Nieman Reports Fall 2005 Vol. 59 No. 3
Nieman Reports The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University
Vol. 59 No. 3 Fall 2005 Five Dollars
Covering Indian Country
Journalist’s Trade Changing Newspapers, Changing News Comparing National and Local Campaign Coverage
Words & Reflections War Photography to Opinion Journalism “… to promote and elevate the standards of journalism”
—Agnes Wahl Nieman, the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation.
Vol. 59 No. 3 Nieman Reports Fall 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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5 Covering Indian Country 7 Challenges Native and Non-Native Journalists Confront By Jodi Rave
Watchdog 10 The Difficult Path of a Tribal Watchdog Reporter By Bonnie Red Elk
Watchdog 13 Freedom of the Press in Indian Country By Tim Giago
15 Covering Indian Country: How an Outsider Gets In By Steve Magagnini
17 The Healing Power of Well-Reported Words By Larry Oakes
21 Taking Time to Understand the Story to Be Told By Michael Moore
23 Attitudes and Mindsets Hinder Journalists in Their Coverage By Mary Ann Weston
25 When Reporters Lack Access and Knowledge By Dorreen Yellow Bird
28 Cultures Clash in Coverage of a School Shooting By Dan Gunderson
30 Broadcast News: The Absence of Native Storytellers By Mark Trahant
32 The Internet: Continuing the Legacy of Storytelling By Victor Merina
34 Finding a Different Path Into the Newsroom By Denny McAuliffe
36 Native News Honors Project By Carol Van Valkenburg
38 A Student’s Most Memorable Story By Anne E. Pettinger
Journalist’s Trade 42 Changing Newspapers, Changing News Watchdog 44 A Newsroom’s Fortress Walls Collapse By Steven A. Smith
48 A Newspaper Talks With Readers in a Cyber Town Square By Patrick Dougherty
50 A New Journalism for Democracy in a New Age A Speech By Bill Kovach
53 Transforming the Gathering, Editing and Distribution of News By Francis Pisani
56 The Transparent Life of Newspaper Blogs Remarks By John Robinson
60 The Ascent of Blogging By David D. Perlmutter and Misti McDaniel
65 Traditional Media in the Digital Age By Douglas Ahlers and John Hessen
Cover photo: Mecalita Wystalucy, 102 years old, a Zuni religious elder from Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. Photo by © Lee Marmon. 68 The News Media’s 30-Year Hibernation By David Carlson
72 Reinventing A Newspaper’s Web Site By Barbara A. Serrano
75 Griping About Newspaper Editorials Doesn’t Change By Michael Gartner
78 Getting Acquainted With Newspapers and Journalism By Susan E. Tifft
80 Organizing the New News By Philip Meyer
83 When Major News Has a Very Short Shelf Life By Russell Frank
43 Comparing National and Local Campaign Coverage
85 Looking Behind the Scenes of Political Coverage By Shanto Iyengar, William F. Woo, Jennifer McGrady
90 Words & Reflections 91 Opinion’s Place in Journalism By Ray Jenkins
92 The Silent Takeover of American Journalism By Gilbert Cranberg
95 Going to War With a Camera as Artillery Text and Photos By David Leeson
98 When What War Is About Becomes Invisible By Steve Northup
99 Probing the Successes and Failures of the Washington Press Corps By James McCartney
101 Blending Economic Ideas With the Persuasive Power of Journalism By John Geddes
102 When Media Create the Message By Howard Shapiro
104 Time and Techniques Define A ‘New New Journalism’ By Madeleine Blais
3 Curator’s Corner: Mainstream Media and the Survival of Journalism By Bob Giles
106 Nieman Notes Compiled by Lois Fiore
106 Shahla Sherkat Receives the 2004 Louis M. Lyons Award Speech by Roza Eftekhari 107 Class Notes
111 End Note: A Long Journey Home Text and Photos By Lester Sloan
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Curator’s Corner
Mainstream Media and the Survival of Journalism
In March, Nieman Foundation Curator Bob Giles welcomed country facing difficult challenges, the public needs our skills, to Lippmann House the participants in a symposium cohosted experience and most of all our professionalism to give them by The Media Center at The American Press Institute. Called the vital information they need to make good decisions about “Whose News? Media, Technology and the Common Good,” their lives and our nation’s future.” this two-day event brought together people whose professional A study released recently by the Knight Foundation re- lives intersect with the changing environment in which news flected on what’s happening with the readers and viewers of is being gathered and disseminated. Edited excerpts from tomorrow. It uncovered what has been described as “a shock- his remarks follow. ing level of student ignorance about the First Amendment, particularly its free speech and free press guarantees.” More ne question we will address in this symposium is than one-third thinks the First Amendment gives too much whether the traditions of journalism will survive. This free press protection, and most students don’t understand Ois a question of critical interest to the Nieman Foun- what free speech is. dation because our educational purpose is directly linked to A report from The McKinsey Quarterly questioned whether elevating the standards of journalism. It is hard not to be aware the answer to dwindling newspaper readership might be a of the controversies and conflicts swirling around mainstream move to the tabloid format. It noted that several important journalism. Just how timely this gathering European broadsheets have been con- is can be seen in recent stories that reflect verted into tabs, and the format has on the state of journalism. Or what Bill ‘If journalism is seen proved popular, with rising circulation Berkowitz of AlterNet refers to as “the sorry in the next year. But changing formats state of journalism these days.” as just another hungry carries the big risk of influencing more This month the Columbia Journalism special interest, the public churn because U.S. papers are heavily Review devoted an editorial to the idea dependent on home-delivered circu- that “it’s time to reconnect the press and will toss the good out with lation, and these readers are more the public …. If journalism is seen as just the bad. That may already resistant to change. another hungry special interest, the public Lou Ureneck, a teacher of business will toss the good out with the bad. That be happening.’ and economics journalism at Boston may already be happening,” the edito- — Columbia Journalism University, writing a Nieman Reports rial warned, as it cited a “plaintive letter” Review Editorial review of “The Vanishing Newspaper,” posted on Romenesko last month by Da- a new book by Phil Meyer at the Uni- vid Cay Johnston of The New York Times: versity of North Carolina, summed up “Just what has gone wrong in American the current business culture of many journalism? Fewer people pay attention. More of those who newspaper companies: “In a period of declining circulation do … reject all or part of the news. There is hostility and and public trust, it is a commentary on our times that budgets suspicion that reporters and editors and producers detect …. have become the key point of contact between editors and What does it mean for our democracy that so many people publishers (or corporate CEO’s) …. The concept of increasing ignore or disbelieve the people whose job it is to watchdog the investment in editorial quality, or even moderating the our government? What does it mean that trust seems to be impulse to cut newsroom budgets, has become a battlefield. under broad assault?” On one side: editors with a blind faith in the power of potent A commentary on Barron’s Online focused on the crisis of journalism to win readers and improve society. On the other confidence confronting the mainstream media, combined with side: business-oriented managers with an unbending com- a technological revolution and structural economic change. mitment to controlling costs and hitting the numbers that Has this created “what can only be described as a perfect reward investors.” storm, especially for newspapers and broadcast outlets?” the In her new book about broadcast news called “News Flash,” Barron’s article asked. “Print’s business model is imploding as Bonnie Anderson, a former executive at CNN, wrote that younger readers turn toward free tabloids and electronic media “It’s all about money, a desperate attempt to hang on to the to get news. It has become fashionable these days for many in huge profits news had earned over the years. And that is far the media to indulge in self-flagellation, hail the emergence more important to the corporations than the people’s right of ‘citizen journalists,’ and applaud the death of dinosaurs to know, even more important than a healthy democracy.” In who ‘don’t get it.’” The Barron’s commentary concluded on a review of Anderson’s book for Nieman Reports, Rebecca a supportive note for the mainstream media: “In a polarized MacKinnon, a former CNN bureau chief, writes that “Anderson
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Curator’s Corner
does not paint a pretty picture of American TV news. It is • Opening online news archives for free public access might a world in which the obsessive focus on viewer ratings, the make business sense and build audience loyalty. parent corporation’s quarterly earnings and stock prices, have caused news executives to lose sight—even lose interest—in Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz recently ob- the American public interest.” Or what the planners of this served that “millions of people with access to a wide audience symposium are referring to as the “common good.” are looking over the shoulders of journalists, or are practic- On AlterNet, Berkowitz identifies John Stauber and Shel- ing journalism themselves …. Many bloggers are careful and don Rampton of the Center for Media and Democracy as thought provoking, others partisan or mean-spirited. But they taking on an ambitious task of “reinventing journalism”—a are here to stay, and by and large they provide a healthy check mission driven by their exposures of “how corporate shills on those who once monopolized the news agenda.” and government spokespersons have manipulated the media In an editorial last Sunday [February 26], the St. Peters- and undermined democracy burg Times found this to be for more than a decade.” a “healthy development … In a dean’s note to the ‘These are tough times in journalism, which bloggers, for all their students and alumni at Co- excesses, have shown they lumbia University’s Gradu- not just ethically, but also economically, have a role to play in hold- ate School of Journalism, professionally and politically. There is an ing mainstream journalists Nick Lemann observes that accountable …. Mainstream “These are tough times in ever-increasing amount of material that flies journalists have nothing to journalism, not just ethically, the flag of journalism, but doesn’t qualify by fear from bloggers if they but also economically, profes- remain true to fundamental sionally and politically. There our standards. …’ — Nicholas Lemann standards of accuracy and is an ever-increasing amount fairness. They must remain of material that flies the flag cautious before passing along of journalism, but doesn’t information from blogs or qualify by our standards. All of us are concerned about the reacting to their charges, while continuing to learn from a depth of our audiences’ loyalty to what we’d consider the form of mass media that is evolving before our eyes.” best in journalism.” Finally, Mike Getler, who is winding up his tour as The An item by Eric Boehlert that was posted on Salon notes Washington Post’s ombudsman, writes that his perch has that “for the last four years the persistent storyline about the been “an interesting spot from which to watch all the angst White House’s relationship with the press has focused on the unfold. The attacks on the mainstream media, and the at- administration’s discipline, denial of access, and ability to stay tempts to undermine them, are indeed escalating. More on message. But in the wake of revelations about the aggres- and more e-mails have a nasty, threatening, ideological tone. sive and unprecedented tactics employed by the White House, The number of people who claim they are canceling their that relatively benign interpretation is being reexamined. subscriptions because they don’t like the coverage of this or Recent headlines about paid-off pundits, video press releases that is increasing.” disguised as news telecasts, and the remarkable press access Getler continues: “The blogosphere is a wonderful thing, granted to a right-wing pseudojournalist working under a but it doesn’t seem so new to me because it does what readers phony name, have led many observers to conclude that the have always done: read, write, analyze, complain, correct. It White House is not simply aggressively managing the news, has always been true that if you make a mistake on even the but is out to sabotage journalism from within, to undermine most arcane matter in a newspaper, someone out there will the integrity and reputation of the press corps.” catch it and let you know.” At a Harvard conference on blogging in January organized The Web and the explosion of blogs have greatly expanded by the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at the Law the public reservoir of knowledge and understanding in im- School and the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics & portant ways by challenging the accuracy of reporting and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, several adding analysis. Getler argues that newspapers are “central take-away points were identified: to an informed citizenry … their special role cannot be filled by competing media …. Nothing out there is going to supply • There is room for both professional news organizations you with the extraordinary daily content of the Post, The New and citizens’ media, such as blogs. York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and • Blogging and journalism are different, though sometimes other fine newspapers.” they intersect. As these many strains swirl around the mainstream media, • Ethics and credibility are key, but there are no clear answers it is our hope that as we consider this important landscape, on how credibility is won, lost or retained. we can hold a tight focus on the standards of our craft and • Many mainstream news organizations now see using some our obligation to serve the common good. n form of participatory citizens’ media as a way to build loyalty, trust and preserve credibility. Y giles @fas.harvard.edu
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country
Jodi Rave, who reports on Native issues for Lee Enterprises, describes some difficulties Native and non-Native journalists confront in reporting about what happens in Indian Country. Because the financial survival of the majority of tribal newspapers depends on tribal support, “newspaper editors tend to stay away from news that calls tribal leaders into question.” This absence of watchdog oversight has consequences for the tribe’s citizens whose lives are affected by policies and decisions made by tribal leaders. In non-Native media, “native voices … rarely seem to permeate the daily news pages.” The consequence is that “stories tend to be written with a confined perimeter, written without context, and written based on generalities.” Photographs by Ken Blackbird accompany her words and appear with other articles. For nearly 30 years Bonnie Red Elk reported for and served as editor of the Wotanin Wowapi, the tribal newspaper on Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana. Early on she attended tribal government meetings, and the paper published what she witnessed during the council’s deliberations. In time, complaints about such watchdog reporting were voiced by council members, yet as editor she continued this coverage. Red Elk writes about her tumultuous journey at the Wotanin as she worked to maintain the newspaper’s independent voice. Tim Giago created the Lakota Times, which “became the only independently owned Indian weekly publication in America,” and he speaks to the financial and community barriers to a free press in Indian Country. As he explains, “Some newspapers have crossed editorial swords with tribal leaders and vanished.” Writing from the perspective of a non-Native who has reported extensively about Indian Country, Steve Magagnini, a reporter at The Sacramento Bee, offers tips he has learned through trial and error. One lesson: “The key seems to be to present Indian perspectives— and to write about solutions as well as problems, renaissance as well as dissonance.” When non-Native Larry Oakes returned to the Leech Lake Ojibwe Reservation, where he’d lived as a child, he was there to report a story for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Minnesota about an upsurge in youth violence and in their abuse of alcohol and drugs. After “The Lost Youth of Leech Lake” was published, the tribal council convened a two-day public forum to “change the perception” the articles had created. Oakes tells what happened as the articles’ words and photographs taken by Jerry Holt forced discomforting issues to the surface. Michael Moore, a reporter at the Missoulian in Missoula, Montana, went to the Flathead Indian Reservation because of the alcohol-related deaths of two 11-year old boys and ended up devoting four months of time to reporting on the complex circumstances of children’s lives on this reservation for a series entitled “Lost Boys of the Flathead.” As Moore writes, “To report this story well, we needed to slow down.” Mary Ann Weston, author of “Native Americans in the News” and an associate professor emerita at the Medill School of Journalism, explains why journalists—past
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 and present—“have largely failed to tell Native Americans’ stories fully, accurately and, sometimes, at all.” When a school shooting took place on Red Lake Indian Reservation in March, editors and reporters at the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald relied on the reporting expertise of columnist Dorreen Yellow Bird and the trust she’d built with members of this tribe from coverage of the reservation’s less dramatic stories. Yellow Bird shares her observations—and disillusionment—about the news media’s coverage of tribal events. Dan Gunderson, a reporter with Minnesota Public Radio, also reported on the Red Lake shootings, and he describes the cultural clash he saw as reporters tried to report the story without their customary access due to tribal sovereignty. American Indians, he writes, “place high value on respect and trust and inherently distrust people when they show up asking questions and demanding answers.” Mark Trahant, editorial page editor at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and author of “Pictures of Our Nobler Selves: A History of Native American Contributions to News Media,” explores the consequences of Natives not being among those journalists who report for TV or radio stations and says improvement won’t happen “until TV news recognizes the depth of the problem.” Victor Merina, an editor for reznet, which provides online coverage of Native issues through a college network of Native reporters and photographers, writes about the valuable role the Internet is playing as it becomes “a conduit for Native Americans to tell their individual and collective stories—and for journalists to print and broadcast them.” Based at the University of Montana School of Journalism, Denny McAuliffe is reznet’s project director. He describes the varied paths that Native youngsters take in becoming journalists, including two targeted initiatives—a summer training institute and the online network (reznet)—that provide much-needed opportunities. With its wide reach, reznet is allowing Native college students to become tribal youth’s “missing role models.” At this school, journalism professor Carol Van Valkenburg also directs the Native News Honors Project in which Native and non-Native students learn how to find and tell stories in Indian Country, go to reservations to do their reporting, and publish their work with a focus on such complex topics as tribal sovereignty and race. In describing the students’ award- winning work, Van Valkenburg says, “They are hard hitting, insightful and in-depth stories about people whom the students spent time talking with and observing.” Anne E. Pettinger was among Van Valkenburg’s students who set out last spring to report on an aspect of race affecting tribal members at Rocky Boy’s Reservation near Havre, Montana. After researching the topic and hearing about tensions between Natives and business people in Havre, she and student photographer Katie Hartley set out to learn more about these interactions. The tensions and incidents that Pettinger’s story “Bordering on Racism” featured brought swift reaction from community leaders and pledges of change. “The assignment illustrated the wealth of stories waiting to be reported from these communities,” Pettinger concludes. n
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country Challenges Native and Non-Native Journalists Confront Those who tell Indian people’s stories are ‘expected to be truthful, responsible, accurate and excellent communicators.’
By Jodi Rave
ost indigenous people rise this problem is connected to a dearth Tribal Newspapers from a tradition of storytelling, of Native voices within the newsroom Ma practice continued today or the final news product. For tribal The challenge in telling accurate news throughout Indian Country. Some of the newspapers, a credibility gap exists stories, however, cuts deeper for best examples of the oral tradition take because tribal leaders often see tribal tribal newspapers. The majority of the place during Crow Fair, Tipi Capitol of news publications as public relations estimated 300 tribal newspapers and the World, where majestic cottonwoods tools, thereby preventing tribal news newsletters remain financially depen- flank 1,500 tipis near banks of the Little editors from closely examining the role dent on tribal coffers. This means tribal Big Horn River in southeast Montana. of the tribal government. newspaper editors tend to stay away These stories are told in family camps, Both mainstream-tribal press sce- from news that calls tribal leaders into the powwow arena, and on the parade narios represent the best and worst of question. In a recent sample by the route. Most are spoken in Crow or the news reporting. Mainstream newspa- Harvard University Native American Pro- Apsalooke language as part of the an- pers—like history books—have often gram, fewer than one-quarter of tribal nual celebration. The storytellers have written stories about Native people newspaper editors viewed their role as undoubtedly etched indelible memo- from a white perspective. But this is being a watchdog of tribal government. ries among all who have heard these changing. Several news outlets and One-third regarded their newspapers stories. It’s also hard to shake the visual journalism training programs are mak- as public relations tools. Thankfully, image of hundreds of Apsalooke women ing great strides in improving news three-quarters of editors surveyed felt wearing elk tooth dresses or Crow men coverage of indigenous communities. their main duty was to report the news, parading in white buckskin vests and Progress is occurring from universities but this didn’t include holding tribal pants. In the procession, horses and and foundations to tribal newspapers government leaders accountable. riders are adorned with some of the and individual reporters. The situation constitutes a travesty finest beadwork in Indian Country. As participants parade through the camp, families take the opportunity to honor the riders. A family usually designates someone to speak on behalf of the honoree who is led in front of the people while his accomplishments are reported or announced to those along the route. Not just anyone is given this news duty. The storyteller must be given the right to speak in public. And like many practitioners of the oral tradition, people holding these positions are expected to be truthful, responsible, accurate and excellent communicators. While the oral tradition continues to thrive among tribes like the Crow, the printed word appearing in many mainstream and tribal community pub- lications often begs for greater truth Sundance leader Leonard Crow Dog of Rosebud, South Dakota has his helpers raise the and accuracy. For mainstream papers center pole for a ceremony. Lincoln, Nebraska, July 2004. Photo by Ken Blackbird.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country
for tribal citizens since tribal govern- But if readers were to rely on main- Today it largely falls on mainstream ments are typically the largest em- stream news stories, it would appear news outlets to explain what’s happen- ployer on reservation lands, making otherwise. One news observer de- ing on tribal lands and in urban Indian them a critical component of the tribal scribed Indian gaming reporting as the settings. That means it is often non- economy. So not only are tribal leaders welfare mother stories of the 1980’s—a Natives who are telling Native stories, making executive decisions for the tribe, group blamed for everything wrong since only 295 self-identified Native but they also wield considerable con- in America. This reporting trend has journalists work at daily newspapers, trol over hiring and firing employees. roots with the December 2002 Time which is one half of one percent of Tribal council power is also maximized magazine series on tribal casinos. The all U.S. newsroom employees. Native when it comes to a reservation system story, which won a 2002 Sigma Delta voices in these news outlets rarely of checks and balances. The council Chi Award for magazine investigative seem to permeate the daily news pages. typically has a hand in the tribal court reporting, set a subpar standard for And they are even more nonexistent in systems, tribal administrative decisions, Indian casino reporting, paving the way broadcast news divisions. [See Mark and legal influence, which can all fall for an anything-goes style of newsgath- Trahant’s article on page 30.] under tribal council purview. ering to follow. These stories tend to This scarcity of voices makes it im- This type of power and control makes be written with a confined perimeter, perative that reporters like Steve Magag- it difficult for tribal editors to question written without context, and written nini of The Sacramento Bee continue daily tribal operations. It’s even tougher based on generalities. to cover Indian Country. He stands as when one considers that 80 percent Any tribe represents a unique set an example of how it’s possible for of tribal news sources surveyed said of circumstances. For example, even non-Natives to enter unfamiliar com- their publications received money from though tribal casinos are guided by munities, gain trust, offer critical views, tribal government coffers—nearly half the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of and become a respected reporter on received more than three-quarters of 1988, tribes share and spend their rev- Native issues. [See Magagnini’s story their operating budget from the tribe. enue differently. It’s a small example on page 15.] While the Native American Journalists of how it can be risky to paint tribes The Western Knight Center for Spe- Association (NAJA) has discussed free with one brush stroke. Indian Country cialized Journalism has also taken a step press issues at several annual conven- comprises an incredibly diverse group to help mainstream outlets improve tions, little evidence exists to show tribal of people, including 560 Native sover- Native news coverage. In March, the newspapers moving toward financial eign nations. center offered a seminar titled “Cover- independence or becoming free from While mainstream press reporters ing Native Americans in the 21st Cen- tribal council influence. A positive step, deserve criticism, that does not mean tury.” Participants learned better ways however, was taken in 2003 when the Indian Country is without naysayers. to report on areas such as health care, National Congress of American Indians, Some Native press publications offer tribal sovereignty, and gambling, giving the country’s largest and oldest Native critical views. The difference is they are particular attention to states with some advocacy organization, passed a resolu- based on fact and insider knowledge. of the largest Native populations in tion calling for tribes to support a free Native columnist Tim Giago is a frequent the country. The center has also tried and independent Native press. critic of tribal casinos. Nor are some in to increase the dialogue among those the mainstream press unable to produce reporting on Native issues. Its Cover- Improving Native Coverage a fair and balanced casino story. Among ing Indian Country blog was designed Native people that simply means they to promote best practice approaches As news operations move forward in had a chance to express their point of to reporting Native news. [See Victor the 21st century, mainstream and tribal view. In June, Fox Butterfield of The Merina’s article on page 32.] press operations must work at improv- New York Times, for example, offered a While the Western Knight seminar ing the stories told about Native people tribal perspective with a casino story he worked with midcareer journalists, at- and communities. That means creating wrote about the plight of the Tigua Tribe tention should also be paid to training opportunities for more journalists to of Texas, a rags-to-riches story about journalism students. The University of explain what’s happening in Indian the downfall of the tribe’s Speaking Montana’s Native News Honors Proj- Country. With tribal casino annual rev- Rock Casino and the ongoing investi- ect took a lead in this area more than enue most recently at $21 billion, Native gations related to the casino’s closure 13 years ago when it began teaching people are taking more high-profile involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff and mostly non-Native journalism students political and economic roles throughout the House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. to dig below the surface when cover- the country. But it’s also important for [A collection of mainstream and tribal ing indigenous communities. Student news outlets to realize this new money is press reporting—the good, bad and teams have since dedicated an entire limited to a few pockets while a plethora ugly—can be found at www.pechanga. semester to writing in-depth stories with of social and economic ills still plague net, a Web site specializing in the latest photographs related to the seven large much of Indian Country. tribal casino news.] land-based reservations in Montana.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country
Tribal members from the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation gather for Memorial Day services at the Pony Hill Cemetery, where they continue the custom of cleaning the graves of family and friends. North central Montana, 2005. Photo by Ken Blackbird.
The students’ tribal sovereignty issue, to help tribal newspapers strategize on no longer depends on money from the a 36-page tabloid, won the 2005 Robert how to become financially independent. Navajo tribal budget to get news out to F. Kennedy Journalism Award for the The training center, perhaps housed tribal citizens. best of college reporting. [See articles within the NAJA, could also empower In a news hungry age, tribal news- by Carol Van Valkenburg and Anne Pet- tribal editors to effectively challenge papers should do more than promote tinger on pages 36 and 38.] tribal government officials. Finally, NAJA community events or be public relations While mainstream outlets should should consider an educational cam- tools. It’s imperative these papers and continue to strive for better news cov- paign to help inform tribal leaders and mainstream news outlets reflect the lives erage of indigenous issues, an equal tribal citizens about the role a free press of Native people living within a system effort must be made to recruit more should play in their communities. designed to defeat them. Areas such Natives into the news profession. The It’s heartening to know that tribal as health care, education, law enforce- University of South Dakota and the editors exist who fully understand ment, land management, economic Freedom Forum teamed up five years the importance of a free press in a development, and tribal court systems ago to create the American Indian Jour- tribal democracy. The Wotanin Wowapi all call for more in-depth questioning nalism Institute, a summer journalism newspaper of the Fort Peck Assiniboine because they profoundly affect the qual- boot camp in Vermillion, South Dakota, and Sioux Tribes has stood its ground ity of Native life. Solid news reporting for Native college students. [See Denny time and again to inform readers about can provide answers and solutions. In McAuliffe’s article on page 34.] The tribal council meetings and decisions. this way, news publications can all honor program has continually increased the [See article by Bonnie Red Elk on page the age-old tradition of storytelling, number of Native reporters moving 10.] Tim Giago founded the first inde- which expects nothing less than truth into first-time reporting jobs at daily pendent Indian weekly newspaper, the and accuracy. n newspapers since its founding. Lakota Times, providing a road map While non-Native news outlets boast for a free press operation on an Indian Jodi Rave, a 2004 Nieman Fellow, several programs that better cultivate reservation. [See Giago’s article on page reports on Native issues for Lee En- the Native perspective, far fewer ex- 13.] And Tom Arviso, Jr., chief executive terprises, a chain of 58 daily newspa- amples exist to show how tribal news- officer of the Navajo Times Publishing pers in 23 states. She is based at the papers are improving coverage within Company, has waged successful effort Missoulian in Montana. their own communities. A center or to lead the Navajo Times newspaper to training institute needs to be developed financial independence. The newspaper Y [email protected]
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country
Watchdog The Difficult Path of a Tribal Watchdog Reporter ‘I asked the council politely, “What is the role of this board? Will you be looking over and deciding what news goes to print?”
