year in an office down scientific findings in the It is important for people to near where beryllium work was name of certainty happened underway. with a chemical called benzene, understand—and for journalists to In 1998, when I was appoint- a byproduct of oil production and help them do this—that our nation’s ed by President Bill Clinton, both use, and exposure to it is known the Occupational Safety and to cause leukemia. Recently, a public health programs will not be Health Administration (OSHA) team of U.S. and Chinese scien- effective if absolute proof is required and DOE (whose facilities were tists confirmed that workers with not covered by OSHA) were exposure to benzene (a known before we act; instead, the best applying a 50-year-old standard human carcinogen) at levels that available evidence must be sufficient. for protecting workers from meet the current workplace stan- beryllium exposure, a standard dard in the United States have an that was widely recognized as increased risk of blood disorders. inadequate. As both agencies The medical message is clear: The cur- vinyl chloride, chromium, beryllium, began the time-consuming legal process rent standard is not protective; it needs benzene and a long list of pesticides of updating their rules, the beryllium to be tighter. and other toxic chemicals. industry mounted what has become a Facing such a specter, the API raised Manufacturing uncertainty is now predictable response: They hired Expo- more than $20 million to conduct its so commonplace that it is unusual for nent, Inc., one of the leading product own study whose results were expected the science behind an environmental defense firms, to assert that there is too to, according to internal documents, regulation not to be challenged. Yet much uncertainty in the science on the “establish that adherence to current it is important for people to under- ability of beryllium to cause CBD to occupational exposure limits do [sic] stand—and for journalists to help warrant a new standard. not create significant risk to workers them do this—that our nation’s public Sharing authorship with product exposed to benzene.” But how does health programs will not be effective if defense specialists, beryllium industry- API know what the results will be before absolute proof is required before we associated scientists published a series the study even begins? It’s a common act; instead, the best available evidence of papers suggesting it was possible that trick of the trade, one that any of the must be sufficient. beryllium particle size, or particle sur- key players in the “product defense” face area, or particle number, are more (which is their own term) industry can Observing the Strategy important than previously thought in pull off easily. They are talented experts the development of beryllium disease. at subverting science at the behest of I observed the work of the product They also raised the hypothesis that their corporate clients, and they hire defense industry when I served as as- skin exposure could play a larger role product defense scientists who won’t sistant secretary for environment, safety in CBD risk. The hired guns concluded deny that a relationship exists between and health in the Department of Energy that, even though the current standard the exposure and the disease, but are (DOE) from 1998 to 2001. In that role, was not protective, more research was quick to conclude that “the evidence is I was the nuclear weapons complex’s needed. They even suggested that inconclusive.” chief safety officer, responsible for once these questions were answered, But much scientific “uncertainty” protecting the health of workers, the the new beryllium standard “could about the causes of disease is manufac- communities and environment around easily be among the most complex yet tured, designed to impede the inconve- some of the most dangerous and pol- established.”
76 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming
After reviewing the extensive evi- once the Bush administration took their readers, listeners and viewers dence and taking testimony from in- over in 2001. about any links they find between those dustry and independent scientists, DOE In the past, corporations and public who supported the research and its find- concluded that, while more research relations firms hired individual scientists ings. Until such connections are made is always desirable, we had more than as part of their uncertainty campaigns; visible by journalists and commentators, enough information to protect work- the product defense industry represents the uncertainty being manufactured will ers immediately. Over the industry’s an evolution into specialization. After achieve its goal to the detriment of both objections, we issued a much stronger all, today scientists themselves control science and health. n standard, reducing the acceptable many of these firms, and because they workplace exposure level by a factor of understand the workings of science David Michaels is research profes- 10. This new standard, though, applies better than the usual public relations sor and associate chairman of the only to nuclear weapons workers; be- person, they are better able to design Department of Environmental and ryllium-exposed workers in the private campaigns that successfully raise ques- Occupational Health at The George sector don’t have the same protection. tions and promote doubt. As they do so, Washington University School of In 1998, OSHA declared its intention to journalists need to be prepared to ask Public Health and Health Services in issue a similar standard to protect work- tougher questions about the evidence Washington, D.C. ers in the private sector, but dropped they are shown, to inquire about fund- beryllium from its regulatory agenda ing behind the “science,” and inform Y [email protected]
Disinformation, Financial Pressures, and Misplaced Balance A reporter describes the systemic forces that work against the story of climate change being accurately told.
By Ross Gelbspan
ne central fact—as simple as to address this issue rapidly and com- diplomatic tensions, and significant it is overwhelming—informs prehensively threatens the continuity of policy differences between many state Othe current understanding of a coherent civilization. (Already visible governments and the administration in global climate change: To allow our are some financial stresses that show up Washington. inflamed climate to stabilize requires in the escalating losses by some of the worldwide cuts in our use of coal and world’s property insurers.) Yet despite Why Climate Change Isn’t oil of about 70 percent. This is the its scope and potential consequences, Covered Well 10-year-old consensus finding of more global climate change is probably the than 2,000 scientists from 100 coun- most underreported story. Looking at how the news business tries reporting to the United Nations’ Instead, stories about aspects of works, however, there are several rea- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate global climate change should be in sons why this is happening. Change—the largest, most rigorously newspapers at least three times a week At one level, environment reporters peer-reviewed scientific collaboration and on radio and TV newscasts more usually focus their energies on master- in history. frequently, too. In addition to report- ing intricacies of the science and the To act on climate stabilization in the ing about its science, the climate issue mechanisms of ecological interactions. way that science guides us threatens the involves the emergence of extreme Were they to compliment this reporting survival of the coal and oil industries that weather events (debates about increas- with some investigative training, their constitute one of the biggest commer- ing strength of hurricanes is just one treatment of the climate crisis might cial enterprises in history. Conversely, example), technology developments, broaden significantly. The reason is the findings of most scientists who oil industry movements, terrorism and that most reporting about the environ- study this issue indicate that a failure national security, economic stability, ment involves tracking conflicts about
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 77 Words & Reflections
money, and these conflicts generally pit Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on the dictates of the science. But other a specific environmental vulnerability Climate Change (IPCC) because they than fleeting coverage of large dem- against an industry, a business, or a de- represented “foreign science” (even onstrations in Europe that followed veloper. If reporters approached these though about half of the 2,000 scientists the U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto stories through a wider investigative who contribute to the IPCC are from process, these differences in policy and lens—and had the training necessary to the United States). Instead, Bush called practice have been barely explored in know how to follow the money—they’d on the National Academy of Sciences the mainstream press. Unfortunately, be bringing better tools with them to (NAS) to provide “American science.” the culture of journalism is generally a evaluate the responses they receive In reporting this story, few members of political culture that is often institution- from corporate interests and likely be the Washington press corps bothered ally arrogant toward nonpolitical areas better equipped to sniff out the use of to check the position of the NAS. Had of coverage. front groups, dubious economic claims, they done so—while publishing and A second reason for the failure of the disguised or concealed lobbying strate- broadcasting the President’s words— press to adequately cover the climate gies, and pressure tactics that are not they would have been able to inform crisis lies in an extremely effective readily apparent. campaign of disinforma- On the level of institu- tion by the fossil fuel tional culture, one barrier … if journalists want their coverage to be lobby. For the longest to comprehensive reporting time, this industry’s well- about climate change can be balanced, their stories should reflect the relative funded disinformation seen in the career path to the weight of opinion in the scientific community. If campaigns have duped top at news outlets. Normally reporters into practicing the path follows the track of that happened, the views of mainstream climate a profoundly distorted political reporting, as top scientists would be the focus of 95 percent of form of journalistic bal- editors tend to see nearly ance. In the early 1990’s, all issues through a political the story, while the dissenters’ views would be the coal industry paid a lens. While there have been mentioned less prominently and less often. tiny handful of dissenting predictable feature stories scientists (with little or about climate change from no standing in the main- Alaska and small, buried reports of sci- the public that as early as 1992, three stream scientific community) under entific findings, global warming gains years before the IPCC determined that the table to deny the reality of climate news prominence only when it plays a humans are changing the climate, the change. Just three of these “greenhouse role in the country’s politics. During NAS urged strong action to minimize skeptics” received about a million dol- the 1992 elections, for instance, the the impacts of human-induced global lars from coal interests in the mid-1990’s first President Bush slapped the label warming. in undisclosed payments. More recently of “ozone man” on Al Gore because of When we look at reporting that ExxonMobil has emerged as the major his book, “Earth in the Balance.” It is comes from international correspon- funder of the “climate-change skeptics” likely not coincidental that Gore ran dents, we find that foreign editors and and their institutions. away from the climate issue during the reporters have not shared with the pub- The campaign’s success can be mea- 2000 presidential campaign. The issue lic information about the major divide sured by how effective it has been in was prominently covered in 1997 when on this issue that exists between the keeping the issue of global warming off the Senate voted overwhelmingly not to United States and much of the rest of the public radar screen. Its effectiveness ratify the Kyoto Protocol. These stories the world. At the time when the Clinton is underscored by two polls done by spoke not to the substance of the scien- and Bush administrations have refused Newsweek. As early as 1991, 35 percent tific debate but to the political setback to impose mandatory emissions reduc- of respondents (in the United States) the Clinton administration experienced tion goals in the United States, Holland said they thought global warming was at the hands of a rebellious Senate. News has begun the work of cutting emissions a very serious problem. Five years later, coverage resurfaced when President by 80 percent in 40 years. The United in 1996, even though the scientific George W. Bush withdrew the United Kingdom has pledged to cut its use of evidence had become far more robust States from the Kyoto process and again carbon fuel by 60 percent in 50 years. and the IPCC declared that it had found focused on resulting diplomatic ten- Germany has committed itself to 50 the human influence on the climate, sions between the United States and percent cuts in 50 years. Several months the 35 percent had shrunk to 22 per- the European Union and not on the ago, French President Jacques Chirac cent. This is striking testimony to the climate change impacts. called on the entire industrial world to impact of the industry public relations Prior to his withdrawal from Kyoto, reduce emissions by 75 percent in the campaign. (With recent visibility of this President Bush declared he would next 45 years. issue and the escalating pace of change, not accept the findings of the United Each of these policies adheres to public awareness has almost certainly
78 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming increased during the last few years.) of the story, while the dissenters’ views sure, the climate issue exposes a deeper A key ingredient of this success has would be mentioned less prominently betrayal of trust by journalists. By now been the insistence by the public rela- and less often. This is beginning to hap- most reporters and editors have heard tions specialists of the fossil fuel lobby pen—though very belatedly. enough to know that global warming that reporters adhere to a balanced Finally, journalists seem to have could, at least, have potentially cata- presentation of views about an issue. gone out of their way to ignore some strophic consequences. Given this, it And the press did this when they ac- of the more visible manifestations of a seems profoundly irresponsible for corded the same weight to this tiny warming atmosphere. One of the first them to pass along a story that is “bal- handful of skeptics that it did to the impacts of climatic instability is an anced” with opposing quotes without views and findings of peer-reviewed increase in weather extremes—longer doing the necessary digging to reach an scientists. But this is a misapplication of droughts, more heat waves, more severe informed judgment about the gravity the ethic of journalistic balance. When storms, and the fact that more of our of the situation. To treat this story in balance should come into play is when rain and snow falls in intense, severe this way seems a violation of the trust the content of a story that readers, viewers and revolves largely around listeners put in those opinion: Should society As one co-chair of the IPCC [Intergovernmental on whom they count recognize gay marriage? to provide an informed Should abortion be legal? Panel on Climate Change] said, ‘There is no debate interpretation as convey- Should our schools pro- among any credentialed scientists who are working ors of the news. vide bilingual education Ultimately, the ur- or English immersion? In on this issue about the larger trends of what is gency and magnitude of such coverage, a journal- happening to the climate.’ Regrettably, that is this issue should keep ist is ethically obligated this story at the top of to provide roughly equiv- something you would never know from the U.S. news budgets. It pits alent space to the most press coverage. the future of our highly articulate presentation of complex and vulnerable major competing views. civilization against the When the story fo- profit and survival of cused on an issue in an industry that gener- which various facts are known, it is the downpours. Increases such as these ates more than one trillion dollars a reporter’s responsibility to find out have been documented by numerous year in commerce worldwide. This is what those facts are. During the past sources, including the U.N.’s World an immense drama with an uncertain 15 years our understanding of climate Meteorological Organization. outcome, which means it is a terrific changes and its likely causes have been Not surprisingly, extreme events also news story with many legs. From the informed by an unprecedented ac- occupy a much larger portion of news point of view of pure professional grati- cumulation of peer-reviewed science budgets than 20 years ago. With the con- fication, it is hard to imagine a more from throughout the world. This is vergence of more coverage and informa- consequential or compelling story for about as close to truth as we can get. tion, one might assume that journalists any journalist to report. The challenge As one co-chair of the IPCC said, “There working on these stories would include will be to report it well. n is no debate among any credentialed the line, “Scientists associate this pattern scientists who are working on this is- of violent weather with global warm- Ross Gelbspan is a retired 30-year sue about the larger trends of what is ing.” But they don’t. A few years ago a journalist with the Philadelphia Bul- happening to the climate.” Regrettably, news editor at a major broadcast outlet letin, The Washington Post, and The that is something you would never know was asked why this connection wasn’t Boston Globe, where he shared a Pu- from the U.S. press coverage. made between the escalating incidence litzer Prize for a series he conceived Of course, a few credentialed sci- of natural disasters and climate change. and edited. He is the author of “The entists who dismiss climate change as “We did that,” he said. “Once.” The story Heat Is On: The High Stakes Battle relatively inconsequential have pub- involved a major flood in Mozambique Over Earth’s Threatened Climate” lished their findings in the refereed in 2000. The editor explained that when (1997), and “Boiling Point: How Poli- literature. Given this other perspective, the network suggested a possible link ticians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists, if journalists want their coverage to be to global warming, several auto and and Activists Have Fueled the Cli- balanced, their stories should reflect gasoline industry representatives threat- mate Crisis—and What We Can Do to the relative weight of opinion in the ened to withdraw all their advertising Avert Disaster” (2004). He maintains scientific community. If that happened, if the outlet persisted in making that a Web site at www.heatisonline.org. the views of mainstream climate scien- connection. tists would be the focus of 95 percent Apart from the fear of industry pres- Y [email protected]
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 79 Words & Reflections Observing Those Who Observe A journalist travels to the ends of the earth and reports from ‘distant, inaccessible places [that] have a grip on the popular imagination ….’
By Daniel Grossman
esearchers have known for she hasn’t failed more than a century that car- to observe her R bon dioxide released into the garden for a sin- air when coal, oil and other fossil fuels gle day. “It’s not are burned could trap extra heat in the the jolliest thing atmosphere, causing the planet to heat to do,” she says up. But it is only in the past decade or about making two that scientists have accumulated observations on convincing evidence that the planet ac- frosty Decem- tually is getting warmer and that humans ber mornings, are a (if not the) major cause. Today, “but its got to no credible scientist questions that be done.” humans are warming the earth. Far less Climate re- is known about what warmer tempera- searchers say tures will mean for earth’s inhabitants, such extended human and otherwise. I have devoted observations of the last several years to accompanying the timing of scientists to some of the research sites plant and ani- where they are studying the impacts of mal behavior climate change. Much of this research (a kind of study takes place near earth’s poles, since known as phe- the Arctic and Antarctic are heating up nology) help re- faster than anywhere else. Felicitously, veal how global such distant, inaccessible places have a warming is af- grip on the popular imagination that I fecting ecosys- believe attracts greater attention to my tems. Few sci- writing than would reporting from less entists collect exotic sites. such long-term data, especially since the 19th When Flowers Bloom century, when experimental Mary Manning in her garden. Photo by Daniel Grossman. In 1965, Mary Manning, a schoolteacher research began from Norwich, England, noticed that to overtake ob-servational studies. So earlier during the 1990’s than it did be- daffodils in her backyard were bloom- contributions from amateurs like Mary tween 1965 and 1980. Sparks is worried ing well before Easter. Her mother, this Manning are welcome. Tim Sparks, a because if different members of plant teacher then realized, used to think it researcher at Great Britain’s Centre and animal communities that interact a rare blessing if these harbingers of for Ecology and Hydrology, has col- with each other change at different spring blossomed in time to decorate lected records from about 100 such rates, ecosystems could literally come the church for the Easter service. Ever “closet phenologists.” In one paper he undone. “The communities, the types since that year, Manning has been re- published using Manning’s 40-year- of woodlands,” he says, describing the cording the first blossoming dates of ac- long nature journal, he showed that impact he expects to result from these onites, crocuses, snowdrops and many five plants were flowering more than changes in timing, “will not be similar other flowers in her garden, as well as five days earlier per decade. Primrose, to those that we have now.” the presence of migratory birds. She says the record holder, flowered 10 weeks
80 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming
When Ecosystems Decouple
Marcel Visser of The Netherlands Insti- tute of Ecology oversees a 50-year-long study of a bird known as the great tit. Visser’s research, in the De Hoge Veluwe National Park in the middle of the Netherlands, is one of the world’s few studies to examine how a cascade of changes caused by global warming can ripple through an ecosystem. In early spring, breeding tits feed voracious hatchlings highly nutritious caterpillars. The caterpillars, in turn, nourish themselves by feeding on tender, newly opened leaves of oak trees. Twenty years ago these three organisms—the oak trees, the caterpil- lars, and the tits—passed the phases of their life cycles in synchrony like the choreographic feats of ballet dancers who twist and leap together in time to a rhythmic beat. But today, like perform- ers dancing to slightly different rhythms, the members of this short food chain are becoming, as Visser puts it, “decou- pled.” It appears that each of the three organisms is responding differently to global warming. Spring temperatures in De Hoge Veluwe Park have increased by about two degrees Celsius in the past 20 years. The birds’ behavior has remained virtually unchanged: They lay their eggs almost exactly when they did in 1985. The caterpillars, in contrast, seem to have responded to increased temperatures by hatching earlier. Today the peak availability of caterpillar flesh occurs about two weeks earlier than in 1985. As a result, by the time the tits hatch, their food is already on the wane. Now only the earliest chick gets the worm. Marcel Visser with the bird he studies. Photo by Daniel Grossman. Oak trees are also waking up from the winter earlier in the spring. But, in contrast to the caterpillars, the leaves age of about five days extra. Apart from everything,” he says “it only a matter of oaks open only 10 days earlier than small declines in caterpillar numbers of time before we see the population they did 20 years ago. So the caterpil- and changes in tit-chick health, Visser come down.” lars, which used to synchronize their has yet to show that the ecosystem is lives with the arrival of the oak leaves, actually suffering from the changes. now have to wait for food for an aver- However, in a system where “timing is
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 81 Words & Reflections
When Penguins Breed
Bill Fraser, an ecologist from Montana, Fraser says he expects the colonies Nonetheless he says he is gratified at the says that Adelie penguins near America’s around Palmer Station to be completely thought that their loss might, by alerting Palmer Station research base on the gone within a decade. The researcher, the world to the threat of global warm- Antarctic Peninsula are being wiped who has spent his entire professional ing, be a gain for animals elsewhere. out by global warming. In the approxi- career studying the decline of these “The Adelies,” he says, “are an honest mately 30 years since Fraser first visited birds, mourns their disappearance. barometer of global changes.” Palmer Station, the number of Adelies there has dropped by about 70 percent. Winter temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula have warmed a remarkable six degrees Celsius in the past 50 years. As a result, sea ice, which covers the ocean for hundreds of miles for much of the year with an impermeable cover, is less extensive than it used to be. That means more water vapor can evaporate into the atmosphere and return to earth as additional rain or snow. And so, counterintuitively, global warming has increased snowfall along the Antarctic Peninsula, which Fraser says is reducing breeding success of these penguins. Fraser shows how the spatial pattern of Adelie declines provided him with essential clues. The scientist discov- ered that Adelie colonies at the base of south-facing slopes had been hit worst. In the photograph on page 83, he points to one such hillside, where the prevailing winds of winter storms deposit snowdrifts. In the southern hemisphere, southern slopes get less sunlight and thus are the last to become snow-free in the spring and summer. Increased snowfall has left these areas snow-covered much later than in the past (a small drift is seen just behind Fraser’s outstretched hand in the middle of the Antarctic summer). Adelies can- not breed successfully until their gravel nest sites are snow-free. Sometimes impatient birds will try to nest on top of the snow of late-melting nesting sites. However, their nests flood and their eggs are destroyed when the sites finally clear. When Fraser began his surveys, the entire flat base of this island was covered with Adelies. Now all that remains of the once-teaming colony is the handful of birds seen in the background to the Adelie penguins in the Antarctic. Photo by Daniel Grossman. left of Fraser’s head.
82 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming
Bill Fraser points to a snowy hillside.
Melting sea ice near the Antartic Peninsula. Photos by Daniel Grossman.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 83 Words & Reflections
When Drift Ice Melts
On the fringes of North America, Asia snows have melted to nest will have to Daniel Grossman is a radio producer and Europe, ringing the top of the world wait until later in the season to lay eggs. and print and Web journalist whose like the collar of a hand-knit sweater, is Their chicks would have less time to reporting focuses on science and the a fragile ecosystem known as the high mature before migrating, threatening environment. His radio documen- Arctic. Conditions there are hostile, their survival. Alternatively, if breeding tary, “The Penguin Barometer,” won possibly at the limit of what complex birds try to stay on schedule by nesting the 2004 Media Award for Broadcast organisms on earth can endure. For in less optimal areas, eggs could be Journalism from the American In- months at a time the sun never rises. more vulnerable to predators like foxes. stitute of Biological Sciences and an Winter temperatures commonly drop Warmer temperatures could also cause award from the Society for Environ- to tens of degrees below zero Celsius. ice crusts to form on snow, making it dif- mental Journalists for outstanding And so little precipitation falls each year ficult for the muskox to forage. In other in-depth radio reporting. His Web that this polar region is considered a parts of the world, ecosystems might be site on Madagascar won the 2005 desert. Nonetheless the high Arctic is able to respond to warming by moving Science Journalism Award for online home to a diverse collection of birds north. But at the top of the world, the media from the American Associa- and mammals, including the polar bear, high Arctic has nowhere to go but the tion for the Advancement of Science. arctic fox, muskox, lemming, snowy Arctic Ocean. Asked if the plants and Grossman’s work can be seen and owl, plover and falcon. animals here could be exterminated, heard at www.wbur.org by searching Zackenberg Station, located in the Meltofte pauses then says, “It is a hard at that site, using his name. high Arctic of northeast Greenland, is word to say for an ecologist. But it is the second most northerly research not unlikely.” n Y [email protected] base in the world. It is the only place in Greenland, and one of the few on earth, where very long-term observations are made of a broad range of attributes of the environment, including plant and animal life and climate, river, soil and snow conditions. The station, operated by Denmark since 1995, was founded on the principle that in order to truly un- derstand the impact of climate change on earth’s plants and animals, data must be collected for 50 years or more. Hans Meltofte, Zackenberg’s found- er, says it is too early to draw any conclu- sions about the impact of climate change on the station’s high-Arctic habitat. However, he says that in the decade since the base opened, researchers there have made discoveries that raise serious concerns. For instance, climatologists predict that drift ice, the rivers of densely packed Arctic icebergs that steam down Greenland’s coasts, will become less extensive as temperatures rise. This ice is like a lid on the sea, reducing evapora- tion and keeping snowfall low. Less ice could thus mean more snow, and more Researchers believe that reduced sea ice caused by global warming could create problems snow, in turn, could mean birds that for polar bears who normally live and hunt on pack ice. Photo by Daniel Grossman. require bare ground after the winter’s
84 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming
Danish scientists are trying to discover how warmer conditions, which are expected to cause more snow accumulation, will affect vegeta- tion like the cotton grass and wildlife that depend on it.
Hans Meltofte works in the high Arctic of northeast Greenland. Photos by Daniel Grossman.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 85 Words & Reflections The Disconnect of News Reporting From Scientific Evidence Balanced coverage results in a ‘misleading scenario that there is a raging debate among climate-change scientists regarding humanity’s role in climate change.’
By Max Boykoff
he procession of hurricanes Bush government rejects international change scientists. through the Caribbean Basin, climate protection goals by insisting My research empirically examined Tlashing the southeastern United that imposing them would negatively this disconnect. Through content States, has served to spur an increase impact the American economy. The analysis of U.S. newspapers, as well as in news media coverage of various American President is closing his eyes to interviews with key actors at the inter- aspects of climate change. These face of climate science, policy, devastating hurricane events pro- media and the public, I looked at vide a news hook through which It is clear that science and policy how discourse on anthropogenic many journalists have started to climate change is framed through investigate the complex nexus shape media reporting and public the media, thereby affecting of interacting natural forces and understanding. However, it is also true public understanding, discourse potential human influences. De- and action. bates regarding links between that journalism and public concern Since previous research found increased intensity of hurricanes shape ongoing climate science and that the public generates much Katrina, Rita and Wilma and global of its knowledge about science warming notwithstanding, these policy decisions. from the mass media, it is cru- discussions illustrate the ongoing cial to reflect on the role of the and contentious battles about mass media in shaping public what is taking place in our carbon-based the economic and human costs his land understanding of climate science and industry and society. and the world economy are suffering policy. Interactions between climate These highly politicized debates can under natural catastrophes like Katrina science, policy, media and the public be contrasted with the overwhelming and because of neglected environmen- are complex and dynamic. It is clear scientific consensus regarding the is- tal policies.” [See articles on pages 97 that science and policy shape media sue of human contributions to climate and 99 for information about German reporting and public understanding. change (a.k.a. anthropogenic climate coverage of this issue.] However, it is also true that journal- change). Since the late 1980’s, climate ism and public concern shape ongoing scientists have stated with increasing Measuring the Effects of climate science and policy decisions. confidence that humans play a distinct Balanced Coverage Journalist Dale Willman, a veteran cor- role in changes in the climate. Acting respondent and field producer with on the science, the world community While much focus of ire and frustration CNN, CBS News, and National Public took initial steps to combat anthropo- has focused on the Bush administration, Radio, has commented, “in terms of genic climate change in the form of another significant, yet often undercon- agenda-setting … the media don’t tell the Kyoto Protocol; 128 countries have sidered point of resistance to interna- people what to think, but they tell them ratified it, but the United States is not tional cooperation on climate change what to think about.” among them. also revolves around the media’s ongo- In a peer-reviewed study published The United States’s obstinate anti- ing adherence to the journalistic norm in 2004, coauthor Jules Boykoff and I Kyoto stance, combined with more of balanced reporting. By adhering to examined this issue of balance in leading recent events, has prompted many this norm, the news media presents both U.S. newspapers—The New York Times, foreign leaders, environmental groups, sides of a story, with attempts often made The Washington Post, the Los Angeles concerned citizens, and local officials to do so in equal measure. But when Times, and The Wall Street Journal. Each to blame the Bush administration for balance has been applied to the critical of these newspapers has a daily circula- its inaction in this critical issue. For environmental issue of anthropogenic tion of more than 750,000. The study example, German Environment Min- climate change, it has served to distort found strong adherence to balanced ister Jürgen Trittin recently said, “The the findings of the world’s top climate- reporting since 1990. This balanced
86 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming presentation of anthropogenic climate specialists on a particular news beat. the line. change that was seen from 1990 to the Some people have found this trend This critique is not meant as an attack end of the study in 2002 differs signifi- has had an influence on the quality of on individual journalists. Rather, our cantly from the perspective put forth in reporting. Malcolm Hughes, climate focus as researchers has been on ex- the findings of climate science during scientist at the University of Arizona, amining the institutional features of the this time. While it ought to be the job of observes, “A lot of the time [when] news media in its coverage of this issue. journalists to make sure that scientific you give an interview … there is a But it is true that change will come most consensus is conveyed accurately, the huge gulf in the nature of the ques- likely through the aggregate improve- reporting was found to be strikingly tions and concerns that come from ments of individual journalists, editors out of alignment with the top climate people working very broadly [as and publishers. Nor should the focus science. The principal finding was that generalists].” for improvement solely be on the news U.S. news media effectively provided • Inherent challenges exist in translat- media. Political, economic and cultural consistently deficient coverage of an- ing scientific findings into informa- factors from many sources contribute to thropogenic climate change. tion for the public in news reports. this historical tapestry of intransigence: By adhering to balance, these influ- Scientists have a tendency to speak in well-paid and skillful lobbyists pressur- ential news sources greatly amplified cautious language when describing ing national representatives on behalf the views of a small group of climate their research and have a propen- of fossil fuel interests, the oil and coal contrarians who contest the no- industries’ tanker-load of contri- tion that humans are contributing butions to the campaign chests to changes in the climate. Over of federal policymakers, and the time, these dissonant views on Journalists need to acknowledge that connections between members anthropogenic climate change their long-cherished norm of of the Bush administration and have been frequently granted the oil industry. Responsibility roughly equal space alongside balance has become a form of also rests in the scientific and the research and recommen- informational bias. policy communities, as well as dations of the most reputable with the public. climate-change scientists from By the information it receives, throughout the world. Therefore, sity to discuss implications of their members of the public can either be through this type of reporting in the research in terms of probabilities. galvanized into action or resigned to U.S. news media, the American public For journalists, this lexicon can be passivity. Our research aims to improve and policymakers have been presented difficult to transform into crisp and the coverage of these climate science with the misleading scenario that there clear reporting. Henry Pollack, pro- issues. The question becomes whether is a raging debate among climate-change fessor of geophysics at the University awareness of these journalism practices scientists regarding humanity’s role in of Michigan, refers to this as the will result in more accurate coverage of climate change. challenge of “translating error bars anthropogenic climate change. Perhaps into ordinary language.” it is too soon to tell, but what we do Newsroom Pressures know is that with the recent hurricanes These difficulties cause distortions in in the Atlantic Basin new opportunities There are a number of factors and pres- communications about anthropogenic exist to expand and improve how as- sures that affect newspaper content, climate change, such as inaccurate am- pects of climate change are framed and and these are interrelated and therefore plification of uncertainty by relying on discussed. It will be up to journalists to very difficult to disentangle. While many climate contrarians’ counterclaims. decide if they will grab them. n of them are codified and explicit, oth- To serve the American public respon- ers are shaped by social convention as sibly, U.S. media coverage of the human Max Boykoff, who is completing well as larger political, economic and impact on climate change must improve. his doctorate in the environmental cultural trends, making them more Journalists need to acknowledge that studies department at the Univer- implicit and difficult to pinpoint. How- their long-cherished norm of balance sity of California, Santa Cruz, has ever, the interactions of a number of has become a form of informational conducted research examining how key processes in journalism have con- bias. What is needed is a more accurate U.S. news media coverage influ- tributed to a distorted discourse about depiction of the existing scientific con- ences public understanding of the anthropogenic global climate change. sensus. And if those who represent the causes and consequences of climate Some examples follow: U.S. policy position continue to distort change. The Web link to the 2004 science in pursuit of an agenda that newspaper study is http://people.ucsc. • In many newsrooms decreased bud- benefits special interests, then journal- edu/%7Emboykoff/Boykoff.Boykoff. gets have resulted in more journalists ists must provide the crucial scientific GEC.2004.pdf. working as generalists, who cover context for the public. In this realm of many areas of news, rather than coverage, journalistic credibility is on Y [email protected]
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 87 Words & Reflections Context and Controversy: Global Warming Coverage ‘… it is heartening to know that the simple inclusion of scientific context might help mitigate the readers’ level of uncertainty.’
By Jessica Durfee and Julia Corbett
or most citizens, knowledge about leads to sides in the debate being given Controversy was inserted into one ver- science comes largely through the equal weight, even when the majority sion of the story, context into another. Fmass media, not through scientific of scientific evidence might fall to one To another version, we added both publications or direct involvement in side while the other side consists of paragraphs—about controversy and science. As sociologist Dorothy Nelkin industry-supported, fringe science. context. In another, we placed neither has explained, the public understands Media coverage can send the message paragraph but supplemented the thick- science less through experience or to readers that the science is uncertain ening Antarctic ice story with general, education but through the filter of without ever mentioning “uncertainty.” encyclopedia-facts that were related to journalistic language and imagery. This To deliver that perception requires the its size and formation. We also added is especially true for unobtrusive or balancing of competing scientific views some of these “encyclopedia-facts” to invisible issues such as global warming without a clear context to explain how the other versions to make all of the with which a person lacks real-world ex- the evidence lines up in the scientific news stories approximately the same perience that could help shape opinion community. But until we set out to length. Then we formatted them so and understanding. Even if someone test readers to determine whether they resembled a photocopy from a lives through the hottest summer on story elements—such as conflict and real newspaper. record, severe drought, or forest fires, context—contributed to or created a We also designed a survey to assess that person still relies on the news me- sense of uncertainty, no researcher had the readers’ level of certainty about dia to connect such events to scientific examined the impact of this journalistic global warming after reading the ar- evidence. practice. Our experiment would assess ticle. Combined with questions that In media coverage of global warming, how newspaper readers respond to specifically assessed the participants’ scientists were the primary sources of journalists’ writing on global warm- level of uncertainty, other questions information early on, but more recently ing, while exploring specifically how were related to the participants’ prior politicians and interest groups have controversy and context influence read- knowledge about global warming and been cited more frequently in stories. As ers’ perceptions about the certainty or general attitudes toward environmental this happens, an issue ripe for examina- uncertainty of global warming. issues. Each participant read one version tion is what messages media coverage of the story; all of the readers then com- communicate about global warming as Testing Public Understanding pleted the same survey. (Specifically, 209 sources of information change. Some of Global Warming undergraduate students participated in researchers have found that as their the experiment; 54 read the controversy sourcing changed, journalists tended to For our experiment, we created four story, 51 read the context story, 51 read overemphasize the level of uncertainty versions of a news story based on a the controversy and context story, and about global warming. This conclusion story of an actual scientific study that 53 read the story with neither contro- has been reached by academic research- found a section of the Antarctic ice sheet versy nor context.) ers and echoed by journalist Ross Gelb- was thickening. We used this subject To evaluate the responses, we com- span, who wrote “Boiling Point,” a book matter because the finding suggested pared the survey answers relative to about global warming. [See Gelbspan’s uncertainty about global warming, the version of the news story read. As article on page 77.] and therefore it would be a good test: expected, the students who read the Some media researchers suggest that We were curious to learn whether the news story with context reported the journalistic practices—such as objectiv- addition of scientific context would be highest level of certainty regarding ity and striving for balance—contribute able to mitigate uncertainty or if the global warming, whereas students who to conveying this message of uncer- addition of conflict further heightened read the story with neither controversy tainty. When sources offer conflicting the uncertainty. nor context appeared to be least certain claims, for example, reporters tend to To find out, we wrote a few- para about global warming. [See accompany- use one of two strategies: 1. try to be graphs about controversy. Another ing graph that illustrates the levels of objective, or 2. try to balance the con- few paragraphs we wrote emphasized certainty relative to the news story the flicting claims within the story, which the context of this particular study. participant read.]
88 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming
What We Learned immediacy and scientific credibil- This experiment was an attempt to ity. In the United test whether common elements in States, when re- news stories—controversy and con- porters ask people text—influence readers’ perceptions. on the street what The media’s attraction to controversy they think about is unlikely to wane, but it is heartening global warming, a to know that the simple inclusion of typical response is scientific context might help mitigate that a few degrees the readers’ level of uncertainty. The warmer might not goal of our research was to bring these be so bad. These findings into a broader context for fu- responses make ture research and counsel for science clear that U.S. me- communicators and journalists. dia coverage has Research like ours represents only a not communicat- snapshot, replete with limitations and ed the graveness of shortcomings—just as the picture of the phenomenon science presented by the news media nor the negative is a snapshot. In comparison, the pro- consequences for cess of science can be viewed as a long daily life. It ulti- movie, so it should not be surprising mately might be that members of the public struggle up to scientists, to put the movie together from their science communicators, and journalists an associate professor in this depart- media exposure to scientific snapshots. to find ways to communicate the seri- ment. She is finishing a book, “Green As Henry Pollack, author of “Uncertain ousness of global warming to a general Messages: Communication and the Science … Uncertain World” explained: public that will be increasingly affected Natural World.” A complete version Enough snapshots strung together can by it. As our experiment demonstrated, of this study was published in Sci- begin to look like a movie to the public. including scientific context in the con- ence Communication (volume 26, Eventually, through repetition and at- struction of news stories is one strategy number 2) in December 2004. tention to context, the public will better to improve public certainty about the understand global warming and other science behind global warming. n Y [email protected] large-scale environmental concepts. On a final note, we suggest that global Jessica Durfee is a PhD student in the Y [email protected] warming needs a more salient meta- department of communication at the phor that emphasizes its seriousness, University of Utah. Julia Corbett is Weight-of-Evidence Reporting: What Is It? Why Use It? Journalists ‘find out where the bulk of evidence and expert thought lies on the truth continuum and then communicate that to audiences.’
By Sharon Dunwoody
hen it comes to the news news media research report by Max They are right. But they and others media’s coverage of contested Boykoff and Jules Boykoff, published excoriate long-standing behaviors of Wscience, global warming sto- in Global Environmental Change, that journalists that arose to help reporters ries are the favorite whipping boys of “the continuous juggling act journalists manage some pretty intractable prob- everyone from academics to pundits. engage in often mitigates against mean- lems. At this juncture, I urge a modicum Commonly, complaints take aim at such ingful, accurate and urgent coverage of of respect for those norms—objectivity journalistic practices as objectivity and the issue of global warming.” [See article and balance—but I am also willing to balance and conclude, as did a 2004 by Max Boykoff on page 86.] critique their employment in coverage
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 89 Words & Reflections
of controversial science issues. And in claims accurately. Objective journalism One fascinating study some years ago light of those criticisms, I would pro- effectively reproduces the views of its examined the topic by dividing research pose an alternative: weight-of-evidence sources. papers published in The New England reporting. The benefit of such a norm within a Journal of Medicine into those that got Normative behaviors do not survive contested arena is that it absolves the picked up and turned into stories by The haphazardly within occupations. Rath- reporter of having to ferret out truth and New York Times and a set matched on all er, those behaviors that confer value on sets an accuracy standard in its place. other variables but that did not garner their practitioners will be sanctioned Validity is replaced by a measure of the coverage. A search of the science cita- and vigorously defended. Objectivity goodness of fit between the source’s tion literature subsequently found that and balance are two such norms in message and the reporter’s story. If those research papers covered by the the journalism world. Other scholars, the reporter has faithfully captured the Times received almost 75 percent more such as University of California-San Di- meaning and intent of the source, she citations in the peer-reviewed literature ego Professor Michael Schudson, have has done good work. than did their matched counterparts. explored the history of these norms. I The “balance norm,” on the other Media visibility made this research simply want to argue that one important hand, declares that if you cannot tell more important—and, presumably, reason for their establishment is that, what’s true, then be sure to include all true—even among other scientists. although journalism exists in principle possible truth claims in the story. Again, What this means, then, is that a to help individuals make reasoned de- the reporter need not determine who’s journalist can work to meet the high cisions about the world around them, telling the truth (and who is not). By standards of accuracy set by the ob- journalists are rarely in a position to including a variety of viewpoints, the jectivity norm but might still mislead determine what’s true. Objectivity and reporter instead declares that “the truth readers into thinking that a source’s balance have evolved over time to serve is in here somewhere.” Lobbing a variety position on an issue is important and as surrogates for truth claims. of viewpoints into the public domain potentially true. Adding points of view Why can’t journalists be responsible sits well with a society that values the to satisfy the balance norm can mislead for reporting what is true? For one thing, “marketplace of ideas,” so once again in other ways. As most journalists know, most journalists have neither the back- the reporter has done good work. balance typically gets put into operation ground nor the time to develop enough These norms deserve to be valued. as the presentation of two contrasting expertise about a particular topic or Determining truth is a hazardous, points of view, a strategy that can place issue to make validity judgments pos- messy business even for experts, and a deceptively simple interpretation of sible. Science writers, for example, are we should not expect journalists to an issue before the public. defined as specialists among journalists, accomplish that feat. Validity claims Equally problematic is the meaning yet most cover a wide variety of topics, confront the occupation with an almost given by audiences to balanced stories. from nanotechnology to stem cells. intractable dilemma, and journalism Remember that the journalist is trying There’s solid evidence that years in has done a reasonably savvy job of to communicate to his readers/viewers the saddle is a good predictor of one’s evolving coping strategies to manage that “the truth is in here somewhere.” knowledge base as a journalist—science the problem. Communication scholars who have fed writers who have been covering the beat balanced stories to readers and then for a couple of decades know a great Why Change Practices? captured their reactions find that audi- deal about many things—but even ex- ences interpret such stories in a different perienced journalists cannot grasp the While journalists have developed rea- and more ominous way—as telling them factual intricacies of all they cover. sonable surrogates for validity claims, that “no one knows what’s true.” And even if a journalist were an expert these normative practices may mislead at something, readers will react badly audiences. Extensive research on au- Presenting an Alternative to an effort to declare one position on dience reactions to media messages an issue “more true” than another. In suggests that individuals believe what I suggest another strategy that would our American culture, journalists are they read and hear. While surveys of permit journalists to retain their empha- assigned a transmitter role, for better public perceptions of the press indicate sis on objectivity and balance but still or worse, and going outside the role is growing skepticism of journalistic per- share with their audiences a sense of often recognized by readers as a viola- formance these days, it is still the case where “truth” might lie, at least at that tion of expectations. that news media coverage of a topic moment. I call this strategy “weight-of- legitimizes it in the public eye. Issues evidence” reporting. It calls on journal- Objectivity and Balance covered by the media are considered ists not to determine what’s true but, to be more important than those not instead, to find out where the bulk of If a reporter cannot determine what’s so well covered. evidence and expert thought lies on true, what is she to do? The “objectivity This legitimizing effect is at work even the truth continuum and then com- norm” responds that, if you cannot tell for specialists who encounter media municate that to audiences. Reporters what’s true, then at least capture truth coverage of issues in their own fields. are still responsible for capturing points
90 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming of view accurately (objectivity) and for Day After Tomorrow.” as time goes on, of course, but stories sharing with audiences the existence The catastrophic potential of a such as this can go a long way toward of more than one contrasting point of failed oceanic conveyer belt has been helping us, as recipients of news, make view (balance). But added to that mix the subject of many media stories and sense of the world. would be information about which deservedly so. Experts who met at the This is a service that news audiences point of view has captured the hearts Aspen Global Change Institute last sum- deserve and one that journalists can and minds of the majority of experts, mer to discuss “abrupt climate change,” deliver without compromising the long- information about where they think the however, have concluded that the best standing norms of their business. n truth lies at that moment. available data indicate that increas- For example, before sitting down to ing greenhouse gases might lead to a Sharon Dunwoody is the Evjue-Bas- write this essay I came across a story in slowdown but not to a collapse of the com Professor of Journalism and the news section of the October 21, 2005 conveyer belt. That conclusion was the Mass Communication at the Univer- journal Science titled “Confronting the focal point of Kerr’s article. sity of Wisconsin-Madison. She teach- Bogeyman of the Climate System.” Its Kerr’s piece is what I would call a es courses on science and environ- author, Richard Kerr, reports on climate weight-of-evidence story. It shares with mental journalism, and as a scholar experts’ evaluations of the possibility readers views of scientists on both sides she studies public understanding of that warming temperatures could melt of the issue—some who think a failed science topics, including the news- too much ice at the poles, which in turn Atlantic Ocean conveyer belt needs to gathering behaviors of science and could shut down the exchange of warm remain a major scientific and public environmental journalists, the na- and cold waters in the Atlantic Ocean. concern and those who think that it ture of messages, and their effect on Bringing the oceanic “conveyer belt” to is less likely than other possibly cata- audiences. a halt could drastically chill parts of the strophic outcomes—but then makes it globe, the European continent among clear to readers that the bulk of experts Y [email protected] them; this phenomenon was the central who know the science fall into the lat- climate actor in the recent movie, “The ter category. What’s true might change
Global Warming: What’s Known vs. What’s Told ‘Americans could be forgiven for not knowing how uncontroversial this issue is among the vast majority of scientists.’