By Bonnie Red Elk
o education in tribal govern- ment compares to the one I’ve Nhad during the 29 years and 11 months I worked as reporter and editor for the Wotanin Wowapi, my tribal news- paper. As I look back, I see that the path I walked was one that has been taken by no other nonelected person among our 10,000-member tribe. The path led me into the hallowed chambers of our tribal government and, once there, I watched and learned what was going on among our elected leadership. Most importantly, I became the first person to report what I saw and heard to our people. My reporting journey started in March 1976 when I dropped out of Haskell Indian Junior College in Lawrence, Kansas—the only all-Indian junior col- lege in the nation—three months short of graduating with an associate’s degree in general studies. When I returned There was tension in the tribal council chambers when John Morales was removed as to the Fort Peck Reservation, home to Fort Peck tribal chairman. June 2004. Photo by Louis Montclair. several bands of the Assiniboine and Sioux nations in northeastern Montana, I got a job as a reporter for our tribes’ their government. But what they learned during the council’s deliberations. This biweekly newspaper only because, by was only what happened, not how it had was one of the first major steps taken chance, I’d signed up for a journalism happened or what it meant to them. Nor by the Wotanin to become a watchdog class that I never completed. did the items go into detail about who of tribal government on the Fort Peck The Wotanin newspaper had been had initiated it or who had supported Reservation. started in the winter of 1970 by a group it. Slowly the Wotanin evolved into a of young people sent to our reservation tabloid-sized newsletter that contained Watchdog Reporting by Volunteers in Service to America a few of the community happenings on (VISTA), a program started in the 1960’s the reservation, some sports activities, I was serious, and I took my editor’s to send young service volunteers to and some major national news of inter- instructions seriously. Never mind that disadvantaged urban and rural areas of est to Indian people. Still, coverage of I was being paid by a federal trainee America. In the beginning, it was a four- our tribal government was scant. program that could end abruptly once to-six page biweekly newsletter copied By the time I went to work as a the money allocated for my position was onto legal-sized paper out of an office reporter, the Wotanin’s editor was tak- depleted. I took the plunge and learned in the tribal offices in Poplar. ing tiny steps into tribal government to swim. From that point on, I sat in on On its pages was printed the log of coverage by publishing stories about every biweekly council meeting of our actions passed by the tribal council. major issues affecting the Fort Peck tribes’ government, and I also started Never before had there been such a Tribes. To augment this, he placed me sitting in on the committee meetings, tribal publication available to the Indian in the council chambers with instruc- since all of the council’s actions started people to read about actions taken by tions to write down all that took place at committee level before being taken
10 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country to the full council for ratification. The event was another first in our tribes’ stop our tribal newspaper’s coverage more I listened, the more I learned. history. The members of the council of our elected government. The next And the more I learned, the more I told me that tribal members living thing they did was advertise the posi- wrote down, and the more I was able off the reservation (who received the tion of editor. I’d been named “acting” to comprehend what was happening. Wotanin by mail) were calling some editor in the summer of 1976 and was It was an invaluable lesson in how this of them to ask what was going on at still working in that capacity in 1977. tribal government worked, a lesson not home and expressing concern about One day I was stopped on the street many people have ever had. news they were reading, not all of which and asked whether I was resigning, I covered in great detail the commit- was positive. since the position was being advertised tee meetings, where policies and actions “OK,” I said in response. in the Poplar Shopper, a non-Indian that affect our tribes are initiated. Using In different ways, they kept asking weekly newspaper that only covered my own-fashioned speedwriting, I jot- me why I was doing these stories. Very the happenings in that community. For ted down everything that was said and calmly, and as respectfully as I could some reason, the board of directors did done, including who wanted what and because I was speaking to our elected not advertise it in the reservationwide why. Most importantly, I wrote down officials, I told them, “I’m not creating Wotanin Wowapi. I applied for the po- the positions that our elected officials this news. I’m only reporting what sition and was eventually selected and took on all the issues that were going you’re doing. I’m only doing my job.” voted in by a majority of the council. to be presented to the full council for As they wrung their hands in frustration, action. In the Fort Peck Tribes’ form and after a few more comments they The Paper’s Commitment of government, each of the 12 council made among themselves about how members sit on one committee each bad the Wotanin was making some of From that time forward, I became day, and this is where they discuss the them look, we were excused and told accepted by the council, the tribal actions they plan to take. Soon I began to return to work. employees and those who staffed to draft stories before the full council The council’s next move was to cre- their programs, and the community in would meet in which I wrote about is- ate a board of directors for the Wotanin. general. I continued to attend most of sues that were going to be addressed They picked an all-male group of tribal the committee meetings and all of the at those meetings. And once an issue employees and one elected official to tribal council meetings. In the news- got to the full council, I wrote a story serve on this board. I was called to paper I created a format in which to on the decision-making and the final their first organizational meeting and report all statements and actions made outcome. informed of their existence. I didn’t like by our elected officials, our programs it, but I was cordial. I asked the council and employees, including federal em- Tribal Leaders Respond politely, “What is the role of this board? ployees who worked for agencies that Will you be looking over and deciding were there to serve our people, such as After one year of being a reporter, I what news goes to print?” the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian was appointed to the job of acting edi- “Yes,” the chairman of the Wotanin’s Health Service. tor while the paper’s editor went on new board of directors responded. I did not back away from controversy. leave to farm. Only then did I become I took a photograph of the board Soon employees—who had insight aware of the anxiety my reporting of members and published the picture on into situations that were not right and tribal government was causing the tribal the next issue’s front page. Along with needed to be brought to light in the council. I can recall the first time I was the photo, I published a short article newspaper—brought issues to my atten- called before one of the committees. At explaining that the tribal council had tion. These were situations not readily that time, the council’s members were named a board, the purpose of which visible to people who didn’t keep the what can be described as “old school.” was to begin censoring the news. books or were not aware of what hap- Some believed that the official actions The reaction from our readership was pened in some of the meetings, such as they took were based on the number of swift. They did not favor any censorship those held by various boards of direc- votes these actions would get them in of the news, and they let their elected tors. One tribal chairman had himself an upcoming election and not based on officials know. Other news outlets that appointed to a board of directors of a what was good for the people as a whole. subscribed to or exchanged news with tribal industry without following policy. Reporting how they voted—who was for us—such as a television station in Wil- He eventually took himself off that board or against an issue and what they said liston, North Dakota, some 70 miles to and let the process move ahead in the in their discussions—and putting this the east of the Fort Peck Reservation proper way, but this only happened after all into print for community members and one of the first national Indian I disclosed the irregularities in a front to read was a totally new experience newspapers, the Wassaja—also reacted page story placed above the fold. for them and for our readers. to this article with more coverage of I approached my job strictly from The newspaper staff accompanied what was happening. the perspective of a journalist, with- me to the council chamber that day. I Public pressure stopped the censor- out animus toward those on whom I didn’t know what to expect since this ship, but not the council’s attempt to reported. To my surprise, so did the
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 11 Covering Indian Country
council chairman who never seemed to when it came time to report on these committee minutes and the travel log. hold a personal grudge against me and issues. And it became quite a learning The councils that were elected in was always forthright in any interviews I experience, one in which I gained a lot 2001, 2003 and 2005 have used in many did with him during the more than two of knowledge about an issue’s historical instances the “executive session” rule in decades he served on the council after perspective. Soon I was invited to travel Robert’s Rules of Order in conducting serving one term as a chairman. with the council on some of their more their meetings. In an effort to keep some During the 1970’s and 80’s, there was important delegations so that I could issues out of the public eye, the major- strong support in the community for see first hand what they were doing and ity of the elected officials have voted for freedom of the press as I faithfully and report on it, which I did. closed sessions, thus keeping the press happily covered our tribal government One October a young, rambunctious, out. This means that the people do not and its programs. Often I stayed up late popular man was elected to serve on the learn what has gone into the decisions into the night, typing with great detail council. Eventually he came to frown their tribal leaders are making. each bit of news about the actions of our on the Wotanin’s reports of some of the In February 2005, what I saw as the tribal council. Sometimes my minutes council’s actions, particularly when the final blow to the press occurred when of the meetings took up two to four full stories involved him. Council members the tribes’ “random” drug-testing policy newspaper pages, which is what people who also wanted to return to how things was leveled on the four-member staff of wanted and expected. used to be quickly joined his side in the paper, all at the same time. I refused The process seemed to be smooth what was becoming an uncomfortable to abide by it because this testing was and, as time went by, people began to confrontation. I was not willing to stop anything but random. As a result, I was share with me all kinds of information my reporting, so this councilman began fired from my job as editor. I didn’t take that was being provided to our elected writing his side of the story, while also this matter to the people, as I had in the officials. At each full meeting of our trying to cut down the Wotanin. We past. Nor did I file a grievance, which I government, the chairman’s office published his words in the opinion had a right to do. I walked away in an would provide each of the 12 council section and let him have his say. He act of defiance. members a packet of correspondence was eventually able to get some of the My termination did not mean the end received by his office, including memos tribes’ funding of the newspaper cut, of the paper. At the Wotanin, I had four and opinions from our tribes’ attorneys, and he became someone who stood in freelance reporters who had their own travel requests, committee minutes, and opposition to freedom of the press on beats to cover. One of them stepped any correspondence related to commit- the reservation. forward and is acting editor. But my tee business, even copies of who was Several years later, when he was no departure ended a lot of tribal council approved for enrollment in our Fort longer on the council, he attended a coverage, since that was my beat. Peck Tribes. At each council meeting Native American Journalists Associa- The Wotanin was my baby. I raised a packet was set aside for me, with my tion conference and saw and heard the it, along with my four children. I took name on it, and I wrote stories about efforts of the Wotanin lauded by other it from a tabloid-sized biweekly news- most of what I learned from reading its tribal press. Later, when he came back paper to a weekly full-sized paper that contents. If the matter was of interest to the Fort Peck Reservation and ran was bursting with news of our people. to our tribal membership, I would use again for tribal office, he came to the Each year our dependence on tribal the letters or documents provided to newspaper and apologized for his ear- monies to operate grew less and less, me and make calls to add information lier actions. By then, however, inroads while the advertising and revenue from to these stories. he’d made against the paper were being newspaper sales grew. Today, wherever One longtime tribal official, who rejoined. In 2000, the tribal chairman I go, I come across people who tell served 50 years on the council and died was convinced by others to stop pro- me they miss me at the paper. I miss while in office, understood and was viding copies of committee minutes it, too. n supportive of freedom of the press. He to the newspaper until the day of the served on the council and was also tribal full council meeting. (The only way we Bonnie Red Elk, a Lakota-Dakota, chairman and was a strong leader who could find out what the committees served the Fort Peck Assiniboine and was well known on the local, state and were doing was to sit in on the meet- Sioux Tribes as reporter/editor for national levels of government. He was ings, but we were not able to sit in on nearly 30 years. The Native Ameri- the person who told the council that it every one of them. If we did, there can Press Association presented her should be OK for me to sit in on closed- would not be any other type of news with two awards for Best Cover- door discussions between them and the in the paper.) Because of this change, age of Tribal Government. She now tribes’ attorneys on a variety of impor- we lost our edge in getting word out freelances for the local non-Indian tant issues such as water rights, gaming, to the people what the council would weekly newspaper on the Fort Peck taxation and even personal issues such be considering at their next meeting. Reservation. as the holding of incapacitated persons Information, in general, provided to for treatment. He explained that in the press dwindled after that. By 2001, Y [email protected] doing so I’d gain a good background the press packet included only copies of
12 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country
Watchdog Freedom of the Press in Indian Country At its creation, the Lakota Times ‘became the only independently owned Indian weekly publication in America.’
By Tim Giago
hat sets the Indian people that smeared tribal president Dick Tribal chairman Peter McDonald apart from every other mi- Wilson’s administration were often took a look at the dripping red ink on W nority in America? Native printed. The paper was clearly biased the budget, shut the paper down for a Americans are the only ethnic group in its approach and was regarded as a couple of weeks, fired the editor, Mark that lives on lands with clearly defined political tool of the far left. The paper Trahant, and had the paper revert to borders and boundaries. We have our ceased publication upon the death of a weekly publication. Trahant then own judiciary, law enforcement, and DeSersa in 1981. decided to start a weekly newspaper government. State governments have he called The Navajo Nation Today to no jurisdiction on our sovereign na- Tribal Newspapers compete against the tribally owned tions. In the 1960’s, it became a bit Navajo Times, sincerely believing that more complicated when Public Law Other publications, with their operat- an independent newspaper—unfet- 280 allowed some states to assume ing costs supplemented by tribal gov- tered by politics—could succeed. It jurisdiction on some Indian reserva- ernments, have continued to flourish lasted eight months. Advertisers refused tions. But in states like South Dakota through the years. Some newspapers to place their ads in it, and when he the tribes convinced the voters of the have crossed editorial swords with tribal printed an article unfavorable to one horrendous cost and responsibilities leaders and vanished. One such news- of the largest mini-store chains on the they’d assume should that act become paper, the South Piegan Drum of the vast reservation, the paper was thrown law, and it wasn’t passed. Blackfeet Nation in Montana, published out of all of its outlets. Trahant lost half The word “jurisdiction” is what an article critical of the tribal chairman of his circulation in one day. creates the divide between the off- and soon discovered his wrath. He shut reservation media and many Indian the paper down by cutting off its fund- The Lakota Times nations. Because of logistics, language ing. Another paper, published by the barriers, and a deep misunderstanding Spirit Lake Tribe in North Dakota, asked While working as a reporter for The and mistrust of tribal governments, the tribal council to publish the minutes Rapid City Journal, I was bothered by the many newspapers have simply ignored of its meetings. The council refused. fact that although I had been born and the people of the Indian reservations. The editor, a non-Indian named Randy raised on the nearby Pine Ridge Indian However every Indian reservation has Howell, rushed his last publication Reservation, I was seldom given the op- state counties within their borders, and to the printer and beat it out of town portunity to do news stories about the small newspapers spring up to take ad- one step ahead of the tar and feather people of that reservation. One editor vantage of a county’s available advertis- brigade. The center of his last edition told me he believed that since I was ing revenue. These papers usually carry held two blank pages containing only Native American, I would not be able to little news about the tribal government the words, “The Minutes of the Spirit be objective in my reporting. I replied, or the people, but offer obituaries and Lake Tribal Council.” “All of your other reporters are white. tiny gossip columns. In Navajo Country, the publisher Are they objective when covering the On some reservations newspapers of the Navajo Times, Loren Tapahe, white community?” have been published sporadically, decided to make that weekly newspa- By the spring of 1981 I had reached geared to specific causes or politics. per the first daily Indian newspaper in the point at which I knew I had to start The Crazy Horse News, published by America. It was a grand experiment. a newspaper on the Pine Ridge Reserva- Aaron DeSersa before and during the Considering the Navajo Nation covers tion. That reservation is 100 miles long occupation of Wounded Knee in 1973, 25,000 square miles and is located in and 50 miles wide with a population is an example of this type of effort. four states, the effort turned out to be of nearly 20,000 people. It had no The American Indian Movement (AIM) a financial disaster. Getting the paper to weekly newspaper to serve the people. sponsored this newspaper, which was all of the far reaches of the Navajo Nation I cornered my then-managing editor, used an as attack instrument against was hard enough once each week, but Jim Carrier, and my editor, Jim Kuehn, the elected government of the Oglala to try to do this five days a week proved and picked their minds for advice. They Sioux Tribe. Half-truths and innuendo to be cost prohibitive. encouraged me to give it a try.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 13 Covering Indian Country
I moved back to the reservation and, newspaper, it grossed $1.9 million ernment of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.” It using an abandoned beauty shop for an in advertising dollars. Not bad for a was a gutsy move for the president of office and a $4,000 loan from a local weekly Indian-owned newspaper. But the tribe to make, and American Horse bank, I published the Lakota Times. I it wasn’t easy. can be credited for the eventual success chose the name Lakota for the people Although our newspaper was located of the first independent Indian weekly and Times because I admired the efforts in Pine Ridge Village in the heart of the newspaper in the United States. To the of the Navajo Times. It seems strange reservation, our hard-earned economic credit of American Horse, the attacks now, but when our newspaper hit the independence gave us the freedom we upon the newspaper stopped. stands on July 1, 1981, we became needed to report news as we saw fit The Lakota Times went on to win the only independently owned Indian and to write editorials critical of the more than 50 awards from the South weekly publication in America. tribal government, if the need arose. Dakota Newspaper Association, and A former classmate from the Holy We also took a strong position against investigative stories we published have Rosary Indian Mission, “Dickie” Brewer, the violence perpetuated by AIM. Sev- caused banks to be fined and prospec- believed so strongly in the concept of eral murders and brutal beatings had tive rip-offs of the tribal government to a free press that he let me use his cus- taken place on the reservation since the be halted. It is now the largest Indian tomized 1946 Plymouth for collateral to occupation of Wounded Knee, and AIM newspaper in America, reaching into 50 secure the $4,000 loan from Stockmen’s members, many of them from tribes states and 17 foreign countries. In the Bank in Rushville, Nebraska. The loan outside of our reservation, were caus- process the Lakota Times proved that officer was a collector of vintage cars and ing problems the tribal government was freedom of the press could not only knew in his heart that the bank would trying to stem. succeed in Indian Country, but also soon own that Plymouth. Instead, the After I wrote a strong editorial in the that it can make a major difference in $4,000 got the paper started, and the fall of 1981, the windows of our newspa- the way news is covered on the Indian bank was repaid every penny it was per office were blasted out with gunfire. reservations of America. owed. We came right back with another edito- When I started the Lakota Times, rial challenging the “cowards who strike Sharing Lessons Learned one strong belief guided me. Though in the middle of the night.” Two days idealistic and determined, I knew before Christmas of that year firebombs The major ingredient we brought to the that if one is to ride into battle on a were smashed against our building, Lakota Times is that we always viewed it big white charger, it still takes as a community newspaper. a lot of money to buy the hay Even though we eventually to feed that horse. With that in … our hard-earned economic had news coverage from all mind, we did something never nine Indian reservations in done before in Indian country. independence gave us the freedom we South Dakota, we always We solicited advertising from needed to report news as we saw fit and considered them to be one Indian high schools, colleges, community. All of us grew up tribal government, the Bureau to write editorials critical of the tribal in the same fashion, which of Indian Affairs, and local res- government, if the need arose. meant we lived in poverty ervation programs such as Head and shared many of the same Start. We were also lucky. Dur- difficulties. In other words, ing our first year the Pine Ridge we were Indian, and we High School Thorpes won the state’s A which was saved when an alert Oglala thought as Indians, and our newspaper level basketball championship for the Sioux Tribe police officer spotted the reflected that concept. I changed the first time since 1936. We went to every blaze and quickly kicked the burning name of the Lakota Times to Indian business bordering our reservation, to bottles filled with gasoline away from Country Today in 1992 to reflect its na- our tribal government, and to all of the the building. tional circulation. After I sold the paper other eight tribal governments in the It was pretty clear by now that bring- to the Oneida Nation of New York in state and got them to put in two-by-five ing freedom of the press to Indian 1998 many of my readers told me that inch advertisements to congratulate the Country was not going to be easy. But the paper had lost its “Lakota soul.” Thorpes on the historic victory. we continued to publish every week, Now I am president of the Native I also created a special tabloid is- and we continued to strike out at vio- American Journalists Foundation, Inc. sue that carried advertising for all of lence and injustice. Our determination Having been an active member of the the powwows held in America. It was prompted tribal chairman Joe American mass media for several decades, I re- called “Hitting the Pow Wow Circuit,” Horse to call a special session of the main appalled by the lack of American and our second such tab was 68 pages Oglala Sioux Tribal Council at which he Indian journalists in print and electronic (75 percent of which was advertising). proclaimed that “from this day forward media. This foundation provides jour- This publication brought in more than any attack upon the Lakota Times will nalism scholarships and summer intern $60,000. In 1998, the year I sold the be considered an attack upon the gov- programs for Native American students.
14 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country
By helping them get summer jobs at lo- independence, and discuss ethics in Tim Giago, a 1991 Nieman Fellow, cal newspapers and radio and television journalism. Bill Kovach, former curator is the president of the Native Ameri- stations, we hope to spark that desire of the Nieman Foundation, Ray Walker, can Journalists Foundation, Inc. to pursue a career in journalism. an editor with Knight Ridder Tribune and a syndicated columnist with the The foundation’s other objective is News Service, and Richard Lee, former Knight Ridder Tribune News Service to hold at least three journalism semi- head of journalism at South Dakota in Washington, D.C. Questions about nars each year at different locations in State University, serve on our board of the foundation’s work can be sent to: America. At these gatherings we will advisors. [email protected]. bring Indian journalists and editors After more than 30 years in journal- together to learn how to improve their ism, it is time for me to pass on what Y [email protected] radio stations and newspapers, how to I’ve learned to the next generation of sell advertising to give themselves more Indian journalists. n Covering Indian Country: How an Outsider Gets In Relying on decades of experience, a journalist provides valuable reporting tips.