By Sandy Tolan and Alexandra Berzon
n science, hypotheses become ac- Two years later the Intergovernmental that “Human activities are increasingly cepted truths one experiment, one Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a altering the earth’s climate. These effects Istudy at a time. Initial doubts be- United Nations’ body initially backed by add to natural influences that have been come so small, and the doubters so few, 175 scientists in 25 countries, convened present over earth’s history. Scientific that a new scientific “truth” emerges. to address global warming and declared evidence strongly indicates that natural Even though these “truths” are never that human activity was contributing to a influences cannot explain the rapid fully proven—be it about evolution, warming planet. In the 17 years since the increase in global near-surface tempera- relativity, or even gravity—the gradual IPCC was formed, the group has grown tures observed during the second half of whittling away of doubt eventually to include more than 2,000 scientists in the 20th century.” Similar declarations compels scientists to call in the jury and 100 nations, and global temperatures came from the American Meteorological declare the matter settled. Such is the have continued to rise, leading to the Society, the American Association for case for global warming and its link to hottest years ever recorded. the Advancement of Science, and the human activity. Increased temperatures coincide National Academy of Sciences. In 1988 James Hansen, a respected with the rising levels of carbon dioxide The conclusions underscore the NASA scientist, testified before the Sen- from the burning of fossil fuels and from research of Naomi Oreskes, a science ate Committee on Energy & Natural worldwide deforestation. In 2003 the historian at the University of Califor- Resources, saying he was “99 percent American Geophysical Union, an inter- nia at San Diego, who reviewed 928 certain” that global warming was real national scientific research group with abstracts of articles on global climate and that it was linked to human activity. more than 41,000 members, declared change published in scientific journals
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 91 Words & Reflections
‘Early Signs’: A Journalism Class Project at Berkeley
One Sunday in August 2004, as I set the environmental and science writer mean that we wouldn’t learn all sides down The New York Times Book Review, Michael Pollan, I began to investigate of an argument but that in our pursuit it suddenly occurred to me that there whether these early signs were sufficient of knowledge and story ideas (which was sufficient evidence to explore one for a full-scale investigation by a team would involve several hundred pages of the biggest stories of our time in a of the school’s reporters. of reading each week in the first two new way. I’d just read Al Gore’s review On September 1, 2005, 12 journalists months), we’d place such skepticism in of Ross Gelbspan’s “Boiling Point,” and gathered for our first class, charged with scientific and political context. that review, coupled with other readings finding stories in which global warming Accepting that global warming exists I’d done on climate change, suggested would be explored not only through the and that humans are part of the engine that the signs of global warming were lens of science and environment but driving it did not, of course, mean that now sufficient to consider the story in also in human terms. How is a warm- we’d abandon the rigor or skepticism human terms. Yet most of the reporting ing planet starting to affect people and that reporters always apply. Indeed, as in the U.S. press remained focused on the lives they lead? I designed “Early my reporters began to research stories the debate over whether the planet is Signs: How Global Warming Affects in Australia, the Azores, Bangladesh, warming and, if it is, whether human Commerce, Culture and Community,” Canada, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Mali, activity could be partly to blame. With as a two-semester seminar and report- Peru, Portugal, New Zealand, Tanzania, scientists largely in agreement on these ing workshop. Our task was to combine Tibet, Zambia and the Pacific Islands, questions (resoundingly in the affirma- intensive study of the science, politics, they were required to vet the science tive), and early signs of warming com- economics and social impacts with ac- through a formal review process over- ing in from the Arctic and elsewhere, it tive story development in regions as far seen by my colleague John Harte, a seemed possible that a team of reporters flung as the sub-Arctic, South America, global warming expert at the University could begin documenting the social, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and the of California’s Energy and Resources cultural, political and economic impact South Pacific. Group, who serves as my co-instructor of climate change around the world. A central premise of the class was and the science advisor to our team. I approached colleagues at the based on the scientific consensus Through Harte’s review and report- Graduate School of Journalism at the that human activity is contributing to ers’ conversations with other experts in University of California-Berkeley, where global warming. We intended to avoid the field, we decided not to move ahead I teach international reporting and, af- the pitfall of creating a false balance with stories on agriculture in Argentina, ter several encouraging conversations, of “dueling experts” that gives equal potential threats to the Azores, farming including with Dean Orville Schell and weight to unequal sides. This did not in Zambia, and drought in Australia. We
between 1993 and 2003 and could not Blair, in a 2002 speech. bett and Jessica Durfee in a 2004 article find a single one that challenged the in Science Communication. The reason, scientific consensus that human-caused Controversy Feeds Disbelief the authors write, is largely because of global warming is real. “There have been traditional journalistic balance. “The arguments to the contrary,” she wrote in Americans could be forgiven for not result of the routine media practice of a 2004 editorial in The Washington Post, knowing how uncontroversial this issue quoting conflicting ‘sides,’” wrote Cor- “but they are not to be found in scien- is among the vast majority of scientists. bett and Durfee, is “giving equal weight tific literature, which is where scientific Even as Arctic ice and permafrost begin to fringe and nonscientists as much as debates are properly adjudicated.” The to melt, resulting in slumping houses scientists … even though the majority overwhelming agreement echoed the and new global shipping lanes, and of evidence or opinion may fall clearly 1997 conclusions of D. James Baker, the world’s leading scientists agree to one side.” [See article by Corbett and the former administrator of the National these phenomena are linked to human Durfee on page 88.] Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- activity, American readers, viewers and Another factor, writes Dominique tion, who declared, “There is better listeners continue to get the impression Brossard and colleagues in a 2004 study scientific consensus on this than on that the jury will be deliberating well published in Mass Communication and any other issue I know—except maybe into the future. Society, is the American media’s incli- Newton’s second law of dynamics.” “In the case of global warming, the nation to generate stories with drama “The time to call the jury in for a clear media have more often than not over- and conflict. “American media actively verdict has long passed” proclaimed played the level of uncertainty about constructed narratives about global Sir David King, science adviser to Tony global climate change,” wrote Julia Cor- warming to maintain public interest,”
92 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming
also decided not to focus on Hurricanes to show scientific evidence that the situ- “Living on Earth,” and at U.S. daily news- Katrina and Rita for a number of reasons. ation was “clearly not the result of a long papers, in an effort to place our large These included the timing of our work, sequence of fluctuations that are part of body of work. (We are still looking for the heavy news coverage from other natural variability.” Thus, stories about a newspaper home for our series.) outlets and, as Harte pointed out, even powerful storms or droughts carried In late October, with funds from the though the science strongly suggests a higher burden of proof, and report- Graduate School of Journalism, our that warming oceans will Arctic team of Jon Mooal- generate more powerful lem and Nick Miroff flew hurricanes, it is difficult to to the upper Hudson Bay point to any specific storm … the reporters worked up extensive story memos to document how a small and connect it with global to show us their ability to transform their ideas Canadian town is being warming. transformed by melting ice Harte explained to stu- into compelling narratives, populated with real and the changed terrain dents that each successful people and a sense of place. for polar bears. Many of story proposal would likely the other reporters would fall into one of three cat- do their travel during the egories. One type would university’s holiday break: document the result of changes due to ers had to cite peer-reviewed science Jori Lewis and Kate Cheney Davidson melting ice, rising sea levels, or elevated explicitly linking such stories to global will go to the snows and inland lakes sea surface temperatures, which science warming. Ultimately, each story had to of Tanzania; Aaron Selverston to the has clearly linked to global warming. be stamped with Harte’s approval. Pacific Island nation of Kiribati; Pauline Another kind would focus on political As Harte and I signed off on the stu- Bartolone and Felicia Mello to South or economic impacts, such as a South dents’ proposals, the reporters worked America’s glacial highlands and its Pacific refugee program for displaced up extensive story memos to show us Amazon; Durrell Dawson and Alexandra islanders or planning for sea level rise in their ability to transform their ideas Berzon to New Zealand, and Sandhya vulnerable delta areas like Bangladesh. into compelling narratives, populated Somashekhar and Emilie Raguso to A third category was more challenging. with real people and a sense of place. Bangladesh. In situations in which changes from a Simultaneously, I contacted former During the spring semester, they will warming planet were more subtle or colleagues at National Public Radio’s transform their reporting into stories. indirect, the story proposal would need environmental newsmagazine show, n —Sandy Tolan
they wrote. “In developing their narra- span, a former Boston Globe editor and tually exists in a responsible scientific tives, they may choose to frame stories reporter who has written two books community.” in a particular way … ignoring others about climate change, argues that these Equally influential, in some cases, or simply reporting facts or perspectives groups are part of a “carbon lobby” are nonscientists, including the novelist more interesting or challenging than whose central purpose is to raise doubts Michael Crichton, whose “State of Fear” others …. The journalistic tendency to on the issue through public relations decries environmental extremism and draw in discordant opinions in a story campaigns. Gelbspan quoted industry who writes in an author’s note, “We can lend strength to a viewpoint that documents aiming to “reposition global know astonishingly little about every may have very little credence in the warming as theory rather than fact.” [See aspect of the environment, from its past scientific community at large.” Gelbspan’s article on page 77.] history, to its present state, to how to Remaining skeptics do include a few “The handful of carbon, natural gas, conserve and protect it. In every debate, especially cautious scientists who point and oil interests have been handed a all sides overstate the extent of existing out, for example, that the earth might megaphone that carry their voice far- knowledge and its degree of certainty.” be in a natural warming trend so it is ther and louder than it does in strictly Crichton, who declares that “everyone therefore impossible to determine how scientific circles,” says Bud Ward, a has an agenda, except me,” has never- much of the problem is human-caused. longtime reporter on the environ- theless seen fit to testify before the U.S. Many of the skeptics, however, are sup- ment who remembers similar debates House and Senate at the invitation of ported by industry-backed groups such over the ozone hole starting in 1976. conservative legislators who continue as the Greening Earth Society and the “Public perceptions are being torqued to sow doubt on the issue among the Global Climate Coalition. Ross Gelb- toward a greater uncertainty than ac- general public.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 93 Words & Reflections
The Dangers of Balance fashioning a global response? Or will penguins. But much of public opinion we retreat into ever narrower and more appears insensitive to the dangers of The weight many journalists give to destructive forms of self-interest? It global warming. We have to find other such views, in insisting on balance but may seem impossible to imagine that a ways to communicate to people about not on putting it within a broader sci- technologically advanced society could it, not just lecture them.” entific and political context, appears to choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but In cases of Americans’ reluctance to be at the heart of the confusion among that is what we are now in the process confront this situation, the issue goes Americans, who may understandably of doing.” deeper than efforts by the “carbon lob- determine from the “dueling experts” In the months following Kolbert’s se- by,” or journalistic models of balance, that nothing can be concluded and ries, The Washington Post and The New to something far deeper. Valerie Brown, thus that action is not yet a freelance journalist warranted. “The message who has written about of the traditional balanced The weight many journalists give to such views, in global warming, said account may be, ‘Well, she worries that as they who knows what’s really insisting on balance but not on putting it within a find out more about true?’,” wrote Corbett and broader scientific and political context, appears to be the issue, “people will Durfee. just get more anxious Ward agrees that “the at the heart of the confusion among Americans, who and cocoon even more old journalism 101 thing may understandably determine from the ‘dueling while the world is going about balance” is creating to hell in a handbas- a problem in the coverage experts’ that nothing can be concluded and thus that ket.” of climate change. “Bal- action is not yet warranted. “There’s not a clear- ance in some cases can be cut view in society’s the enemy of accuracy,” he mind about what can says. “I’m all for balance in be done about it,” says a gubernatorial campaign, a presidential York Times published major takeouts Ward. “Is it bigger than both of us? Is campaign, policy stories. But science on global warming in the Arctic, with this something that we human beings isn’t determined by a popularity contest. the Times’s Andrew Revkin writing in just can’t affect? It’s not like CFC’s [chlo- We went through this for how long with “The Big Melt” series on October 25th, rofluorocarbons, released in aerosol tobacco? Certainly this is not the first “many … scientists have concluded that sprays], where you can just take them time we’ve seen the mistaken applica- the momentum behind human-caused off the market. It’s not clear that there’s tion of balance.” warming, combined with the region’s a counterpart solution. There’s the dif- But the U.S. media may be inching tendency to amplify change, has put ficulty of not finding a silver bullet. closer to its own verdict, one more the familiar Arctic past the point of no “And that,” Ward says, “basically in- aligned with scientists. Seth Borenstein, return.” An informal survey of articles vites denial.” n who covers science and the environ- published in 2004 and 2005 in Ameri- ment for Knight Ridder’s 32 daily pa- can newspapers also suggests less un- Sandy Tolan, a 1993 Nieman Fellow, pers, said he’s noticed that in the past certainty on the issue than in previous directs the Project on International few years environmental reporters have years. One representative headline from Reporting at the Graduate School of reached a consensus for how to cover The Seattle Times declared, “Scientists Journalism at the University of Cali- global warming that still adheres to the overwhelmingly agree: The earth is get- fornia, Berkeley. He is cofounder of American journalistic ethic of including ting warmer at an alarming pace, and Homelands Productions, a contribu- disputing views, but puts those views humans are the cause no matter what tor to National Public Radio, and into a clear context: “Most of the people the skeptics say.” author of “The Lemon Tree: An Arab, you talk to are legitimate, mainstream Reports continue, however, of a A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle scientists,” explained Borenstein. “You reluctance to tackle the issue in all its East,” to be published by Bloomsbury put a paragraph in saying ‘There are a gravity, both in the press and in popu- in May 2006. Alexandra Berzon is a minority of scientists skeptical, they say lar culture. The summer documentary freelance journalist and a graduate this, but the vast, overwhelming major- hit “March of the Penguins,” which student of journalism at the Univer- ity of scientists disregard them.’” intimately documents the migration sity of California, Berkeley. In April and May 2005, The New and mating habits of penguins in Ant- Yorker published Elizabeth Kolbert’s arctica, does not once mention that the Y [email protected] three-part series, “The Climate of Man,” creatures’ habitat may melt away. Luc which documents changes to the planet Jacquet, the French biologist and direc- Y [email protected] and concludes by asking, “As the effects tor of the film, told National Geographic of global warming become more and News, “It’s obvious that global warming more apparent, will we react by finally has an impact on the reproduction of the
94 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming How Do We Cover Penguins and Politics of Denial? Bill Moyers suggests a new approach to conveying reporting about global warming.
As part of the message television journalist Bill Moyers delivered in October to members of the Society of Environmental Journalists at their annual convention, he spoke about an opportunity the mainstream press has to reach a segment of the country’s population—evangelical Chris- tians—with coverage of issues revolving around climate change and sustainability. To connect their reporting with this audience, he argued, would require that journalists find ways to speak about such issues using more metaphorical language rather than “the language of environmental science.” In excerpts we are publishing from his remarks, Moyers elaborates on the methods and potential of this new approach. The entire text can be obtained online at the SEJ Web site, www. sej.org/confer/past_conferences.htm.
here is a market here for jour- spoken in the language of environ- report may be stoically viewed as the nalists who are hungry for mental science. But fundamentalists inevitable playing out of the end of time Tnew readers. The conservative and Pentecostals typically speak and as presented in the book of Revelation. Christian audience is some 50 million think in a different language. Theirs is For Christian dominionists who believe readers strong. But to reach them, we a poetic and metaphorical language: a the Lord will provide for all human have to understand something of their speech that is anchored in the truth of needs and never leave us short of oil belief systems. the Bible as they read it. Their moral or other resources, no matter how we Reverend Jim Ball of the Evangelical actions are guided not by the newest overpopulate the earth, our reporting Environmental Network, for example, IPCC report but by the books of Mat- may be viewed as a direct attack on bibli- tells us that “creation-care is starting thew, Mark, Luke and John. cal teachings that urge humans “to be to resonate not just with evangelical Here’s an important statistic to pon- fruitful and multiply.” It’s even possible progressives but with conservatives der: Forty-five percent of Americans that among many Christian conserva- who are at the center of the evangelical hold a creational view of the world, tives, our environmental reporting—if spectrum.” Last year, in a document en- discounting Darwin’s theory of evolu- they see it at all—could seem arrogant titled “For the Health of the Nation: An tion. I don’t think it is a coincidence in its assumptions, mechanistic, cold Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility,” then that in a nation where nearly half and godless in its worldview. That’s a the National Association of Evangelicals our people believe in creationism, tough indictment, but one that must declared that our Bible “implies the much of the populace also doubts the be faced if we want to understand how principle of sustainability: our uses of certainty of climate-change science. these people get their news. the earth must be designed to conserve Contrast that to other industrial na- So if I were a freelance journalist and renew the earth rather than to tions where climate-change science is looking to offer a major piece on global deplete or destroy it.” In what might overwhelmingly accepted as truth—in warming to these people, how would I have come from the Sierra Club itself, Britain, for example, where 81 percent go about it? I wouldn’t give up fact-based the declaration urged “government to of the populace wants the government analysis, of course—the ethical obliga- encourage fuel efficiency, reduce pol- to implement the Kyoto treaty. What’s tion of journalists is to ground what we lution, encourage sustainable use of going on here? Simply that millions of report in evidence. But I would tell some natural resources, and provide for the American Christians accept the literal of my stories with an ear for spiritual proper care of wildlife and their natural story of Genesis, and they either dismiss language, the language of parable, for habitats.” Ball and a few evangelical or distrust a lot of science—not only that is the language of faith. leaders have also pushed for a climate evolution, but paleontology, archeol- Let’s say I wanted to write a piece change plank to their program, standing ogy, geology, genetics, even biology about the millions of species that might up to demagogues like James Dobson, and botany. To those Christians who be put on the road to extinction by Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson who are believe that our history began with global warming. Reporting that story in the service of the corporate-funded Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to a scientific audience, I would talk radical wing of the Republican Party. and that it will end soon on the plains science: tell how a species decimated But we can’t expect to engage this of Armageddon, environmental science, by climate change could reach a point vast conservative Christian audience with its urgent warnings of planetary of no return when its gene pool be- with our standard style of reporting. peril, must look at the best irrelevant. comes too depleted to maintain its Environmental journalism has always At worst the environmental woes we evolutionary adaptability. That genetic
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 95 Words & Reflections
impoverishment can eventually lead to who believes devoutly in creationism mantle of night, and to fall to the earth extinction. feels when we journalists write about exhausted and have to be carried away But how to reach fundamentalist the genetics born of Darwin. If we don’t to the nearest ‘shack’ to be revived be- Christians who doubt evolution? How understand how they see the world, if fore it is possible to walk to the farther would I get them to hear me? I might we can’t empathize with each person’s shack called ‘home.’” interview a scientist who is also a person need to grasp a human problem in lan- Upton Sinclair waded through hell of faith and ask how he or she might guage of his or her worldview, then we and with “tears and anguish” wrote what frame the subject in a way to catch the will likely fail to reach many Christian he found on that arm of the Chicago attention of other believers. I might conservatives who have a sense of mo- River known as “Bubbly Creek” on the interview a minister who would couch rality and justice as strong as our own. southern boundary of the [stock] yards the work of today’s climate and biodi- And we will have done little to head off [where]: “All the drainage of the square versity scientists in a biblical metaphor: the sixth great extinction. mile of packing houses empties into it, the story of Noah and the flood, for That’s not all we should be doing, so that it is really a great open sewer example. The parallels of this parable of course. We are journalists first, and … and the filth stays there forever and are wonderful to behold. Both scientists trying to reach one important audience a day. The grease and chemicals that and Noah possess knowledge of a po- doesn’t mean we abandon other audi- are poured into it undergo all sorts of tentially impending global catastrophe. ences or our challenge to get as close strange transformations … bubbles of They try to spread the word, to warn the as possible to the verifiable truth. Let’s carbonic acid gas will rise to the surface world, but are laughed at, ridiculed. You go back for a moment to America’s and burst, and make rings two or three can almost hear some philistine telling first Gilded Age just over 100 years feet wide. Here and there the grease old Noah he is nothing but a “gloom and ago. That was a time like now. Gross and filth have caked solid, and the creek doom environmentalist,” spreading his materialism and blatant political cor- looks like a bed of lava … the packers tale of abrupt climate change, of a great ruption engulfed the country. Big used to leave the creek that way, till every flood that will drown the world, of the business bought the government right now and then the surface would catch impending extinction of humanity and out from under the people. Outraged on fire and burn furiously, and the fire animals, if no one acts. at the abuse of power, the publisher department would have to come and But no one does act, and Noah of McClure’s magazine cried out to his put it out.” continues hearing the word of God: fellow journalists: “Capitalists … politi- The Gilded Age has returned with “You are to bring into the ark two of cians … all breaking the law, or letting a vengeance. Washington again is a all living creatures, male and female, to it be broken? There is no one left [to spectacle of corruption. The promise keep them alive with you.” Noah does uphold it]: none but all of us.” of America has been subverted to crony as God commands. He agrees to save Then something remarkable hap- capitalism, sleazy lobbyists, and an ar- not only his own family but to take on pened. The Gilded Age became the rogance of power matched only by an the daunting task of rescuing all the golden age of muckraking journalism. arrogance of the present that acts as biodiversity of the earth. He builds the Lincoln Steffens plunged into the if there is no tomorrow. But there is a ark and is ridiculed as mad. He gathers shame of the cities—into a putrid urban tomorrow. I see the future every time two of every species, the climate does cauldron of bribery, intimidation and I work at my desk. There, beside my change, the deluge comes as predicted. fraud, including voting roles padded computer, are photographs of Henry, Everyone not safely aboard drowns. But with the names of dead dogs and dead Thomas, Nancy, Jassie and SaraJane— Noah and the complete complement people—and his reporting sparked an my grandchildren, ages 13 down. They of earth’s animals live on. You’ve seen era of electoral reform. have no vote, and they have no voice. depictions of them disembarking the Nellie Bly infiltrated a mental hospi- They have no party. They have no lobby- ark beneath a rainbow, two by two, the tal, pretending to be insane, and wrote ists in Washington. They have only you giraffes and hippos, horses and zebras. of the horrors she found there, arousing and me—our pens and our keyboards Noah, then, can be seen as the first great the public conscience. and our microphones—to seek and to preservationist, preventing the first John Spargo disappeared into the speak and to publish what we can of great extinction. He did exactly what black bowels of coal mines and came how power works, how the world wags wildlife biologists and climatologists back to crusade against child labor. and who wags it. The powers-that-be are trying to do today: to act on their For he had found there little children would have us merely cover the news; moral convictions to conserve diversity, “alone in a dark mine passage hour our challenge is to uncover the news to protect God’s creation in the face of a after hour, with no human soul near; that they would keep hidden. flood of consumerism and indifference to see no living creature except … a rat A lot is riding on what you do. You by a materialistic world. or two seeking to share one’s meal; to may be the last group of journalists Some of you are probably uncomfort- stand in water or mud that covers the who make the effort to try to inform able with my parable. You may be ready ankles, chilled to the marrow … to work the rest of us about the most complex to scoff or laugh. And now you know for 14 hours … for 60 cents; to reach of issues involving the survival of life exactly how a fundamentalist Christian the surface when all is wrapped in the on earth. n
96 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming Accepting Global Warming as Fact ‘It helps that the German media is less strict about the division between editorials and news than the news media in the United States.’ By Markus Becker
hen Ross Gelbspan spoke misguided environmental policies. him an eco-extremist. “The movie’s about the aftermath of his Anecdotes like these are not the only unmistakable purpose is to scare us into W recent op-ed in The Boston examples of the depth of concern in submitting to the Greens’ agenda,” Mil- Globe, his comments provoked deep Germany about global climate issues. loy wrote on the Web site for Fox News. astonishment. As he put it, his article For almost 50 years, conservatives, And this agenda has but one purpose, exploded onto the scene at the end of social democrats, and liberals had “domination of society through control August, sending shock waves through shared power in democratic, post-war of energy resources.” the U.S. media. Angry letters to the Germany. The first party to establish Incidentally, Milloy’s primary em- editor poured in to the Globe, while itself as a fourth political power in Ger- ployer is the neoconservative Cato Insti- Gelbspan himself went on the talk many since 1949 was the Green Party, tute, which receives much of its funding show circuit. which formed a governing coalition through corporate contributions. That When Gelbspan told this story to a with the social democrats from 1998 he is even allowed to write a column on group of visiting German journalists, I to 2005 and pursues an environmen- climate policy for mass media distribu- among them, we were perplexed. tion under the circumstances—even What on earth had this man writ- for Fox News—is interesting in and ten to cause such an uproar? The The U.S. media pay far more of itself, but Milloy is not the only answer was this: In his op-ed, vocal skeptic of climate issues that entitled “Katrina’s Real Name,” attention to the domestic and the lobby/institute has managed Gelbspan, author of “Boiling Point,” foreign policy implications to slip into the mainstream media. had claimed that 1. global warming More on that later. exists and 2. not only does it exist, of climate change than its The sheer number and nature it even has definite, tangible effects, environmental consequences. of letters to the editor that are sent such as more powerful hurricanes. to mass media publications such as [See article by Gelbspan on page Spiegel Online demonstrates how 77.] When we heard this, confusion passionate the discussion of envi- gave way to utter bewilderment. For the tal agenda mixed with left-wing and ronmental conservation and climate average German media consumer, this pacifist ideas. protection is in Germany. This makes it would have been about as shocking as The environmental threat posed by all the more important that we use the declaring that the world is round. global warming rouses the German most reliable and credible sources for Cultural differences might well be public’s emotions far more than the our articles and that we pay attention at play here. After all, Germans are political aspects of climate change. to the majority opinion in the scientific known for obsessively sorting their Domestic environmental protection community. household waste into plastics, metals, regulations and the Kyoto Protocol have This is perhaps the key difference glass, paper and compost and placing it generally bored German readers and between the media in the United States all in separate, different colored plastic will probably continue to do so—that and Germany. This emphasis—not only bins. The glass—and most Americans is, unless President George W. Bush tries at Spiegel Online, but in most of the think this is a joke—is further sorted to use the climate agreement to boost German news media—has led both by color and tossed into neighbor- his popularity in Europe. commentators and the public at large hood containers–but no later than 7 By contrast, the U.S. media pay far to the conclusion that human-caused p.m. please, to keep the noise down. more attention to the domestic and climate change is a fact confirmed pri- Anyone who accidentally tosses regular foreign policy implications of climate marily, but not solely, by an overwhelm- garbage in with the recycling is asking change than its environmental conse- ing majority of scientists. Of course the for serious trouble with the neighbors. quences. This could also have to do with proponents of the scientific minority And when a hurricane drowns a city like public sentiment. When Roland Emm- have their say, too, but seldom does a New Orleans, the German environment erich released his disaster blockbuster German newspaper fail to mention the minister blames the U.S. government for “The Day After Tomorrow,” conservative fact that these scientists do belong to a contributing to the catastrophe with its commentator Steven Milloy labeled small minority.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 97 Words & Reflections
It helps that the German media are representatives of the coal, gas and min- anonymous party present 13 arguments less strict about the division between ing industries. Nevertheless, they gave commonly brought by climate-change editorials and news than the news me- him a soap box from which to claim skeptics. Those arguments comprised a dia in the United States. In Europe, the that the Purdue team’s assumptions that total of 209 words of the article, while various media outlets traditionally hold carbon dioxide concentrations would Grassl’s responses totaled 903 words. a position at some specific point along double was wrong and “not borne out The title of the article was “Why climate- the political spectrum, with conserva- by reality.“ It is hardly surprising that change skeptics are wrong.” tive and left-wing newspapers publish- readers emerge from this “he said, she If a similar article had appeared in ing true to their political orientations said“ conflict not knowing any more The New York Times, which holds a and sharpening their images against about how or whether the Purdue re- similar position in the daily newspa- the competition. Therefore, when the searchers made any mistakes in their per market to that of the Süddeutsche existence of global warming is largely assumptions. All Michaels’ words do Zeitung in Germany, it likely would accepted as fact, it is not just a matter is cast doubt, and that is what is left in have elicited a fierce reaction. But in of expressing the majority opinion of the readers’ minds. Germany this approach can easily be the scientific community. Conservative For most German media, Spiegel reconciled with journalistic ethics. publications like Die Welt and The newspaper presented Die Zeit, which are generally the views of climate-change more business-friendly, tend to [U.S.] journalists want to be objective and skeptics, but gave them a represent climate change as a relatively small amount of topic of scientific debate, while take the political middle road—or so it space to account for the liberal papers like the Süd- seems from the European perspective. fact that theirs is a minority deutsche Zeitung and the very position. At the same time, left-leaning Tageszeitung take the paper avoided offering the side of researchers warning a personal forum to an in- about the dangers of global warming. Online included, something like this dividual who might be compromised In the United States, journalists want would be unthinkable. Michaels’ ob- by a conflict of interest. In the United to be objective and take the political vious conflict of interest would have States, this approach would probably middle road—or so it seems from the disqualified him from the debate. To have been considered a flagrant viola- European perspective. There are excep- cite this conflict openly and then quote tion of the fairness principle. tions like Fox News. But it is interesting Michaels anyway would be viewed as a However, there are clear indications that, in this case, a TV broadcasting sta- contradiction in terms or as kowtowing that this and the resulting flood of “he tion that often violates political balance to industry. German reporters tend to said, she said” articles is coming to claims to do just the opposite, that is, to call upon independent scientists as an end. At the beginning of October, provide “fair and balanced” reporting. much as possible when seeking au- Time magazine stressed that time is Another consequence of the “objectiv- thorities to classify scientific studies and running out for political head games. ity principle” is that news media in the critically analyze the authors’ methods Time writer Jeffrey Kluger wrote: “In United States are so intent on hearing and findings. In the end, whether these Washington, successive administrations both sides in a debate that they often scientists agree with the study findings have ignored greenhouse warnings, are virtually incapable of showing where or dispute them is not as important as piling up environmental debt the way the majority opinion lies. In the climate the fact that a number of independent we have been piling up fiscal debt. debate, this means the same old skeptics voices are heard. In other words, Ger- The problem is, when it comes to the can take up their position and receive man media seek to hear numerous atmosphere, there’s no such thing as equal time against an overwhelming qualified opinions rather than doggedly creative accounting. If we don’t bring majority of scientists. searching for an opposing voice regard- our climate ledgers back into balance, This sometimes leads to interesting less of that voice’s qualifications. the climate will surely do it for us.” n combinations. For example, on October One salient example of how the Ger- 18th The Washington Post published man journalists let climate experts be Markus Becker heads the science an article by Juliet Eilperin on a study heard is an article published in the Feb- department at Spiegel Online, the conducted at Purdue University that ruary 16, 2005, issue of the Süddeutsche news Web site of Der Spiegel maga- claims the number of extreme weather Zeitung, one of Germany’s largest and zine. Becker participated in the incidents will rise due to global warm- most highly respected newspapers. Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Summer U.S. ing. In this article, Patrick J. Michaels Hartmut Grassl, a climate researcher Academy for Science Journalism, was quoted with an opposing view. who is recognized throughout the which brought 15 young journalists Incidentally, Michaels also works for world, rebutted the common argu- from Germany to New York and the Cato Institute. The Washington Post ments of climate change skeptics. The Boston/Cambridge in September 2005. noted this and the fact that Michaels had newspaper did not invite a researcher to received financial contributions from debate with Grassl. Instead they had an Y [email protected]
98 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming Culture Contributes to Perceptions of Climate Change A comparison between the United States and Germany reveals insights about why journalists in each country report about this issue in different ways.