By Steve Magagnini
e and his wife lived in a cluttered 1. If it’s important for the story, al- thing new, the guilty until proven trailer up a dirt and gravel road ways ask how someone prefers to innocent syndrome disappears. Hnear Weitchpec, a village deep be identified. For a while, the term 3. Don’t come to an Indian story with in the Hoopa Reservation in Northern “Native American” was considered preconceived or overly romantic no- California. His name was Calvin Rube, politically correct. Then I met an tions. There are more than 550 feder- and he and his wife Georgina Matilton anthropologist from a Southern ally recognized Indian nations within were Yurok Indian healers. I had come California Indian nation who said the United States—most with their to them for help with an intestinal ail- she was neither Native nor Ameri- own languages. Dozens more aren’t ment. They put me in the wood frame can. Now I politely ask people what federally recognized but nevertheless house Rube was building, where I slept nation—or nations—they’re from. preserve their nationhood through on the floor next to a wood-burning It’s more respectful than asking distinct customs, language and oral stove. The house had no walls, just a someone their tribe, since the term histories. Californian Indians didn’t roof. It was November, and I could hear nation honors Indian sovereignty. have powwows, they had Big Times, and feel the rain. I like “First Nations” people, the but the relocation of thousands of In- Then they put me to work, clearing term used for indigenous people in dians from other states in the 1950’s and flattening the road to their trailer, Canada, because it seems most ac- and ’60’s brought powwows here. hauling wood, and helping Calvin curate. “American Indian” now seems 4. There are often factions or divides build his new house. At night, they per- preferable to “Native American,” but about which reporters need to be formed ceremonies and came up with again, I suggest asking what each aware. It’s often a mistake to let one a diagnosis—some evil being, perhaps person is most comfortable with. person speak for the “Indian com- a black spider, had a grip on my guts. 2. It’s often much easier to talk to In- munity” (or the African-American The spider represented an old girlfriend dian people face-to-face than on the community or any other ethnic group I hadn’t gotten out of my system and, phone. Given America’s shameful, whose members naturally reflect once I did, I’d heal. Call it superstition tragic history in its dealings with many viewpoints). As one California or power of suggestion, but I let go of Indians, it’s not surprising that some Indian elder recently told me, “If that girlfriend emotionally, indeed got Indian people still distrust non-In- somebody tells you there’s someone better, and wrote the story for the San dians—what I call the “guilty until you shouldn’t talk to, maybe that’s Francisco Chronicle. proven innocent” syndrome. Many the person you should talk to.” That was 23 years ago. That experi- people—not just Indians—prefer 5. Be patient and respectful, and try ence taught me something about Cali- face-to-face interviews because it’s not to take any setbacks personally. fornia Indian ways and opened the door easier to gauge a person’s honesty Some Indian people tell stories in to many other stories. Here—learned and motives. Once you’ve shown a circular way—rich in context and through trial and error—are some tips respect for a person’s culture and a metaphor—before they arrive at a for covering Indian Country. genuine interest in learning some- response to a specific question. Don’t
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 15 Covering Indian Country
interrupt, just hang in there. Gener- Indian world you earn the right to speak runs out of the sweat, but after the flap ally there will be plenty of time for after listening and observing,” Morton opened a fourth time, I was finished. the question to be answered. Two said. “The Indian way of learning is by “Ron,” I said, “I don’t think I can go years ago, when I was researching experiencing.” He took me to a sweat another round.” tribal justice in Navajo and Hopi on the Viejas Reservation in East San Morton smiled and said, “That’s Country—and how traditional ways Diego County. OK—it’s over. The Creator doesn’t give of conflict resolution might help I remember that cool February night us more than we can endure.” The sweat resolve bitter disputes in California like it was yesterday. As a full moon was over. I’d survived this rite of pas- Indian Country—most people were arched over the San Diego hills, each of sage, and the sweat leader and others extremely generous with their time us gave some tobacco to sweat leader spent hours talking to me about Indian and insights. But a few folks blew me Ron Christman, a Kummeyaay Indian. traditions, their personal stories, and off, failing to show up for scheduled The sweat leader’s assistant, an Oneida pros and cons of Indian gambling. interviews after I had driven hours Indian named Larry, was shoveling rocks Once I have been able to sit with them to get there. When I mentioned this into a fire outside the sweat lodge, a face-to-face, Indian people have proven to a Navajo friend at Stanford Uni- circular, canvas-covered structure about to be exceedingly candid, patient, versity, she replied, “It’s not about four feet high. Larry asked me if I’d ever honest and generous with their time you.” Which I guess means it’s about been to a sweat before. I hadn’t—and I and insights. And as long as they think long memories of exploitation and had no clue. “Know why you’re going I’m telling the truth, any subject is fair abuse by outsiders. No one likes in,” he counseled. “The sweat is Mother game, including the challenges gener- the idea that somehow their culture Earth’s womb. Thank her for her womb. ated by sovereign immunity on Indian and knowledge will be exploited for If you pray hard, it gives strength to the lands and the epidemic of California profit, even in a newspaper story others in the sweat. If you feel you can’t Indian nations that have been kicking intended to enlighten readers and take it anymore, pray harder. You’re members out (and denying them a cut resolve problems. going to experience a little suffering. of casino profits). 6. Most of the time, if an Indian per- There are people suffering a whole lot The key seems to be to present Indian son tells you about an event, you’re more than you every day—people with perspectives—and to write about solu- invited. And if you write balanced, cancer, alcoholics, people who have tions as well as problems, renaissance nuanced stories, Indian readers will nothing. So remember your suffering is as well as dissonance. notice. After I had done a series on only temporary. [But] if you just can’t In California, more than 200,000 Hmong and Iu Mien shamans—tra- take it, get out.” people each day drive into Indian ditional spirit healers from the Finally, when the rocks in the fire Country to gamble, dine, see shows, mountains of Laos—a California glowed red-hot, Larry shoveled them play golf, and visit discount outlets. Indian leader, Cindy La Marr, called into a pit in the center of the lodge. Millions of outsiders nationwide cross me in for a meeting. She said she Twenty of us—including older men the border daily into some part of In- liked the approach to the Hmong and women and children as young as dian Country. We need to understand and Iu Mien stories and said it was eight—smudged ourselves with sacred the nations in our midst and where time I wrote the California Indian smoke, then crawled inside the mouth the people who live there are coming story. La Marr—now president of the of the sweat lodge, forming a human from. The best way to do that is to treat National Indian Education Associa- coil, and rubbed ourselves with sage. people as individuals, with respect and tion—opened many doors for me Larry shoveled some more hot rocks an appreciation for a worldview shaped by calling Indian leaders and elders into the fire pit, doused them with wa- by history and circumstances that are throughout California and telling ter—creating a blast of steam—and then often very different from those of most them I was okay. The result was a shut the flap to the sweat lodge. mainstream Americans. n four-part series called “Lost Tribes,” I couldn’t move, see or breathe, and published in 1997 in The Sacramento all I could feel was the relentless heat. Steve Magagnini has covered ethnic Bee, and focused on the tragic mod- The only way to survive is to focus on affairs and race relations for The ern history of California Indians. anything but yourself. And in the next Sacramento Bee since 1994. He re- hour, I sang and prayed harder than I ceived a Lifetime Achievement Award Reporting ‘Lost Tribes’ ever have in my life—for women and from Columbia University Graduate children, for sick people, for those incar- School of Journalism for his out- As an outsider, sometimes a reporter has cerated, for my friends, family and even standing coverage of race and eth- to pass a test. While working on “Lost people who had done me wrong. After nicity in the United States. His series Tribes,” I flew to San Diego to meet with each round of song and prayer, the flap “Lost Tribes” is available online at California Indian leaders there. The would open, Larry would shovel more www.sacbee.com/static/archive/news/ gatekeeper I relied on to open doors hot rocks into the fire, douse them with projects/native/day1_main.html. for me there was Ron Morton, who ran water, and the flap would close again. I an urban Indian health clinic. “In the didn’t want to be the white wimp who Y [email protected]
16 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country The Healing Power of Well-Reported Words A reporter returns home—to a troubled reservation—to write about what happened to its land and people.
By Larry Oakes
n 2002, a group of drunk and stoned had become one of the worst places in Cloud penitentiary we befriended Dar- teenagers randomly beat a 48-year- rural Minnesota to grow up. ryl Headbird. He was serving 40 years Iold blind man to death on the We rented a house on the edge of for shotgunning his father to death as northern Minnesota Indian reservation town. I walked in the first night to find the man slept. Though only 14 when he where I grew up. I decided it was time that someone had broken a window and did it, he was prosecuted and impris- to go home, this time as a reporter. The rummaged around inside, apparently oned as an adult. Darryl told us how his forested, sparsely populated Leech Lake not finding anything worth stealing. alcoholic mother had abandoned him Ojibwe Reservation had seen a surge of “Welcome home,” said a cop who re- and how he became a devil worshiper senseless deaths in recent years involv- sponded to the call. I told him I would before deciding that his dad had to go. ing young people as either victims or have preferred a fruit basket. Darryl said he believed he might have perpetrators. Usually, alcohol and drugs Jerry and I were an odd couple. He’s fetal alcohol syndrome, though he’d were involved. a middle-aged black guy with dread- never been tested. At the blind man’s funeral in the little locks, facial hair, and a bit of leftover At Cass Lake’s alternative school, we village of Cass Lake, old friends told drawl from his native Mississippi. I’m got to know Tara Hare, 16, daughter of me that the place had changed since a middle-aged, clean-shaven white guy an alcoholic, single mother. Tara herself we grew up there in the 1970’s. There with a Fargoesque “you betcha” accent was in the throes of a battle with ad- had always been poverty, and as kids and closely trimmed hair. We sometimes diction, violence and other destructive we’d had access to alcohol and pot. But joked to bemused locals that the hair behavior. She’d already been through now, they said, the kids were snorting was the best way to tell us apart. treatment three times. Her principal and shooting cocaine, OxyContin and Slowly at first, and then more and said Tara was “hanging by a thread.” methamphetamine. They were forming more as trust grew, people let us into We spent time in Tara’s home, joined gangs and, unlike when we were kids, their lives, homes and community. family gatherings, and even attended they brought knives and guns to their We spent hours and hours in schools, one of her Narcotics Anonymous meet- fights. Car theft, robbery and burglary, courthouses and at the local Boys and ings, with her permission and that of crimes we associated mostly with big Girls Club, where kids sometimes the other teens in the group. cities back then, now touched nearly used the donated computers to look every household. Even the mayor’s car up relatives on the Minnesota Depart- Portraying What We Learned had been stolen that year—twice—out ment of Corrections offender locator of his driveway. Web site. We interviewed judges, social The result of all our work was “The The green house on Maple Avenue workers, doctors, educators, politi- Lost Youth of Leech Lake,” a three-day where I had been brought up—a white cians and scores of kids and parents. series that appeared in Minneapolis’s kid on a reservation so fragmented and We immersed ourselves in the mixed Star Tribune in April 2004. In its open- disenfranchised that half the people culture, going to meetings of city and ing scene, Darryl described how he are non-Indian—now had sheets of tribal councils, pancake dinners and prepared himself for murdering his plywood over some of its windows. powwows, church services and sweat father by beating their chained dog to “People are scared,” an old friend said. lodges. We met with dozens of tribal death with a baseball bat. “The kids are out of control.” elders, always remembering to bring a Darryl’s story represented those pouch of tobacco—used in Ojibwe cer- Leech Lake children whose lives were Returning to the Reservation emonies and prayers—as a gift, to show lost, either to prison or the grave. Tara our good faith. We searched cemeteries represented the Leech Lake kids on the Photographer Jerry Holt and I convinced for the graves of kids who didn’t make edge—those at extreme risk, who could editors to let us move to the reserva- it, whose lives and family histories we go either way. The common elements tion and spend six months trying to were reconstructing, looking for what running through the lives of the lost understand how and why things had went wrong. and struggling kids were highlighted gotten so much worse—why, as nearly To visit other lost Leech Lake kids, and explained: poverty, a family history every statistic showed, the reservation we traveled to distant prisons. At the St. of chemical abuse, family disintegra-
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 17 Covering Indian Country
tion. These losses were placed in the I still bear the scars. of artificial level of balance for that sad context of older, more universal losses Going back to see how the youth of news. If we had matched each story of land, culture and religion endured Leech Lake got lost helped me come to about a child who was suffering with by their families and tribe, creating psy- better terms with my own difficult youth. another story about a child who was not, chic wounds still echoing through the For me the series became more than a we would have blunted the message, generations. An accompanying timeline project; it was also a reckoning. letting readers think that maybe things detailed how the Leech Lake Ojibwe aren’t as bad as the statistics implied. were subjugated and herded onto their Reaction to the Stories We would have given readers an excuse reservation in 1855 and how during to look away while more Leech Lake the next century the dominant culture Reaction to the series was swift and children died and went to prison. proceeded to take back 93 percent of strong. In the first week I got - hun On the reservation, where stores the reservation’s land. dreds of e-mails, and on the following could not keep the series on the shelves The timeline further explored how Sunday, nearly all of the Star Tribune’s even after the Star Tribune supplied large timber companies, railroads and op-ed section was devoted to readers’ them with hundreds of reprints, the white settlers flooded onto the reser- feedback. For weeks, Jerry and I were response was about as mixed, but more vation and took over, building dams in demand as guests on talk shows and intense. American Indian Movement that flooded wild rice beds and burial in classrooms. founder Dennis Banks, a Leech Lake grounds, and leaving behind a polluted The reaction was fairly evenly mixed. Ojibwe, led a four-day “We Are Not All Superfund site on the south side of Many Indians and non-Indians alike felt on Drugs Walk,” in which several dozen Cass Lake. Nearly all the reservation’s it was powerful, unflinching journal- people participated. I interviewed beautiful miles of private lakeshore had ism. But many others felt we focused Banks and covered the walk. Schools fallen into the hands of well-heeled too much on the negative, blamed the had special assemblies to help children white people, who are lately building Ojibwe for their children’s problems, deal with the discomfort and shame of opulent homes and cabins, often just and failed to point out all Ojibwe people being so publicly labeled “lost.” down the road from jack pine-ghetto are doing to try to make things better. The reservation government sched- housing projects for Indians. Indian Many wished we would have balanced uled a two-day public forum entitled anger over aggressive logging and loss of stories about kids like Darryl and Tara “We Are Not Lost,” at the Palace Casino. land had boiled over in what was called with stories about Leech Lake kids who Fliers said that forum was designed an uprising in 1898, on Leech Lake’s are doing fine. to emphasize the good that was hap- Sugar Point. The exchange of gunfire I was disappointed to see some of pening at Leech Lake and “change the with federal soldiers went down in his- the most strident criticism come from perception” created by the articles. I was tory as the final battle between American the Indian studies departments of uni- apprehensive about going, but I never Indians and the U.S. military. versities, which blasted the series for all even considered staying away. I’d had Think about this for a moment: Here the sins listed above and added that it my say. The critics now had a right to is where the United States finished failed to put the problems in historic give me a piece of their minds and to its war against the American Indian. context, saved the positive stuff for ask me questions. Here is a place, and a people, steeped last, and perpetuated the myth of the At the forum, attended by 200 people, in loss. Even the Indian name for the Indian as a helpless, tragic figure. The something happened that from my per- reservation’s most beautiful lake—Red comments of some of the professors spective was wonderful and amazing: Cedar—was lost. The new white power made me wonder if they’d read beyond Although some of the 35 speakers com- structure changed it to honor General the headlines. plained about the series, the majority Lewis Cass, a territorial governor who I was unapologetic. I reminded angry credited the stories with jolting many had fought wars against Indians. readers that the entire third installment on the reservation into more honestly I’d never studied this history be- of the series covered the good work facing the problems underlying the high fore going back home to examine the Indians and non-Indians alike were per-capita rates of chemical abuse, child youth problem. I now understood the doing to try to save the reservation’s removals, and crime. “If you want to roots of a lot of the anger, despair and kids. This is where we quoted elders change something, you have to have a dysfunction I’d seen there as a kid. My who said reclaiming spirituality is the sense of urgency,” said Randy Finn, an family was part of the usurpation, as answer and others who said education Ojibwe from Cass Lake. “It’s like some- unintended as it may have been. We’d is the key. The installment ended with a body has relit that flame, and all of you moved to Cass Lake because my dad quote from a teenage girl who said the are here today because of it.” got a job in the single white-owned young simply have to choose a better Mike Mosedale, who covered the bank there. He also served for a time as path, as she had. event for City Pages, a Twin Cities al- municipal judge in the white-controlled True, I said, two-thirds of the series ternative weekly, wrote: justice system. To say I sometimes felt defined and explored the crisis. But I “While the forum was launched the backlash would be an understate- argued that it would have been danger- with the idea that it would serve as a ment. I had to learn how to fight, and ous and irresponsible to seek some kind retort to the series’ central thesis … it
18 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country morphed into something very differ- ent: a ritual of catharsis and resolve in which speaker after speaker relayed their own personal stories, insights and recommendations. “Some people wept as they spoke. Others were frankly confessional. One woman described how her daughter was involved in the robbery and murder of a tourist from the Twin Cities. ‘A lot of us mothers and grandmothers have lost children,’ she said plainly. ‘We’ve got to quit hiding. We’ve got to deal with it.’” When tribal employee Patsy Gordon called me the day after the series ran, she was tearful. “Your stories hurt a lot of people,” she said. “How could you do that to us?” But after she attended the forum, Gordon wrote this in DeBahJi- Mon, the tribal newspaper: Tara Hare began driving when she was 11 years old, prompted by the frequent need to “I heard and witnessed that many transport her mother when she got drunk. By the time she was 16, Tara was still driving feelings have changed from anger to without a license. Spring 2003. even thanking Larry Oakes, that he brought a wake-up call to Leech Lake. … I myself came away from this forum with the thought of, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could recover from all of the drug addiction, alcoholism, poverty, etc., and go on to be a living example of how you can come back from the depths of despair?’” Ojibwe activist Bob Shimek told Mosedale: “This is a real part of our his- tory—the good, the bad, the ugly, and we have to own it. It was about frickin’ time someone wrote this story.” Toward the end of the forum, tribal elder Wally Humphrey stood, facing the crowd, and spoke, at one point pointing a gnarled finger at my white face. “Let’s not forgot that the man who wrote these articles grew up here,” he said. “He is one of us.” Waves of relief and gratitude swept over me as I wept in my motel room that night. Thomas Wolfe was wrong. You can go home again. n LaDonna Hanson, left, Tara’s teacher at the Area Learning Center in Cass Lake, and Tara deliver Christmas gifts to families who live on Tract 33. Tara, who also lived there, and Larry Oakes is a reporter with the her classmates raised money to buy gifts for children on the reservation. Winter 2002. Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Min- nesota. To read “The Lost Youth of Leech Lake,” go to www.startribune. com/leech.
Y [email protected] Photos by Jerry Holt/Star Tribune.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 19 Covering Indian Country
Teenagers who live on the Leech Lake Indian Reserva- tion often hang out on the main street of Cass Lake, its largest town. The reserva- tion is statistically among the worst places in Minneso- ta to grow up, plagued with a multitude of problems in- cluding alcoholism, violence and poverty. Tribal elders and civic leaders are working to strengthen families, bring jobs to the reservation, and help more students gradu- ate. But change isn’t coming easily. Cass Lake, Minne- sota, November 2002.
Sixteen-year-old Cierra Cloud, left, and a friend view the body of shooting victim Donald Kamrowski, 19, during his wake at a tribal building near Cass Lake. Cloud and Kamrowski had a son together, who was two years old when his father died. July 2003.
Photos by Jerry Holt/Star Tribune.
20 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country Taking Time to Understand the Story to Be Told To report this story meant ‘immersing ourselves in a system of government and a way of life that, shamefully, we knew little about.’
By Michael Moore
n the first day of March 2004, but pretty hollow, given the enormity Dealing with Norma was difficult at two Indian boys were found of the tragedy. best. Learning about her life was like Odead in a snowy field outside Instead, we opted to back off. If we trekking into an undiscovered place, Ronan, Montana, in the geographical were going to tell this story, we needed foreign and nearly unknowable. The heart of the Flathead Indian Reservation. to tell it in all of its complexity. This first day Tom and I spent with Norma The boys, Frankie Nicolai and Justin would mean a heck of a lot of reporting was a revelation, as she recounted a Benoist, were 11 years old. They’d been time and also immersing ourselves in a history marred from birth by alcohol, missing for three days, ever since they system of government and a way of life death and abandonment. She told her skipped out of their sixth-grade class that, shamefully, we knew little about. story in the flat, monotonous tone of a after lunch on Friday afternoon. They’d Nearly four months later, in late July, prisoner with no more appeals; in many drunk themselves to death. “Lost Boys of the Flathead,” written as ways, she had always been a prisoner of The deaths were stunning, even on a series of stories, appeared in each a past shaped by alcohol, violence and a reservation where death by alcohol day’s Missoulian, stretching from one tragic misjudgments. is hardly a surprise. It was the boys’ Sunday to another. “Lost Boys” was What happened over the next few age, of course, that slapped us in the the result of a luxury we rarely get at months is that I just spent time with face. At the Missoulian, which covers small- and mid-size newspapers—time. Norma whenever I could. Often I’d all of western Montana, we responded While extremely frustrating, the fact arrange interviews with tribal officials, pretty predictably. Our reporter on that it took us two weeks of lobbying police officers, alcohol counselors, and the reservation, John Stromnes, wrote the tribal council for access to various others, and then just drop in on Norma. several straightforward news accounts officials, documents and studies also We had numerous scheduled interviews, of what had happened, and we waited taught us something. but often I’d just stop by unannounced, for additional investigation. To report this story well, we needed hang out for a while, and then leave. I There was obviously more to be to slow down. I don’t mean that we hardly ever took notes, though I’d jot done, but we weren’t sure what. I was needed to work slowly; we just needed down a few things after I left. Mostly I assigned to figure out what should come to understand that some of what we just watched Norma live. next. At first, we thought we’d do a needed to tell this story was going to Outside the interviews with family, weekend piece, maybe an article to be come when it came. we had to learn about the history of published two weeks out. Photographer reservations, of alcohol and Indians, and Tom Bauer and I headed up to the boys’ Seeking to Understand of boarding schools and government funerals three days after the deaths to intervention in the lives of Indians. I start scoping things out. That was never more true than with spent time with cultural leaders and Although our presence was toler- the families. Frankie Nicolai’s family elders. I went to meetings that didn’t ated, it was pretty clear we weren’t all was fractured, divorced and somewhat really have anything to do with the that welcomed. We lucked into meeting impoverished, but they are also solid, boys, just to watch tribal government Frankie’s dad, Frank, paid our respects dependable people. I could make ar- in action. I spent many hours with and came home. That afternoon, I told rangements to spend time with Frank health and human service officials, my boss, Cal FitzSimmons, that we prob- and know he’d be there. Justin Benoist’s trying to comprehend the difficulty ably weren’t going to have a weekend family was a human train wreck. As we of the struggle they faced in trying to story. The only story I could really see quickly learned, Justin wasn’t even the undo the tragic past. I read thousands getting quickly was maybe an in-depth first son of Norma Lefthand Fox to die of pages of reports on Indian drinking look at how the investigation into the from alcohol. His 14-year-old brother, and substance abuse, and I sought guid- boys’ disappearance was proceeding, Tyler, had died just three months ear- ance from some of the nation’s most with perhaps some poignant details lier, passed out drunk in a trailer that prominent sociologists. from the funerals. caught fire. The boy’s father had died Tom and I went to rallies and to fo- It would have been a decent story, years before, a drunken suicide. rums designed to address the problems
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 21 Covering Indian Country
of juvenile drinking. Sometimes after days, the story just rolled out. I wrote as Internet—the stories ran on several a rally, I’d stop at a bar where Indians if the whole thing would be published Native news sites—reactions to them drink and just watch. I needed to un- at once. I needed to pace the story so arrived from all over the country. People derstand what the stereotyped image that my words could bring the reader sent money to give to the families. They might look like, so that I could avoid it. with me as we traveled what would offered to come to Montana and help Tom was making his own trips, finding eventually be a very long way. counsel families. They offered to come what we needed photographically; we Often I found myself calling a few and just be here. The most heartening traveled together quite a bit, but often of my best sources to ask them if what personal responses came from Indian he needed one thing and I needed I was saying sounded right from the people who thanked me for simply another, so we’d work apart. Indian perspective. And I had as many listening to their stories. as 10 people in the newsroom read the I was humbled by the whole experi- Telling the Stories stories, in addition to the regular editing ence. process. I also sent the stories out to a Most importantly, the tribes restruc- For whatever reason, our bosses felt like half-dozen people on the reservation, tured the way they deal with children. we were using our time wisely. including some sources. Finally, I gave They turned their child-welfare system At about the time I had everything the stories to both Norma and Frank upside down, placing children at the I needed to write—after about eight and invited them to be our harshest top of a priority list previously focused weeks of reporting—another boy died. critics. I needed to know if my words more on parents and overall family Joey DuMontier was 15, and he drank sounded like their lives. structure. Every tribal department was himself to death at his girlfriend’s house Some might find this objectionable, heavily scrutinized, and both person- on May 1st. And so we started nel and structural changes over again. Another family, occurred. A system of checks another round with police Often I found myself calling a few of my best and balances was erected and tribal officials. More ral- inside tribal government, so lies. More agonizing on the sources to ask them if what I was saying that when one agency comes reservation. sounded right from the Indian perspective. into contact with a child, Worst of all, another fu- other agencies that might neral. … I also sent the stories out to a half-dozen eventually deal with the child By the first of June, I was people on the reservation, including some or family are notified. ready to write again. Tom was County government also still gathering pictures, but sources. … I needed to know if my words took a very aggressive stance I knew he’d have what we sounded like their lives. toward the adults who’d needed because he always played a role in the boys’ does. For a solid week, I sat deaths by providing alcohol. in this weird little closet in Not long ago, a man was sen- the newsroom and read my notes and but it seemed like a no-brainer to me. tenced to 10 years in prison for his role interviews. (Our administrative assis- These people had invited me into their in the death of Joey DuMontier. n tants had graciously transcribed miles lives at the worst possible moment; I of interview tapes.) needed to know whether I was telling Michael Moore is a reporter at the I’ve written lots of project stories, but their stories as they knew them. On Missoulian. This article is adapted I’d never had this much stuff. I often the other hand, I told them I wouldn’t from a piece Moore wrote for Lee found myself thinking about a private change things simply because they Enterprises’ Writing Matters. “Lost coaching session I had with Poynter didn’t like what I wrote. But if I was Boys of the Flathead” won the Casey Institute’s Don Fry many years ago, wrong, or if I explained a thing in a Medal for Meritorious Journalism where he stressed organization. Don way that wrongly portrayed Indian life, in June 2005. The series also won likes note cards that summarize the I needed to know. his company’s highest award for grand themes of a project, but he also In the end, we changed very little, news and several first-place prizes in likes highlighters. I took that route, us- often just a word here or there. In ev- regional journalism contests. The se- ing five or so highlighters to sort things ery case, someone else’s reading of the ries is available at www.missoulian. into big topics. I also typed a list of every work was helpful. com/specials/lostboys/. quote that seemed useful. Along the way, I saw the holes that Hearing the Response Y [email protected] needed to be filled and did the neces- sary follow-up. Finally, I wrote. I tried to The response these stories received was write about 30 inches a day, but several overwhelming. I received hundreds of days I wrote almost nothing. On other e-mails and phone calls. Because of the
22 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country Attitudes and Mindsets Hinder Journalists in Their Coverage ‘… consciously or unconsciously, stories have been shaped to fit well known themes of bad, good or degraded, ancient and exotic Indians.’