By Hans von Storch and Werner Krauss
hen we talk about the vulnerability. What happened in New Orleans? As weather, we also establish The basic events of the Katrina disas- in Hamburg in 1962, people underrated W our social relations and ter unfolded in much the same way as the known vulnerability of the place and construct the world we live in. Today did disastrous European storm surges its potential damage. But then in New such discussions are commonplace, in 1953 in the Netherlands and 1962 in Orleans, little aid on the ground and especially when we have many extreme northern Germany. These storms came insufficient catastrophe management weather events and climate change to as surprises after a long lull; underesti- led to four days of agony with close TV talk about. A cultural dimension is inher- mating the danger, thousands of people coverage of the human devastation in ent in these conversations, and this is in the Netherlands and hundreds in the wake of the storm. It becomes clear evidenced in how people perceive and Hamburg drowned. that specific social conditions made connect these phenomena differently in The difference among these situa- this meteorological extreme event a the United States and in Germany. tions is evident, however, in the societal social catastrophe: The link between With the Kyoto treaty, race, poverty and vulnerabil- differing responses became ity was suddenly rendered evident. Now, as the role of … even though there are significant differences transparent. Rumors of climate change is being hotly massive looting and crime debated in the aftermath of in the public understanding of climate change spread before the armed the recent catastrophic hur- in the United States and Germany, the media forces arrived. President ricanes in the United States, Bush took the initiative too differences in perception in both societies use a similar framework late, only after widespread are surfacing again. These of vulnerability, even if it is constructed in protests were heard in the moments teach those of us news media and the emer- who study public responses culturally different ways. gence of social unrest could to the issue of climate change be witnessed on TV. that cultural history and me- There is another crucial dia representations are often neglected response. In Hamburg, then-unknown difference to be considered: During factors and that a firm understanding state minister Helmut Schmidt took the the last 50 years, the perception and of aspects of culture is indispensable initiative. In spite of uncertain legality interpretation of such extreme weather in sorting through these differences in for the orders he issued, he called for events have changed dramatically. national perspectives and in adequately the military, which turned out to be a key “Global warming” and “Klimakatastro- planning for management for a catas- factor in managing the catastrophe. It phe” (the English translation is climate trophe. was the mythical beginning of Schmidt’s catastrophe) are concepts that have cap- Many Americans have come to view political career, who later became chan- tured public attention at the same time the last few hurricane seasons as particu- cellor of Germany. Shortly after the that extreme weather events are more larly extreme. This year the devastation event, a new large-scale coastal defense likely—in some parts of the world—to was especially severe when New Orleans program was instituted. When, 14 years be interpreted as man-made rather than was almost directly hit by Hurricane Ka- later, a much more severe storm surge natural. Moreover, even though there trina. In comparing the 2005 hurricane formed, Hamburg’s coastal defense are significant differences in the public season to previous ones, the greatest proved sufficient, and no serious dam- understanding of climate change in the surprise was not so much the severity age occurred. The Netherlands became United States and Germany, the media in and frequency of the storms that made famous for its coastal defense politics both societies use a similar framework landfall but the degree to which civil in the aftermath of the disastrous 1953 of vulnerability, even if it is constructed defense was obviously overwhelmed at flooding, an event that has become part in culturally different ways. a site historically known for its extreme of the country’s national identity. Among mainstream climate scien-
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 99 Words & Reflections
tists, there is little doubt that climate is change in Germany is framed more illustrates this: “Now the flood finally changing significantly faster today than broadly, equated foremost with Klimak- reached our backyard. This flood con- in the historical past. As a consequence atastrophe. In Germany, all disastrous fronts us with the ‘why,’ with the sins we of this “detection,” they conclude that weather events are interpreted as have committed, with the search for its there must be nonnatural factors at consequences of climate change. The origins. Even without scientific certainty work. When different external factors severe Elbe River flooding in August we know that the flood is a consequence are considered as possible causes, the 2002 exemplifies this. While media not only of cosmic changes, but of our most consistent explanation own way of living.” attributes two-thirds of 20th- This is only one impressive century’s warming to the accu- example of an explanatory mulation of greenhouse gases in strategy that Germany’s leg- the atmosphere, while the other endary weekly, Der Spiegel, third is ascribed to the sun’s had already dubbed Klimak- changing output. While broad atastrophe in 1986. Its cover scientific consensus asserts that image became an icon for rising temperatures are a result the German attitude towards of human emissions, a similar climate change, with the conclusion has not been drawn Cologne Cathedral half sub- about anthropogenic changes in merged in a flood. The argu- other weather phenomena such ment in the cover article was as windstorms in the tropics based on plausible scientific or at mid latitudes. Recently, a claims: Rising temperatures number of claims about wors- increase the volume of the ening hurricane intensity have ocean, melt ice sheets and been made. However, the hur- fuel an accelerated atmo- ricane statistics vary on time spheric energy cycle, which scales of a few decades; the together lead to higher water data describing the significant levels and more water vapor upward trend cover just the last and thus to more intense 30 to 40 years, with a lull com- rainfall. mencing in the 1970’s after an A tendency in the 1980’s active period in the 1940’s and towards more violent North 50’s. Thus the conclusion of an Atlantic and North Sea storms anthropogenic signal is method- helped to support these ologically premature. claims empirically. Refer- Climate change is not only a ence to such exceptionally topic in the inner circles of cli- vigorous and erratic weather mate researchers but also in the In 1986, Der Spiegel’s cover of the Cologne Cathedral half events helped to implant the public domain. The interplay submerged in a flood became an iconic image for the Ger- concept of Klimakatastrophe between climate research and man attitude towards climate change. firmly in the public’s mind. the public sphere—the public Further, the theory was con- demand for explanation and sistent with older, culturally advice about how to cope with climate reports on flood mitigation and repair constructed views that the weather is change—is one of the key constraints on work dominated the first days after the getting worse and less predictable—due current climate research. Given prevail- events, the search for underlying ex- to nature’s response to human mis- ing uncertainty about the scientific facts planations soon attracted even greater conduct. on the one side and the high stakes for attention. Aside from such presumably Yet since the mid-1990’s, the wind the public on the other, climate science minor sins such as manipulating river storms in Northern Europe again re- is now a contested field. And it emerges beds and flood plains, the main culprit turned to a less severe state, a trend as exemplary of what some social scien- was quickly identified—climate change, scarcely noticed by the media or the tists call postnormal science. brought upon us by ourselves. This public. Research further revealed that explanation, while not explicitly sup- the number and violence of storms The German Perspective ported by scientists, was assumed by started increasing around 1960, after a many commentators and could be read long period of weakening storm activ- While in the United States, the words between the lines of many reports. The ity—and many analyses began in just global warming refer to a tendency commentary in Sächsische Zeitung, a about 1960, when good meteorological towards warmer conditions, climate regional newspaper in the flooded area, data became available for the region.
100 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming
Both in terms of the actual data available as the Elbe or the New Orleans flooding for the opposition in the United States and public perception of it, this situation are not natural but human-made and and not considered a dirty word, as it parallels contemporary discussions on thus, by implication, they are avoidable. is in Germany. the increasing intensity of hurricanes in Consistently, then, the federal minister Politicians, members of the public, the Atlantic. While there has been an for the environment from Germany’s and scientists engage in fierce debates increase in storm intensity in the past 30 Green Party alluded to the “fact” that the about how to interpret scientific data or so years, the data are too limited and New Orleans disaster was self-inflicted and models. The media, following the cover so short of a time span to afford by a stubborn U.S. administration. U.S. norm of “balance,” typically present any clear or final conclusion. the problem of anthropogenic climate During the past two decades in Ger- The American Mindset change as a conflict between two op- many, the concept of Klimakatastrophe posing schools of thought—and give has become a valuable asset in the public In the United States, the household both schools similar space in advocat- shift towards a more environmentally term referring to anthropogenic climate ing their views. Within the scientific “conscious” political attitude. And this change is not “climate catastrophe,” community, in contrast, one finds the attitude is often expressed with moral but “global warming.” This language skeptics isolated and accused of doing undertones: Humanity, in general, is leaves an impression that the future poor science; nonetheless, their argu- blamed for destroying the fun- ments are eagerly fostered damental balance between by political and religiously nature and humans. Follow- Politicians, members of the public, and motivated groups who can ing in the tradition of Roman- command significant media tic and Protestant ethics, many scientists engage in fierce debates about attention. actions, symbols and stereo- how to interpret scientific data and models. Despite such differences types became associated with in U.S. and German media German Klima-Angst: the rise The media, following the U.S. norm of coverage of the science, a re- of the Green Party, the fall of ‘balance,’ typically present the problem of cent survey among European nuclear industry, the societal and North American climate task of household waste sepa- anthropogenic climate change as a conflict scientists revealed that these ration and recycling, and the between two opposing schools of thought— two scientific communities moralizing call to bike instead actually hold very similar of drive. Closely connected and give both schools similar space in views on the assessment and with this shift in the public’s advocating their views. projections of future climate perception was the rise of change. But differences in German climate research, coverage remain. In the past, as scientists became public for example, U.S. articles figures and drew on these symbolic will be warmer but not more variable about global warming—and this con- resources to communicate with the or extreme—a very different projection trasts with German ones—rarely were public via the media. than in the German metaphor. Not pegged explicitly to extreme weather Interestingly, German climate scien- surprisingly, therefore, cold spells in events. Given this, it is perhaps not tists form a rather uniform phalanx of the United States are often associated surprising that in the early days of the supporters of the concept of anthro- with jokes that dispute global warming, Katrina disaster, a New Orleans Times- pogenic climate change. Only a few while German scientists can use such Picayune cartoonist showcased local dissenters exist. They are not climate events as further evidence for an evolv- attitudes towards the hurricane without scientists and are hardly noticed by the ing human-made disaster. making any broader connection. public. Rather, a handful of publicly As in Germany, the interplay between However, the new media’s focus in identifiable individuals have emerged to science and the public has had a lot its coverage of Katrina soon changed dominate media discourse on climate to do with the overall perception of to the “national shame” that this storm change. They do not explicitly claim weather events and climate change. had fostered. President Bush picked up causal relationships between increased Public opinion and the direction of re- on this public perception when he tried greenhouse gas levels and extreme search have been heavily influenced by to repair American self-understanding events, but rather allude to the cau- long-standing disputes (rhetorical and and confidence in his almost biblical tionary principle and point out that real) between powerful social groups address to the nation: “In the life of this the extreme events are “consistent” such as industry, scientists, environ- nation, we have often been reminded with future expectations. The public mentalists and religious groups (with that nature is an awesome force and that understands such weak causal claims as the creationists in science serving as a all life is fragile. We’re the heirs of men overly cautious assertions about what symbol for the blurring of boundaries and women who lived through those they see as an established “fact”: Specifi- among these parties). The term “skep- first terrible winters at Jamestown and cally, recent violent climate events such tic” in this context is a respectable label Plymouth, who rebuilt Chicago after a
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 101 Words & Reflections
great fire, and San Francisco after a great its persuasiveness among the U.S. me- or rationality, but with deeply held—but earthquake, who reclaimed the prairie dia and public. It had been oversold, very different—cultural values and from the Dust Bowl of the 1930’s. Every and the political climate had changed orientations. time, the people of this land have come to what we’ve seen happen during the The German approach might have back from fire, flood and storm to build Katrina disaster. the advantage that it helps to institute a anew—and to build better than what we meaningful policy of sustainability with had before. Americans have never left What the Future Holds respect to environment and resources. our destiny to the whims of nature—and The advantage of the U.S. approach we will not start now.” Media symbols and representations might be that it helps individuals adapt Contrary to the German attitude of extreme weather events and their better to crises, doing so with less fear. sketched above, the American con- embedding in overarching cultural The disadvantage of the U.S. approach struction of identity in is that people are relation to nature is op- also shielded from timistic and far from self- If most Germans understand weather extremes as thinking about sus- critical. President Bush scripture written on the wall of impending, self-inflicted tainable energy and never mentioned climate resource usage, while change or the possibility disaster, and if most Americans are willing to chance Germans are led to of human action in caus- climate extremes as existential risks, these different assume a missionary ing it. He spoke about attitude, telling the saving energy, but that attitudes have little to do with superior morality or world what is envi- reference was related rationality, but with deeply held—but very different— ronmentally right to the potential damage and what is wrong. to Texan oil refineries, cultural values and orientations. Some Germans seem not to a global ethical to even believe that imperative. Whereas in improved protection Germany, climate change became a frameworks fluctuate over time. And against extreme events will not re- media issue from the first day of the the story of differing perceptions and ally be needed as soon as appropriate Elbe River flood (and the German media resulting actions has not, and will not, Klimaschutz (which translated means immediately covered New Orleans’s come to an end. climate protection) measures are catastrophe in headlines), it was not The boundaries between science, implemented. until three weeks after Katrina that politics and the public sphere are In either case, it becomes critical to any widespread discussion of climate blurring, and climate research is one examine how the rhetoric of the public change appeared in the leading journals of the most prominent examples for discourse and that of the scientific com- in the United States. It will be interest- this ongoing “postnormal science” munity intersect to create climate poli- ing to see how long interest in the issue process. By bringing social science into tics and guide the direction of research. persists, given that infrastructure and this debate, in particular with respect This societal rhetoric is not ancillary social welfare concerns predominate in to different time horizons and media to “real science” but serves as a critical the public discussion. discourses, does not just add a further determinant of scientific attitudes and Yet climate change has not been element to the end of an analysis, but explanations. n absent from U.S. public discourse. In it is indispensable for understanding fact, in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, public dynamics and for designing ap- Hans von Storch is the director of the some powerful voices used extreme propriate catastrophe management in Institute for Coastal Research at the weather events to argue for the need a world, which was, is and will remain, GKSS Research Center in Geesthacht, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. vulnerable. Germany and professor at the Meteo- After the 1988 heat wave and drought, People react not really according to rological Institute at the University for example, a famous claim was made abstract concepts and scientific data, of Hamburg. Werner Krauss is an during a U.S. Senate hearing that the but to traditions, experience and shared adjunct associate professor with the heat conditions in that summer were values. Indeed, we have shown that the department of Germanic studies at due to global warming. That argument scientific construction of facts is cultural the University of Texas at Austin. was also used regularly to appeal for as well. If most Germans understand Katherine Arens and Sheldon Ungar support for environmental policy, with weather extremes as scripture written assisted in the preparation of this then-Vice President Al Gore as its most on the wall of impending, self-inflicted article. prominent public proponent. However, disaster, and if most Americans are that campaign could not be sustained willing to chance climate extremes as Y [email protected] over the long term, and the link between existential risks, these different attitudes extreme events and human actions lost have little to do with superior morality Y [email protected]
102 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Global Warming Trying to Achieve Balance Against Great Odds With the United States’s opposition to Kyoto so strong, a Canadian journalist finds little pressure from editors to include that perspective in his stories.