By Mary Ann Weston
t the Unity: Journalists of Color colonies—it published a single issue, taken on an aura of fact. convention in the summer of in 1690—devoted significant space to There is the “bad Indian,” an image A 2004, I watched as Mark Trahant, its writing about Native Americans. As that takes many forms. Historically, a Native American journalist from the historian John Coward has written, edi- “bad Indians” were “savages.” They Seattle Post-Intelligencer, asked Presi- tor Benjamin Harris praised Christian- were assigned qualities that embodied dent George W. Bush a simple question: ized Indians for setting aside a day of everything colonists and later settlers “What do you think tribal sovereignty thanksgiving but accused other Indians feared becoming or succumbing to in means in the 21st century and how do of kidnapping local children. Still other the vast, alien wilderness: paganism, we resolve conflicts between tribes and Indians were termed “miserable sav- lechery, brutality, cruelty, indolence, the federal and state governments?” ages” for failing to support the British treachery and so on. Later, after Native Bush had one of those deer-in- militarily. Americans ceased to be a military threat, the-headlights moments that often a related image, the “degraded” Indian, end up on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Images Affect Coverage appeared. This image depicted some- Show.” Bush stammered: “Tribal sov- one who was an object of derision or ereignty means that; it’s sovereign. From colonial times to the present the pity, someone who couldn’t cope with You’re a—you’ve been given sover- news media have largely failed to tell the complexities of white civilization. eignty and you’re viewed as a sovereign Native Americans’ stories fully, accu- He was depicted as poor, unemployed, entity ….” The audience tittered. Some rately and, sometimes, at all. And flaws drunk, or all three. laughed out loud. The quote was widely in coverage have generally stemmed The flip side was the “good Indian.” reported. And, yes, it made “The Daily from the dual problems of stereotypical This image often takes the form of the Show.” But only a few articles about this images and lack of context. “noble savage”—someone who has an incident went on to explain what tribal Most Americans and a great many innate closeness to and communion sovereignty means to Native Americans Europeans, too, grow up with popular with nature, who is at home in the or why it’s important. culture images of Indians. These images natural world, who can understand it The omission points up a recurring influence unconscious attitudes and in ways whites cannot. Paradoxically, problem with news coverage of Native mindsets that inform the ways people “good Indians” were also those who Americans: Journalists fail to explain think—and journalists approach stories. adopted farming and Christianity; i.e., the history and context that’s critical The images actually go back to the time they abandoned their cultures and be- to understanding their issues. A second of Columbus, when Europeans were came like whites. problem is related: Unconsciously jour- trying to make sense of the peoples they Overlaying these images was the nalists often replicate the distorted im- found in the “new” world. Somehow notion that, good or bad, Indians were ages and stereotypes of Native peoples they had to fit these exotic folks into exotic and ancient, people of the past, that have been part of our culture since worldviews and mindsets that made no out of place in today’s world. You can the first European contacts with peoples provision for them. see the “good” and “bad” images co- of the Americas. The result, according to historian existing in Publick Occurrences: the These problems have been around Robert F. Berkhofer, Jr. and others, was good Christianized Indians and the bad as long as the Euro-American press has imagery that projected Europeans’ fears “miserable savages.” And you can see covered Native peoples. And that’s as of the “savagery” they imagined in the them, albeit less blatantly, in current long as there has been journalism in absence of civilization and the nobility coverage. this country. Publick Occurrences Both of an, also imagined, pristine state of All of these images, of course, defined Forreign and Domestick, the short-lived nature. These images, the stuff of myth Indians negatively in relation to whites. paper widely considered the first news- and fiction, have been repeated so often (For example, Horace Greeley of the paper in the English North American and in so many settings that they have New York Tribune wrote in 1860 that
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 23 Covering Indian Country
“Indians are children. Their arts, wars, names and mascots: The University of • The traditional news values that treaties, alliances, habitations, crafts, Illinois’s Chief Illiniwek, the Cleveland favor conflict and violence over properties, commerce, comforts, all Indians, the Washington Redskins, and cooperation spotlight negative be- belong to the very lowest and rudest others. Mostly, news organizations havior—and negative images. ages of human existence.”) Clearly such covering those teams repeat the im- • The emphasis on the bizarre and the depictions told us more about the eth- ages without examining their origins visually arresting highlights those nocentric attitudes of Euro- with loud voices, extreme Americans than about Native views, and strange ap- peoples. And the fact that the Unconsciously journalists often replicate pearances rather than the images are still around after thoughtful moderates. more than 500 years might the distorted images and stereotypes of •The practice of valuing also tell us something about Native peoples that have been part of our events over trends or situ- whites. Because constructing ations tends to downplay such views of the “other” is culture since the first European contacts with complex issues. an exercise in power. Defin- peoples of the Americas. ing the other in negative These practices them- terms gives the dominant selves are culture-neutral. party greater control over But they can work against the discourse. and power. giving audiences an accurate picture of Such images are staples of literature Still, today’s journalists are more Native peoples. And when you consider and popular culture, from the stories sensitive to the power of stereotypes that, for many, their only acquaintance of Nathaniel Hawthorne to the Jeep than their predecessors. Nevertheless, with Native Americans is through popu- Cherokee. When these stereotypes Native Americans are often victims of the lar culture or the news, the importance are replicated in the news, they can unconscious mindsets and assumptions of accurate journalism is clear. n influence public policy as well as the of journalists who grew up with Indian attitudes of ordinary people. They’ve “pictures” in their heads. Mary Ann Weston is an associate pro- been the basis for public policies that Another problem with coverage—the fessor emerita at the Medill School of deprived Native peoples of their land lack of context and historical back- Journalism, Northwestern University, and forced them to abandon their reli- ground—can blight stories of their where she taught courses in history gions, languages and cultures. meaning, giving audiences facts without and issues of journalism, reporting context. Admittedly Native American on race, and reporting and writing. The Challenge for issues are complex. That tribal sover- She was a member of the Detroit Free Journalism eignty issue that caused George Bush Press staff that won a Pulitzer Prize to stumble has tangled legal, historical for coverage of the 1967 riots there. Journalism, ideally, gives its audience and cultural strands that are daunting Her book on portrayals of Native facts and reality—the news without fear to unravel. Yet that issue underlies Americans in the 20th century press, or favor. It doesn’t deal with fantasy many of today’s stories about casinos, “Native Americans in the News,” was or fiction. But also journalism tries law enforcement, health, education published in 1996 by Greenwood to make sense of the world. That is, it and more. Press. She was coeditor and cowriter seeks to take the randomness of events The failure of journalists to inject of “U.S. News Coverage of Racial and transform them into stories, narra- the background and context such Minorities 1934-1996: A Sourcebook,” tives that allow us to understand what stories demand stems, I believe, from published in 1997 by Greenwood is happening. To do this, journalists, the institutional imperatives of today’s Press. consciously or unconsciously, invoke newsgathering: familiar images, what Walter Lippmann Y [email protected] called “the pictures in our heads.” • The need for timeliness and speed, In the coverage of Native Americans, spurred by the Internet and real- consciously or unconsciously, stories time television reporting, provides have been shaped to fit well known journalists with little time to reflect, themes of bad, good or degraded, an- to seek background information, or cient and exotic Indians. Examples can to find more sources. be found from stories that examine the • The need for brevity to accommodate ways some tribes manage their casino the audience’s perceived short atten- income to those about reservation pov- tion span makes it hard to construct erty. Among the most obvious lingering nuanced portrayals of little-known stereotypes are those in sports team groups.
24 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country When Reporters Lack Access and Knowledge ‘… access would be easier to achieve if reporters had been there to cover some of the more routine stories that had taken place on the reservation.’
By Dorreen Yellow Bird
t mid afternoon on March 21, the mood in the Grand Forks A Herald newsroom in Grand Forks, North Dakota, changed from another ho-hum day to open throttle, high intensity. The shift started when the police scanner picked up early bits and pieces of a story about a school shooting on the Red Lake Indian Reser- vation in north central Minnesota. The report said there could be as many as three dead at the nearby school. After a quick huddle in the newsroom and updated reports from the scanner, a reporter and photographer were as- signed to the story. At the Herald, I am a columnist and member of the editorial board. But I also do some reporting, especially involving stories about the four American Indian tribes in our coverage area. Because I Red Lake Tribal Chairman Floyd Jourdain, Jr. stands in the parking lot of the Red Lake am Sahnish (Arikara) and Dakota/Lakota Detention Center as he speaks at a press conference with the Federal Bureau of Investiga- from a reservation in western North tion. Photo by Monte Draper/Courtesy of Bemidji Pioneer. Dakota, I wasn’t surprised when I was also assigned to report on the Red Lake story. I also wasn’t surprised because When we reached the “T,” where the from the other seven bands of Chippewa my experience and reporting resources highway meets an endless, azure plane and four bands of Sioux in Minnesota. about Native American issues are exten- of the lake, there was something in the About 5,600 people live on the reserva- sive. When the reporters cannot reach air—traffic was moving faster, and there tion that’s a bit smaller in size than the tribal officials, I am called to help out. was more of it. On the faces of the locals state of Rhode Island. The reservation Minutes later we were on our way was a seriousness I could see even car- includes Red Lake, which is one of the to the reservation in my car. I knew to-car. As we neared the reservation, we largest lakes in the region. my way there because I’d written many lost radio stations, and our cell phones stories about this band of Chippewa worked sporadically. Just before our cell A ‘Closed’ Reservation or Anishinaabe people. [See box on phones became unreliable, we were page 26 for information about the term told there were more than three dead, Red Lake is a “closed” reservation. Alone “band.”] I had established a relationship and this was going to be a big story. among Minnesota tribes and almost and trust with the people. I took a new It wasn’t “just another” school shoot- alone in America, the people who live road not yet on Minnesota maps. As we ing. It was the biggest school shooting here rejected Public Law 280, which drove, I remembered my first trip to the in Minnesota history, with the most gave the 50 states civil jurisdiction over reservation. One of the locals pointed deaths in a U.S. school shooting since reservation affairs. They’ve resisted all me toward this road; at the time, it was Columbine. And it had happened on attempts at allotting the reservation a dirt road that eventually ran up to the an Indian reservation. land. This means the members did what edge of the gigantic Red Lake. The road The Red Lake Band of Chippewa are many tribes today wish they had done: now is blacktop. unique. They’re a people apart, even They ran off surveyors, social workers,
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 25 Covering Indian Country
lawyers and missionaries. This effort way past the shooting area or into the kept their land from being purchased tribal offices. Nor could they interview What ‘Band’ Means by non-Indians, as happened on many tribal officials. Armed officers blocked other reservations. the roads and buildings. Dorreen Yellow Bird offers an Today the Red Lake people are I didn’t realize that I was the excep- example to explain the correct use more assimilated into the surrounding tion. Law enforcement officers didn’t of the term “band.” non-Indian society: The tribe’s Seven stop me at first as I drove around the Clans Casino is one of the latest moves area. They thought I was a member of In Minnesota the Chippewa were once into the non-Native community. But a the band. one tribe—like the Sioux. So when they certain separation or the potential for divided up or the government divided it remains. As Bemidji Pioneer pho- Reporting Different Angles them up, they were broken apart into tographer Monte Draper told a Twin groups they called bands. The Sioux Cities newspaper, “One former tribal When the staff of our large Knight Rid- became the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota chairman, Roger Jourdain, used to have der syndicate began to prepare for its but, if they are looked at linguistically, a rule where you needed to have a coverage of this story, I was assigned a they are of one group. The Chippewa passport to go to the reservation. I still lead editor with whom I would work. in Minnesota also go by different desig- have mine, but it is in a frame on a wall I was one of the few journalists there nations—i.e. Anishinaabeg, Chippewa at my home.” who had reporting experience on the or Ojibwe. Chippewa is the official or We reached the reservation only a reservation and good tribal contacts, so Bureau of Indian Affairs term, but most few hours after the 3 p.m. shooting. I it became my assignment to check copy of the people there use Ojibwe. Band, saw trucks with satellite dishes, vans for cultural and tribal correctness and however, is used as the group name and cars from outside media. But by the identify contacts for other reporters. rather than nation or even tribe. n time we arrived, members of the news At the time I wondered why I wasn’t media were restricted to the small park- assigned to report a story, but I didn’t ing lot of Red Lake’s new police station, ask. I assumed the editors at the scene where I had covered the station’s ribbon thought I would be too close to the with them, there was little that could cutting a few years before. story. I do know Indian people who be passed along. Again I wondered why As it turned out, there were 10 people have intermarried (my cousin-brother, some of these calls were not passed dead—one teacher, two adults, six stu- for example, is married to a woman from along to me. I suggested helpfully that dents, and the shooter. There was an Red Lake), and I have friends who live they do, but nothing more was said. At air of uncertainty among the reporters, on the reservation. I also participate in the very least, I could have easily given cameramen and photographers. They ceremonies with people from Red Lake, these foreign reporters information were finding that the powerful First since there is a crisscrossing that goes about the reservation and its people, Amendment didn’t work as well on the on throughout the entire region during but again reporters seemed to want Red Lake Reservation. They fidgeted ceremonies and powwows. to hold their space and control of this anxiously as they waited to be able to There were times during the first two breaking story. report some news. days after the story broke when I was After I had been there for more When the first news conference torn between loyalty to the band and than two days, I made the three-hour began in front of the police station, I my duty to the Grand Forks Herald. One midnight drive back to Grand Forks. stood away from the throng of report- reporter commented that he thought The following day, when I was back at ers. Floyd “Buck” Jourdain, Jr., the the rest of the Herald reporters should the Herald, the publisher asked me to tribal chairman—whose son, Louis, return to Grand Forks, leaving me to do interview Floyd “Buck” Jourdain. He would later be accused of conspiracy to the story with him. That didn’t happen. said I was probably the only one who commit murder—updated the media. And I understood the significance of could get to him. Jourdain was unavail- I learned from the locals that a tribal this history-making story. I knew many able to everyone since his son, Louis, police officer, Sgt. Daryl “Dash” Lussier, of the reporters who’d come here had been arrested. With the help of was one of those killed. The sergeant wanted their bylines to appear on the someone I knew who knew Buck, he was the grandfather of the 16-year-old stories we did. agreed to an interview. The story was shooter, Jeffrey Weise. There was a worldwide appetite part of our front page coverage on the Most of the reporters were experi- for reporting about Red Lake. Foreign following day. enced and routinely covered breaking media wanted to be able to pass along During this difficult time, the Red news. Some had covered the Columbine information about where this shooting Lake people pulled into themselves. As school shootings in Littleton, Colorado, had taken place and what was happen- the network of spiritual leaders came but most didn’t anticipate doors being ing on the reservation. But with report- quietly to the reservation, most of the closed in their face. On the Red Lake ers not able to get onto the reservation sacred pipe and sweat lodge (inipi) Reservation, they were restricted to a and not having contacts to get those ceremonies were held out of sight of certain area and not allowed on the high- who lived there to share information the public eye. At first the people gave
26 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country few or no interviews, which I thought media at Red Lake but from some in dicey methods. They entered cordoned- was a mistake since their voice—their my own newsroom. During one news off areas such as the area surrounding story—would be missing from the conference, federal officials chided the home of the deceased police offi- news stories going out around the reporters for inaccurate reporting, and cer. They were stopped and shown off world. Instead they would become the the reporters, in turn, complained that the reservation. One photographer’s people that reporters—some of whom they needed more access. camera was confiscated when he tried had never been on an Indian reserva- As these complaints rolled in, I real- to take pictures with his long lens. He tion—created in their own minds. ized that such access would be easier to got his camera back. Reporters were There were times when I felt uncom- achieve if reporters had been there to miffed at the restrictions.
Giving Voice to Indian People
We have a project in our newsroom to give voice to “people like us”—that hometown view. That’s a good idea, but when the newsroom is mainly white, the voices of people like me are rarely heard. There are exceptional people on the Red Lake Reservation who never do receive coverage in those “stories like me.” As Red Lake tribal members carry blankets into the funeral services for two victims of At Red Lake, the Chippewa people the shootings, a sign notifies the press, including Native news organizations, that they are closed their doors. In their minds, barred from attending any services. March 2005. Photo by Ken Blackbird. there was little reason for trusting that coverage of this story would be less de- structive than other stories they’d read fortable providing names of spiritual cover some of the more routine stories about themselves and the reservation. leaders to other reporters, because I that had taken place on the reservation. They were not considered a part of the wasn’t sure that their stories would be That would have helped to establish “people like us,” and they knew it. They culturally sensitive. At one point, the trust between the two groups. Instead, live in a village where most people are Herald did assign me to try to interview stereotypes about Indians seemed to related or, if they’re not, they almost a medicine man. The idea was that this slide into conversation among reporters certainly know each other. Most of the story would provide an understanding and into their stories—old stereotypes Red Lake residents were deeply affected of the tribe’s cultural ceremonies and about poverty, rampant alcoholism and by the shootings. They were fearful convey the views of people who were drug abuse, alongside new stereotypes and in shock. If they had experienced not likely to speak with other reporters. about tribal corruption and casino finger-pointing in the past, then many It was difficult to get anyone to talk, but abuse. of them believed these stories would using contacts I’d made previously and The press leaned on stereotypes be- buy a heyday of blame for them. relying on my cultural understanding, I cause they didn’t have other resources. The Indian people have made prog- was able to interview a Sundance leader. And reporters resorted to trying to get ress in their lives as they recover from (Sundances are ceremonies for healing.) into places where the tribe prohibited centuries of abuse and mistreatment. And when a photograph appeared of the press from going. As the days of Tribes are more and more in control of Louis Jourdain being led into jail in a the 10 funerals arrived, hundreds of their own destiny, and they are teaching black warm-up pulled over his head, people came from across the nation their children who they are and about reporters and editors wanted to know to comfort the people of Red Lake. On the culture. It was troubling for me to the significance of the Red Spider on the outside of the auditorium where observe how “in your face” my fellow his warm-up. This was an easy story for the first funeral took place, the tribe reporters were and how little they knew me to do since the Red Spider is more painted a big, white, wooden sign that about the culture and people who live of a Lakota/Dakota symbol. The story said, “No Press Admitted.” I attended here. It troubled me, too, to see that served as a way to teach readers more funerals because I knew some of the information passed on in national and about the culture. people, not to report on it. As I sat even international news stories fed into there, I began to realize press people or created uninformed views and con- Freedom of Press Issues were there. Uninvited, they had come veyed stereotypes of Indian people. to watch and write about the grief of Since the shootings happened at Complaints about the lack of freedom these people. Red Lake, there have been a few stories for the press came not only from the Some reporters resorted to more about youngsters attending ballgames
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 27 Covering Indian Country
or a Minneapolis Police Activities camp off-reservation, but little has been writ- ten about the lives and work of those on the reservation. Months after the shootings at Red Lake, the press has left Red Lake, on the hunt for bigger stories, leaving behind people who live in their midst—“people like us”—who deserve better coverage. What happened at Red Lake represents an all-too-common fail- ing of many journalists, and observing this experience has left me disillusioned about the role that journalism should be able to play. n
Dorreen Yellow Bird is a columnist and writer for the Grand Forks Her- ald in Grand Forks, North Dakota. She is a member of Three Affiliated Tribes, New Town, North Dakota. Yellow Bird is Sahnish (Arikara), A horse-drawn wagon carries caskets during funeral services for two of the nine victims Dakota/Lakota Sioux. of a teenage gunman on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. March 2005. Photo by Ken Blackbird. Y [email protected]
Cultures Clash in Coverage of a School Shooting Some reporters didn’t understand the implications of tribal sovereignty when they went to the Red Lake Indian Reservation to report this story.
By Dan Gunderson
hen dozens of reporters dropped on the conversation between understanding, in the midst of trying to descended on the Red Lake two reporters who had never been to cover this emerging news story, were W Indian Reservation in Min- Red Lake before. One was incensed by the legal and practical implications of nesota to cover a school shooting in the previous day’s experience when tribal sovereignty. March 2005, many were shocked by reporters had tried to get onto the res- Red Lakers stand proudly on their the tribal government’s response. A ervation. “Who do they think they are, sovereignty. They live on land where short time after the incident, in which telling us what to do?” she was saying, generations of their ancestors walked, a 16-year-old boy killed nine people with some disdain. “Someone needs land that was never ceded to the U.S. before shooting himself, tribal officials to educate these people,” responded government. This means it is within closed the reservation’s borders. By her colleague. their rights to close the reservation. early the next morning, reporters had For a small number of journalists at In fact, not many years ago, outsiders been herded into a parking lot at the Red Lake that day—including those of were required to carry a tribally issued tribal jail, and if reporters ventured us who had come here before to report passport. into the town of Red Lake, they were on the people who live on this geo- Such restrictions are often the reality threatened with arrest. graphically isolated reservation—this in Indian Country. There is no guarantee As I grabbed a cup of coffee and a action taken by the tribal government of a free press on reservations, nor any banana on the way out of the motel on was not unexpected. What many of our protected right to free speech for the the morning after the shootings, I eaves- peers seemed to be having a hard time people who live there.
28 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country
In Indian Country, access by outsiders This sudden and difficult cultural news. He was not easily discouraged. is gained through trust—a commodity clash between the members of the “But you are an Indian, aren’t you?” he that is painstakingly earned and easily news media and those who live in Red asked with a touch of indignation. lost. Lake didn’t do much for that precious Of course, as reporters, we pass in commodity of trust. A few days after and out of peoples lives all the time Establishing Trust the shooting, I stopped by a Catholic and rarely do we really get to know church in Bemidji, a small town near them. That’s especially galling for many Four days after the school shooting, Red the reservation where many Indians do American Indians who place high value Lake Tribal Chairman Floyd “Buck” Jour- business and go to school. The church on respect and trust and inherently dis- dain, Jr. relaxed the media restrictions. was hosting a prayer service for the Red trust people when they show up asking But by then, many reporters had already Lake shooting victims. The service was questions and demanding answers. left town. He offered little sympathy for sparsely attended, mostly by elderly A few days after the media frenzy those who complained about the lack white parishioners. An American Indian began, a tribal elder shook his head in of press freedom on the reservation. man and his wife seemed a bit out of dismay as he told about stopping at the “A lot of times nobody wants anything place. He told me he didn’t have any Red Lake High School to offer tobacco to do with us. Media doesn’t want to connection to the Red Lake shooting. and pray. As he prayed, cameras and come here. People have no reason to He was there only because the priest microphones suddenly surrounded come here, and they could care less,” asked him to perform a traditional him. To him, the experience was as the tribal chairman told reporters. “But Native ceremony as part of the prayer great an affront as a horde of reporters now that we have this tragedy, all of a service. rushing the altar during mass might be sudden our sovereignty is a question As we waited for the service to begin, to a Catholic. and the way we conduct ourselves and a reporter from a national news outlet He explained to me that during a our tribal customs.” walked into the church. After a cursory crisis is not a good time to learn about a Their time in the media spotlight look around, he headed directly for the people and their culture. “When I get up left a bitter taste with many Red Lake only American Indian in sight—the wife and go outside my house and get ready residents. In the weeks following of the man doing the ceremony. He in- to go to work, there are no cameras, the shooting, stories appeared about troduced himself and asked if he could no tape recorders, so I’m an invisible teenagers on the reservation who were talk to her about the Red Lake shooting. human being,” said Gichi-ma’ingan. offered cigarettes in exchange for an She politely demurred, saying she had “And when a tragedy happens all of a interview and money being offered for no personal connection to the shooting sudden here they are, saying ‘I have a information. and only knew what she’d seen on the lot of questions for you.’ My advice is come over to my house and visit when there is no tragedy. And then I can talk with you.” I wonder how many visitors Gichi- ma’ingan will have. n
Dan Gunderson is a reporter with Minnesota Public Radio. He has re- ported a number of stories about Red Lake, including an examination of press restrictions and relations dur- ing media coverage of the shootings.
Red Lake High School sophomore Christopher Morrison, 16, is surrounded by news reporters as he enters the North County Regional Hospital in Bemidji to visit a friend. March 2005. Photo by Monte Draper/Courtesy of Bemidji Pioneer.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 29 Covering Indian Country Broadcast News: The Absence of Native Storytellers Without American Indian journalists, potential news stories are untold and the complexities of issues aren’t addressed.
By Mark Trahant
very few years a big news story Patty Talahongva, then a producer The Native American Journalists Associa- breaks out from Indian Country. for a Phoenix TV station, said she was tion (NAJA) was not included. EThis year it was the tragedy at determined from the start to tell a dif- “We appreciate CNN’s support for Red Lake, Minnesota. A few years ago ferent version of events. “I made sure our upcoming convention and their it was the hantavirus epidemic in New from the beginning that it was not a pledge of continued support, and we Mexico on the Navajo Nation. Or the Navajo disease; we never referred to it know our Unity partners will do great occupation of Wounded Knee, South that way. And we made sure every victim things with the money they’ve received. Dakota. These are stories that capture was not a Navajo.” Not all the media But it’s hard not to be disappointed the nation’s attention because television were so thoughtful. USA Today coined when the rest of our Unity partners are news brings us the up-to-date events the phrase “Navajo flu”—a phrase that recognized in this way and we are not,” directly to our living room. was easily and often-repeated on TV. NAJA’s then-President Dan Lewerenz The 1973 siege at Wounded Knee Since that story, however, the num- (Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska) now seems from another era. The TV ber of Native Americans working at the said. “Native people are the most under- reporting about the incident was es- network level has been frozen. When represented of all minorities in national sentially war reporting. There was not the Red Lake tragedy story unfolded network news. I don’t know of a single even the perception (by TV or print) that in April, CBS News sent Hattie Kauff- Native person currently working in news an American Indian reporter would or man. Unlike many reporters, she had production for CNN. And many of our could add perspective. It was an event access to tribal officials and was able to students attend colleges that don’t have that just as easily could have been a fully report the story. But she was the formal journalism programs or televi- satellite image from the Middle East or only one telling the story to a national sion training opportunities. CNN could Africa. Anchors, including CBS News TV audience from a Native American have taken tremendous strides toward anchor Walter Cronkite, described the perspective. correcting these imbalances but chose political activism as “Indians on the Think of that: A generation of one. not to. That’s what makes this particu- warpath.” Hattie Kauffman was the one and only larly painful.” But pushed by the civil rights move- TV network news reporter in 1989. And ment, the world was changing—even the same is true in 2005. The Value of New Voices in TV news. In February of 1989 Hat- There has been a little progress, tie Kauffman, then working for ABC’s some hiring of reporters and even an- What will it take to do better? It’s unlikely “Good Morning America,” became the chors in markets from Oklahoma City there will be any improvement until TV first American Indian to report a story to Phoenix. But no dramatic change news recognizes the depth of the prob- for the evening news. The story involved has occurred at either local stations or lem. Three-tenths of a percent ought a United Airlines accident. Kauffman at the network level. Recent data from to be painful to news executives, too. happened to be in Hawaii when the Ball State University and the Radio- “If the broadcast news industry takes story broke and was given the assign- Television News Directors Association seriously its commitment to diversity, ment for ABC News. shows Native Americans comprise only then we need to see these numbers A few years later, when a mystery ill- three-tenths of one percent of those turn around,” Lewerenz said. “That’s ness seemed to be killing young Ameri- working in broadcast media. going to require outreach to both high can Indians, the story was reported by CNN demonstrated the invisibility school and college students. It’s going to more than a dozen Native Americans of Natives in TV news in June when require looking beyond the established working for newspapers, local TV and it announced $1 million in minority journalism schools and finding innova- radio stations, and two TV networks. journalism scholarships. The money tive ways to train journalists outside the Kauffman was again on the scene, this was awarded to the National Association curriculum. It’s going to require paid time representing CBS News. And NBC of Hispanic Journalists, the National As- internships, so that students aren’t hired Albuquerque anchor Conroy sociation of Black Journalists, and the forced to choose between earning work Chino as a special correspondent. Asian American Journalists Association. experience and paying for college.”
30 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country
Tribal members walk to the cemetery on the Red Lake Indian Reservation for the burial of the first two victims of the school shootings. March 2005. Photo by Ken Blackbird/The Associated Press.
It’s tempting to dismiss diversity in good stuff and wanted the producers governments predated those of the the broadcast news media as impossible to go forward, or to just tell him to for- United States, stories about cultures, to achieve, to give up on reaching the get the idea. Finally he marched into a languages and people. Native Americans goal—or perhaps focus on other media. senior producer’s office and made his deserve to be among those who decide But here’s another story, a hopeful pitch in person. and report those news stories—and one. A few years ago, Eugene Tapahe His courage and determination paid others—to a TV audience. The talent is was offered an internship at the sports off. The story was assigned, and the there; it’s just not visible. How invisible? cable network ESPN. Tapahe, then 33, project was a go. Perhaps it’s significant Well, 99.7 percent makes what little worked at his tribal newspaper, the that Tapahe did not play a major role presence there might be very close to Navajo Times, but he was eager to in developing the story that eventually being completely invisible. n try something new and accepted the aired. He was, after all, an intern. But he internship. Once he started, Tapahe helped create an environment of jour- Mark Trahant is the editorial page was surprised to learn that ESPN had nalistic respect in which reporters and editor at the Seattle Post-Intelligenc- never aired a story about American producers went about telling a story in er. He is a member of the Shoshone- Indian symbols and names being used a different way. Tapahe says he’s proud Bannock Tribe and author of “Pic- as franchise mascots. of the story that eventually aired. tures of Our Nobler Selves: A History So Tapahe pitched the story, re- Indian Country is full of such stories, of Native American Contributions searched the topic, and waited. A day ones that ought to be told with respect. to News Media,” published by The went by, then a week. He asked a pro- There are complicated histories that Freedom Forum First Amendment ducer what was up, only to be told that defy traditional grab-and-go journal- Center, 1995. his material had not yet been read. But ism—stories with roots deep in history. Tapahe wouldn’t quit. He knew he had They are stories about nations whose Y [email protected]
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 31 Covering Indian Country The Internet: Continuing the Legacy of Storytelling ‘I often reflect on my work as a journalist and wonder if I’ve some inherent genetic code that comes from this time-honored practice.’
By Victor Merina
here is a lasting image I have of culture, I’m still drawn to the spoken Calling, a Federal Communications Brian Bull. He is standing with word.” Commission official was still speaking Tearphones in his ears, a digital about the issues that face Indian Country recorder at his side, and his microphone Using the Internet as a and the need to address the limitations trained on the person he is interview- Reporting Tool that still beset some reservations. ing—a curator at the National Museum But despite those difficulties, there of the American Indian in Washington, As journalists, Native and non-Native are indications that more and more D.C.; the president of the Navajo Nation alike, we are all drawn to the spoken Native Americans—just like everyone at an Arizona reservation; a member word—even those of us who have spent else—are logging onto the Internet. of the Acoma Pueblo Tribe atop a sun- our careers largely putting those words Tribal colleges are wired for comput- swathed New Mexico mesa. on a printed page or searching our ers, and while some outlying regions Bull is a reporter with Wisconsin vocabulary to capture the timbre and of Indian Country remain beyond Public Radio, and he asks questions nuance and inflections of a speaker we the grasp of cyberspace, most Native that will help shape a series of pieces are profiling or quoting. Americans live outside the reservation about Native Americans that have been But for Native Americans, especially, in cities where there is increased com- gathered during a weeklong seminar on when storytelling is so ingrained in their puter access and opportunities to get “Covering Indian Country,” sponsored culture and when much about their online, if not at home then in schools by the Western Knight Center for Spe- traditions and history have not been and public libraries. cialized Journalism. absorbed by so many journalists, the More and more, the Internet has Beyond Bull’s broadcast stories, the ability to hear the authentic voices and become a conduit for Native Americans words that resonate with me are ones to share those voices with an audience to tell their individual and collective he writes in his hotel room and posts is vital when it comes to covering Indian stories—and for journalists to print and in the dead of night for a Weblog that Country. And increasingly, the medium broadcast them. chronicles this seminar and its partici- that raises the volume and—in most So what can Native Americans and pants on their cross-country journey. cases—improves the understanding of non-Natives find on the Internet? “According to the elders of my tribe, Native Americans is the Internet, with its Plenty. Among online publications are the Nez Perce Indians handed down proliferation of stories and resources on newspapers that specialize in Native their values and history through oral Web sites, its array of streaming images issues or individual nations such as the tradition for centuries. Particularly and audio, and its future in Weblogs Native American Times, Indian Country during the long winters, when people and podcasts. Today, News from Indian Country, or gathered in longhouses, stories were There was a time when the specter the Navajo Times. [See box on page 33 passed on to younger generations who, of a digital divide underscored the lack for information about these Web sites in turn, would repeat those passages of access to the Internet that residents and others.] for their children. of more rural and less wired communi- There is also reznetnews.org, “To keep the culture preserved, such ties endured, including those on Indian which covers Native issues through a speakers had to be observant, accurate, reservations. Six years ago, the federal network of Native American reporters objective and bear excellent communi- National Telecommunications and In- and photographers in colleges around cation skills. formation Administration reported the country. [See article by Denny “Sound like a familiar job today? that rural Native American households McAuliffe on page 34.] Various Web “I often reflect on my work as a jour- ranked well below the national average sites promote the preservation of a nalist and wonder if I’ve some inher- for telephone penetration and access to specific language or culture and the ent genetic code that comes from this computers. It also said that, overall, Na- cause of indigenous people. One site, time-honored practice. And while print, tives had less access to the Internet than the Sequoyah Research Center at the television and the Internet have given other Americans. Last summer, on the University of Arkansas Little Rock also us more venues to learn of events and syndicated radio show Native America acts as a clearinghouse for information
32 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country on American Indian and Alaska Native on his tribal newspaper, relies heavily Porter heard the journalists praising this newspapers and periodicals. There are on the Internet to do his work and to program, she began to contemplate the also sites that might have started with showcase his stories. Internet users also possibility of repeating the seminar in a specific tribe but have evolved into a include Lee Marmon, a 79-year-old of other parts of Indian Country, with other resource for general news and informa- New Mexico’s Laguna Pueblo, whose Native issues. As one of the seminar orga- tion affecting all of Indian Country. One photographs of Indian Country date nizers I, too, marveled at the popularity of those, Indianz.com, is based on the back decades and are among the most of the Covering Indian Country Weblog Winnebago Reservation in Nebraska and striking images of Native people in cer- that gave the seminar participants a way provides an array of links to stories in emony and in everyday life. [His photo- to share their experiences and thoughts other media and information on specific graph is on this magazine’s cover.] about what they heard and observed, issues. And in California, Victor Rocha of Marmon, Bull and Magagnini were whether in a Senate hearing room on the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians among the speakers on the Western Capitol Hill or at the home of a Navajo saw his pechanga.net Web site blossom Knight Center’s cross-country tour last mother in Window Rock, Arizona. For into a vital source for many journalists. spring on which 20 journalists traveled some, this was their first exposure to “I don’t know of a more comprehensive 2,600 miles in eight days to learn more writing on a blog, and some did so or balanced ethnic site anywhere,” says about Indian Country. In this too-short only reluctantly at first. For others, the Stephen Magagnini of The Sacramento journey, the Native and non-Native par- blog offered a chance to contribute Bee, who has long covered Native issues. ticipants discovered that Indian Country to a medium that is becoming a more [See Magagnini’s article on page 15.] is more than a legal entity and a state of familiar aspect of journalism. In time, While the Bureau of Indian Affairs mind. It is a place journalists must find for everyone, the blog served as a way Web site has been temporarily shut by going there—walking the ground, to construct and share the story of our down because of an ongoing court encountering the people, asking ques- journey, whether through reflective or case, there are other federal Web sites tions, and listening to their answers. observational writing. to tap. There is the site for the Indian When Western Knight Director Vikki Wisely used, the Internet can enhance Health Service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. And for a nongovernmental viewpoint, there is the Web site run by the National Con- gress of American Indians that includes Valuable Web Sites About Indian Country a directory of tribal governments. Browsing the Internet, one can listen Listed below are addresses of Web sites that Victor Merina selected for to a live feed of the talk show “Native their value as resources for journalists. America Calling,” hosted by Patty Tala- hongva, a Hopi living in Albuquerque. Her show is heard on more than 30 sta- Native American Times Native America Calling tions in the United States and Canada. http://nativetimes.com www.nativeamericacalling.com And on the show’s Web site it is possible to listen to archived shows dating back Navajo Times Reznet a decade or patch through to American www.thenavajotimes.com www.reznetnews.org Indian Radio on Satellite and be able to listen to Native shows from as far away Indian Country Today Lee Marmon, photographer as Anchorage, Alaska. www.indiancountry.com www.leemarmongallery.com/main. html Sharing Stories on the News From Indian Country Internet www.indiancountrynews.com National Congress of American Indians Indeed, the Internet has become home Sequoyah Research Center, University of http://198.104.130.237/ncai/index.jsp for disparate people seeking and con- Arkansas Little Rock veying news about Native Americans. http://anpa.ualr.edu Indian Health Service of the U.S. Depart- They include veteran journalists like ment of Health and Human Services Magagnini and Bull. And they also in- Indianz.com www.ihs.gov clude less experienced ones like Louis http://indianz.com Montclair, a 22-year-old member of the The Western Knight Center for Special- Assiniboine Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Pechanga.net ized Journalism Indian Reservation in Montana. Mont- www.pechanga.net www.wkconline.org/index.php/semi- clair, who spent the summer working nar_showcase/nativeamerican2005
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 33 Covering Indian Country
our understanding of Indian Country. Country we can find the spoken word, the University of Southern Califor- By parsing the wealth of information the written word, and the word in im- nia’s Annenberg Institute for Justice that is let loose in cyberspace, we can ages, all of which can convey the words and Journalism, an editor for reznet, deepen our knowledge and stir our of storytellers. And we can share these and instructor at the American In- creative ideas. This technology can help stories through our journalism and on dian Journalism Institute. provide greater insight about a people the Internet. n and a culture that so many people still Y [email protected] know so little about. As Brian Bull Victor Merina, a former Los Angeles would remind us, by navigating Indian Times reporter, is a senior fellow at
Finding a Different Path Into the Newsroom For Native students, a summer journalism institute, an online newspaper, and internships can lead to full-time jobs.
By Denny McAuliffe
uick quiz: What college or several internships under her belt, how to write newspaper stories and university this year produced and one of Creighton’s graduates has take photographs in a three-week boot Qthe largest number of Native decided already to quit her first full- camp at the University of South Dakota American graduates looking for jobs in time newspaper job and do volunteer each June. The reznet online newspa- newspaper journalism? Let me knock work on a reservation in South Dakota. per then puts them to work during about a million years off of your guess- (The other Creighton graduate, pho- the school year as paid reporters and ing time. The answer is East Central tographer Tetona Dunlap, an Eastern photographers. They use their reznet University (ECU) in Ada, Oklahoma. Shoshone from Wyoming’s Wind River clips when they apply for internships, Notice this is not a big journalism Reservation, became The Washington which many of them do through the school. Neither is it one of the 33 Post’s first and only Native American Freedom Forum’s Chips Quinn Scholars small tribal colleges where most Native intern.) Program. Americans (about 30,000) go to school. I don’t think ECU actually tried to Reznet, which I created, is starting In the mini-world of Native American achieve this distinction or is even aware its fourth year as a joint project of journalism, there is a number that is of it. It just happened. Then again, ECU the University of Montana School of significantly smaller than the American or any school that Native Americans at- Journalism and the Robert C. Maynard Society of Newspaper Editors’ annual tend doesn’t have to teach journalism Institute for Journalism Education. The headcount of about 300 Native jour- to its future Native reporters, editors online newspaper operates as a sort nalists working at daily newspapers. and photographers as they earn de- of daily newspaper. Each school day, That’s the number of Native Americans grees in something else. The reason: we put up on the site a new story. As studying journalism in college or at Native students can get their journalism editors (and teachers), we edit heavily least preparing for a journalism career lessons and experiences from other and often. All of our exchanges with the by doing internships each summer. The sources—and that is important news. students are done by e-mail and phone magic number that put East Central calls, and the Web site is created by a University over the top was two. Two Young Native Americans and staff whose connection to one another of its graduates, Erny Zah, a Navajo and Journalism is via computers. My student assistant, Mark Francis, a Muscogee (Creek), are Craig Henry, attends the University of on track to become staff reporters after Two programs—a summer institute Oklahoma. He posts the edited stories completing internships this summer. and an online newspaper—train Native and photos on the Web site, which is ECU technically is tied for this honor Americans in the basics of journalism, housed in Oakland, California. Three with Creighton University of Omaha, place them in paid internships at daily journalists pitch in as editors, again via Nebraska, but ECU won the tiebreaker newspapers, and help them to find jobs. e-mail—Steve Chin, with the Maynard because it has a student in the wings. The Freedom Forum’s American Indian Institute in Oakland, Victor Merina, of Jennifer McMahan-Curliss, a Timbisha Journalism Institute [AIJI] teaches about the University of Southern California’s Shoshone, will graduate next year with 25 Native American college students Annenberg Institute for Justice and Jour-
34 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country nalism in Los Angeles, and Bill Elsen, a work tribal newspaper editor who was a Three reznetters have had A.P. intern- recently retired Washington Post editor poet; the students’ first assignment was ships, and five have taken part in the and recruiter who lives in the Washing- to find a sacred place, real or imagined, A.P.’s Diverse Voices/Diverse Visions ton, D.C. suburbs. The three editors and and write weepy words about it. workshops. Three have been selected I teach at the American Indian Journal- for the staff of the ASNE Reporter ism Institute during the summer. [See Creating Reznet newspaper that reports on the annual Merina’s article on page 32.] conference of the American Society With only one or two exceptions, The reason I invented reznet was to of Newspaper Editors. All nine Native all reznetters are graduates of AIJI. In use the Internet to reach out and students on the staff of The Unity News fact, reznet is the school newspaper teach journalism to—sometimes liter- newspaper covering the 2004 Unity: that Native students either don’t have ally—the one Native kid in Wisconsin or Journalists of Color convention were at their schools or wouldn’t be caught Minnesota or Oklahoma or New Mexico reznetters. dead working for. There are as many or even New York who was interested in The July 11, 2005 edition of the Argus theories about Native Americans and trying it. Reznet is also doing an impor- Leader reflects the growing impact of journalism as there are Native Americans tant job of recruiting Native Americans these programs. AIJI grads who were in journalism. Mine is pretty simple: into our journalism pipeline: Many of interning at the Sioux Falls, South Da- Native students just don’t think about the AIJI and reznet students have said kota newspaper wrote the Page One lead it, especially when they finally go to their initial interest in journalism came story (a story by Virginia Perez about college. I say finally because the profile from reading reznet and seeing the work community opposition to moving a of the typical tribal college student is a of other Native college students who diner downtown) and the centerpiece 30-year-old single mother with a couple have, in fact, become the missing role articles in both the Life feature and of kids. models. Erny Zah and Mark Francis are Sioux Empire metro sections (another When Native students do go to col- good examples. When he was accepted by Perez about multicultural marriages lege, they’ve already made up their into AIJI, Mark talked his friend Erny and a story about a bison petting zoo minds what they want to do, usually into applying. in nearby Minnesota by photographer something for their tribes—and it isn’t Last year we squeezed 35 students Russel Daniels). And the AIJI graduate, journalism. One reason is that journal- onto the reznet payroll. (We pay $50 for Eric Bohlen, who was working as an ism is largely absent from their lives. a story and give each student reporter intern at the Sioux Falls A.P. bureau, Given the sparse number of Native a digital camera.) They came from 21 had a bylined story appear inside the journalists, Native young people don’t different colleges in 12 states, and they metro section about an old gas station see themselves when they turn on the represent 25 tribes in 15 states. This that pumped nostalgia, not gas. TV news or open a newspaper. Or the spring, AIJI graduated its fifth class, I know there will be a day when the newspaper they read—the daily or adding another 23 Native students to lead story in The Washington Post or weekly in the town or city nearest the the reznet talent pool. The New York Times will be by a for- reservation—is openly hostile to tribes The hallmark of AIJI is its strong mer reznetter and carry a byline with or seems to go out of its way to make and reliable internship program: Top a name such as the ones that readers dumb mistakes about all things Indian graduates go immediately into six-week see every day on reznet: Bearchild, (since most don’t have Natives in their newspaper internships. After this June’s High Bear, Sings In The Timber, Walk- newsrooms, either). AIJI class, 17 graduates started paid ing Bull. That’s my small dream. With Most tribal newspapers tend to be internships at eight newspapers and an these essential building blocks in place, little more than public relations mouth- Associated Press (A.P.) bureau in seven the reality is that now it’s an attainable pieces for the tribal leaders, tightly states. The numbers we’ve compiled are one. n controlled by the tribal governments impressive, though small. (Working with that own them. Good tribal newspa- Native Americans is not for big-dreamer Denny McAuliffe, an Osage tribal per reporters and editors—those who personality types.) This year, six gradu- member and former Washington attempt to report real news on their ates of AIJI got their first full-time jobs Post foreign desk editor, is the reznet government bosses—spend a lot of at daily newspapers (excluding the one project director at the University time out of work, which is not exactly a who retreated to the reservation), and of Montana School of Journalism. ringing endorsement for a young person I expect at least another five more will Reznet can be found at www.reznet- deciding on a career. find staff jobs next year, including Erny, news.org. It gets even drearier: Tribal colleges Mark and Tetona. don’t have journalism classes. If an Counting the new AIJI class, 58 Native Y [email protected] occasional one is offered, it often is college students have had internships canceled because of lack of students. since the program’s inception, and Or students don’t do real journalism in many have had multiple internships. the classroom. One tribal college offered Twenty-three AIJI grads from 15 colleges a journalism class taught by an out-of- have received Chips Quinn internships.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 35 Covering Indian Country Native News Honors Project In a journalism class at the University of Montana, students report from the state’s Indian Country, and their words and images are published.
By Carol Van Valkenburg
ot long after graduating from only to reinforce the perceptions most Honors Project in 1991, we invited journalism school, I was as- Montanans held of Native Americans, students who’d performed the best in Nsigned to cover federal district regarding them as either criminals or other journalism courses to take this court in western Montana. In reporting a icons of a bygone era. Most stories were class. Photojournalism professor Patty trial about a man charged with an Easter reactive, rather than being proactive, Reksten and I limited the class to seven Sunday murder of a family member, I and few examined in depth many of the reporters and seven photographers and described him as a 24-year-old Indian. contemporary issues the state’s 60,000 paired them in teams. We emphasized The next day the publisher relayed to me Indian residents confront. that the reporters and the photogra- a question he’d received from a reader: Today Native Americans make up phers were equal partners in doing the “Why had I identified the defendant by about seven percent of Montana’s one research and the reporting. Reporters his race?” I was flustered, but stammered million people. Caucasians comprise were not allowed to talk about “my an answer: It explained to readers why almost all of the state’s remaining popu- photographer,” as if the photojournalist the case was in federal, not state, court, lation. Not surprisingly, few students at was the reporter’s chattel. Each team since the federal courts had jurisdiction the University of Montana see students was assigned to one of the state’s seven over crimes committed by Indians on who look different than they do or have reservations. After we selected a topic, the state’s seven reservations. different ethnic backgrounds. Even in each team began to research it at their While the factual context was true, the journalism school, where half of the particular reservation. few readers would understand the dis- students come from out of state, most Much of our time was spent meeting tinction, or care. The real reason I de- have almost no experience dealing with individually with the student teams to scribed him in the way I did was because unfamiliar cultures. discuss their progress. The most rel- I’d grown up in Montana with Indians evant advice we gave them was to find identified by race in the newspapers. Training the Students stories that could be told through the Though Caucasians were not similarly personal experiences of those affected identified, the disparity was lost on me. As we thought about training these by what their research had revealed. We Thirty years distant, it’s hard to fathom, prospective journalists, we wanted to did not want them to write policy stories but at the time I hadn’t thought about give them the opportunity to report on that no reader would plow through. why this different treatment constituted Native cultures they knew little about. Reksten showed the students, both racism. Nor had I been exposed to its To do this, we would need to teach photographers and reporters, the inherent unfairness when I studied them to learn how to look beyond the work of distinguished documentary journalism in college. obvious. Learning cultural sensitivity in photographers, and I discussed great More than a decade later, a few years doing this particular assignment would narrative writing. The student report- after I’d joined the faculty at the Univer- translate into understanding other per- ers brought in writing they particularly sity of Montana School of Journalism, spectives as they go on in their journal- admired and read it aloud and talked Dean Charles Hood proposed a class in ism careers to cover a broad range of about why it was effective. After a few which students would report on issues issues involving race and ethnicity. One years of teaching the class, we added of concern to Montana’s Native Ameri- advantage we brought to this endeavor student copyeditors, photo editors, cans. He thought, and I agreed, that was being at a school where students and designers to the class. Through news stories about Indians in the region are taught by professors who have the years, we’ve also had a number of generally fell into two categories: cover- worked for many years as journalists, Native American students who provide age of crime or culture. Indeed, plenty and a lot of them return to newspaper especially beneficial insights. We also of stories told of Indians in trouble with work during the summer months. They invite guest speakers to discuss with the law, and lots of others explored are able to provide students with the students the history of American Indi- the culture of the powwow, in which guidance they need to cover real news ans in Montana and ask Native guests Native Americans dress in the clothing stories and to offer extensive critiques to guide us in interacting with Indian of their ancestors and celebrate im- of their work. sources. (Reksten has left Montana to portant traditions. Such stories served When we began this Native News become director of photography at The
36 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country
Oregonian, but her successor, photo- to share with them their findings, we little legal training. And another student journalism professor Teresa Tamura, require students to get the names and explored how problems, such as mold continues to get stunning photojour- addresses of every source and make at tribal houses, which was allegedly nalism from the students.) sure a copy of the publication is mailed making residents sick, led to confusion In this class, we permit students to do to them. and inaction as the tribe and federal things we would not encourage, or even In May, last year’s class of students government could not agree on who allow, in public affairs reporting was responsible for making classes, such as occasionally let- necessary repairs. ting students stay in the homes In the course of publish- of sources on the reservation. ing these stories, we’ve had When a source invites them to to overcome some obstacles. dinner at their homes, we tell The project is expensive, them that they can accept. In since the journalism school keeping with Native cultural pays for students’ costs to tradition, we encourage students travel to the reservations, to bring small gifts when they go where they stay four or to the reservations and to give five days. But the most sig- them to those who are helpful nificant expense is printing to them. We also caution them cost for the publication. For to be open to new perspectives several years, we published and not make judgments about the 36-page report as an people and events based solely insert in the Missoulian, on their own experiences. the local newspaper. It was financed through support Opportunities and from the journalism school, Obstacles as well as the University of Montana and other donors, Sources on the reservation are such as former NBC News largely open and candid, and they anchor Tom Brokaw, who seem pleased that someone in the has a second home in Mon- media is showing an interest in tana. Grants from the Knight their concerns. But research and Foundation have been our reporting has not always been mainstay and recently al- easy. Many sources don’t have a The cover of the 2004 Native News Honors Project. lowed us to insert the report telephone, yet our students need into the Missoulian, the to do their initial research from our won a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Great Falls Tribune, and the Billings Missoula campus, firming up their story Award for their coverage of sovereignty, Gazette, the three leading papers in the ideas from afar. Once a team is given which was published in 2004. It was our state. In doing so, this assured that most approval to pursue a story, they travel school’s first submission to this contest, Montanans have access to it. to their assigned reservation, which can but through the years many of the Native In doing this project, the students be more than 500 miles from Missoula, News Honors Project students’ stories learn a lot, as do their professors. An to report and photograph their stories. and photos have received awards from important lesson I learned early in the If the original story idea falls through, the William Randolph Hearst Journalism project was to let students have a hand students must scramble to find another. Awards Program and from the Society in the stories up to publication. In the Not one student has ever come back of Professional Journalists. beginning, I rewrote the stories of those empty-handed. In looking at how sovereignty issues few students whose writing fell short The work the students in our first affect those who live on tribal reserva- of my expectations. After a student class produced was extraordinary, and tions, one student, for example, exam- stormed into my office and shouted, their successors equal that high stan- ined how a tribal court judgment of $250 “You destroyed my story!” I learned dard. The stories are not flattering, million against the Burlington Railroad to use a lighter hand. I also learned sympathetic puff pieces. They are hard- seemed like a victory for the families of to mentor rather than to dictate. With hitting, insightful and in-depth stories three women killed at a railroad cross- tight deadlines it is sometimes difficult about people whom the students spend ing, but resulted in a loss of sovereignty to let the students do another rewrite, time talking with and observing. Mind- for the tribal court. Another student but it’s critical to the learning process. ful of the many criticisms that Indians wrote about how close relationships on When I finally work on the last edit, I have voiced of anthropologists who the reservations can lead to preferential sit with each reporter and go over every “used” them for their studies, yet failed treatment of defendants by judges with line to make sure both of us are happy
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 37 Covering Indian Country
with what will be published. dents’ work. This experience offered issues for Montana newspapers today Our stories don’t always make our invaluable lessons for our students in are veterans of the class, putting the sources happy. Our spring semester understanding the power of accurate lessons learned to use in their daily class took on the topic of race. One and moving reporting and photogra- reporting. The result is stories that eye-opening story reported by a student, phy. reflect with sensitivity and accuracy the Anne Pettinger, who went to a northern Another initiative of our journalism lived experiences of Native American Montana town that borders a reserva- school involves the creation of reznet by people. n tion, caused such a stir that the town’s Denny McAuliffe, an Osage tribal mem- local paper wrote several stories about ber. McAuliffe acts as editor and coach Carol Van Valkenburg is a journal- the residents’ reactions to it, and many for tribal college reporters across the ism professor at the University of efforts were undertaken to change the country whom he recruits to cover their Montana School of Journalism where tense climate of race relations. [See campuses for this online news forum. she directs the Native News Hon- Pettinger’s story below for more detail [See McAuliffe’s story on page 34.] ors Project. That project is on the on her reporting and responses her The Native News course is taught school’s Web site at www.umt.edu/ story received.] each year, and each class of students journalism under Student Work. These sorts of results are ones that continues to surpass our initial goals. might not be expected from a major Most satisfying is that the majority of Y [email protected] newspaper, let alone university stu- journalists covering American Indian
A Student’s Most Memorable Story In tackling a tough topic—racial relations in a Montana community— a young reporter learned how much good journalism matters.