By Jacques A. Rivard
or more than 20 years, I’ve cov- In Canada, public opinion so strongly the consequence of this has been that ered the environment for Société favored such actions that the govern- pressure groups against Kyoto have FRadio-Canada, the French arm of ment decided it had enough support become almost irrelevant; the only the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora- to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Canada contrary views tend to come from the tion’s national TV news. As journalists was one of few major economic powers energy sector. do, I’ve tried to apply the “balanced outside of Europe to do so. As a reporter With the debate about global warm- coverage” rule to my reporting, just covering this issue, I did many stories ing still open, how can a journalist as I have taught my provide the best students in journal- available informa- ism at the Université As a reporter covering this issue, I did many stories about tion and strive to de Montréal for two produce balanced decades. But my climate changes being measured in the Arctic, as well as reporting? From my attempts to do this about pressure Canadian provincial and federal governments experience of 20 don’t always work. years covering the Sometimes daily were putting on the United States to ratify Kyoto. As I did environment, the news coverage with these stories, few of my editors ever suggested that I try to only way to do this limited time to tell is to become a spe- a story has not al- find opposing views about global warming. cialist in reporting lowed for multiple on these issues and points of view to be work to do follow- presented, and follow-up stories I might about climate changes being measured up stories to bring in information that propose, to provide such balance, were in the Arctic, as well as about pressure might be missing in the daily stories often hard to persuade my editors to Canadian provincial and federal govern- that tend to be done. n do. But when it has come to reporting ments were putting on the United States on topics such as global warming or to ratify Kyoto. As I did these stories, Jacques A. Rivard, a 1996 Nieman climate change, I think being in Canada few of my editors ever suggested that I Fellow, has covered the environment has made it easier for me to do this try to find opposing views about global from the early 1980’s for the French than for reporters in the United States, warming. arm of the Canadian Broadcasting since there are fewer pressure groups Why this lack of interest in balance Corporation (CBC). As a national in Canada working against ecological from my editors with these stories? In TV correspondent from 1998-2004, actions. some respects the situation can be easily based in Vancouver, he did many In 1992, I was in Rio de Janeiro, explained. As it became quite clear that stories about the impact of global Brazil, when countries from throughout the U.S. government—our close and warming in the Arctic. He retired the world pledged to spend billions of powerful neighbor to the south—was from the CBC in 2004. As a Nieman, dollars and facilitate transfers of clean set against ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, Rivard held the V. Kann Rasmussen technology to developing countries to this meant that ecologists in Canada Environmental Fellowship. help reduce global warming emissions. were not facing a lot of pressure from Those promises were not kept but, in within their own country about this is- Y [email protected] Kyoto, Japan, when these countries met sue. The perspective of my editors—and again to address this issue, the call out of many columnists in this country—is of that meeting was for nothing less that the obligation to look to opposing than a new economic order, as industrial pressure groups in Canada isn’t as great nations committed themselves to very when powerful opposition is found substantial reductions of polluting gases next door in the words and actions emitted by the burning of fossil fuels. of the American President. In Canada,
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 103 Words & Reflections
“Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War,” a book written by Washington Post correspondent Anthony Shadid, who won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from Iraq, “is filled with the kind of insights—and personal anecdotes—that only long conversations with Iraqis, and time in the country, can provide,” writes Patrick J. McDonnell, a former Baghdad bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times. In describing Shadid’s book as a “masterful account” of how the war and its aftermath affected Iraqi people, he observes that “its best moments are based on old-fashioned reporting, leavened with the kind of analysis that only a certain distance and time—and a touch of wisdom—can render.” Maggy Zanger, who in 2003 started a program to train Iraqi journalists in Baghdad, reflects on “an intimate journey into Iraqi lives” that is told by former National Public Radio correspondent Michael Goldfarb in “Ahmad’s War, Ahmad’s Peace: Surviving Under Saddam, Dying in the New Iraq.” In his book, Goldfarb writes about Ahmad Shawkat, an Iraqi Kurdish journalist, and his family, and about Shawkat’s death by assassination because of words he wrote and published. In reading Karl Fleming’s book, “Son of the Rough South: An Uncivil Memoir,” Lester Sloan, a freelance photojournalist, came to understand how Fleming’s struggles as an abandoned child and adolescent—and his responses to them—prepared him well for the time when he’d report for Newsweek on the greatest story of his time: the civil rights movement. Jules Witcover’s book, “The Making of an Ink-Stained Wretch,” offers Des Moines Register political columnist David Yepsen “old ‘war’ stories about their trade” of covering campaigns, while reminding him that “the cacophony is noisier than in Witcover’s era, but it’s still better than the alternative of providing only a few sources of information for voters. The problem now is that there’s so much of it out there, people often don’t know where to turn for basic facts.” Freelance reporter Peggy Simpson, who reported for many years from Poland, writes about Shana Penn’s book, “Solidarity’s Secret: The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland.” It was, Penn reveals, a group of women journalists, hiding from government officials, who kept the Solidarity movement alive by publishing and distributing underground newspapers about the resistance movement. As Simpson writes, Penn “explores why the vital work of these women remained a secret to much of Poland after the fall of Communism.” Alvin Shuster, a former foreign editor with the Los Angeles Times, says that in writing “Discovering Russia: 200 Years of American Journalism,” Murray Seeger has “written a fascinating book about the hurdles they [American correspondents who worked in Russia] jumped, bureaucrats they confronted, diseases they fought, famines they survived, and tea leaves they read to portray the Russia they found.” In reflecting on the film “Good Night, and Good Luck,”Don Aucoin, reporter and former TV critic for The Boston Globe, says that it’s “hard to watch this film without pondering what has become of broadcast journalism … [and] the sort of enterprise reporting and investigative digging that Murrow prided himself on ….” And Canadian freelance journalist Madelaine Drohan presents the predictable stages of scandal coverage, but wonders why “the media appear to lose interest once the central figure in a scandal has been punished” and walk away from the important watchdog stage of reporting when remedial action by authorities should be taken. n
104 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Words & Reflections
Bringing Iraqi Voices Into the Conversation About Their Country A Washington Post correspondent’s book ‘is not a policy screed or a compilation of talking heads and experts.’
Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War Anthony Shadid Henry Holt and Co. 448 Pages. $26.
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Emotions were mixed for Anthony a cycle of kidnappings and killings that Shadid as he observed the historic has made much of Iraq off-limits to spectacle of armored columns of U.S. journalists, especially Westerners. To troops rumbling through Baghdad in wander freely in places like Fallujah April 2003, signaling the end of Sad- and Khalidiya, Sunni Arab insurgent dam Hussein’s regime. The landmark strongholds that Shadid visited, is no tumbling of Hussein’s statue in Firdos longer possible. Square, a thoroughly unimaginable turn The book, following Shadid’s arc of events for Iraqis, was on television through the country on reporting for an astonished world to witness. “I trips before and after Hussein’s fall, is was in awe of the power of my country, filled with the kind of insights—and America,” Shadid writes in his master- personal anecdotes—that only long ful account, “Night Draws Near: Iraq’s conversations with Iraqis, and time in People in the Shadow of America’s the country, can provide. He recounts War.” “What other nation, driven by the brutalized nature of Iraqi society, ideology, its existence not threatened, warped in so many ways after Hussein’s could conquer an entire country in a mercurial rule and his catastrophic matter of weeks?” As an Arab American, invasions of neighboring Iran and Ku- however, the Oklahoma native acknowl- wait, the latter followed by a decade edges that this was not a moment of of bruising international sanctions and unalloyed elation, a sentiment shared isolation. Much of the world has come by many Iraqis who loathed Hussein to recognize Iraq’s ethnic and religious and his brutal rule. “Here was Baghdad, divisions—its distinct Sunni, Shiite an ancient city whose name evoked a nalists to revisit their scrawled notes and Kurdish populations, along with proud, enduring memory, fallen to a and process their experiences in the Christians and other minorities—but foreign enemy,” Shadid writes. field with an eye towards crafting a Shadid notes the folly of simply label- Shadid, a Washington Post correspon- broader narrative. Too often, as history ing groups, as U.S. administrators who dent who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2004 skids by, we remain enveloped in the arrived in Baghdad often seemed to for his stellar and courageous work in minute-to-minute tumult. But Shadid do. Shadid reminds readers that Iraqis Iraq, has written a book that embraces has managed to pull it all together and are often offended to be asked directly such nuance. This is not a policy screed transcend the daily in dazzling fashion. if they are Shiite or Sunni; the nation, or a compilation of talking heads and His book is also testament to a time in particular Baghdad, includes many experts. Its best moments are based when reporters could roam more or mixed families and, in the countryside, on old-fashioned reporting, leavened less freely throughout Iraq, though we tribal affiliation often trumps all other with the kind of analysis that only a always did have to be careful. Iraq, long identities. certain distance and time—and a touch a closed society, was a place where sto- Iraq, a place seeped in history and of wisdom—can render. Viewed as a ries seemed to be everywhere following never-forgotten slights, is also overflow- work of documentation, Shadid’s book the fall of Hussein. A reporter could ing with complications, distinctions and is an essential account of the chaos and drive to Basra or the Syrian border or subtleties, not to mention contradic- violence of the U.S. invasion and of the Kurdistan, and most everywhere else, in tions. Hussein’s Baathist state simulta- subsequent looting and anarchy that set relative confidence of coming back alive neously engaged in ghastly repression of the stage for the ongoing crisis. and with a good story. Alas, the bloody Shiites and Kurds and heaped patronage It is never an easy task for daily jour- events of spring 2004 set into motion on largely Sunni Arab zones, while of-
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 105 Words & Reflections
ficially backing a nationalist vision that miles-long gas lines, and the fearsome Americans are capable of overthrowing discouraged ethnic and sectarian iden- violence that pummeled their nation. the regime, they will face more and more tity. To the outsider, the roiling, war-torn “What are the Americans all about?” resistance,” Nadhme predicted. “It will Iraq of today must seem a cauldron of an exasperated Wamidh Nadhme, an bring more destruction, more civil war, ethnic and religious tensions—and so, eminent academic and political com- and a nationalist war against American lamentably, it has become. But it was mentator, asked Shadid at one point. intervention.” Later, with Hussein in not too long ago that Iraq was a well- “What do they want?” shackles and the country in turmoil, off secular state, a place where people Nadhme, a rumpled, decent man Nadhme concludes, “The Americans from throughout the Arab world came who occasionally met with Western re- have opened a Pandora’s box.” n to study and women enjoyed consider- porters on his peaceful veranda along able freedoms. The U.S. overseers who the Tigris, serves as a reality check for Patrick J. McDonnell, a 2000 Nieman arrived after the war liked to talk about Shadid during his years traveling back Fellow, is the former Baghdad bu- diversity, democracy, freedom and other and forth to and from Iraq. He is among reau chief and current bureau chief hallowed concepts. But one often got the most memorable of the Iraqi charac- in Buenos Aires for the Los Angeles the impression that these were abstrac- ters who inhabit these pages. Early on, as Times. tions for even educated Iraqis as they Hussein’s rule is crumbling, he sounds suffered through a lack of electricity, a prescient note of caution. “Even if the Y [email protected]
Iraq’s Emerging Press Providing the public with ‘accurate, complete and fair information was, and remains for most, an unknown concept.’
Ahmad’s War, Ahmad’s Peace: Surviving Under Saddam, Dying in the New Iraq Michael Goldfarb Carroll & Graf Publishers. 354 Pages. $25.95.
By Maggy Zanger
Since returning to the United States an Iraqi Kurdish man, Ahmad, and his after spending nearly two years in Iraq family. As seen through the eyes and working to develop journalism among experiences of this progressive intel- its citizens, I have often lamented that lectual and journalist Ahmad Shawkat, the American people remain woefully the reader is taken on an in-depth ex- ignorant of the complex reality of Iraqi ploration of the political minefield of lives, despite the millions of dollars U.S. pre-and postinvasion Iraq. news organizations have spent covering A financially desperate Shawkat was the 2003 Iraq invasion and its aftermath. hired as a translator by the equally And despite the plethora of “looking desperate, newly arrived radio reporter, Through the detailed telling of back” books published recently by Goldfarb, in Kurdistan during the early Shawkat’s life journey—from impas- navel-gazing political insiders or jour- days of the invasion. By the time Bagh- sioned young university professor to nalists, the people of Iraq still remain dad was surrounded by U.S. military politically “safe” businessman, to des- largely ignored, apparently regarded as hardware a few weeks later, Goldfarb perate internal exile and then to postre- an uninteresting sideshow to the main had come to depend on Shawkat for an gime newspaper publisher—the reader event that is supposedly being staged insider’s view of Iraqi society, and the journeys through the political trajectory in their name. two men had developed a friendship of Iraq in the latter half of the 20th One of a few notable exceptions is based on mutual respect and an oddly century. As Baathist street thugs rose to “Ahmad’s War, Ahmad’s Peace: Surviv- common intellectual history. Shawkat’s take the reins of state power, worldly, ing Under Saddam, Dying in the New willingness to share with Goldfarb his freethinking intellectuals like Shawkat Iraq,” by former National Public Radio life’s story left the reporter with “a sol- were imprisoned, tortured, exiled and, correspondent Michael Goldfarb, who emn sense of obligation” to his transla- finally, if they survived at all, left with offers the reader an intimate journey tor to “tell his story to as many people little but poverty and despair. Readers into Iraqi lives through the story of as possible.” And that he does. also discover through Shawkat’s experi-
106 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Words & Reflections ences with the political reconstruction but bias, misconceptions and wild in- The Baathist legacy of deep corruption, efforts after the invasion that ignorant nuendo. “Serving the public” with ac- violence and mindless obedience is American overlords in parts of Iraq al- curate, complete and fair information tenacious and permeates all sectors lowed the oppressors of the old regime was, and remains for most, an unknown of society in an endless assortment to come to power again, while former concept. of debilitating ways. I called it “the political prisoners were forced to the Baathist hangover.” Ahmad Shawkat sidelines. Training Iraqi Journalists called it the cancer of “dictatorism” and Shortly after starting a newspaper in recognized it even in close friends he Mosul, Shawkat was killed by unknown This was the media landscape I stepped thought shared his determination to assassins while he was on his roof talk- into in August 2003 when I was hired fight fascism in all its forms, even if it ing on a Thuraya satellite phone, a tool to start a journalism training program riled Muslim feathers. that became emblematic of both local in Baghdad by the Institute for War Pervasive “dictatorism” led me to and foreign journalism in war-ravaged and Peace Reporting, a London (and quickly realize that those reporters Iraq. now also U.S.) based nongovernmental who had worked under the Baath organization that specializes in training would take a lot more “reform” than The New Iraqi Press journalists in postconflict and post- I could provide in three-week training authoritarian societies. As a university seminars. At about the same time I Journalism in Baathist Iraq—if it can journalism lecturer in Cairo, Egypt I had turned to working with mostly young even be called that—took an abrupt been researching the post-1991 devel- and totally inexperienced people and turnabout with the fall of the regime. opment of the Iraqi Kurdish media for training them to report and write from The tightly controlled state media jug- several years. Like Goldfarb, during the the ground up, Shawkat was running gernaut came to a grinding halt with U.S. invasion I was based in Kurdistan, afoul of Mosul’s Islamists. the fall of the government on April 9, though I came much earlier than he did 2003. In one day, Iraq went from having and stayed much longer. Shawkat’s Journey one of the most rigidly controlled news As happened with Goldfarb, I had media in the world to one of the most quickly developed a deep sense of Shawkat had returned from exile in free. But the emerging issue would be obligation to the people who, amid Kurdistan to mostly Arab Mosul and what the content of these new entities mind-numbing poverty and despair, started a democracy institute and a would be. had taken me in hand and shared with newspaper with money he had wrangled By May, the Iraqi Ministry of Infor- unexpected grace, humor and dignity from the Americans. The paper ran mation’s some 7,000 employees had their historical and social knowledge under the banner Bilattijah (Without been fired and the ministry abolished. as well as their hopes and dreams. Like Direction), which means that no one An array of new media players rushed Goldfarb, I know that getting to know dictates the paper’s point of view and to fill the void. By late summer, there the Iraqi people is an enlightening conveys the sense that Iraqi’s were di- were probably more than 200 new Iraqi and rewarding effort. If given the op- vided on what direction they wanted news outlets, in addition to those that portunity, the American people might the country to take. had been operating relatively freely in discover that they have much more in While Shawkat was not associated Iraqi Kurdistan, which had been outside common with the Iraqi people than with any political party—he had long of government control since 1992. they imagine. become disillusioned with all par- The news media immediately became From my first trip to Iraq in 2001, ties—he did have a political direction a focal point in the political jousting I had wanted to work with local jour- in mind. “We are the first to fight for that, not surprisingly, characterizes nalists. I saw so much potential in a the building of a new Iraq and a civil postinvasion Iraq. Most Iraqi media smart, dedicated people who had no society and a transparent democracy outlets were started by political parties role models for quality press. And in a time of freedom,” Shawkat wrote or by individuals with clear political perhaps my long disillusionment with in an early edition. “This is our direc- ambitions. Parties and personalities U.S.-style news prompted me to want tion in the midst of a period ‘without long in exile or deep underground be- to play “journalism god” and help to direction.’” gan newspapers and radio stations to shape an emerging, free news media. His editorials called for all Iraqis to enhance recruitment and to push their Perhaps I naively thought Iraq repre- stand shoulder to shoulder against a political line. A few profit-driven, highly sented a “clean slate” from which there common enemy who would thwart the sensationalist tabloid-style newspapers was a possibility to develop a form of democratic direction. Even in the sum- also quickly hit the streets, and some journalism that could live up to all of mer of 2003, it was clear to him that a gained wide popularity. those free-press ideals that some of deadly union had formed between for- But profit- or politically driven, us stubbornly cling to, ideals that we mer Baathists and Islamic fascists, and nearly all papers trade in street rumor, know are rarely achievable in the West’s he lost no time railing against them in conspiracy theories, and endless edito- corporate media environment. his public forum. “O courageous Muja- rial comment, often based not on fact But Iraq is anything but a clean slate. hideen ….” he wrote. “May God forgive
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 107 Words & Reflections
you …. You know better than I do that meant a thorough police investigation and The (London) Independent. Many Islam is a religion of peace ….” never happened and the killers never continue to write for IWPR’s Iraq Crisis What Shawkat failed to realize was held accountable. Report, probably the best reporting on that his overt, and reckless, criticism of When Goldfarb returned to Iraq in the daily lives of Iraqis in print today. the Islamists and their Baathist bedfel- March 2004 to investigate Shawkat’s Several of these trainees said to me, lows presented his own manifestation assassination, the Iraq he found left “You are the only one who helped us.” of “dictatorism.” him sputtering in anger. The Bush One said, “You gave us a life. We were For most Iraqis, the end of the regime administration’s “arrogant political ca- dead before.” Sad statements given the meant “freedom.” But given the Baathist reerists” running the country “seemed billions of dollars U.S. taxpayers have legacy, it was a freedom devoid of the hell-bent on making sure the Iraq Ah- spent. All I did was give them a chance, confines of social contract. It meant, for mad envisioned would never exist,” he an opportunity to reconstruct their lives. some, freedom to drive at night with writes. In his mind, he tells Shawkat of That was all Shawkat and his compatri- lights off on the wrong side of a divided his anger. “My government betrayed you ots asked of “liberation.” n highway. For others, to regularly steal and the thousands like you.” U.N. food from the warehouse where Many of us who lived daily with that Maggy Zanger is associate profes- they work. For others, it meant writing betrayal share his rage. It may well turn sor of practice in journalism at the what is on one’s mind without regard out that the confluence of Baathist and University of Arizona. She was Iraq for fact or, in Shawkat’s case, without Islamic fascists will prove less deadly to director for the Institute for War and regard for who will be offended. the Iraqi people than the confluence of Peace Reporting [IWPR] from August He ignored the mounting death the Baath and Bush legacies. 2003 to December 2004 and is the threats and warnings from friends that Goldfarb found a ray of hope in author of “Of Journalists and Dogs: he needed to be more politic so people Shawkat’s young daughter, Roaa, who Tales from the Northern Behind,” might listen instead of reacting in anger. followed her father into journalism and a chapter in “Global Media Go to “He weighed everything he was risking was working as a stringer for Western War,” published by Marquette Books against a lifetime of enforced silence,” news outlets. I also find hope in the in 2004, that details activities of the Goldfarb writes, “and decided he would young journalists I trained in Baghdad international media based in Iraqi not hold back.” and Kurdistan. Some of them are work- Kurdistan during the invasion. The His enemies did not hold back, ing with local press and radio stations. IWPR’s Iraq Crisis Report can be read either. And their willingness to use ex- Some, like Roaa, work with Western at www.iwpr.net. treme forms of violence was no match news outlets such as Reuters, the for Shawkat’s pen. And “dictatorism” Chicago Tribune, the Financial Times, Y [email protected]
Childhood Experiences Shape a Reporter’s Journey ‘The great writers he’d discovered in the library at the orphanage became midwives to his talent.’
Son of the Rough South: An Uncivil Memoir Karl Fleming PublicAffairs. 432 Pages. $26.95.
By Lester Sloan In a way, Karl Fleming has two birthdays: of both events, and his mother would The first is August 30, 1927, when one go to her grave without receiving his Nettie Fleming gave birth to a blond- forgiveness. haired, blue-eyed baby boy at a hospital Her first husband and Karl’s father, in Newport News, Virginia. The second David Henry Fleming, was a hard- is December 27, 1935, when the same drinking son of a tobacco farmer who woman delivered him to the Methodist eked out a living selling life insurance Episcopal Orphanage in Raleigh, North policies to farmers in the South where Carolina, where at the age of eight he the Great Depression arrived early. He began a new life. It would take him a died six months after Karl was born. lifetime to recover from the trauma The insurance salesman didn’t have a
108 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Words & Reflections policy of his own. Nettie tried selling Home Again,” and Fleming’s book, leav- mother failed to take responsibility for dishes and bibles door to door, with ing nothing to the imagination, traces her problems, she treated all people no success, and later reluctantly mar- a zigzag course over the tattered life as equals and never spoke ill of black ried her dead husband’s best friend, of its author. As in a 12-step program, people. He learned the newspaper McDuff Laughinghouse, another insur- he bares all the hidden hurts, assaults business from the bottom to the top, at ance salesman. Ethel, their daughter, against his character, and unrequited times because other reporters or editors was born on August 29, 1931 in Mauls expectations. didn’t carry their share of the workload. Swamp, North Carolina, where they Being sexually molested by a group His willingness to see the job through, lived in a shotgun shack (you could fire of boys when he was young is an en- without complaining—something he a shot in the front door and it would counter he shares in jarring detail, as learned at the orphanage—proved to exit the back without hitting anything), if he feels the need to cleanse himself be a lifesaver. He moved up the lad- owned by the Laughinghouse der, trading up to better jobs family. Within a few years her in bigger cities. By the time second husband died. Twice From one of his first editors, he’s taught that he reached Atlanta, married widowed and unable to work, both blacks and whites, the living and the with two children and where Nettie Fleming felt that she had he worked briefly as a maga- no choice but to place her two dead, deserve the same respect. … By the zine writer for The Atlanta young children in an institution time he reached Atlanta, married with two Constitution, he came to the where they would, at least, re- attention of Newsweek maga- ceive the essentials of life, but children and where he worked briefly as a zine and began covering the have to learn to fend for them- magazine writer for the Atlanta Constitution, unfolding of the greatest story selves. She would never live in of the 20th century: the civil the little house with the white he came to the attention of Newsweek rights movement. picket fence that she hoped to magazine and began covering the unfolding At Newsweek he received share with her children. the nurturing in both body Ethel Laughinghouse was of the greatest story of the 20th century: the and spirit that he found lack- admitted to an all-girl orphan- civil rights movement. ing in his earlier years. In age in September 1935. She was this environment, he flour- only four. Karl followed four ished. All that he had done months later. At the age of eight, and suffered up to that point with the nickname, “pretty boy,” Karl of the experience. Fleming has learned prepared him for this moment. Under entered what seemed at the time like along the way that “secrets make you the tutelage of Bill Emerson, a senior a personal hell. In time it would prove sick.” Again and again we are remind- editor at the magazine, he learned how to be his salvation. While the source ed—through the eyes of both the child to write a magazine story. The great of many lifelong pains, the orphanage and the man—of his mother’s failings, writers he’d discovered in the library provided Fleming with family-like ties both as a parent and a person. at the orphanage became midwives to among both the staff and the other But for the aspiring journalist, Flem- his talent. students there. He developed a work ing’s book could be used as a primer Over time, Fleming learned that the ethic that formed the foundation of a on how to become a good reporter. hate that poisoned his South lives within personal ethos that would sustain him From his early years at the orphanage us all. Keeping that hate at bay is our throughout his life. He learned to out- we see him evolving into a person who struggle. The rest of his story is up to smart the bullies. And as an underdog, desires to expand his world. The library the reader to discover, but I will add he developed compassion for other becomes both a refuge and a repository this note: Fleming’s coverage of the civil underdogs. of ideas and examples of life’s vagaries. rights movement ranked among the best Beyond the orphanage, when he enters out there. Under his byline appeared His Journey as a Reporter the military at the age of 17, and later as many of the great names and moments a young reporter for a paper in Wilson, of that historic struggle. And though “Son of the Rough South, an Uncivil North Carolina, he learns from both his mother never got to live in the little Memoir” at times reads like fiction the skilled and the scum. Riding with house with the white picket fence that and shares many of the qualities of the a local cop who is both a bigot and a he now shares with his wife, Anne, and great books written by Dickens, Twain bully, he witnessed firsthand the suffer- their dog, Dixon, she lived to see her and Dostoyevsky, where both character ing, degradation and murder of blacks “little man” live out her dream. n and place are shaped by social and in the South, his South. historic events. “Human growth does From one of his first editors, he’s Lester Sloan, a 1976 Nieman Fellow, not proceed in a straight line,” Goethe taught that both blacks and whites, the is a freelance photojournalist. teaches George Webber in Thomas living and the dead, deserve the same Wolfe’s American classic “You Can’t Go respect. He also notes that while his Y [email protected]
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 109 Words & Reflections
Political Journalism: It’s Not the Good Old Days ‘But some of what ails American political journalism in our time is an overreaction to the failures of the boys back in Witcover’s heyday.’
The Making of an Ink-Stained Wretch: Half a Century Pounding the Political Beat Jules Witcover The Johns Hopkins University Press. 343 Pages. $30.
By David Yepsen
One of the things political reporters got to be up before dawn for an early love to do is sit around telling old morning TV or radio talk show, then “war” stories about their trade, often cover an event or two, file a brief story while sipping adult beverages. Those for the Web site, then a full story for who love such tales will find a rich the paper, make calls and send e-mails trove of them in Jules Witcover’s new to collect string for Sunday pieces and memoir, “The Making of an Ink-Stained columns, well, there just isn’t the time Wretch.” Something else reporters love for early morning tennis or high-fat, to do is sit around complaining about high-alcohol, late-night dinners. (Oh, the business, about how it’s changed, I forgot to mention the blog you are and about how it isn’t just the same as expected to write from the road and it used to be. There’s plenty of that in how cell phones and BlackBerries mean Witcover’s book, too. discussing everything you do each day Unfortunately, there’s not a lot in with the half-dozen editors back home, this book about what we should do to all of whom think they know more about correct things. Witcover pens us a witty politics than you do.) book about our trade, grumbles about Sadly, political reporters do all of how things have gone wrong, but then this for years and, as Witcover and notes. Those who pine for the “good doesn’t offer a plan for doing anything other colleagues have discovered, as old days” ought to sit down with old about it. But, then, Jules is an ink-stained a reward some get a letter saying their newspapers or fading film clips and wretch, not some cluck-clucker at one services are no longer needed because see for themselves. There weren’t a lot of those journalism school seminars. the Pooh-Bahs are cutting back on of female bylines. You didn’t see many One retired colleague of mine once political coverage so they can spend black or Latino faces, either. observed “no one does a job as well as money on other things or make the Today’s times aren’t the good old you did it,” and there’s a dash of that shareholders happy. days, thank goodness. In many ways, in Witcover’s book. Maybe it’s time to give up trying to they’re better. But some of what ails Still, after bemoaning some of the reform the trade. Having been to all American political journalism in our things gone wrong with the trade, he sorts of talks, seminars and think-tank time is an overreaction to the failures of concludes charitably: “All in all, the busi- discussions about how we can do it the boys back in Witcover’s heyday. After ness of writing about national politics is better—only to go out and sin again the presidencies of Lyndon Johnson and in as good, if perhaps more sober, hands in covering the next campaign—I’ve Richard Nixon turned out so badly, news as it was in my earlier days. Today’s crew pretty much given up hope of salvation. organizations came increasingly to the is probably better educated in various We’re journalists, for crying out loud. realization that voters would benefit aspects of political science than my gang As Witcover chronicles, we’re in a raw, by knowing more about the personal was, but maybe not quite so well versed raucous and rough business. We get up character of those seeking political of- in the art of having a helluva good time every day, review yesterday’s screw-ups, fice. Reporters responded by starting to in the process of writing about it.” Thank and try to get it right for tomorrow or for dig into the private lives and personal you, Jules. And amen. the next broadcast, podcast, cablecast backgrounds of politicians who, under- or blog entry. standably, drew back, thereby creating What’s Happening Now? My problem with books like this the distance between them and us that one is they tend to convey a sense that Witcover bemoans. Political writers today are more “content things were great back in the good old In my generation of political report- providers” than reporters. When you’ve days, and they weren’t, a fact Witcover ers, all of us grew up reading Theodore
110 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Words & Reflections
White’s fly-on-the-wall stories of presi- in my career I was lucky to hear that newspapers for unbiased information. dential campaigns. With his approach wisdom from guys in his generation. They went there to have their biases in mind, suddenly the tactics, strate- “Don’t forget your family. Don’t forget reinforced and passions inflamed. Jules gies and personalities of the campaign your marriage,” they advised. If that Witcover and David Yepsen might not people behind the scenes were a lot means passing up some event or road like this trend, but Benjamin Franklin more interesting than the speech of the duty, well, that’s just too bad. Our jobs would recognize it instantly. day. But, again, more barriers came up, are stressful enough without wrecking Don’t look to Witcover’s book for an and news coverage changed again; this marriages or not knowing our kids. Still, in-depth probe of such questions. It’s time reporters started to put too much it’s good to hear one of the veterans of a comfortable read. Anyone interested emphasis on the horserace. Now the our business give us tykes a little bless- in reliving some of the old days of this “story” is often no longer out on the trail, ing of approval. business will find that his stories bring but is found in the details of campaign Today we inundate people with infor- a smile with them. (It’s also best ac- finance disclosure statements. Or re- mation, thanks to various communica- companied by a Scotch or two.) What porters flock to a candidate’s hometown tions technologies that didn’t exist even he has to say is also useful for students to discover what makes him or her tick. a few years ago—cable, the Internet, interested in political journalism, since Or they vet position papers with experts blogs, podcasting. The cacophony is he offers a front-row look at our trade to write more intelligently about what noisier than in Witcover’s era, but it’s the way it used to be. It is a book written a politician is proposing. still better than the alternative of provid- by one of the best in our business, as he The road story—the campaign—be- ing only a few sources of information for shares his thoughts about the challenges comes nothing more than scripted voters. The problem now is that there’s political journalism faces and what as- political theater. And if those who cover so much of it out there, people often piring reporters are in for if they join. it aren’t as interested in getting drunk don’t know where to turn for basic facts. Come on in. The ink is fine.n every night on the trail, it’s because Add to this the unfortunate possibility we’ve got heavy lifting to do. Frankly, that we might be returning to an even David Yepsen is The Des Moines too, it’s a life that can be hard on the older set of “good old days”—to those Register’s political columnist. reporters’ personal lives, as Witcover times of yellow journalism and the par- recounts happening to his own. Early tisan press. Citizens didn’t turn to those Y [email protected]
The Role Women Journalists Played in Poland’s Freedom Only when Solidarity won did the journalists realize ‘… they had formed the only all-woman cabal in Poland to make a counterstrike against martial law.’
Solidarity’s Secret: The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland Shana Penn The University of Michigan Press. 371 Pages. $34.95. By Peggy Simpson
Poland’s success in getting rid of Soviet- Communism never was a good fit in imposed Communism and in remaking Poland. The Soviets who gained control itself as a Western democratic country of Poland and other Eastern European remains a puzzle to many folks. Shana countries with the Yalta agreement Penn’s “Solidarity’s Secret: The Women near the end of World War II could not Who Defeated Communism in Poland,” impose total control in this country of offers clues by focusing attention on 38 million. Starting in the 1960’s and ex- seven Polish women who shaped the panding in the 1970’s, links were forged underground Solidarity newspaper, between Polish elites and workers—a Tygodnik Mazowsze. This paper kept the real threat to the myth of the “worker” movement alive after Polish Communist oriented Communist state. These had tynowicz, with another fired worker, leader, Wojciech Jaruzelski, decapitated culminated with the Gdansk shipyard electrician Lech Walesa, joining the fray the leadership with arrests of 10,000 strike, which erupted initially to protest and leading it. men and 1,000 women and imposed the dismissal of veteran activist and The Gdansk accord, signed by Walen- martial law on December 13, 1981. shipyard crane operator Anna Walen- tynowicz, Walesa and others, included a
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 111 Words & Reflections
Communist concession for the creation distributors and couriers into a formi- fect, she had helped shape a grass-roots of a “free trade union.” In the next 16 dable countrywide force that continued network of civil society participants a months, half the adult Poles had signed to bedevil and resist the Communists. decade before that was the buzzword up to be Solidarity members—forming Luczywo had edited resistance publica- of Western diplomats and aid-donor units of the free trade union in their tions, notably Robotnik, and in the brief groups who came calling after 1990. local schools, hospitals and bureaucra- period of Solidarity’s legal existence had Within a year, circulation was up to cies. This became a vehicle to express run a news bureau about Solidarity ac- 80,000. Over the next seven years, 290 anti-Communist sentiment, in essence, tivities that also fed news to the foreign papers were published, with few inter- and it proved to be a huge threat not just media about the movement. She barely ruptions even in the regional circula- to Jaruzelski but also to party bosses in escaped when Jaruzelski’s troops began tion. Luczywo and most of her writers Moscow. Thus the crackdown. knocking down the doors of a Solidarity stayed one step ahead of the police. What happened right afterwards is office at midnight December 13th. Luczywo proved to be a formidable hardly known in the West, and until Three days later, she and six other organizer. She developed a loosely knit recently was not known clearly even women began plotting strategy. The team of printers, couriers, distributors in Poland. others were Joanna Szczesna, Ewa and chemists who could make ink, Penn’s book documents how the Kulik, Anna Dodziuk, Zofia Bydlinska, Poles who donated flats or houses for clandestine press played a massive role Malgorzata Pawlicka, and Anna Bikont. the printing presses. Safe houses were in keeping Solidarity alive. It provides The government cut off telephone ser- changed regularly for what became the first comprehensive look at the stra- vice, shut down public transportation, known as their “floating offices.” The tegic thinking, organizational brilliance, banned public gatherings, and put a Communists, trapped in their own and the sheer daily grit of putting out nighttime curfew in place. “Each knew sexist stereotypes, kept looking for the an underground weekly newspaper without a doubt that they would fight men who were putting out this weekly. during the next seven years. back. Solidarity was their dream come After the regime changed, they were The paper became a vital conduit of true, their life’s work and mission,” astounded that it had been women. information to the masses of Poles who writes Penn. “It was only later that As bleak as the picture looked inside had backed Solidarity as a way of op- they realized they had formed the only Poland, the outside world was evincing posing the Communists. It squeezed 22 all-woman cabal in Poland to make a support. In 1983, the Polish-born pope pages of newsprint into four legal-sized counterstrike against martial law.” made his third visit to Poland and Lech pages. The paper carried interviews with A first priority was to find and safe- Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize. By the jailed Solidarity leaders, as well as guard the few high-profile male Solidar- mid decade, the government began two the few leaders who had avoided arrest ity leaders who had evaded arrest. They rounds of amnesties of prisoners. With and were in hiding. But it also featured did that within days. Simultaneously, the economy in a tailspin, by 1987 mass stories about ordinary people who had they began planning an underground protests began again. A new Solidarity been arrested or who were helping with newspaper. Within a month, the paper leadership structure was put in place the resistance—or coping with the chaos hit the streets and factory floors. Up to and, in April 1989, Round Table talks of minimal transportation and minimal 300,000 Poles agreed to use their flats between Solidarity leaders and the Pol- amounts of food. for storage, drop-off or pickup points ish Communist leaders concluded. The Each issue listed names of people for the newspapers. About the same first partly free parliamentary elections arrested, including where they were number of people became part of the were set for June 4th. imprisoned. It was a commitment to distribution chain, including within fac- One Solidarity demand at the Round naming the victims, unlike the Com- tories. The newspaper’s language was Table talks was creation of a private munist Party policy of arresting tens plainspoken, a break from the flowery newspaper before the elections. Walesa of thousands of nameless people. This and “romantic” language common in drafted Solidarity philosopher Adam made the paper a valuable resource most publications at the time. By Febru- Michnik for the job; Michnik recruited for international human rights moni- ary, the newspaper featured interviews Luczywo. And 250,000 copies of Gazeta tors—and an organizing tool used by with Solidarity leaders in hiding, who Wyborcza (Election Gazette) were on émigrés and their supporters in London, said that what happened next would the streets several weeks before the New York and Paris, who raised money depend on the ability of millions of elections, with profiles of all candidates. to smuggle into Poland to help finance rank-and-file Poles to continue the re- Solidarity won every contested seat, the underground press. sistance. Huge strikes probably would a total wipeout for the Communists, The underground media network not work in the midst of martial law, which forced them to turn over power didn’t just happen, of course. Penn’s they warned. That proved true. later that summer. book documents what took place in the From the outset, Luczywo positioned Luczywo and Michnik went on to hours after the mass arrests of Solidarity Tygodnik Mazowsze for the long haul. In make Gazeta Wyborcza and the par- leaders and activists and how Helena doing that, she helped create the “civil ent publishing company, Agora, the Luczywo organized the clandestine society” institutions that involved many strongest in Eastern Europe and one of network of writers, editors, printers, hundreds of thousands of Poles. In ef- the strongest in Europe. In retrospect,
112 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Words & Reflections
Tygodnik Mazowsze had helped keep intact even when Poland was divided and sustenance, of Solidarity. Still, some Poles focused on a common purpose into three parts and wiped off the map. of the women Penn had interviewed during a decade when it appeared the Women and men also used this image as were reluctant even then to talk. Polish Communists held all the cards. It rationalization for why so few women By the time the book was published also set the standard that would usher went into politics when the first of many in English this spring, words by Walesa in a free press in Poland. Solidarity parties took control. During endorsed it. The book, he writes, asks their half century under Communism, “a simple question I wish I had thought Breaking the Silence women were educated in science and more about, myself: Once the leadership technology in numbers far higher than of Solidarity had been arrested during In her book, Penn undertakes a feminist in the West, but when the battle to the 1981 military coup, who kept the analysis of the role of women in Poland, combat Communism took center stage, movement alive over the following past and present, and also explores gender roles weren’t on the table, and months and years?” Walesa praises the why the vital work of these women Communist rhetoric on equality had book about these “activists who rose remained a secret to much of Poland long since worn thin. Even though all to the call, set about saving an entire after the fall of Communism. Their women had been required to work full- political movement, and in time turned role had not been written about—by time, the Communist government was themselves into some of the most pow- them or by the many notable foreign quite happy letting women continue erful women in Poland today.” n correspondents who used them as to bear the vast majority of at-home sources during martial law, including kitchen-and-child duties. Peggy Simpson, a 1979 Nieman Fel- Lawrence Weschler and Timothy Garten With few exceptions—most notably low, is a freelance reporter in Wash- Ash. Political actors, including Walesa, professor and legistator Barbara Labuda, ington, D.C.. While based in Poland, didn’t acknowledge them, either, and who was a Solidarity activist from Wro- she covered the Eastern European historians of the era have, for the most claw—women who played vital roles in transition countries for such publi- part, ignored them. the movement never sought credit after cations as Business Week, European Penn’s book fills in the gaps. In 1990. Some downplayed their roles, Banker, Media & Marketing Europe, explaining the long silence about while most were as manic as the men and the Warsaw Business Journal. the crucial role these women played, in scrambling to shape new lives. She met Shana Penn there in the ear- she devotes considerable time to the Penn’s interviews with the key ly 1990’s when Penn was researching centuries-old “Matka Polska” (Mother women affiliated with the Solidarity this book, which was published in Poland) role attributed to women to movement began to reach public view 2003 in Poland and in 2005 by the preserve the language and the culture by the mid-1990’s in Poland. Fledgling University of Michigan Press. during the dozen or more invasions by feminists began to ask why they hadn’t Russia over several centuries. Women known about these women who had Y [email protected] were the ones who kept the culture played such pivotal roles in the creation,
The Life and Times of Foreign Correspondents in Russia A book explores the work of covering Russia through the experiences and words of those reporters who did it.
Discovering Russia: 200 Years of American Journalism Murray Seeger AuthorHouse. 471 Pages. $25. By Alvin Shuster
It would be a wonderful Nieman they jumped, bureaucrats they con- seminar: Sit down and talk with men fronted, diseases they fought, famines and women who worked in Russia as they survived, and tea leaves they read foreign correspondents during the last to portray the Russia they found. two centuries. Failing that, we’ve got In Seeger’s book, “Discovering Rus- Murray Seeger to thank for bringing sia—200 Years of American Journalism,” their accounts to life, for he has written the work and lives of these correspon- a fascinating book about the hurdles dents take us from the days before,
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 113 Words & Reflections
during and after the 1917 Revolution, in strictest confidence. “You—perhaps writer for Tass, the Soviet news agency, to the era of Lenin, Stalin and those who because you are flattered by the great Lyons had connections. “Stalin met me followed. We encounter them struggling man’s confidence, perhaps because of at the door and shook hands, smiling,” with censors, harassed by secret police, your curiosity—joyfully consent,” Bes- Lyons wrote. “There was a certain shy- detained in jail, buying donkeys, and sie wrote. “Sometimes you consent only ness in his smile, and the handshake sometimes even whining about how because you know the folly of cutting was not perfunctory. He was remark- little they were paid. As witnesses to and off your ears merely because your lips ably unlike the scowling, self-important interpreters of this history and politics, are sealed.” The lip-sealing, of course, dictator of popular imagination.” Now they could be controversial—their cov- lives on as “deep background.” that’s news. erage or lack of it called into question. Seeger, a 1962 Nieman Fellow who After the hourlong interview, Lyons Those controversies matter little today, studied Russia with the Harvard greats— offered to show Stalin the story before but what these reporters produced was Merle Fainsod, Abram Bergson, Adam sending it to New York, and he was amazing history, rich in detail, color, in- Ulam, and Marshall Shulman—was the given a typewriter, tea and sandwiches sight, reflecting boundless energy and, Moscow bureau chief of the Los Angeles in a nearby small office. The story was sometimes, misplaced passion. Few na- Times from 1972-74. I know Murray, then translated into Russian, Stalin tions have attracted the attention of so but we did not work together at the made some minor corrections, and much talent for so many years. Times, since he left the paper in 1981, then signed it: “More or less correct, J. What is it about Russia? A partial two years before I became the paper’s Stalin.” For some reason, the censors answer comes from the legendary foreign editor. quickly cleared that story, but it had to New York Times columnist Anne For his well-researched history, wait. United Press held it for better play O’Hare McCormick: “Whoever goes Seeger relied mostly on books instead of until the next Monday morning. to Russia discovers a different Russia.” original newspaper or magazine articles, These are only a few of the correspon- Another from Larry LeSueur of CBS: thus removing, as he put it, “the factor of dents who drifted in and out of Russia “Assignment to Moscow was the PhD censorship and notorious inaccuracies over the years. Others appear in Seeger’s for a foreign correspondent.” Put me that warped on-the-scene reporters well book, some as main characters, others down as an undergraduate: I missed past the Khrushchev era.” Seeger does with cameo appearances—Januarius Moscow—or maybe avoided it—in my work in some of his own experiences, Aloysius MacGahan, Harold Frederic, 10 years as a New York Times foreign adding a helpful dimension. George Kennan, Thomas Stevens, James correspondent. As we travel through the pages of the Gordon Bennett, Melvin Stone, John Other journalists came and went, book, we go along with these report- Steinbeck, Anna Louise Strong, Dorothy built reputations, won Pulitzers, and ers, sharing their troubles, their efforts Thompson, George Seldes, Floyd Gib- made their way into Seeger’s book. One at times to survive on thin meat soup bons, Henry Shapiro, Eddy Gilmore, of the first, Harold Williams, covered the and black bread, their attempts to avoid Wallace Carroll, Max Frankel, Harri- 100,000 demonstrators at the Winter unwanted insects by putting the legs son Salisbury, Dusko Doder, Nicholas Palace in St. Petersburg on “Red Sunday” of their beds in cans of kerosene, their Daniloff, Bob Toth, Hedrick Smith, Bob in 1905 and later wrote about the “sitting struggles with the military and police, Kaiser, Michael Parks, David Remnick, editors” hired only to serve jail terms for and more. This underscored their goal, and many more. real editors in trouble. There’s an idea. to get the story no matter what. There Then there was Walter Duranty of On to the revolution, and John Reed are enough war stories here to keep The New York Times, perhaps one of and his companion, Louise Bryant, the many a bar open around the clock. the most controversial of them all, a three Associated Press reporters fighting We also find out when things worked man described by the outspoken Brit- censors, and all the others seeking to well. Marguerite E. Harrison of The ish writer Malcolm Muggeridge as a report the historic events. (Baltimore) Sun maneuvered her way “sharp-witted energetic man” but the And there was Bessie Beatty of The into a Kremlin meeting and got her first “greatest liar of any journalist I have San Francisco Bulletin who, some 90 look at Lenin: “Lenin is a short, thick met in 50 years of journalism.” Seeger years ago, provided the world with a set, unimposing looking little man, writes that Duranty failed to report the wonderful description of emergence with colorless hair and complexion, a “monstrous crimes” of the Stalinist era, of the infamous “anonymous source,” small pointed beard, piercing gray-blue the terrible human cost, stories that so much in the news today. It was at a eyes, and a quiet unemotional, almost would have diminished the reporter’s meeting reporters had with Elihu Root, monotonous manner of delivery. He “claimed omnipotence.” Still, Duranty who was sent to Russia by President wore a suit of rough English tweeds won the 1932 Pulitzer for his reporting, Wilson on a goodwill mission. Bessie and looked like nothing so much as although it remains in dispute. described what happened. The “great a fairly prosperous, middle-class busi- Ukrainian groups over the years man,” she wrote, said he would like to nessman.” pressed the Pulitzer board to revoke discuss quite openly everything that As for Stalin, it was Eugene Lyons of the prize because Duranty, who covered happened. But, she said, he wanted to United Press who got one of the rare the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1941, be assured that all he said would be held interviews in November 1930. A former failed to report the state-sponsored
114 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Words & Reflections starvation of millions of Ukrainians in We get a large dose of Duranty from never worked there might well wonder 1932-1933. Two years ago, the Pulitzer Seeger—his meetings with Stalin, his why they did not. n board declined to revoke the prize, note in defense of his coverage to noting that the award was given for 13 Adolph Ochs, the Times publisher, his Alvin Shuster, a 1967 Nieman Fellow, articles written before the famine. The high living in Moscow, “a Buick instead was foreign editor of the Los Angeles board did declare that his 1931 report- of a Ford,” and then the fading of his Times from 1983 to 1995. He is now ing “measured by today’s standards for career and his request to the Times for its senior consulting editor. He was foreign reporting, falls seriously short.” a pension of $155 a month. He got one also a foreign correspondent for The The Times agrees and, beside Duranty’s check for $2,500. New York Times for a decade, serving picture in The New York Times gallery Just one saga in this book of so many. as the bureau chief in London, Sai- of Pulitzer winners, is a note: “Other And, by the end of it all, the report- gon and Rome. writers in the Times and elsewhere have ers who worked in Moscow will be discredited this coverage.” reminded of why they did. Those who Y [email protected]
Remembering One of Journalism’s Finest Moments ‘Good Night, and Good Luck’ brings to life how and why Edward R. Murrow pushed CBS News to confront Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s un-American tactics.