By Anne E. Pettinger
ears down the road, when I town to report a story and working as perspective, but I was distracted by what recall my first experiences as part of a reporter-photographer team I’d witnessed and my source’s reaction Y a journalist, one interview will covering Indian issues and interviewing to it. When the photographer, Katie stand out against all the others for its someone in a bar. And as our conver- Hartley, with whom I was working, and vividness. It was a rainy Friday night sation progressed, I quickly found out I finally left the bar, we sat in her car in a bar in a northern Montana town, how difficult it was to prepare in the for a few minutes in silence. Neither of and the person I was interviewing—a classroom for all that I was learning. us knew how to process what we had railroad conductor—asked me the first The conductor offered his perspec- just experienced. We drove back to question: “Are you from France? You tive on the relationship between people our hotel late that night, and I wrote seem foreign.” who live in Havre and Native people for hours, trying to record what we’d He was partially right. I was foreign to who live about 25 miles away at the seen and heard. the place where I was that night, but not Rocky Boy’s Reservation. At one point Professors warned us that our re- because I was from Europe. Rather, last he said, “Native Americans here are like porting assignment—with its focus on spring I was working on a story about the blacks in the south.” What spurred race—might seem overwhelming. And Native Americans for a special, in-depth this comment was a tense moment even though it was proving to be tough, publication produced by students at in the bar, when four Indians walked I felt my teachers did a good job prepar- the University of Montana in Missoula. through the bar and then abruptly left ing us to cover people and issues with Although I had been in Havre, Montana, after a patron ridiculed them to his which we were generally unfamiliar. In for a few days, and Missoula was just friends’ delight. our semester-long Native News class, five hours away, this person accurately What I saw flustered me, but I fin- seven photographers, seven reporters, sensed that I was out of my element. ished my interview. As I did so, I tried and two designers learned as much as The assignment represented a time of to ask questions that would help me possible before being sent out to various many firsts for me—traveling to a new better understand this man’s life and locations to report. We became familiar
38 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country with stories done by former classes, so it would be especially important to there were three more people that and guest speakers from newspapers describe scenes without offering my we simply didn’t have time to talk to. in and out of the state came to give us interpretation of them. “Show, don’t The assignment illustrated the wealth reporting tips. Indian students from a tell,” became my mantra. of stories waiting to be reported from local community college also met with For four days we worked on the these communities. us to offer their perspectives. story, covering a great deal of ground. The photographers among us fo- We interviewed employees at clothing Responses to the Reporting cused their attention on images, while stores, hardware stores, restaurants reporters in the class brought in writing and bars. We talked to tribal college Most fascinating has been observing samples we found particularly compel- educators and police officers. We met how the communities reacted since ling and practiced writing descriptive, with people in their homes. We went “Bordering on Racism” was published. authoritative narratives. We read our to visit the jail and on a ride-along with Several local papers did follow-up ar- pieces aloud. Early in the semester, pro- a police officer. The constant challenge ticles describing people’s responses. fessors created reporter-photographer was to figure out what questions to ask One of my sources was angry and said teams and assigned us to reservations, and how to ask them. I took her comments out of context. so it was as a team that we researched Race is a sensitive subject, so often I The mayor of Havre called it the most our areas, identified potential sources, would simply ask about the relationship slanted story he had ever read. But and brainstormed story ideas. between people who live in Havre and another person called it hauntingly During much of our class time we people who live at Rocky Boy’s. Since accurate, and leaders in towns around discussed specific story ideas. Since part of what I was investigating was the state said they face similar sorts of most of us would have just one shot at how people were treated in stores, I racial friction in their communities. reporting our story—we’d spend about also asked my sources, both customers People have been pledging changes, four days at the reservation doing our and clerks, about shopping and store too. A national clothing store chain reporting—the professors urged us to policies. People were generally candid announced that it was increasing its leave Missoula with a firm story idea in and eager to talk. employee diversity training after a clerk mind. We spent a great deal of time on Immersing myself in a new place and in their Havre store told me, “I don’t the phone and the Internet looking for working on an in-depth story was in- mean to be racist, but there are a lot ideas that fit our theme. vigorating. I was devoted to this project, of Native Americans around here, and and the reporting time passed quickly. that’s who we have to watch.” A media- Reporting As a Team Sometimes Katie and I separated to save tor from the U.S. Department of Justice time, but often we worked together. I Community Relations Service visited Katie and I chose a topic late, just several found it was generally valuable to work Havre to help town and reservation days before we left on assignment. We as a team. When we met with sources, residents improve communication, and had talked to a University of Montana having two of us there seemed to put Havre city officials announced that its student who grew up on the Rocky Boy’s them more at ease. Katie was skilled at once-defunct Native American Affairs Reservation, where we were assigned to carrying on the conversation when I Committee would be revived. go. What this student said intrigued us: furiously scribbled notes, and my ques- Visiting a new community and trying There were some places in Havre, a town tions helped keep our sources relaxed to make sense of it in four days was where many Rocky Boy’s residents went when she was shooting. an enormously difficult task. But the to shop, where some Native Americans Being part of a team was also helpful response to the story is an illustration felt they were treated unfairly because of because we were able to discuss our that journalism is important because the color of their skin. Those tensions story as it unfolded. If we needed an it can directly affect people’s lives. were most evident at retail stores, bars additional interview, we brainstormed For me, it’s also a powerful reminder and restaurants, the student told us. about how to find the right person. that at its best journalism can help us Before we left, our professors When Katie wondered what image better understand the places we’ve stressed that it would be best if we might best illustrate an idea, we talked never been to and the people who live reported on something we witnessed about that, too. After each interview there—even those who might initially firsthand rather than relying on second- we’d discuss it, sharing what stood out seem foreign. n hand accounts. This guidance made us to each of us. think more about the many potential Despite my initial uncertainty that Anne E. Pettinger is a second-year problems we might have with report- the story would pan out, I became graduate student in print journalism ing this story, but since our other ideas amazed at how many different angles at the University of Montana. seemed less promising, Katie and I our investigation could have taken. decided to investigate it. Our teachers From our initial unplanned interview Y [email protected]. also reminded me that it is difficult to we were directed to additional sources know what motivates people’s actions, and, for each person we interviewed,
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 39 Covering Indian Country
“Havre is a small isolated town located 25 miles from Rocky Boy’s Reservation. After visiting local businesses, it became ap- parent that these neighboring towns had conflicting opinions about the tensions between Natives and non-Natives.” — Katie Hartley
“We expected that stories of racially motivated conflicts and tension would be few and far between on our first visit to Rocky Boy’s Reservation. What we found instead is that everyone we spoke with had a story to tell about local racism. Joe Big Knife recounted an incident at a Havre store that he felt humiliated his family.” — Katie Hartley
Photos by Katie Hartley.
40 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Covering Indian Country
“The Rocky Boy’s Reservation lies between ranch lands and the beautiful rolling hills of the Bear Paw Mountains.” — Katie Hartley
“In a Havre restaurant, Kenny Blatt, a Rocky Boy’s resident, tells us that he has built a rapport with many people in Havre. Blatt, however, expressed his concern that there were other Natives who were not receiving the same hospitality.” — Katie Hartley
Photos by Katie Hartley.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 41 Journalist’s Trade
Changing Newspapers, Changing News
In an effort to make decisions and activities transparent, Steven A. Smith, editor of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, invites members of the public into morning news meetings, assigns five editors to be part of an online blog called “Ask the Editors” in which they explain news decisions, and welcomes the daily critique of five citizen bloggers as they share views about the newspaper’s efforts in an online feature called “News Is a Conversation.” As Smith writes, “In the transparent newsroom, citizens are partners in the news conversation, not just passive consumers of news and information.” Patrick Dougherty, executive editor of the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News, describes how his newspaper is trying to use the Internet to “talk with readers.” Notice, he writes, that “I use the word ‘with’ and not ‘to’ precisely because the choice of preposition lies at the heart of all that is changing for those of us at newspapers.” The paper’s first online attempt failed—and the Web site’s feature was shut down—when comments “profane, bitter, shallow, racist and relentless” forced out those who were more thoughtful and well-informed commentators. Dougherty writes about this experience. In a speech Bill Kovach, chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, delivered earlier this year to journalism students in Madrid, Spain, he focused on transitional issues that journalists are confronting in an era of rapid technological change. As he observed, “We begin by realizing that our old notion of journalist as gatekeeper is obsolete. The Internet has torn down the fences …. Instead of gatekeepers, journalists must become authenticators.” Transparency, he argued, will also be essential. “The premise is simple: Never deceive your audience. Tell them what you know and what you don’t know.” Francis Pisani, a newspaper columnist and Weblogger for Le Monde, questions whether technology is poised to subsume some of the roles journalists have traditionally held. He speaks to the “emerging social phenomenon … [of] citizen journalism” and describes the ways in which computer programs, using algorithms, already determine the positioning of news stories on some popular Web sites. Journalists, he suggests, “should not overlook the fact that as technological tools are created, more and more parts of our usual tasks will be able to be taken over by software programs ….” Comments Pisani made during the May 2005 Nieman Reunion panel, “Thinking About Journalism,” address these issues, too, as do experiences shared by fellow panel member John Robinson, editor of the News & Record in Greensboro, North Carolina, whose newsroom exemplifies the use of blogs to promote greater citizen interaction with the newspaper’s staff. “In journalism circles it seems the most controversial thing we do is not edit the blogs,” Robinson said. David D. Perlmutter, an associate professor at Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communications, and Misti McDaniel, a master’s degree candidate there, explore the ascendancy of blogging, evaluate blogs’ impact on journalism, and assess how new media likely will affect the old. “At some level, blogs seem a threat to almost everything in the news business,” they write. “But the point worth remembering is that the rise of new media should not make the old media panic or be dismissive or fearful.” Douglas Ahlers, who studied the
42 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 intersection of online and offline news media as a spring 2005 fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics & Public Policy, and John Hessen, a communications consultant, share a range of data about news consumers’ habits and advertisers’ spending that touch on the prospects for print and broadcast media in the digital age. Traditional media organizations, they write, need to “understand and explore the complementary nature of online and offline media and take steps to attract the next generation of news consumers.” David Carlson, Cox Foundation/Palm Beach Post Professor of New Media Journalism at the University of Florida and creator of The Online Timeline that threads through our collection of stories, contends that few newspapers effectively use their Web sites. They are not, he writes, “taking advantage of the emerging capabilities of the medium.” To do so, they must “stop thinking like newspapers.” Barbara A. Serrano, a Web news editor at the Los Angeles Times, describes how her newspaper’s Web site is being redesigned to highlight different content and draw in new readers. “There are plans to invest newsroom resources (i.e. staff) in the online operation,” she writes. “The goal is to have a Web editor working for each department in the newsroom.” In the wake of online experimentation on the Los Angeles Times editorial pages, Michael Gartner, who won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, reminds us that those editors “certainly won’t be the last” to debate, dissect, or disparage the editorial page. It is something, he writes, that’s happened “since Horace Greeley invented it [the editorial page] in the 1850’s.” Susan E. Tifft, the Eugene C. Patterson Professor of the Practice of Journalism & Public Policy at Duke University, describes what her students know about journalism (not much), how she teaches them about it, and what “dream newspaper” they then want to create. “Each one envisioned a strong Web presence in addition to the print edition,” she writes. Philip Meyer, Knight Professor of Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, finds in bloggers’ treatment of their own errors an example of why, in the transition from old media to new, there is need for “a new kind of media organization to focus responsibility.” Russell Frank, who teaches journalism at Pennsylvania State University, examines how newspapers might handle the anecdotal “optional” news leads now offered by The Associated Press. “The dilemma is clear,” he writes. “Newspapers know they’re going to lose readers when they only tell them news they already know.” Comparing National and Local Campaign Coverage
In writing about their comparative examination of national and local campaign coverage, Shanto Iyengar, the Chandler Professor of Communication at Stanford University, and colleagues William F. Woo, former editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who teaches in the graduate journalism program, and doctoral student Jennifer McGrady examine both the content and quality of the news reporting they studied, interpret what they learned in their analysis, and explain the significance of their findings on future political coverage. “… there were significant differences between what the journalists thought (or said) they produced and what was actually published,” they conclude. “Strikingly, reporters and editors significantly overestimated the substantive content of their stories.” A close look at the coverage also revealed a “discrepancy between what journalists assert is important and what news actually reaches readers.” n
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 43 Journalist’s Trade
watchdog A Newsroom’s Fortress Walls Collapse At The Spokesman-Review, editors and reporters explain ‘what we do and why’ and involve ‘citizens, at some level, in news planning and decision-making.’ By Steven A. Smith
irst there was “fortress news- or public journalism was equivalent to nalism. In Salem, Oregon, open news room.” That was the term I used community boosterism. meetings attracted community visitors Fin a series of speeches for the The American Society of Newspaper almost daily. Pew Center for Civic Journalism in the Editors (ASNE) credibility project of early 1990’s dealing with the perceived 1997-1999 refocused the conversation. The Transparent Newsroom disconnect between citizens and their In two far-ranging ASNE credibility sur- newspapers. Fortress newsroom, I veys, one of the key findings suggested Our work at The Spokesman-Review argued, was the walled enclave where that newspapers could slowly rebuild in Spokane, Washington, incorporates journalists practiced their craft in a citizen trust by better explaining news many of those earlier experiments but “just the facts” environment, using values and decision-making and by is enhanced by aggressive exploitation selective notions of objectivity and engaging in conversations with readers of the Internet, an ideal medium for balance to shield themselves from the about journalism. journalist-citizen interaction. consequences of their work. “This research suggests that most of As suggested by the ASNE studies, In fortress newsroom, readers are the public is fairly generous in giving our goal is to improve the newspaper’s something of a necessary inconve- us credit for trying to explain ourselves credibility in our communities by bet- nience. We need their business, but to them,” Judy Pace Christie wrote in ter explaining what we do and why, by not their interference. In fortress news- the overview to a report on the 1999 soliciting and then listening to reader room, objectivity means independence credibility survey. “The best outcome, criticism, and by involving citizens, at defined by separation. Journalists report of course, is that the education will be some level, in news planning and de- on their communities but cannot be part reciprocal.” cision-making. Among our newsroom of their communities. And listening to Therein lies the foundation for the initiatives: readers, trying to understand their inter- “transparent newsroom,” the antithesis ests and motivations, is the business of of the fortress model. In the transpar- • All of our daily news meetings are ad reps and circulation managers. ent newsroom, citizens are partners in open to the public, and we promote That the fortress newsroom model the news conversation, not just passive that opportunity on Page One several was failing newspaper journalism be- consumers of news and information. times each week. Those participating came apparent in the late 1980’s and In fortress newsroom, where separa- in morning critiques often stay to early 1990’s as all of us began, finally, to tion is a primary value, there are no talk with editors about issues that wage war against the double-whammy mechanisms to foster conversations concern them. Invariably we learn of declining readership and plummet- between journalists and citizens. In the something worth knowing or get a ing credibility. I first challenged the transparent newsroom, the opposite tip on a story worth pursuing. model during early civic journalism should be true; connection becomes • As many editors do, I periodically experiments at The Wichita Eagle where a primary value and journalists have write about our journalism for the I was managing editor. Those Eagle multiple, programmatic ways to ensure op-ed page. But the focus more often projects were built around the notion that the education occurring through is on newsroom values, routines, that newspaper journalists and citizens conversation is, as Christie suggested, reflexes and practices rather than were active partners in the support of fully reciprocal. particular stories or news decisions. democratic institutions and that citizen I’ve experimented with various trans- One recent column articulated the voices were the bedrock of effective parency strategies through the years at core values that underlie newsroom public service journalism. four different newspapers. In Wichita, policies and practices. But attacking fortress newsroom editors went to malls and recreation • Too small to support a full-time om- through the frame of civic journalism centers and set up tables inviting readers budsman, we hired a local journalism wasn’t easy or effective. Civic journalism to discuss their newspaper concerns. In professor with no connections to was too great a flashpoint, and its critics Colorado Springs, we invited various the paper to independently critique successfully derailed the conversation community groups into the newsroom our work and respond to citizen with red herring assertions that civic to audit and critique the paper’s jour- complaints once or twice a month.
44 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News
Sometimes Whitworth College Newsroom Responses professor Gordon Jackson tackles Online Timeline subjects of his choosing; sometimes Newsroom reaction to the transparent he responds to reader questions. newsroom has been predictably mixed. By David Carlson • Five editors participate in an online Generally, as each initiative proves its blog called “Ask the Editors,” por- value—or fails to damage the journal- An article by David Carlson, includ- tions of which are repurposed for istic enterprise—staffers accept it. And ing a description of work on his publication on the op-ed page each some relatively new experiments, such timeline, begins on page 68. The Friday. as “News Is a Conversation,” were sug- Online Timeline from which this is • Five citizen bloggers representing a gested by staff. adapted can be found at http://iml. cross-section of political and social Perhaps the greatest challenge to jou.ufl.edu/carlson/timeline.shtml. views critique the paper daily in an newsroom acceptance will come later online feature called “News Is a Con- this year when we begin Webcasting our 1962 versation.” Staffers can respond to morning and afternoon news meetings, United States the citizen posts as can other readers, inviting observers to participate in the U.S. Air Force contracts with Rand generating an ongoing discussion of conversations through real-time, chat- Corp. to study computer networking coverage issues, news values, and style interaction. Will anyone bother for defense purposes. decisions. to watch? Will we have any interaction? • One of our online journalists produc- How will observers respond to the oc- es a daily summary of our morning casionally off-color tone of a newsroom 1963 and afternoon news meetings posted meeting? Will it enhance credibility or United States online as “Daily Briefing.” The report further confuse matters? Ted Nelson, an author and futurist, summarizes the daily staff critique Well, it’s an experiment, so we can’t coins the word “hypertext.” and highlights the major stories be- be certain of the outcome. If it helps, ing worked for the next day. we’ll continue. If not, we’ll learn our • Periodically, I host online chats about lessons and move on to something else. 1967 the newspaper. Recent chats dealing But in the spirit of transparency, we’ll tell United States with our investigation of Spokane readers what we’ve done and why. Development of Arpanet, forerunner of Mayor Jim West drew hundreds of To date, I know of no statistically the Internet, begins with U.S. Defense participants. One lasted nearly three valid research showing that initiatives Department funding. hours. [See box on page 46 for more such as these actually move the needle about this investigation.] on a newspaper’s credibility. Anecdotal 1969 • As part of our work on a pending evidence here and in a few other markets United States redesign, we sent editors into the suggests we can show improvement. Arpanet begins operation, connecting field to interview citizens—readers And some of the research conducted three universities in California and one and nonreaders—about informa- at the tail end of the ASNE credibility in Utah. tion needs and readership behavior. project and later by the Readership “Project Insight” was so successful, Institute suggests the same. we’ll do it regularly. In Spokane, our Reader Behavior 1969 Scores (a Readership Institute measure United States Of course, The Spokesman-Review of readership intensity) have gone up CompuServe Information Service relies on traditional means of commu- during the past three years. Our own launches in Columbus, Ohio, as a com- nicating with readers. We publish more readership studies show some marginal puter time-sharing service. than 5,000 letters to the editor each year, improvement in reader trust measures. far more than most newspapers our But much more needs to be done be- size. Editors, reporters and support staff fore any of us can say that the transpar- 1970 handle countless e-mail and telephone ent newsroom can repair the damage United Kingdom doorways into the newsroom for people wrought by fortress newsroom. n December 14: First mention of the con- to voice compliments, complaints and cept behind teletext is made in a BBC concerns, all promoted in print and Steven A. Smith is the editor of The internal memo. online. And through the energetic Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash- innovation of Online Publisher Ken ington. His “Ask the Editors” blog can 1972 Sands, we have initiated numerous staff- be found at www.spokesmanreview. United States written blogs that have become lively com/blogs/editors/. The first e-mail program for Arpanet is topic-focused conversations between created by Ray Tomlinson of BBN. journalists and news consumers. Y [email protected]
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 45 Journalist’s Trade
Sharing All That Reporters Knew With Readers
In the spring, following a two-year sive. In the days prior to publication, was presenting himself as a 17-year-old investigation, The Spokesman-Review Spokesman-Review editors decided high school student, full transcripts of reported that Spokane Mayor Jim readers would need considerably more all interviews with the mayor and his West: information than traditional news re- chief accusers, full written and audio porting would allow. transcripts of the mayor’s response • Allegedly molested two or more We knew the mayor would come to our stories, news conferences, etc., young boys while serving as a deputy after the newspaper with every tool in PDF copies of all official documents and sheriff and Boy Scout leader nearly his considerable political arsenal. Our reports used in our reporting, and so 30 years ago. defense, we decided, would be full on. We even posted my raw notes from • Had, as a long-time legislative leader disclosure, up front, of the information an early Sunday morning conversation I and powerful Republican, pursued underlying our stories. We concluded had with the mayor when he called me an antigay agenda while living a secret total transparency would allow readers to tearfully explain his hellish life as a life as a gay man. to review all of the material with which closeted, conflicted and now accused • Admitted to trolling for young men we were dealing so that they could de- gay man. on an Internet Web site, even go- cide for themselves if we had been fair This unprecedented opening of our ing so far as to offer benefits and to the mayor, if we were contextually raw reporting materials achieved its a city hall internship to an online accurate as well as factually accurate, purpose. The lengthy transcript of the correspondent who was actually a if, in short, we were credible. key interview between West and our computer forensic specialist hired To accomplish this, we posted on our investigative reporters attracted nearly by the newspaper to confirm the Web site (www.spokesmanreview.com) 7,000 unique page views outside our mayor’s online activities. vast quantities of material—full tran- subscriber firewall. The transcripts of scripts of all conversations the mayor his conversations with our consultant, The stories were predictably explo- had with our computer consultant who using the screen name Moto-Brock, at-
Managing the Transparent Newsroom
To make a transparent newsroom tive assistant. How do people find out about it? function requires some changes in How do people find out about it? Referenced periodically on the op-ed the tasks people take on in connect- Invitations appear in a Page One rail page. ing more effectively with members every other day. What does it cost? Paid on a contract of the community. What follows are What does it cost? No cost. rate of $125 per column. some brief descriptions of ways we What does it accomplish? Brings What does it accomplish? The con- are learning to manage these new newsroom staff together with readers tract arrangement provides periodic, responsibilities. (and nonreaders) who have an interest independent review of Spokesman- in contributing to daily news decisions. Review journalism and gives readers Open News Meetings Promotes mutual understanding. Pro- a place to take complaints for inde- vides story tips and background. Often pendent review and response. Much What is it? The Spokesman-Review’s brings young voices to the table. of his work never appears in print as daily news meetings—morning and he facilitates communication between afternoon—are open to all news staff Part-Time Ombudsman disgruntled readers and staff. and to the public. Typically, one or two outsiders will attend at a time. What is it? Unable to support a full- Ask the Editors But sometimes entire scout groups or time staff ombudsman, the paper school classes are there. Participation contracts with a local college profes- What is it? Five editors participate in in the critique and conversation are sor for op-ed columns once or twice an online blog, portions of which are encouraged. a month. repurposed for publication on the op- Who manages it? Visitors make Who manages it? Ombudsman ed page each Friday. appointments with the editor’s execu- reports to the editorial page editor. Who manages it? Online staff receive
46 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News
1972 United Kingdom October 23: Ceefax is announced by the BBC, which outlines a series of tests tracted 34,000 views. PDF documents anti-Spokesman campaign, the mayor to be conducted. attracted 6,000 and audio transcripts denied, among other things, ever of- and clips another 19,000. In all, the fering Moto-Brock a city hall intern- West materials drew 519,000 unique ship in return for a sexual relationship. 1972 page views outside our subscriber fire- The transcripts, he said flatly, showed United States wall in the two months following initial the consultant had raised the issue first November: Atari is founded and ships publication on May 5, 2005. Statistics for and had sought the internship. Pong, the first commercial video game. subscriber views are still being tabulated Unfortunately for the mayor, our as I write this. readers knew otherwise. In a subse- 1973 Again and again readers told us quent fact-checking story, we were Europe how much they appreciated seeing the able to point them to all of the points First international connections to Arpa- background material. Some readers in the conversations where the intern- net are created in England and Norway. still disagreed with our reporting, dis- ship was discussed, showing, without puted our conclusions, or attacked our a doubt, that the mayor was the voice methodology. But they did so with full behind the offer and the aggressor in 1974 knowledge of what we had done. A great pursuing the relationship. United Kingdom many more reviewed the background This experiment in newsroom The British Post Office’s Research and told us they had a better apprecia- transparency does not mean we’ll Laboratory demonstrates “Viewdata,” tion for our reporters’ work. routinely post the raw material behind the world’s first videotex system, later Did our strategy provide the desired our stories. But it shows that in some called Prestel. defense against the mayor’s attacks? cases and, when it matters most, such In a publicity blitz in late June, aimed practices can enhance credibility. We at turning his political crisis into an can live with that. n — S.A.S. 1974 United States First use of term “Internet” appears in a conference paper by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn.