By Don Aucoin
When Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, and Pe- and life itself were precarious enough air on CBS next fall.) In late October, ter Jennings yielded their anchor desks that we’re going to need good luck. art bracketed life once more. As “Good during this past year under divergent Murrow’s sense of history and duty Night’’ was finishing its third week in circumstances, their departures were prompted him to use the airwaves on movie theaters, reminding viewers of widely seen as ringing down the curtain March 9, 1954 to confront redbaiting a time when CBS took aim at a power- on the “voice of God era” in network demagogue Senator Joseph R. Mc- ful elected leader in Washington and news. While that trio will be missed, Carthy. In doing so, the newsman—to helped bring him down, the network’s there are some salutary aspects to the borrow Murrow’s description of Win- news president, Andrew Heyward, end of this era. Partisan excesses of the ston Churchill—“mobilized the English stepped aside, having been weakened, blogosphere notwithstanding, there’s language and sent it into battle.” as Dan Rather was, by the 2004 “60 something to be said for the decen- That Murrow-McCarthy showdown Minutes II” report on President Bush’s tralization of media power. There was is the subject of director and actor National Guard service that blew up in always more than a little presumption in George Clooney’s “Good Night, and the network’s face. Walter Cronkite’s evening signoff, “And Good Luck,” a taut, well-made film that Clooney made two smart casting that’s the way it is.” A viewer’s reflexive reminds us that, for good or ill, the choices. First, he used archival footage impulse was to reply, “Sez who?” In fact, whole voice-of-God business began with of McCarthy himself rather than an ac- one of my favorite New Yorker cartoons Murrow. Unlike many broadcast jour- tor, so we see “Tailgunner Joe” in all showed an irate burgher jabbing his nalists today, who seem constantly to his sweaty venality, making us wonder finger at the TV set and shouting, “No, be auditioning for the role of America’s anew how such a loon ever got as far as Walter, that’s not the way it is!” Chum, Murrow was a serious man for he did. Secondly, he tapped the chroni- CBS correspondent Edward R. serious times. He stood for something cally underrated David Strathairn to play Murrow’s weekly signoff as host of “See and thought the news business should, Murrow. That choice is rewarded with It Now,” television’s first documentary too. numerous onscreen moments of quiet series (1951-1958), was far more mod- Indeed, the Murrow mystique has power. My favorite is when Murrow est: “Good night, and good luck,” he’d haunted CBS for decades. Paddy Chayef- and producer Fred Friendly (played by say. There was a formality to it—Murrow sky invokes Murrow in his prescient Clooney) are meeting with “See It Now” was a formal man, and these were the script for the 1976 movie “Network,” correspondents and producers to ask buttoned-down 1950’s—but his parting in which a CBS-like network abandons that they disclose any past political ac- words also conveyed a certain solidarity its news judgment and eventually its tivities that McCarthy might use against with the viewer, a sense that we’re all in senses in a fevered quest for higher rat- them and the show. One staffer offers to this together. Murrow’s weekly benedic- ings. (Fittingly, Clooney is at work on a leave the show, nervously acknowledg- tion implicitly suggested that democracy live TV remake of “Network,” slated to ing that his ex-wife might at one time
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 115 Words & Reflections
have attended a left-wing meeting of cannot defend freedom abroad while atmosphere of the 1950’s, with its black- some kind. After a long silence, dur- deserting it at home.” As we hear him and-white cinematography, its plumes ing which Murrow’s face tightens still say this, it’s hard not to think of for- of cigarette smoke and its paranoid further, we hear him say, “We’re going mer White House Press Secretary Ari chill, it also hums just below the sur- to go with the story, because the terror Fleischer’s infamous admonition in face with issues that bedevil journalists is right here in this room.” 2001 that Americans “need to watch today. “I’ve searched my conscience,” As several critics have noted, Mur- what they say, watch what they do.” Murrow tells CBS Chairman William S. row was far from the first journalist to More recently, there is the Valerie Plame Paley in the film, “and I cannot accept challenge McCarthy. And it is also true case, in which she was outed as a CIA that there are, on every story, two equal that Clooney valorizes Murrow out of all agent after former Ambassador Joseph and logical sides.” In the aftermath of proportion. But when has Hollywood Wilson, her husband, wrote an op-ed the Swift Boat episode during the 2004 ever been able to resist the temptation piece for The New York Times—based presidential campaign—and a host of toward hagiography? Though this is on evidence he’d gathered while on a other stories—those words surely reso- history simplified and reduced to broad fact-finding trip to Niger—accusing the nate with reporters who worry that their strokes, the big picture seems essentially Bush administration of twisting prewar attempts at “on the one hand, on the sound: As with Cronkite’s tide-turning intelligence on Iraq’s nuclear weapons other hand” objectivity end up doing a 1968 description of the Vietnam War program to bolster the case for war. disservice to the truth and thus to the as a “stalemate,” Murrow’s decision to It is also hard to watch this film reader or viewer. take on McCarthy constituted a kind of without pondering what has become of Another echo of contemporary tipping point. broadcast journalism and, in particular, journalistic debates occurs during an “Murrow and ‘See It Now’ did not of the TV medium in which Murrow exchange between Murrow and Paley topple McCarthy,” Stanley Cloud and spent the latter part of his career and for (played by Frank Langella, who rose to Lynne Olson wrote in “The Murrow which he harbored both high hopes and fame in his role as Dracula). “People Boys,” their fine 1996 book on the ca- grave doubts. At the end of the film there want to enjoy themselves,” Paley tells reers of Murrow and colleagues such as is a depiction of Murrow’s 1958 speech his prideful newsman. “They don’t Eric Sevareid. “The senator was already to the Radio-Television News Directors want a constant civics lesson.” Paley losing his grip on the country by the Association, in which he warned that if was giving voice to a credo that seems time they went after him. Murrow’s television “is good for nothing but to to guide today’s network executives as program did, however, give him an entertain, amuse and insulate, then the we witness how they have reduced cov- extra and significant shove. By the tube is flickering now, and we will soon erage of national political conventions end of the year, McCarthy would be in see that the whole struggle is lost. This to a blink-and-you-miss-it minimum. disgrace, censured by the U.S. Senate. instrument can teach, it can illuminate; Sustained coverage of important civic Murrow, in contrast, became the object yes, and it can even inspire. But it can events—and serious-minded reporting of a national outpouring of praise and do so only to the extent that humans about issues of national importance gratitude. He may not have caused are determined to use it to those ends. appearing in evening time slots oc- McCarthy’s downfall, but the broadcast Otherwise, it is merely wires and lights casionally—would not seem to be too was so good, its dissection of McCarthy in a box.” much to ask of the holders of lucrative so masterful, that it almost seemed as There are some honorable excep- broadcast licenses. But, hey, people if he had.” tions but, in general, the sort of en- want to enjoy themselves. terprise reporting and investigative Whatever his flaws and whatever the Holding a Mirror to Our digging that Murrow prided himself flaws of this film that memorializes his Times on is generally in scant evidence on TV words and deeds, Edward R. Murrow today. Far too many network newscasts knew that the pursuit of happiness Today, with network news divisions in consist essentially of images packaged to rested on firmer principles than the decline, their one-time clout ceded to illustrate whatever was in that morning’s quest for entertainment and for eye- the fluffier morning shows and with New York Times or Washington Post. balls. What a pity that the networks have press credibility generally in tatters, one How often do the networks actually been in flight from Murrow’s principles has to wonder if there is a newscaster break news these days? Meanwhile, ever since. n alive who enjoys this kind of moral the documentary form of which “See authority. It Now” was the pioneer is all but dead Don Aucoin, a 2001 Nieman Fellow, Politically, Clooney’s larger purpose on the broadcast networks, and TV is a reporter and former TV critic for in reconstructing McCarthy’s smear newsmagazines, which might have been The Boston Globe. campaigns and his efforts to criminal- expected to fill the public-affairs gap, ize dissent is to invite us to consider are instead largely given over to lurid Y [email protected] parallels to the present day. In this film, true-crime stories and missing-person Murrow intones on-air that “We must melodramas. not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We For all that “Good Night” evokes the
116 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Words & Reflections
Knowing When to Stop Reporting About a Scandal A journalist describes the stages of a scandal, explains the news media’s role, and wonders why they don’t keep digging once the person has been punished.
By Madelaine Drohan
There is nothing like a good scandal a scandal and, as importantly, which can see better the context out of which to get our journalistic juices flowing. does not. We drum up public outrage, they arose. Headlines practically write themselves. put pressure on authorities to act, and Stage Two: Focus. Anxiety needs Titillating details fill pages to overflow- lead the chorus for punishment. And a a focus. There has to be an event that ing. In the past five years, with business scandal is deemed over only when it is captures the attention of the media. It bigwigs added to the usual scandal fod- dropped from news coverage. could be the filing of a lawsuit, a police der of politicians, celebrities and sports A lot of power rests in our hands, raid, release of a report, a sudden drop stars, the media have had a good run but are we using it wisely? in share price, or publication of a pa- of stories to fill newspapers, broadcasts As I looked more closely at the me- parazzi photo showing two people who and Internet sites. Yet as we rush to dia’s role, a pattern began to emerge in should not be together at that time in the cover a good scandal, how many of us how a scandal plays out. Like the cycle early morning. The editor of a Canadian pause to think about our role in creat- of grief with its stages of denial, anger, newspaper used the term “crystallizing ing and sustaining scandal? How many bargaining, depression and acceptance, event,” which sums it up neatly. Such among us ask whether we could handle the cycle of scandal inevitably goes events provide a convenient focus for this reporting in ways that might better through various stages: Anxiety is the our existing anxieties, and it is at this serve the public interest? hallmark of the first one and action by point when the media’s role begins. In three decades of being a journal- authorities signifies the last. Recogniz- But whether the observed behavior ist, I’ve covered my share of scandals. ing these stages helps journalists situate gets transformed by the media into a (One of my favorites was the collapse where they are in coverage of a scandal. “scandal” depends on various factors. of Barings Bank in Britain because of Here is a description of these stages, More important news happens, and the its colorful cast of characters and the with the caveat that of course there will scandal’s launch is buried or spiked. Or drama of seeing old English aristocrats be exceptions to these general rules. the publisher or editor is persuaded by brought low by a brash young trader in Stage One: Anxiety. No scandal someone wanting to short-circuit media Singapore.) What I’d like to say is that emerges out of the blue. There is coverage that running the story is not in I reflected often on what I was doing always some existing anxiety about a their best interest. Television often has and why I was doing it, but that would situation or an individual that serves to pass on a juicy item when they don’t be a lie. I never gave any of this much as the bedrock on which the scandal is have pictures or people to interview on thought until the fall of 2004 when I built. Enron and WorldCom exploded camera. The media apply a complicated received a fellowship from the Chumir against a backdrop of public unease set of criteria to a story to determine Foundation in Calgary, Alberta. about growing corporate power and whether it is scandal material, and Ostensibly, I set out to research the exorbitant pay of corporate leaders. these criteria involve gut feelings, legal what happened in the wake of major Bre-X Minerals, a Canadian gold scam, realities and physical practicalities, and business scandals, such as Enron and occurred at a time when mining firms they aren’t always easy to explain to WorldCom. Once the bright media spot- were going to far-flung places and inves- outsiders. But once a story meets these light moved on, were lasting changes tors were worried about the quality of criteria, it is on the road to becoming a made to prevent a reoccurrence? Or, as information they were receiving long- full-blown scandal. I suspected, were cosmetic remedies distance. At the level of the individual, Stage Three: Denial and Evasion. applied and some speeches made to think of President Bill Clinton. Rumors Would Martha Stewart have been sent give the appearance of change while of his extramarital affairs were wide- to prison if she had taken responsibil- business as usual continued? But as I spread long before Monica Lewinsky ity at the very beginning for what she’d delved deeper into coverage of scan- came on the scene. Yet press coverage done? Denial and evasion turn out to dals (historic and current), I saw more tends to present scandals as surprise be a necessary stage in scandal, spark- clearly how the media, far from being events. When looked at in retrospect, ing conflict, attracting and magnifying passive chroniclers of wrongdoing, we realize they are firmly linked to their media coverage, and stoking public in- were active participants in the process. time as a reflection of contemporary dignation. One tenet of corporate crisis The press, after all, often determines anxieties. That does not mean we can management is that the best response which behavior deserves to be called predict them, only that in hindsight we to crisis is to admit responsibility and
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 117 Words & Reflections
announce immediate remedial action. use of mercenaries in a foreign war. regulations or laws, which often takes Though this advice is well known, when But the focus soon switched to what place behind closed doors, where caught in their own personal crisis, government officials knew and when participants are reluctant to speak few political or corporate leaders fol- they knew it, and other aspects of this and there are few events to cover. low it. In the recent wave of business story quickly faded from view. In this • Reporting on a scandal’s aftermath scandals, many defended themselves key stage, people who might have been requires time, initiative, and knowl- by saying they had no knowledge of involved with the scandalous activity edge. With fewer reporters assigned the wrongdoing going on during their struggle to remain outside the investi- to beats these days, journalists often watch. Denials like these make good gators’ net. This period is fraught with lack the specialized knowledge they copy when linked with reporting about politics and power, and much of the need to follow a complicated regula- the massive salaries these executives action goes on behind closed doors. tory process, for example. earned for their stewardship of these Stage Six: Punishment. This is • Convergence—in which journalists companies. the climax of the scandal cycle—the file stories to print, Internet, radio Stage Four: Validation. While stage when indignation that has been or television for the same news public anxiety, a crystallizing event stoked by publicity can be appeased by organization—also works against and initial evasion or denial are nec- a fitting penalty. Prison sentences and in-depth coverage of complicated essary to give a scandal momentum, other forms of public disgrace offer the issues. Reporters don’t have the time it will disappear unless the next two media a spectacle to cover. But punish- to do this kind of reporting across stages are reached—validation and ment can take many forms, not all of these various media. definition. Official validation occurs them forced by legal actions. The heads when the authorities step in, confirm of Enron and WorldCom were initially But this is where the question of to the media, and through them to the “punished” when they lost their jobs. responsibility comes in. Some scandals broader public, the foundation for their Conrad Black was deposed as chairman have no public policy implications and suspicion of wrongdoing, and indicate of the media empire he founded. Once can be safely dropped once the individu- that further investigation is required. this stage passes, much of the media als involved are punished. Sex scandals Validation takes various forms: a com- lose interest. When journalists buy the often fall into this category, as do some mission, a judicial inquiry, a securities “bad apple” argument, they are satisfied political scandals. And celebrity scan- investigation, a committee hearing, or a that the matter has been dealt with. dals are generally bits of insubstantial court case. In the recent case of Conrad And when this happens, pressure on puffery. But when a scandal points to Black and his Hollinger media empire, authorities to move to the next stage holes in the law or in regulations, an a special committee of the board of is lightened or removed. absence of media attention after the directors validated the criticisms made Stage Seven: Aftermath. This im- punishment stage betrays the public against Black. Official bodies are able portant last stage is not always reached. interest. We can hardly trumpet our role to uncover information not available When it is, authorities work to address as important watchdogs of the public to the media and force key players to the underlying causes of the scandal as interest unless we are willing to follow testify. Their hearings and reports keep a way of trying to prevent similar situ- the story through and determine if the the scandal in the public eye. ations from occurring in the future. A public’s interest is being adequately Stage Five: Definition. In this question worth asking is why the media safeguarded. If we fail at this, we are crucial stage, the scandalous activity is appear to lose interest once the central nothing but scandalmongers. n defined, along with who is involved, to figure in a scandal has been punished determine who might be punished and and rarely cover what ought to be Madelaine Drohan writes on eco- what measures authorities might take. the final—remedial—stage of scandal nomics and business from Ottawa, Following the collapse of Enron and coverage. Canada. Her work appears in The WorldCom, President George Bush de- Economist, The Globe and Mail, and fined the accused as “a few bad apples.” The News Business other publications. She is the author By placing the emphasis on individual of “Making a Killing: How and Why actions, rather than on regulatory or As I reflected on this, I concluded that Corporations Use Armed Force to Do systemic failure, the President tried to while part of the reason is psychologi- Business,” published in the United steer public attention away from short- cal, the mechanics of news coverage States by Lyons Press in 2004. Her comings in laws and regulations. (He and recent developments in the media research was funded by the Sheldon didn’t succeed, and Congress went on sector also play a part. They include M. Chumir Foundation for Ethics in to pass the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to curtail the following: Leadership. these corporate practices.) Scandals can be defined in many ways. I covered • Assignment editors send reporters Y [email protected] a scandal in Britain that involved the to cover events, such as a trial or an selling of arms to Sierra Leone, which inquiry, but rarely ask them to cover contravened a U.N. embargo and the a process, such as drawing up new
118 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Nieman Notes Nieman Notes Compiled by Lois Fiore
Photojournalism Students Cover Hurricane Katrina in Their First Leap Into a Real-World Crisis ‘Mark told me he’d learned more in the two days he photographed the hurricane’s aftermath than in his previous two years in college.’
By Eli Reed
overing Hurricane Katrina was join the real world. Mark Mulligan, Sloan • I told them that they might be enter- definitely not a class project— Breeden, Meg Loucks, Rob Strong, and ing dark places, in both a physical and Cnot then and certainly not now. Anne Drabicky all soon followed Ben spiritual sense—a place of people in It was a test of sorts for me and for my to the hurricane’s aftermath. They were a world of hurt. I warned them that patience and skill as a photojournalism moving in new and unknown territory, there would be predators afoot and professor. on their own, flexing their wings. to look out for each other. One day, at the beginning of fall se- I started to receive cell phone calls • I assured them that no photograph mester, I was walking up the steps of from them as they began discussing pro- was worth dying for, and that I didn’t the Jesse Jones Communication School cedures and what to look out for at the want to fill out a lot of papers and building when I started to wonder site of the hurricane. They asked good have to explain to their parents why where one of my students, Ben Sklar, and specific questions, and I provided they were no longer on this earth. was hiding himself. He is the president them with balanced, but nonetheless Besides, someone else would then and founding member of the University worst-case scenarios; it would have have to edit their photographs, and I of Texas at Austin National Press Pho- been senseless not to warn them of the knew they wouldn’t be happy about tographers Association student faction, dangers. But I also gave them broad that, which was my way of keeping and I am its faculty advisor. Then I saw a instructions, since it was impossible it light and yet scaring them into middle-aged woman blocking my path. to imagine all they were going to see paying attention. If they were going Her eyes conveyed the sense of someone and encounter: to go, with or without permission, searching for answers. She was Susan then they needed to go with their Sklar, Ben’s mother, and she introduced • I spoke to them of desperate, hungry, eyes wide open. herself to me and succinctly related her burnt-by-the-sun, dehydrated and story: Ben had just completed an intern- pissed-off people waiting in vain I couldn’t sleep, probably because I ship at a Jacksonville, Florida newspaper for help from federal officials and knew that closing my eyes was not an and was supposed to return to Austin for who might not be in the mood for option until all of my students were classes and an internship at the Austin the arrival of a bunch of white col- safely back home in Austin. The days American-Statesman newspaper. Now lege kids with their expensive digital turned into a swirling cloud of class his mother couldn’t locate him. cameras. It was likely not going to work, lectures and dealing with the It was worse than that. In spite of mean much to these people that confusing images that came from the his mother’s admonition to avoid the these young visitors were innocent hurricane sites. These photographs hurricane, Ben, a photojournalism and well-meaning. portrayed actions that made me feel student, had gone directly into its path. • I suggested making eye contact, let- uncomfortable about what human be- His mother was not only worried that ting their possible subjects know that ings are capable of doing to one another, he would fail to complete his internship they were dealing with a genuine per- but other images left me with feelings or graduate next May, but she was ter- son. I let them know how people can that made me glad to be a part of the rified now for her son’s safety. connect with each other through a human race. I understood her fear. At that mo- look that passes one to the other. The In time, my students all returned to ment, I felt as if I were a parent, too, as look could say “Go away,” or it could Austin. Their spirit was indomitable, and I watched my children—my students— say “Look at me. I want someone to as we talked about their experiences I bursting with the desire to run out and know what is happening here.” could tell that they’d approached the
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 119 Nieman Notes
victims of the flooding in a manner —1961— After 300 Years,” and “Taming the Storm: sensitive to their plight. They’d also The Life and Times of Judge Frank M. drawn many lessons from their experi- Chanchal Sarkar died on October Johnson, Jr., and the South’s Fight Over ences. Mark told me he’d learned more 10th, after a long illness, at a hospital Civil Rights,” which won him the 1994 in the two days he photographed the in New Delhi, India. Sarkar prepared to Robert F. Kennedy Book Award grand hurricane’s aftermath than in his previ- become a lawyer in Great Britain, but prize. Bass and Thompson previously ous two years in college. instead of practicing law he returned to published “Ol’ Strom: An Unauthor- It was my good fortune to have Calcutta to become an assistant editor ized Biography of Strom Thurmond” worked with these students as they at The Statesman. He later moved to (Longstreet Press, 1998). made coverage of this hurricane their Delhi, where he was a commentator on Bass has served as a bureau chief for first leap into the void. But I found “All India Radio.” He founded the Press The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer and the this experience difficult because I, Institute of India in 1963 and was its Los Angeles Times, written for The New too, wanted to cover Katrina, yet I had director from then until 1981. He also York Times and The Washington Post, to honor my teaching commitment at wrote in various newspapers and was and currently teaches at the College of the university. However, these students active in a variety of committees on the Charleston in South Carolina. honored the teaching of their professors media. In an obituary in The Telegraph, by making some extraordinary photo- Calcutta, a colleague wrote, “I had the —1967— graphs under very difficult conditions. good fortune to serve under him in Because of the strength of their cover- a committee that selected journalists Hiranmay Karlekar, consultant age, I was able to connect some of them for an award. It was here that Sarkar’s editor of The Pioneer and a member of with a weekly national magazine. In a no-nonsense and utterly transparent the Press Council of India, has written a rare and special circumstance, Ben had attitude to work and his profession book, “Bangladesh: The Next Afghani- some of his work selected by Magnum became apparent. One could argue stan?” released in New Delhi in Novem- Photos to appear on their Web site. and differ with him, and he tried, in his ber by Sage Publications. In a review, Magnum President Thomas Hoepker always quiet way, to persuade with logic the book has been described as “lucid, commented that he found a number of and reason. One could see that there hard-hitting, and well-documented,” Ben’s images to be gripping. was always a mind at work, not petty analyzing the historical, social, cultural The students are continuing their vested interests.” And another colleague and political circumstances accounting work knowing that this experience said, “He never generalized in the tone for the rise of Islamist fundamentalism marks only the beginning of their of media pundits; he focused on spe- in Bangladesh. Karlekar has been editor journey as photojournalists. They are cifics and drew the larger picture; the of The Hindustan Times, deputy editor passionate and committed to making words never deceived or deluded the of The Indian Express, and associate edi- a difference in this world. They have reader but drew her to understanding tor of The Statesman and the Hindust- varied approaches to their work, but the importance of the issue.” han Standard. He has also published two they are speaking with their hearts and He is survived by his wife, Lotika Bengali novels based on Bangladesh’s their brains, and I applaud them. n Sarkar. liberation struggle, “Bhabisyater Ateet” (1994) and “Mehrunnisa” (1995), and a A selection of photographs taken by —1966— socio-political book in English, “In the Reed’s students appears in the End Mirror of Mandal: Social Justice, Caste, Note on page 125. Jack Bass and coauthor Marilyn W. Class and the Individual” (1992), which Thompson’s book, “Strom: The Compli- was sponsored by the Indian Council Eli Reed, a 1983 Nieman Fellow, is a cated Personal and Political Life of Strom of Cultural Relations to mark 50 years photojournalist and professor at the Thurmond,” was published in May by of India’s independence. University of Texas at Austin. An ar- PublicAffairs. Bass is the author of sev- ticle based on the Hurricane Katrina eral additional books on the American —1969— experiences Reed describes on this South, including “Unlikely Heroes,” page appeared on the digitaljour- “Porgy Comes Home: South Carolina Paul J. Hemphill has a new book nalist.org Web site. Also on that site out, “Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank are essays from Reed’s University of Williams,” published by Viking this fall. Texas students about their experienc- In the Notes section of the Fall Hemphill began his writing career cov- es covering the hurricane and some issue of Nieman Reports, the incorrect ering sports, then was a columnist for of their photographs in the form of a year was given for the Louis M. Lyons the Atlanta Journal. He began writing multimedia presentation. Award winner. Shahla Sherkat received his first book, “The Nashville Sound,” the Lyons award for the year 2005, not during his Nieman year, and since then Y [email protected] 2004. We regret the error. he has written 14 more books—15 in all—four of them novels. His books are especially acknowledged for their
120 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Nieman Notes depictions of the Southern working class, and comments and reviews about The Murrey and Frances Marder Fund “Lovesick Blues” connect the author with his subject—“one good old boy The Murrey and Frances Marder Fund, established in November 1996, has writing about another.” In a review by provided the Nieman Foundation with support for four Watchdog Journalism Richard Hyatt in the Ledger-Enquirer Conferences and the Nieman watchdog Project, which was launched in the in Columbus, Georgia, Hyatt compares spring of 2004. The support has also allowed the publishing of conference the audiences of the writer and the excerpts and articles on Watchdog journalism both in Nieman Reports and on singer: “Paul Hemphill writes about the Nieman Web site. The following is an accounting of expenditures from the Southerners with grease under their fund as of October 31, 2005: nails, whiskey on their breath, and a chip on their shoulder—the same blue Balance at 10/31/04: $232,577.69 collar folks who thought Hank Williams was singing about them.” And Garrison Income: $103,113.52 Keillor, author and host of radio’s “A Interest on balance at end of FY 2004-05 (at 6/30/05) 3,290.29 Prairie Home Companion,” said that Distribution from endowment for FY 2005-06 (7/1/05-6/30/06) 99,823.23 Hemphill told Williams’s story “with economy and grace.” Expenses: $149,892.27 Hemphill lives in Atlanta, Georgia. Editors’ and Interns’ fees 138,545.33 Travel/Lodging/Meals 7,468.59 Web server and domain registration fees 2,788.11 —1972— Miscellaneous 1,090.24
John S. Carroll, former Los An- Balance at 10/31/05: $185,798.94 geles Times editor, will be a fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics & Public Policy starting tom up. An essential book for more —1978— in January 2006. Carroll was editor of fully understanding how the walls came The Sun in Baltimore from 1991-1998 tumblin’ down.” Danny Schechter writes: “I am on and has worked at the Lexington (Ky.) fire, enraged by the role much of TV Herald and the Lexington Herald-Leader —1975— news still plays in sanitizing the cover- at roles including editor, vice president, age of the war in Iraq. When my first and executive vice president. Michael Ruby has collaborated book on the subject, ‘Embedded’—the Carroll recently received the Ameri- with Governor Bill Richardson of New first dissection of media coverage of can Society of Newspaper Editors Mexico on a book about Richardson’s the war, based on my Mediachannel. Leadership Award and the Committee life and political career entitled “Be- org blogs—was largely ignored after its to Protect Journalists Burton Benjamin tween Worlds: The Making of an online release in July 2003, I turned to Memorial Award for lifetime achieve- American Life.” It was published by filmmaking, directing ‘WMD: Weapons ment in defense of press freedom. Putnam Adult, part of Penguin Group of Mass Deception,’ which has played in (USA), and available in bookstores in theaters, festivals and on TV worldwide. —1973— November. The book focuses on Rich- Now the DVD of that film will be part of ardson’s multicultural heritage—his a new book, ‘When News Lies: Media Wayne Greenhaw’s 18th book, “The father was an American, his mother Complicity and the Iraq War,’ which Thunder Of Angels: The Montgomery Mexican—and on his remarkable rise in brings the story to date. It will be out Bus Boycott and the People who Broke Democratic politics as a congressman, in January from SelectBooks and argues the Back of Jim Crow,” written with international hostage negotiator, United that a media crime was committed as Donnie Williams, was published this Nations ambassador, energy secretary, serious as any war crime. To add more fall by Lawrence Hill Books, an imprint and state governor. Ruby has edited fuel to my fire, I have also published a of Chicago Review Press. The book re- and ghostwritten several other books, media manifesto called ‘The Death of ceived a starred prepublication review including “Tell Me a Story: Fifty Years Media: And the Fight to Save Democracy’ from Library Journal, and author Studs and 60 Minutes in Television,” Don (Melville House Publishers). Read more Terkel said: “This revelatory book tells Hewitt’s account of his long career at at www.newsdissector.org/store.htm.” the bone-deep truth of the Montgomery CBS and his founding of the newsmaga- Bus Boycott …. Especially revealing is zine program, “60 Minutes.” Ruby has —1980— the role of E.D. Nixon, ex-Pullman car worked for BusinessWeek, Newsweek, porter and head of the Montgomery U.S. News & World Report, and the Acel Moore has retired from the NAACP. It was a victory from the bot- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Philadelphia Inquirer after 43 years.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 121 Nieman Notes
However, he will remain on the mast- arrived at CBC Ottawa in 1970. issue (Spring 2005) of Nieman Reports head with the title associate editor, “It’s just the right time for me, even that I received recently. emeritus, will continue writing his though it will be hard to leave. I’ve never “The name of the Web site is O Eco column from time to time, and will act loved a job more,” she said in a news (www.oeco.com.br). It began because as adviser to Executive Editor Amanda release. “At this stage of my life, I need a famous Brazilian journalist, Marcos Bennett for the next two years. to make more room for other projects Sá Corrêa, one of the country’s most Moore started at the Inquirer in I’m interested in.” prominent political scientists, Sérgio 1962 as a copy boy. In 1977, he won Finlay first arrived at CBC to work Abranches, and I were tired of pay- a Pulitzer Prize, the Heywood Broun, on a television magazine in 1970. Five ing attention to Brazilian politics and National Headliner, and the Robert F. years later she became cohost of CBC fed up with the quality of journalism Kennedy awards for a series on the Television’s “Take 30,” after which being practiced right now in Brazil. abuse of inmates at the Farview State she hosted her own program, “Finlay We decided to turn our attention to Hospital in Farview, Pennsylvania. He and Company,” from 1976-1977. After issues that were not well covered and is a former director of the American a short move to CTV to cohost and that could produce good stories. The Society of Newspaper Editors, a past produce the lifestyle program “Live It environment seemed to be a perfect president and founding member of Up” (1978), Finlay returned to CBC as choice. It is a fundamental issue for the the Philadelphia Association of Black cohost of “The Journal,” a nightly cur- last country remaining on earth that Journalists, and a founding member rent-affairs program. can preserve nature on a continental of the National Association of Black Finlay also hosted CBC Radio’s “Sun- scale, and it is full of untold stories. Journalists (NABJ). day Morning” and the weekly media We all started to cover it on a freelance In all, Moore has won more than watchdog program “Now The Details.” basis, giving ourselves time to deepen 100 journalism excellence and com- Her last position with the CBC was as our reporting and allowing us to write munity service awards and, this year, he cohost of “As It Happens,” where she longer pieces. received the Robert C. Maynard Legend stayed for eight years. “At one point, we decided we should Award, given by The National Associa- Finlay plans to contribute to CBC try to turn it into a business and so O tion of Minority Media Executives, and Radio on a freelance basis. Eco was born, more precisely on the The Legacy Award by the NABJ for his last week of August 2004. It is still not work on diversity in the newspaper —1992— a business, but it has become the most industry. influential publication on the environ- At the Inquirer, Moore created two Deborah Amos was interviewed for ment in Brazil, which, so far, is perfectly training programs. One, the Art Peters the book “Feet to the Fire: The Media fine with us. Memorial Fellowship Program, is an After 9/11,” a collection of conversa- “We are trying to get a grant that internship program for copyediting and tions edited by Kristina Borjesson and would allow us to edit the site in English. has resulted in at least 50 minorities presented as a “serious, first-hand ac- We should be receiving an answer on beginning their careers at daily news- count of contemporary mainstream that towards the end of November.” papers since 1979. And in a second journalism.” The book is separated program at the Journalism Career into 21 interviews with security and —1995— Development Workshop, dozens of intelligence reporters, news executives, Philadelphia-area high school students Middle East experts, White House cor- Kathryn Kross has a new job, as have been trained since 1984. respondents, and others who provide mentioned in ABC’s The Note: “In yet Bennett writes, “As a member of our insights into the interactions between another scary-smart move, Bloomberg community, he has been both a voice political power and the media in the News has hired Kathryn Kross to run for the powerless and a sounding board post-9/11 world. its Washington broadcast operations.” for the powerful. As a journalist, he Amos, a foreign correspondent for It’s part of “Bloomberg’s significant has been a role model. An icon in our National Public Radio, was interviewed expansion of its television operations industry, he has won just about every in March 2005. She spoke in part about in D.C.” journalistic honor; a trusted colleague, multiple cultural misunderstandings Kross was previously the deputy he has been a valued adviser to every and missed opportunities in Iraq. Her director of the Center for Public Integ- editor for four decades. This paper was interview is titled “Marhaba Keefik! ‘Two rity. She spent nearly 20 years at ABC a richer place for his presence.” American Soldiers Died Today.’” News, more than half of that time as a Chris Hedges, ’99, also appears in producer for “Nightline,” where she —1986— the book. won five Emmys for her work. From there, she spent almost three years Mary Lou Finlay, host of the Cana- Manoel (Kiko) Brito writes: “My at CNN in Washington, first as deputy dian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) brave little Web site, dedicated to the bureau chief and then as bureau chief, program “As It Happens,” retired No- coverage of the environment in Brazil, where she managed a staff of nearly vember 30th from CBC. Finlay first has just published a story on the water 300 people.
122 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 Nieman Notes
—1998— Times issued an apology for its prewar U.S. Postal Service coverage. His interview, titled, “We’re Statement of Ownership Philip J. Cunningham brings us up Not Mother Teresas in Flack Jackets,” Management and Circulation to date on his work: “I’m in Beijing, busy begins with his thoughts on the Times’s and fully engaged in various journalistic apology. Title of publication: Nieman Reports. Pub- pursuits. I’m writing a long piece for Deborah Amos, ’92, also appears lication no. USPS 430-650. Date of filing 10/17/05. Frequency of issue: Quarterly. CJR [Columbia Journalism Review] on in the book. No. of issues published annually: 4. Annual media in China. I see net progress in subscription price: $20. Complete mailing information flow despite various crack- —2000— address of known office of publication: One downs in part because the Internet is too Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2009 big to tame and too useful to do away Patrick J. McDonnell is now the Middlesex County. Complete mailing address of the headquarters or general business of- with, in part because China is getting bureau chief in Buenos Aires for the fice of the publishers: One Francis Avenue, more comfortable with market journal- Los Angeles Times. He had been the Cambridge, MA 02138-2009. Full names ism, but most of all I see tremendous Baghdad bureau chief for the Times. and complete mailing address of publisher resourcefulness, tenacity and courage and editor: Bob Giles, One Francis Avenue, on the part of Chinese journalists. —2003— Cambridge, MA 02138-2009; Melissa Ludtke, One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138- “I write weekly for the Bangkok Post 2009. Owner: Nieman Foundation at Harvard on Asian political developments, and Alejandra Leglisse has been ap- University, One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, I do regular political commentary on pointed chief of the department of Infor- MA 02138-2009. Known bondholders, mort- ‘Dialogue,’ a cutting-edge discussion mation and Comunications Technology gagees, and other security holders: none. program modeled partly after BBC’s (ICT) teleapplications development and The purpose, function and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status ‘HardTalk,’ which ventures where few research at the Mexican Commission for for Federal income tax purposes have not others dare to tread in China’s circum- the Indigenous Peoples Development changed during preceding 12 months. Extent spect political commentary world and, based in Mexico City. She writes, “This and nature of circulation (first number is av- interestingly, it’s usually broadcast live, department’s focus is to generate the erage number of copies of each issue during on CCTV International, with an esti- necessary infrastructure to facilitate ICT preceding 12 months, and second is actual number of copies of single issue published mated domestic and foreign audience access and online resources to the indig- nearest to filing date): Total number copies: of 10 million viewers.” enous peoples communities according 6,250; 7,000. Paid circulation, sales through to their own needs and aspirations. dealers and carriers, street vendors and coun- Xiaoping Chen writes: “After eight “Another of my responsibilities is ter sales: none; none. Mail subscription: 470; years at Harvard, I moved to the Uni- to support and advise the indigenous 431. Total paid circulation: 470; 431. Free distribution by mail, carrier or other means, versity of Wisconsin Law School in Sep- people on how to organize themselves samples, complimentary and other free cop- tember of this year. I entered the SJD to work in a position for the World ies: 4,378; 4,729. Total distribution: 5,248; program [Doctor of Juridical Science], Summit on the Information Society. 5,868. Copies not distributed, office use, left which is the highest law degree at a The objective is to develop and foster over, unaccounted, spoiled after printing: U.S. law school. I will spend four-five a clear statement and take concrete 999; 1,132. Return from news agents: none; none. Total: 6,247; 7,000. I certify that the years at Madison, where the law school steps to establish the foundations for an statements made by me above are correct is located.” Information Society for all, reflecting all and complete: Bob Giles. n the different interests at stake, bridging —1999— the digital divide and the information rights.” Iraq. “Rioux concludes that the destinies Chris Hedges appears in the book Leglisse still freelances for a local of our two nations are too connected to “Feet to the Fire: The Media After 9/11,” newspaper and recently joined the ignore each other,” writes Rivard. a collection of interviews edited by Kris- Mexican Climbing and Mountaineering tina Borjesson. Presented as a “serious, Association. —2006— first-hand account of contemporary mainstream journalism,” the book is —2004— Mary C. Curtis, executive features separated into 21 interviews with se- editor/columnist at The Charlotte curity and intelligence reporters, news Christian Rioux has a new book (N.C.) Observer, is a first-place winner executives, Middle East experts, White out, “Carnets d’Amérique,” published in of the 2005 Carmage Walls Prize for House correspondents, and others who French by Boréal in Montreal, Canada. Commentary given out by the South- provide insights into the interactions According to Nieman Fellow ’96 Jacques ern Newspaper Publishers Association between political power and the media Rivard, Rioux’s book helps French- (SNPA). Curtis, who won in the above in the post-9/11 world. Canadians to better understand the 50,000-circulation category, received a The interview with Hedges, a for- United States and its policies at a time plaque and a prize of $1,000 at the SNPA eign/war correspondent, took place when anti-Americanism has become “a Annual Convention in November held in May 2004 on the day The New York la mode,” following 9/11 and the war in this year in Palm Beach, Florida.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 123 Nieman Notes
Curtis won the award for a collection meeting of a Confederate heritage forget to breathe.” of five local commentaries, including group in a banquet room in Captain’s “My Rebel Journey” also received “My Rebel Journey,” her personal explo- Galley restaurant in Matthews. The the 2004 Thomas Wolfe Award from ration of Civil War heritage groups that mostly male crowd—along with the few the North Carolina Associated Press. In “contributed enormously to community women and children—sing: 2004, Curtis took first place in commen- understanding, historical perceptions, ‘In Dixie Land I’ll take my stand /To tary (over-150,000 circulation) in the and racial sensitivity,” according to the live and die in Dixie’ National Association of Black Journal- judges. “The song ends with a Rebel yell that ists’ Salute to Excellence contest. n The column begins: “It’s the monthly hangs in the air. And for a moment, I
Journalists’ Losses in the Pakistan Earthquake
Soon after the devastating earthquake hit Pakistan on October 8th, the Pakistan Press Foundation [PPF] sent several of its members on a mission to the affected areas to determine the extent of dam- age journalists experienced, both personal and professional. One of the members of this mission was Owais Aslam Ali, secretary general of PPF and a 2002 Nieman Fellow, who sent us the foundation’s preliminary assessment of the losses and needs of journalists and media organizations in these areas of Pakistan. What follows are brief excerpts from sections of this PPF report describing the damage caused by the earthquake. This preliminary report also addresses suggested changes in government policies as well as the necessity for long-term training of journalists in this area, the need for greater support for women journalists, and the development of community radio. The full report is avail- able on the foundation’s Web site, www.pakistanpressfoundation.org.
ournalists and other personnel One hundred and nine houses of media nalists need mobile telephones and working for media organizations personnel were destroyed and another digital cameras to become functional Jsuffered terrible losses due to the 12 suffered damage to their houses … again. Although these requirements are earthquake. Two hundred and forty-two buildings housing radio and television modest, journalists in these areas have persons working for media suffered stations and the press club have been lost everything and are not in any posi- personal or property losses in areas destroyed. The broadcast tower of Paki- tion to acquire the equipment without covered in the first phase of the PPF mis- stan Television has also been destroyed external assistance. In the longer term, sion. Eleven were killed and 17 injured. but, fortunately, the broadcast tower media personnel and organizations Sixty-nine family members of media of Radio Pakistan is still standing. The will need interest-free or low-interest personnel were killed and 15 injured. building renting office space to daily loans to enable them to acquire profes- One hundred and seventeen houses of newspapers, Siasat and Mahasib, has sional equipment. Media development media personnel were destroyed and become structurally unstable …. organizations could also develop cre- another 54 suffered damage. Out of 20 Journalists of the affected areas have ative microfinancing programs to help press clubs and union of journalists in suggested that in view of the crucial role journalists acquire laptop computers, the area, premises of 12 were either of the media in keeping the country and digital cameras, etc. …. destroyed or damaged. In most cases, the world informed of developments Like the rest of the community, many furniture and equipment in damaged in monitoring effectiveness of devel- journalists in the area have been trau- premises of media organizations were opment activities, the rehabilitation of matized by the earthquake, and some destroyed. media should be given top priority in among them would need psychiatric The majority of losses to media reconstruction activities …. Media as- counseling on a mid- to long-term basis. personnel and organizations occurred sistance and development organizations Their trauma is worsened by the fact that in Muzaffarabad, the biggest media should give priority to providing equip- being homeless, most of the journalists center in the earthquake-affected area. ment that will enable local journalists to are living in tents with recurring panic Ten media personnel were killed in the restart sending news reports to national due to frequent aftershocks jolting the city and 11 were injured. Fifty family and regional publications and television area several times a day. n members of media personnel were channels. Press clubs need computers killed and another 10 were injured. and fax machines, and individual jour-
124 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 End Note End Note
Photojournalism Students Cover Hurricane Katrina
These photographs were taken by Eli Reed’s photojournalism students at the University of Texas at Austin. Reed’s essay on teaching and guiding these students as they prepared to cover the hurricane’s aftermath begins on page 119.
“Han Nguyen stands atop the remains of a Vietnam- ese grocery store where he took shelter on August 29th when Hurricane Katrina struck Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. After waves had obliterated the building, Nguyen survived by holding onto a tree for 11 hours.” Photo by Sloan Breeden.
“High above the flooded neighborhoods of New Orleans on September 5th, a member of the National Guard surveys the damage left by Hurricane Katrina when levees broke a week earlier.” Photo by Sloan Breeden.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 125 End Note
“A young girl stares at the scene at the Astrodome in Houston. I have several shots of this girl with the same far- away look on her face, where she seemed sort of frozen for a few moments.” Photo by Anne Drabicky.
“A man looks for relatives and helps other people look for theirs as well at the Houston Astrodome as he walks slowly between the many rows of cots.” Photo by Anne Drabicky.
“Sharon Beasley helps her friend Katrina Blackwood wrap the remaining valuables left in her home in Gulfport, Mississippi. Bleach and other sanitizers were passed out by local volunteers to help residents clean their homes.” Photo by Meg Loucks.
126 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 End Note
“Members of the National Guard patrol New Orleans’ French Quarter on Labor Day, one week after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.” Photo by Mark Mulligan.
“A woman passes through a local church in Bay St. Louis, Mis- sissippi after Hurri- cane Katrina whipped through their town. The church had been recently renovated and, although the interior was dam- aged, the stained glass windows survived the storm.” Photo by Meg Loucks.
“A statue in the Bay Catholic Elementary School in Bay St. Louis suffered three feet of flooding in Hurricane Katrina. September 10th.” Photo by Rob Strong.
Nieman Reports / Winter 2005 127 End Note
“In a brief moment of joy, Troy Lee, left, embraces his friend Joel Wallace when they discovered each other at the Bay High School shelter two days after Hurricane Katrina, in Waveland, Mississippi.” Photo by Benjamin Sklar.
“As Hurricane Katrina rages, emergency volunteer crews attempt to rescue the Taylor family from the roof of their car. Floodwaters overpow- ered and trapped the car on U.S. Highway 90 during the storm on August 29, 2005, in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. All six members of the family were safely rescued.” Photo by Benjamin Sklar.
128 Nieman Reports / Winter 2005