1975 France An ambitious project to update the reader questions and send them out to social views critique the paper daily telephone system is begun. Leads to participating editors for a response. in this online feature. creation of electronic phone book, How do people find out about it? Who manages it? Bloggers post mass-fax and videotex systems. Periodic promotion on Page One, daily their own entries that are moderated promotion online, and weekly promo- by a member of the online staff. Edi- tion on the op-ed page. tors, reporters and others respond as 1975 What does it cost? No operational time permits. United States cost. Editors find they spend a few How do people find out about Bill Gates, 19, and Paul Allen, 22, start minutes a day responding to questions, it? Online. Periodically on Page One. a software company in Gates’s dorm though occasionally a question requires What does it cost? Citizen bloggers room at Harvard. It comes to be called considerable research. are volunteers. No staff or operational Microsoft, and its first product is BASIC, What does it accomplish? Gives costs. a simple programming language. readers a quick explanation of news What does it accomplish? At its decisions, coverage priorities, and best, it generates a dynamic conversa- newsroom values. Provides quick feed- tional thread about specific newspaper 1976 back as questions usually are asked and stories and decisions, but also about United Kingdom answered the day a story appears. the future of newspapers, information First known e-mail from a head of state: technology, and the role of the press in Elizabeth II, Queen of the United King- News Is a Conversation society. Ranges in tone from thought- dom, sends a message via Prestel. fully intellectual to talk-show rant. What is it? Five citizen bloggers repre- senting a cross-section of political and Continued on page 48
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 47 Journalist’s Trade
Daily Briefing summary provides insight into staffers’ ing editor facilitate the program. views of our daily performance. Provides How do people find out about it? What is it? A short online summary and heads-up on upcoming stories, helps Intended for internal use, the project critique of the newsroom’s morning and promote next-day content and explain is not promoted to readers though the afternoon news meetings. news priorities. project will be cited when it produces Who manages it? An online reporter specific content or design changes. takes notes at the meetings and posts Project Insight What does it cost? Minimum of two them within minutes. Editor and man- hours work time per editor quarterly. aging editor review. What is it? Newsroom editors are sent What does it accomplish? Puts How do people find out about it? into the community in teams of three to editors into contact with real people Online. Occasionally in print. four to interview citizens about informa- representing the widest cross-section of What does it cost? No cost. Staff time tion and news consuming interests and age, ethnicity, social status, education, amounts to no more than 30 minutes habits. Newspaper readership questions etc. Information gleaned is used to rei- per day outside the actual meetings. are secondary. magine a newspaper that better serves a What does it accomplish? Critique Who manages it? Editor and manag- fragmenting readership. n —S.A.S.
A Newspaper Talks With Readers in a Cyber Town Square ‘Changes wrought by the Internet demand that newspapers innovate, and that means experimentation as we move beyond the boundaries of our known world.’
By Patrick Dougherty
bout 10 years ago, a group of lifetime. The introduction of cold type the masses. But that catechism is dis- McClatchy executives asked or the addition of computers for word integrating before our eyes. Thanks to A the founding editor of Wired processing and data crunching were the Internet’s interactivity, the masses magazine where he thought the Internet insignificant when compared with the are talking back. Editors no longer deal would rank among human inventions. World Wide Web. simply with an occasional reader calling Was it like television or, perhaps even Even so, as Kelly’s comment reminds to complain or a local gadfly writing a more profound, like moveable type? us, the Internet hype can get pretty critical letter to the editor. Every reader “I think,” Kevin Kelly told us, “that thick at times. One way to get beyond becomes a potential writer, media critic, it’s more like fire.” the hyperbole is to deal with one piece and publisher. Our CEO later cautioned that humor- of the discussion at a time. Instead of This potential offers a distinctly ist Dave Barry had conversely described talking broadly about “The Internet mixed blessing for those of us who the Internet as the greatest advance in and the Future of Journalism,” let’s work at newspapers and for our read- communications since call waiting. Re- pose a narrower question: “What does ers. Already I’ve experienced mixed ality, he said, was probably somewhere this have to do with how we talk with results at the Daily News because of the in-between those extremes: fire and readers?” And note that I use the word availability and ease of these interac- call waiting. “with” and not “to” precisely because tions; even so, we’re about to wade in From where I sit, as executive editor the choice of preposition lies at the to encouraging more Web-based com- of the Anchorage Daily News, I’m more heart of all that is changing for those munication again. in the moveable-type school of thinking. of us at newspapers. The Internet (and everything that catch- Our traditional communication with The Conversation Ends all name has come to mean) certainly readers and viewers was one-way: we represents the greatest technological transmitted and readers received. We Our paper’s initial experience with innovation to hit the newsroom in my were a priesthood, delivering truth to broad, Internet-based reader participa-
48 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News tion calls to mind a recent public radio have, too—but their departure further 1976 story I heard about the decline of New solidified the hold of the snarling pack, United States England town meetings. After 200 reinforcing a downward spiral that even- April 1: Steve Jobs and Mike Wozniak years, going back to at least Alexis de tually convinced me that this particular incorporate Apple Computer and intro- Tocqueville, these annual expressions of experiment in involving readers in the duce the Apple I. Cost: $666.66. direct democracy apparently are losing paper had gone irredeemably wrong. In favor among their constituents. the end, I was happy to shut it down. One reason seems to involve the I wish I could say I understand the 1980 rancor and contentiousness of citizens psychology behind what happened. United Kingdom trying to find common ground on which But I don’t. Why would an effort to let Prestel is now within a local phone call to build consensus with their neighbors. readers talk with their newspaper’s edi- for 62 percent of the British population. (Real participatory democracy isn’t tors and reporters and with each other pretty, perhaps especially not during attract people so eager to unleash their 1980 this time of bitter partisanship.) intolerance and mean-spiritedness? It United States I’ve never attended a New England called to mind a former colleague’s de- Miami: Viewtron, the videotex service town meeting, but that story struck scription of talk radio as “a place where created by Knight Ridder and AT&T, a chord here because I did try—and people go to pool their ignorance.” begins “concept trials” near Miami. failed—to create a place on my news- When we had started this online paper’s Web site aimed at roughly the forum I hadn’t viewed the editor’s gate- same purpose: a place where readers keeping role as including the imposi- 1980 could write in to discuss the stories tion of civility on public debate, but in France of the day and offer opinions on the retrospect that seems to be one of the Teletel, the videotex system now called newspaper’s coverage. things we need to do. Minitel, is publicly demonstrated. Our attempt began well enough. Articulate and well-informed readers Renewing the Dialogue posted thoughtful, interesting com- 1980 ments about the news and the news- Time has passed, and I’m ready to give United Kingdom paper. Some offered astute criticism of this effort another try. I’m sure the bad The (Brighton) Argus, owned by West- our coverage. Of course there were a actors or their cousins will show up minster Press, launches a Prestel service few lunkheads, but overall the online again. But in an attempt to stop from called Viewpress. forums extended and enhanced what happening what derailed our last at- we were trying to do in the newspaper. tempt, this time forum participants will 1980 We had readers who wrote to give first- need to register on the site, and we’ll Japan hand information about stories we were be able to cut off registrants who don’t The VCR is introduced by Matsushita. covering. A member of the family of a behave themselves. We know that’s Within a year, 40,000 U.S. homes will crime victim we hadn’t been able to track more of a speed bump than a barrier, have one. down wrote in and helped us flesh out since banned users can create a new e- the police account of a tragedy. mail address, reregister and return. But This is good, I thought. A hundred we’ve also built in new mechanisms for 1980 thousand fact checkers can add a lot to screening and removing postings and United States a newspaper’s coverage of a story. better ways for the community of users July: The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio But it wasn’t long before things to regulate itself. becomes the first newspaper to offer started to go bad. A small group of Will this new venture into the free- an electronic edition via CompuServe, people began to write constantly. They for-all marketplace of ideas work bet- which now has 3,600 total subscribers. were neither the best-informed nor ter than it did the first time we tried most thoughtful participants. Instead it? Time will tell but, so far, the cyber they were profane, bitter, shallow, rac- town square seems to be one of those 1980 ist and relentless. Little by little, their places where the hype about a glorious United States ignorant and mean-spirited comments Internet—free from the strictures of old The Source is purchased for $6 million began to predominate. They were pro- media gatekeepers—seems better in by Reader’s Digest. It has fewer than lific. They didn’t appear to hold jobs or concept than in reality. But we’re going 5,000 subscribers. even sleep. Ultimately their words set to keep at it until we find something a tone for the forum that discouraged that works. reasonable, intelligent, considerate Figuring out how we get our readers voices from participating. to talk with us, talk with each other, and I couldn’t blame the good par- contribute to the journalistic mission ticipants for dropping out—I would of the newspaper, is a puzzle we need
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 49 Journalist’s Trade
to solve. Smart newspaper editors are conversation about the newspaper and entertaining material. If I were the edi- engaged in doing this. Surely it is clear what appears (and does not appear) tor of a Salt Lake paper, I’d be trying to to every editor that we must learn how in it each day. Writing this blog will get material like that into the paper. In to extend our core mission into the also test my skepticism about whether my judgment, this is also journalism, a online world if we want to survive and blogging can live up to its hype. Some personal form of it. thrive. I’m convinced, for example, that blogs seem like little more than guest Newspapers are getting busy with the battle for the time and attention of columns or expansive letters to the edi- blogs. Some are insider, backstory ma- young readers will be won or lost on tor. Others offer personal commentary, terial or analysis, some are personal our Web sites, not on the pages of our ranging from what might appear in a musings, some are editor columns. And newspapers. Soon the Daily News will newspaper column to a more intimate I haven’t seen much that was good in be asking readers to submit reviews of diary entry. the blogosphere that wouldn’t have movies, concerts, plays, restaurants and Is the blog a fundamentally new form been good on the pages of a newspa- nightclubs. We plan to post all of these of communication? I don’t think so, but I per, if newspapers could loosen up the reviews online and publish the best of do hear a lot of nervous talk about them standard newspaper template. them in the newspaper. among editors. Do newspapers need to Changes wrought by the Internet At the same time, we’re redesign- jump on the blog bandwagon? Maybe. demand that newspapers innovate, ing our in-paper entertainment guide, Blogging certainly seems a wonderful and that means experimentation as which will be accompanied by the way to do something—but what that we move beyond the boundaries of launch of a four-page, free distribu- “something” is for newspapers still our known world. This is the world tion sheet focused on movies, dining seems in need of exploration. of “ready, fire, aim,” as another col- and nightlife. Both will feed content Some would say that the recent league puts it. But this is certainly not to and promote an expanded Web site high-water mark of noninstitutional how newspapers—these conservative, aimed at 18- to 30-year-olds. We might news blogging was the dissection and change-averse institutions that we love be wildly successful, or we might not. discrediting of the CBS News report so much—usually operate. If this works well, we’ll do more of it. on President Bush’s National Guard Can we learn to adapt? I think so, If it doesn’t, we won’t just retreat. We’ll Service. Smart people asking tough but not without pain. Certainly we have try something else. questions and ferreting out informa- sufficient motivation. To paraphrase tion for an Internet audience could not Samuel Johnson, “Knowing you are to The Role of the Blog be ignored. This was a socially useful be hanged in a fortnight does wonder- activity and one that was fundamentally fully concentrate the mind.” n I am also writing an editor’s blog. Why? journalistic, even if motivated by politi- Mainly because I want to explore the cal partisanship. Patrick Dougherty, a 1989 Nieman potential of a newspaper blog before I A different type of blog is “Dooce,” Fellow, is executive editor and senior commit other precious newsroom re- the online personal journal of a Salt vice president of the Anchorage Daily sources to this possible new venture. If Lake City housewife. This is just a win- News. it works the way I hope it will, the read- dow—a clever, funny window—on the ers and I will have an ongoing, online life of a regular person. It’s interesting, Y [email protected] A New Journalism for Democracy in a New Age
On February 1, 2005, former Nieman of power that shape our lives. In the I say “undifferentiated” because in- Foundation Curator Bill Kovach, who past few decades this responsibility of formation is now accessible to a mass founded and directs the Committee of the journalist in a free society has been audience at each end of the process— Concerned Journalists, gave a speech made more vital and more difficult by the producer and the consumer. As a at the School of Journalism at the Uni- the revolution in communications tech- result the world of cyberspace is filled versidad Autónoma de Madrid/El Pais nology and the economic organization with many views of reality, designed to in Madrid, Spain. An edited version of of journalism it has spawned. Technol- distract us or to control and dictate our his words follows. ogy has filled the world with a flood public behavior rather than to inform of undifferentiated information that is our independent public judgment. ournalism does more than keep us changing the audience for news and This new competition requires a new informed. Journalism enables us, as information from passive receivers to journalism to assure that the view of J citizens, to have our voices heard proactive consumers, who decide what the world in which the people live is in the chambers of power and allows us they want, when they want it, and how one constructed with the integrity and to monitor and moderate the sources they want it. reliability self-government requires.
50 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News
There are two aspects of this new ibility of the country’s most respected 1980 age about which journalists must think news institutions. Left unaddressed, United States more deeply and more creatively. The such challenges destroy the vital link Qube, the first two-way cable TV first is the impact on the production end between the people and its press on system, is started by Warner Amex in of the information stream; the second which democracy depends. Columbus, Ohio. It closes in 1984. involves the impact on the consumer. Each of those failures of journalism Those of you who are just beginning was the result of a thinning out of the your careers in journalism are assuming professional staff in the newsrooms and 1981 an obligation as public witnesses who a failure by the top leadership to develop United Kingdom clearly and without distortion describe a newsroom culture that encourages An estimated 10,000 Prestel terminals the actions and behavior of those who openness, rewards critical thinking, are in use. The service boasts 500 infor- shape and direct public life. To become and holds journalists responsible for mation providers. a journalist is an act of character, since the credibility of their work. the public’s ability to become a force Ways in which information is being 1981 in self-government depends upon the controlled by people and institutions of United States integrity of your work. To enter into the power become more sophisticated by February 17: Time, Inc. announces it life of a journalist is to accept personal the day. Those who hold power realize will develop and test a multichannel responsibility for the credibility of your that the success of their economic plan teletext service to be distributed via work and serve the interests of its con- or political program depends on their satellite, the first of its kind. sumers. You can do that only if you fully ability to get the majority of people to understand how the system works. see the world in their terms. To do this they progressively focus well-financed 1981 Dual Challenges efforts to develop more subtle and effec- France tive ways to manipulate public behavior March 26: Le Parisien Libere, a French Having an unlimited number of in- and understanding of the issues in newspaper, produces its first online formation producers presents two which they hold a vested interest. edition on Teletel. challenges for journalism in the public Meanwhile, in newsrooms little if interest—an economic challenge and a anything has been done to sharpen content challenge. understanding of how our work can 1981 The economic challenge affects even be manipulated by these strategies. United States the largest and most powerful news One reason many U.S. journalists now August: IBM introduces the P.C.. Based organizations. As they compete in a support the work of the Committee of on the Intel 8088, it sells 50,000 units worldwide market, the pressure to maxi- Concerned Journalists is the frustra- in the first eight months. Cost: $1,565 mize profit and minimize costs leads to tion they feel as news organizations to $6,000. short-term decisions that threaten to un- continue to invest less money in the dermine their ability to do quality work. ongoing training and education of their 1982 At the same time, new producers—in workers than almost any industry. As United States the form of bloggers—are the pamphle- people and institutions we report on Eleven U.S. newspapers begin daily teers of our time, and some have been work diligently to apply new and better transmission of “electronic versions” tempted to use their perceived stature strategies to control or avoid our scru- via CompuServe, which now has 10,000 as independent journalists to allow the tiny, journalists appear content to plod subscribers. content of their writing to be influenced along in the reporting and editing ruts by payments from government sources, formed in the 19th century. Too many as we in the United States witnessed in newsrooms too often operate by rote, 1982 the cases of Armstrong Williams and ceding to others decision-making about France Maggie Gallagher. what is important to cover and how. Major public trial of Teletel begins us- Neither of these erosions—in qual- Judgments produced by vested interests ing 270,000 Minitel terminals distrib- ity or integrity—is readily recognizable are given equal display to that of verified uted free of charge. to consumers of news, even though information produced by disinterested the public’s interest has been ignored reporters or, at worst, their judgment is in favor of personal bias or corporate the only judgment presented. 1982 profit. In the United States, in addition To meet this challenge journalists United States to the Williams and Gallagher examples, must aggressively expose self-serving Gateway, the videotex trial conducted there have been failures at CBS News propaganda. When they don’t, citizens by Times-Mirror, operates between (Dan Rather), The New York Times who depend on our credibility become March 15 and December 31. (Jayson Blair), and USA Today (Jack disillusioned. The public—all of us—are Kelley) that have challenged the cred- ignorant of many things, but we are
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 51 Journalist’s Trade
not stupid. Sooner or later, citizens guided by a more scientific and trans- fact quality control, such as analyzing recognize when journalists fail to ask parent methodology of verification, complaints of errors or questions of the right questions at the right time to checking every assertion against the assertions and analysis, as well as hiring hold a public official responsible or record. It asks of every claim, “How do ombudsmen or public editors to engage expose private corruption that threatens you know that?” and then demonstrates directly with the public. their welfare. In this era of unlimited the source of every fact. Such painstak- Beyond these mechanisms, the news- producers, when we fail to do our job, ing verification is essential in this time room culture must embrace forward- why should the public stick with us? Why of overflowing information. looking quality-assurance practices shouldn’t people turn to a more excit- Transparency will be essential, too, similar to those practiced by the best ing source, one that agrees with their to retain the public’s trust. The premise teaching hospitals. Each time a negative prejudices, even if they can’t necessarily is simple: Never deceive your audience. outcome of a doctor-patient interaction trust the integrity of the work? Tell them what you know and what you occurs, the doctor appears at a meeting don’t know. Tell them who your sources with colleagues at which each step in the New Journalism are. If you can’t name a source, then tell procedure is open for examination and them how the source is in a position to criticism. The criticism is not so much How do we begin the transition to know and what biases, if any, the source aimed at finding fault but in learning the new journalism this new age re- might have. In other words, provide from the mistake. Mistakes or omis- quires? information so people can see how the sions in our newsrooms should become We begin by realizing that our old news item was developed and can make learning tools and offer opportunities notion of journalist as gatekeeper is up their minds what to think. to remind journalists of their personal obsolete. The Internet has torn down Transparency also lets the public see responsibility. the fences. A journalist standing by the that we approach each story with an To some, these steps might seem too gate—opening it to allow this “fact” to open mind—open not only about what troublesome. But the cost of ignoring pass through but closing it to other we hear as we report a story, but about them—and risking corruption of the information that has not been veri- our ability to understand. Some call this information and knowledge we provide fied—looks silly when, on either side humility. We call it open-mindedness. the public—is too great. How journal- of the gate, unfiltered, indiscriminate Don’t assume. Avoid an arrogance about ism advances and how democracy pro- information is flooding through. what you think you know, and be sure gresses will depend upon how well we Instead of gatekeepers, journalists you submit your assumptions to the discharge this responsibility. must become authenticators. With the process of verification. History tells us of the heavy price flood of information and the lack of ways When people decide what news to paid when independence, aggressive to discern what is true and what is pro- rely on, they make decisions about vigilance, accuracy and credibility of paganda, journalists need to construct a the judgment, the character, and the the press fail. Events in Iraq are a stark role similar to that of a referee—letting values of the journalists who brought reminder to us in the United States the public know whether information it to them. Those values are revealed that we haven’t yet absorbed history’s has been checked and verified, whether every day when we decide what stories lessons. Who can say how the decision it has been found to be untrue, whether to cover (and not to cover) and how to by the American government—with the it is self-interested propaganda, or do so. Our unswerving commitment support of a majority of the American whether what is being reported is not to maintaining the public trust and public—to invade Iraq might turn out. yet able to be verified. making sense of the flood of available But we already know that public support Responding in this way to help information is the only way journalism for the decision to go to war was built consumers construct their own news can retain the economic base it needs by the government’s creation of an im- package will require us to be as focused to assure its survival. minent threat that facts have not borne as the challenges we confront. And this We cannot meet these obligations un- out. Brick-by-brick the construction of will necessitate that we take a more less we create a newsroom culture that that deceptive rationale was aided by an professional approach to our journal- rewards critical thinking and discour- American press that did not rigorously ism, one that instills in each journalist ages and exposes dishonest behavior. enforce an independent journalism of a rigorous method of testing informa- Such a culture begins with a new focus verification. tion so that personal, commercial and by editors. In this competitive atmo- If history teaches us anything it is that political biases do not undermine its sphere, editors have been drawn more freedom and democracy do not depend accuracy. deeply into newsroom management at upon the best technology or the most As Machiavelli reminded us, to sur- the expense of their more critical roles efficient organization. They depend vive in times of change, institutions of editing and mentoring young journal- on individuals who refuse to give up must return to their roots. That means ists. They need to instill mechanisms of their belief that the free flow of timely, reaching back to the goal of 18th century quality so that each journalist assumes truthful information is what has made thinkers who believed that journalist’s responsibility for the credibility of what freedom, self-government, and human pursuit of truthful information must be is produced, and this includes after-the- dignity possible. n
52 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News
1982 Europe Transforming the Gathering, EUnet (European UNIX Network) is created by EUUG to provide e-mail and Editing and Distribution of News USENET services.
Is technology poised to replace journalists and their 1982 judgment by consuming their tasks? Canada Project Grassroots opens in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. By Francis Pisani
1982 hile some journalists still can shoot video, edit it along with music Italy seem to be wondering how to accompany the images, and send Videotel, a videotex service, begins W best to limit the impact of it to a blog, a wiki, or to a news site, testing in the first quarter with 2,000 information technology on their craft, such as the BBC, which uses audience terminals. the issues at stake are already dealing contributions in reporting on significant with other dimensions of the changes news events, as it did the London bomb these tools have brought. The tension attacks in July. 1982 today lies somewhere between what we Technology enables other changes, Netherlands might call the “napsterization of news” including the following: 100,000 teletext TV sets are sold in the (when everybody communicates with year ending in April—and are twice the everybody and when everybody contrib- • At the Web site http://del.icio.us/, us- price of regular TV’s. utes with information and views) and ers can tag Web pages and share what what I call “algorithm journalism.” On they tag. Evidence of the growth in one hand, people use new technologies tagging can be found at sites such as 1982 to transform the ways in which news is Flickr.com (for photos), Technorati. United States gathered, edited and distributed. At the com (for blogs), and Yahoo.com’s StarText, the only early newspaper same time, however, and for a variety new “social engine” (for Web sites). videotex system intended for display on of reasons, computers are being used This represents the basic level of computers, opens in Fort Worth, Texas. to execute some of the essential tasks what some technology analysts call that had been traditionally reserved for “folksonomy.” By helping its users 1982 journalists. categorize news, they can do what United States The situation in journalism seems editors usually do, while also com- Commodore Computer announces the to be following an old pattern from menting on the news. Commodore 64. It has 64K of RAM, an earlier conflict between those who • RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds sound and color graphics when hooked wanted computers to substitute for what can be viewed as a complement to to a color TV. Cost: $600. humans do and those who wanted them this practice because they allow users used to augment our capacities. to select and collect bits and pieces of information coming from different 1982 Technological Tools media. Instead of receiving the news United States via e-mail (a practice that is growing Time magazine names no “Man of the Let’s consider what nonjournalists cumbersome), consumers either use Year.” Instead, the computer is dubbed can do—and have started doing. They a special program like FeedDemon “Machine of the Year.” contribute to the news stream with text, (turning it on when they want to) photographs and now audio, due to a or go to a Web page like Bloglines. technology known as podcasting. Video com on which the chosen feeds are 1983 images are not far behind. constantly updated. United Kingdom On some Nokia cell phones (a few Prestel boasts over 200,000 users on other companies offer similar products) These easy-to-access devices pro- 30,000 registered terminals. Its data- video can be shot and edited with a pro- vide tools for an emerging social phe- base contains 250,000 pages. gram called Movie Director. The Nokia nomenon often referred to as “citizen 6880, for example, has two cameras, a journalism,” in which people who have direct connection to a printer, memory not received any journalism training to store songs, and a high-band connec- contribute to news coverage by sup- tion to the Internet. Using it, a person plying stories and commentary either
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 53 Journalist’s Trade
with words (read and heard) or images this kind of work “will be handled by will be able to be taken over by software (static or moving.) [See accompanying people or by algorithms.” programs as they become smarter and box below for more about the impact Google News already relies on more capable of doing these tasks at a of emerging technology.] computers to collect and distribute speed we can’t ignore. emerging news stories without human The “napsterization” of news and Technology Takes Over intervention. Given where such sites are information might be inevitable. On today, it does not require much imagina- her Web site Napsterization.org, Mary Some informed observers point to a dif- tion to envision, for instance, a city with Hodder defines this napsterization as ferent phenomenon in which significant cameras installed in many places and a “the disintermediation by new technolo- parts of what journalists do is executed Web site with powerful algorithms that gies and digital media of old economy, instead by some form of technology. select which views are the most likely incumbent institutions, and analog Such changes can be attributed, in part, to interest its users. The users could frameworks.“ This is happening in to the volume and speed at which news even preselect the views they want to many industries, and journalism is not reporting and information is now be- see, such as an avenue each day at rush an exception. ing collected and must be distributed. hour or live images of accidents when In the end, though, the actual impact “There is too much information avail- they might happen. (In the case of the of technology varies widely according able on the Internet,” says Jean-François accident, the software that goes with to social factors. At a recent conference Fogel, who helps run LeMonde.fr, the the camera detects that “an accident” organized by the Fundación para un French newspaper’s Web site. And news has happened and sends images to the Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano, changes so fast that a paper’s Web site computers of those who said they were created by the Nobel Prize-winner is constantly reorganized by computer interested.) and former journalist Gabriel García algorithms that determine the position What I’ve begun to call “algorithm Márquez, the intersection of such forces of an image on the site’s home page and journalism” might seem far-fetched to was highlighted. Rosental Calmon the importance of a story as it unfolds. many people, and it probably is. But Alves, who holds the Knight Chair in Though people at LeMonde.fr still make journalists should not overlook the fact Journalism and UNESCO Chair in Com- some decisions with the Web site’s ap- that as technological tools are created, munication at the University of Texas at pearance, Fogel wonders if in the future more and more parts of our usual tasks Austin, reminded participants that the
Wondering About the Wonders of Technology
Francis Pisani is a journalist and small chunk. Once they have that small Pisani: A movie or a TV reportage, teacher who has gained expertise chunk, they have to upload it in order something like that. You can send sev- in new media from his study of its to get more. This means everybody has eral movies quickly. Traditional distribu- global impact on journalism. He was to participate using the technology. The tion of moving images on the Internet is a member of a panel at the May 2005 thing about BitTorrent is that in June from a center to different places. It has Nieman Reunion whose task was to 2004—and I apologize for not finding to go in one big chunk. It would take speak to some of the changes tak- a more recent fact—35 percent of the half an hour, an hour, two hours or so. ing place in journalism today due traffic on the Internet was due to BitTor- With this technology, it takes a matter of to emerging technology. The panel, rent. To put this in some perspective, minutes, and how people use it shows “Thinking About Journalism,” was http, which is the language of the Web that they like to exchange video shot by moderated by Alex Jones, who is sites and blogs we are talking about, others or by themselves, just as they do director of the Shorenstein Center on was only 10 percent [of the Internet’s with text and images. the Press, Politics & Public Policy at traffic]. So a user has enormous files When I wrote my first story about Harvard’s Kennedy School of Gov- that can be downloaded very quickly blogs in 2001, there was an estimated ernment. Edited excerpts from this because they can be broken apart and 500,000. Today a site like Technorati. discussion follow. then swarmed, so the technology al- com indexes about 10 million of them. lows people to download stuff very, This is a huge phenomenon, and that’s Francis Pisani: I would like to mention very quickly. why I talk about the “napsterization of a few technologies that might get your news,” and how we have to think of what attention even if they are not directly Alex Jones: Would you give me an it means to have everybody participat- related to journalism. BitTorrent is a example of precisely what you’re talking ing in this and having the tools to do technology that breaks apart big files about, something that would be broken so. This is a key phenomenon for the so that people will swarm to get to a up and then downloaded that way? future of journalism.
54 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News crisis of traditional news media “started information than previous generations 1983 in the ’70’s, but it accelerated with the had, and they know more about places France Web.” And Alves went on to say that “the they live in and events that happen there The first smart card is introduced for Internet is but the top of the iceberg than most journalists do, they insist commercial transactions via Minitel. of the digital revolution. The threat it their voices—their perspectives—will represents for journalism has no prec- be heard. edent in the history of media.” Ultimately, perhaps, the napsteriza- 1983 A report entitled “Abandoning the tion of news will be understood as a Japan News,” published in the spring of 2005 democratization of journalism with the Captain is introduced commercially late in the Carnegie Reporter and written aid of technology, an idea that is diffi- in the year. Trials have cost 20 billion by Merrill Brown, a media consultant cult to argue against. The challenge for yen. and founder of MMB Media LLC, journalists resides in how to best adapt explains well the many reasons why while preserving the essential values of 1983 n young people no longer turn to the our craft. United States traditional sources of news. (Brown’s Midyear: Keycom Electronic Publishing report is available at www.carnegie. Francis Pisani, a 1993 Nieman Fel- launches Keytran, a videotex service, in org/reporter/10/news/index.html.) low, is a columnist for El Pais, a Chicago. Explanations for young people’s columnist for Reforma in Mexico, exodus abound, but none of us should and Weblogger for Le Monde. As a overlook the “disbelief in metanarra- visiting instructor at the University 1983 tives” that postmodernists called to our of California at Berkeley, he stud- France attention. Journalists who produce the ies the social impact of information Central Paris gets electronic phone initial narratives of our daily lives should technologies on globalization and book access. About 10,000 Minitel ter- be most alert, since young people es- international relations. minals are in use. sentially want to assume authorship of the narratives of their own lives. Because Y [email protected] they have almost instant access to more 1983 United States October 30: Viewtron launches com- mercially in Miami.
1983 Germany Jones: Who is going to pay for the towards a completely different world Deutsch Telekom launches T-Online, its news? that journalists can only ignore at videotex system. their expense. Pisani: One of the answers is that we might be slightly shifting from di- Jones: You’ve posed the fundamen- 1983 rect financing to indirect. Tomorrow tal riddle because there’s got to be a United States a nonprofit organization might be the way to pay for it. John Carroll [then Internet Domain Name System is devel- place to go in order to pay for serious editor of the Los Angeles Times] was oped at the University of Wisconsin. journalism. I read yesterday that Craig telling me that his paper’s online ser- Newmark, who created craigslist.org, a vice generates 50 million dollars and site of free classifieds that is now in 105 much of that is to the bottom line. 1983 cities and 23 countries, is interested in But he’s got a news operation that United States backing, supporting and helping citizen costs many times that. And that’s the December: The largest U.S. online ser- journalism. He is working with Dan problem. There is no model yet for a vices are Dow Jones, with 90,000 users, Gillmor, a former columnist for the San business that seems to be in decline, CompuServe, 63,000, and The Source, Jose Mercury who wrote the book, “We such as newspapers, but that is also 36,000 users. the Media,” about the power of citizen doing the lion’s share of the news- journalism. It’s a very interesting book gathering and reporting. That’s where 1984 that everybody should read. They are most of the action is, with exceptions, United States also working with Pierre Omidyar, of course. But in most towns, that is CBS opens Extravision teletext system the founder of eBay, whose success the news utility and that’s where it’s on various network affiliate stations. is based on communities, networks and relationships. So we are moving Continued on page 56
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 55 Journalist’s Trade
got to be paid for, and if it isn’t paid for, ing is better than sharing. Another told Pisani: Participatory media is a big it’s simply not going to happen. me that blogs in France are much more culprit in information overload, which popular than in the Nordic countries, is basically this issue. More stuff is pro- Pisani: With citizen journalism, but the connectivity is much higher in duced than what we can ever see, and one of the very important dimensions the Nordic countries. so the need for filters is very important. is that people bring the news. People So my question became whether One of the beauties of blogs is that they contribute with information. And Dan technology is more important than are not only tools for expression, but Gillmor’s expression I think is very society. And the answer is no, it’s a they are also useful to filter informa- powerful: “My readers together know mix in which society and culture play tion. The blogs one reads are chosen, more than what I do.” This is compli- a huge role. In France, a tradition of and through this selection they become cated, but I acknowledge that we have debate goes back to the 18th century. So a great knowledge management tool. to address this question. The economy people bring ideas forward, and they are Blogs are picked according to what of this is tied to the fact that people do not paid for that. They provide a huge a person is interested in—the point it because they want to do it, they want amount of information and opinion, of view of a person or the subject the to contribute, they want to share. of course. blogger is dealing with. This can be Before I came here, I wrote on my seen as a first level of using blogs. At a blog that I was going to talk at the Nie- Jones: One of the things that Francis second level, we have RSS that started man conference and asked people to Pisani has been thinking about is this with blogs and, let’s see, I’d like to ask provide answers to some of the ques- question of the glut of information and journalists in the audience which of tions I’d been sent to consider. And sort of the confusion that that breeds, them uses RSS in a daily fashion? people wrote to me very interesting or fatigue perhaps. What do you think, things. One of them told me that noth- Francis? Very few hands are raised.
The Transparent Life of Newspaper Blogs At the News & Record in Greensboro, North Carolina, many reporters write blogs— and newspaper stories, too.
John Robinson is editor of the News his own Weblog and responds daily to mine in particular, where I post lots of & Record in Greensboro, North Caro- reader criticism. And we’re going to be thoughts about our newspaper, some lina. He was a member of a panel hearing from him about what he thinks things that are going on in journalism as at the May 2005 Nieman Reunion is going on in Greensboro and how it it applies to Greensboro and our com- whose task was to speak to some of might apply elsewhere. munity. And these blog posts range from the changes taking place at newspa- John, you seem to be using your blog acknowledgement of errors, or directly pers today, including his newsroom’s to try to create transparency without publicizing our errors, to awards that increasing use of Weblogs. The panel, making it just a matter of apologizing we’ve gotten, from how we did this story “Thinking About Journalism,” was for mistakes—explaining rather than to complaints that we’ve gotten and the moderated by Alex Jones, who is correcting and doing mea culpas. What’s reasons why we do things. director of the Shorenstein Center on really going as far as you’re concerned, But that’s not really all the blogs are the Press, Politics & Public Policy at and what is the relationship as you’ve about. For us, it really is about journal- Harvard’s Kennedy School of Gov- seen it evolve? ism. So our blogs range from a couple ernment. Edited excerpts from this of editorial writers who essentially take discussion follow. John Robinson: I can tell you it’s the editorials that they write, or take a nasty world out there in cyberspace. the voice that they have on the edito- lex Jones: John has been getting Eight months ago, we started creating rial page, and move it online, and talk a lot of attention and probably Weblogs so that our staff could talk about a whole lot of different topics A being called and queried more with readers and interact with readers. because we don’t have space for them than most editors of most newspapers Now we have either 14 or 15 Weblogs in the paper. It ranges from that to these days because he is genuinely that are staff produced. I kind of lose direct reporting blogs, where the city on the forefront of the intersection track because they grow organically hall reporter, for instance, is able to tell of blogging and new media and the from our staff. We embarked on this for readers about things that are going on traditional local newspapers. He has two reasons. One for transparency, on in his own voice while still maintaining
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Jones: The fact is that most of you Jones: Even with the power of the 1984 probably don’t know what RSS is. blogs, it still seems to me that the power France of defining what is really important still Minitel has about 1 million terminals Pisani: That’s exactly my point! lies with the mainstream media and in use. RSS means Really Simple Syndication. especially the major national media. Basically it is a technology that allows I’m reminded of the Trent Lott moment a user to select information (or part of when blogging sort of came of age in 1984 it) published on a Web site and bring being able to keep a story alive and United States it to one place of the user’s choosing. focus the story and focus the media January: Apple introduces the Macin- There are now programs that do that ultimately on what happened with Lott. tosh. Cost: $2,495 with built-in B&W and Web sites that allow that to be That would not have happened without monitor. Within 75 days, 50,000 are done. Someone can build a Web page the blogs, but nor would it have hap- sold. on bloglines.com, for instance, by say- pened without the mainstream media ing “I’m interested in the technology getting involved. The role of the blogs 1984 section of The Washington Post. I’m was to force the mainstream media to United States interested in the front page of The take notice of something. I think that March: CompuServe charges its users n New York Times. I am interested in my is still basically true. 13 cents per minute daytime and 10 friend’s blog.” I can choose 500, or I cents at night. Dow Jones is $1.20 day- can select five. To read them, I only go time and 20 cents at night. to one place, and it does it for me. So blogging, with the technology of RSS, is a filter mechanism. 1984 United States IBM introduces the PC-AT, based on the 80286 Intel chip. Fully loaded with graphics, color monitor and 20MB hard the fundamental journalistic values of two-voiced people? Are they one voice disk, it costs $6,700. integrity and trust. He can also link when their work appears in the news- readers to documents that are online, paper and another voice on the blog? converse with readers about things that Should we take some lessons from the 1984 are happening at city hall, get informa- blogosphere, if that’s what builds trust? United States tion for them, and deliver it directly to Should that be the voice of our print November 1: Keytran, owned by Centel, them online. products now? Honeywell and Chicago Sun-Times, is The other thing that we’re attempt- renamed Keycom and launches com- ing to do is participate in more citizen Robinson: The reporters, in particu- mercial videotex service. journalism and solicit reader submis- lar, have two voices, just as editorial folks sions of news stories so we can put and I do. One is institutional, and that 1985 those online. There is this sense that one is in the newspaper, and the other, Worldwide there’s a lot going on in Greensboro that which is more collegial and accessible, Twenty-two nations are said to be in- readers know about and we don’t. In is in the blogs. In journalism circles it volved in videotex and teletext. Eleven Greensboro, there are people who are seems the most controversial thing we use Prestel, five use CEPT, two use bloggers who go to municipal meetings, do is not edit the blogs. That was done NAPLPS, and four use French Antiope. county meetings, and write about them on purpose for a variety of reasons. If online. There are city council members we sent their blog posts through editors, and county commissioners and one the editors would beat the life out of 1985 state representative who have blogs them, and we wanted to have a voice United States and break news in their blogs. So we in this new medium that was more Videotex systems are planned in at least have to play in that field. And what it’s casual and that readers could respond 20 major U.S. cities. Most are based on done: It’s given readers access to us, to to differently. either Viewtron or Gateway technology, talk about things, to tell us about things So the information the reporters Editor & Publisher reports. we’re doing wrong. And it gives us the bring to their blogs has the same value opportunity then to talk back to them as the information in the newspaper. and explain, in almost a real-time way, But there might be something that 1985 what it is that we do. happened at a city council meeting that United States only 100 people are interested in. We Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link, The Well, Jones: The people who have been would give it some space in the news- is created by Stewart Brand in San blogging and reporting, are they sort of paper, but if there was some interesting Francisco.
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interplay or drama then we could put it that you’re responsible for the content rect and correctly spelled blog posts. So online and play with it a little bit more of what the paper publishes, how do if they need help with that, they have to make the point to readers that what you find the time to supervise all of this someone read behind them. is happening inside their city hall has content? Or are you essentially giving When I say these blogs grew organi- value. What we haven’t figured out, but up on supervising it all? But if you are cally, what I mean is that I started one, which we are working on now, is how supervising it, what that you used to then people saw that it was okay and saw to move the more conversational, ac- supervise are you not supervising today? what I was writing, and so we started a cessible writing style of the blogs into Or are you just really cranked up to a few others. And it was only people who the newspaper. higher rate so that the factory assembly raised their hand, who wanted to do line is effectively just moving by very it. We are not paying them more to do Jones then turns to another panel quickly? That’s what I want to know, this, but what we’ve got are the people member, Karen Stephenson, a Harvard how you manage your time, given this who are really intrigued with this idea of professor who studies trust, and invites vast increase in publication. her into the conservation. Robinson: When you say supervise, We’re still playing with Jones: Karen, where is the trust ques- what do you mean? ways to move blog tion here? Is this a good idea to have two different voices? To have an official Questioner: Aren’t you the editor? commentary and blog voice and then a sort of unofficial voice story ideas into the that is also one that seems to have even Robinson: I am. more weight and authority? newspaper. [Laughter] Karen Stephenson: I don’t know if it’s a good idea, but I think it’s very Questioner: So aren’t you respon- another medium. It excites them. And realistic. Because any time anybody sible for what you publish? they have a whole lot of information in works inside organizations, and we their notebooks that they aren’t getting all have organizations of one sort or Robinson: I am. into the newspaper, so they can put this another, there is the spoken word and information online. They get feedback then there’s what’s really going on. Questioner: And have you not in- from readers that they don’t get in any There’s policy and then there’s proce- creased exponentially the amount of other way, and that excites them. dure. There are the rules of hierarchy material that’s published? I read all the blogs after they post and then there’s the informal chitchat the thing. Does it take up more of my about how we really get work done. So Robinson: I have. time? Sure. But it’s important. What I I actually think that people being able to eliminate is that I’ll find a meeting not see what’s codified and what’s edited is [Laughter] to go to. And it’s amazing, I didn’t really fine because that’s putting it out there. have to be in that meeting anyway. So But they can also, if they want, have Robinson: We’ve done a couple the result is that I’ve pushed responsi- access to be able to go to these other things. In all the newsrooms I’ve been bility and accountability down into our sites. I remember this blogger with The in, if you ask a reporter what their big- organization. Washington Post. He wrote articles that gest complaint is about being there—if were edited in a certain way and then you get past the I’m not paid enough Jack Nelson, former Washington he had his own blog. And I just thought and my parking space is too far from the bureau chief, Los Angeles Times: I about how people could go to either building and I don’t like my desk—what wanted to ask John Robinson, what sort source. They have direct contact with they’ll say is there’s never an editor of feedback do you get on the blog? Is that person. around when you need them. Which it a lot? How does it change the way was another reason that we pulled the the paper now runs stories? Do you After the panel participants spoke, editors out of this flow. Do I supervise run shorter stories now because you audience members asked them ques- them? To the extent that before anyone can expand them on the blog? Has it tions. Several questions were directed starts to blog, we have conversations changed the paper at all? to John Robinson. about what are the standards of our newspaper, and our standards have not Robinson: I have my photograph on Questioner: At the News & Record changed. We’re still responsible for the my blog, and my favorite feedback was you have vastly increased the amount content on the blog. For example, our from someone saying they appreciated of published material. Whether it’s expectation is that the people who seem the blog and the information, but really, published in the newspaper or on the to never have done very well in spelling I needed to update my photo because no Web, it is still a huge increase in the in grammar school and still can’t spell one has a mustache like mine. [Laugh- amount of published material. Given are expected to have grammatically cor- ter] The feedback really does span the
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Wild West, from people calling each is the time? I don’t want to spend my 1985 other idiots and their mothers idiots to time being a global pen pal. I want to Asia very insightful commentary. That’s just find news. And I don’t even have time Asian countries using videotex or teletext the way it is, as it is when any group gets to do it now. include Australia, China, Hong Kong, together. And it changes our content in So my question on the blogging Japan, Malaysia and New Zealand. very subtle ways. We’re still playing with thing is, how do you in a sense create ways to move blog commentary and this expectation of interaction with the blog story ideas into the newspaper. reporters and yet not give your reporters 1985 On one occasion a reader submitted a the time or the pay to do that? United States story that we thought was good enough Quantum Computer Services, which to publish in the newspaper and met Jones: One of the dirty little secrets goes on to create AppleLink, Q-Link, our standards of reporting and writing. of the blogosphere is that the most influ- PC-Link and, finally, America Online, is Most reader submissions that we get, ential blogs, like Instapundit.com and founded in Vienna, Virginia. we leave online and don’t transfer to places like that, don’t take comments. the newspaper. They only send; they don’t receive. What 1985 We do a lot of promotion from the do you think? United States newspaper to the blog so readers can IBM, Sears and CBS announce a part- get additional information. But it hadn’t Robinson: I think that you don’t nership to create Trintex, eventually really flown back the other way. We try really have any choice. The time has renamed Prodigy. to tell stories in a different way, not as come in which readers expect—citi- a result of us having online content zens expect—to be able to challenge but as a result of trying to understand us and that we need to respond. So 1985 what readers want from us and how to my advice would be twofold. It really United States deliver the information better. needs to be a corporate priority, or at Viewtron goes national with a service least a newsroom priority. If it’s not a for personal computers. Kits for early Jones: Do you put information on- priority, then you do get a pass that you P.C.’s cost $9.95. line that would be considered unveri- don’t have to actually respond to the fied, whereas you would not put that people who pay your salary. The other same unverified information in the is that a blog allows you to do a couple 1985 newspaper itself? things. If you get 12 e-mails that require United States 12 very substantive responses, and you October 21: General Electric Co. an- Robinson: Yes. get those every day, you can cut a lot of nounces the launch of GEnie, a dial-up time by doing a blog post saying, “Here information and entertainment system Marilyn Geewax, an economics it is.” The additional interesting thing for P.C. users. Price: $35 an hour prime reporter with Cox Newspapers in the is that someone will then comment time; $5 an hour nights and weekends. Washington bureau: I already work in an about how half-baked you are and you incredibly dense day. I’m very busy every don’t even need to respond to that 1985 minute. If at the end of my day I also because six other people will come on Canada had to write a blog, there goes dinner. and comment on how half-baked the The Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator starts All right—I’ll give up dinner. I can lose person who commented is. up Compuspec, a mainframe-based BBS some weight anyway. But what about the system. readers who then want to respond to Heidi Evans, reporter at the (New the blog and start e-mailing you? I find York) Daily News: I do a fair amount I waste so much time. I wrote a story of investigative reporting. I have two 1985 last Sunday about wages. I probably questions: What does your legal de- France had 12 e-mails the next day—lengthy partment have to say about sending 22 million callers use videotex services things from retired economists who unsupervised things out there? It’s in December. want to argue about wages. I sent back a frightening thought, like sending an e-mail saying, “Thank you for sharing young children into traffic, that you your thoughts. I’m really too busy to could just send things out there. As 1985 engage in this,” and then they’re angry. an investigative reporter, although I United States Then they write back and say, “Well why think every journalist would like more Microsoft ships Windows 1.0. It is not don’t you want to talk about this? This paragraphs, extra space to tell certain well received and suffers dismal sales. proves your liberal bias because you things, I can’t imagine wanting to give don’t want to talk about this.” I feel my adversary certain details about what like I’m becoming a high-paid pen pal really happened, especially since there for retired people. [Laughter] Where are lawyers for your adversaries who are
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just waiting for one little detail to sue we publish their commentary. We do edit our bloggers know what we publish in you. How do you handle this? those for libel. The comments on the the newspaper, and they’re not going site essentially are unedited because our to publish anything on their blog post Robinson: We don’t have a legal understanding of the law is that if you that they wouldn’t normally put in the department. [Laughter] It does make start editing comments, then you are re- newspaper. If they’re in doubt, they ask. our lawyers nervous, but our lawyers sponsible for the comments, as opposed We’ve published probably 5,000, maybe get paid to be nervous. There are two to leaving them unedited, and you’re more than that, blog posts. I read them issues. The bloggers who we employ, not responsible for the comments. That, every day. There’s only one that gave they know what our standards are. of course, is going to be challenged in me pause, and it wasn’t a legal issue. It They’re very careful about what they court, we just hope it’s not in our fed- was just a taste issue. And so it really is post. So it’s the citizen journalists that eral district …. We’ve been doing this a “trust your staff to know what they’re come to us and are on our forums, and for eight months now. My point is that doing” issue with us. n
The Ascent of Blogging Old media report on the new media, but they haven’t figured out how to adapt.
By David D. Perlmutter and Misti McDaniel
ew media are not new to those • Old media por- Speed Bump who’ve grown up with or use trays new media Nthem every day. To 18-year-old’s technologies as at our journalism school at Louisiana darlings, only to State University, iPods, satellite-recep- cynically then de- tion, Wi-Fi, laptops, cell phones, PDA’s, throne them. digital photography, and the Internet • Traditional media’s are technologies as familiar as the wheel vulnerabilities to and fire. But while ancient innovations such upstarts aren’t took millennia to spread, today a new just technological gadget or idea can catch on globally but are economic within a few years. and psychological. The ascent of the Web log, Weblog Mainstream media (or blog) is one example. Within five believe new things years, online journals of political and might destroy, re- personal expression and debate rose sult in unemploy- from obscurity to become ubiquitous. ment, or make In examining how the mainstream them obsolete; press has reacted to blogs, we discern they don’t know lessons about the relationship between how to adapt. technology and journalism: • The best response to blogs by televi- • Events don’t drive new media tech- sion, radio and nology. Rather, new media technol- print is not to ape ogy succeeds by finding ways to them but to deter- Cartoon by © Dave Coverly/Creator’s Syndicate. Reproduced by exploit events. mine what blogs permission. • News coverage tends to focus on the do and why they sexy or “hot” aspects of new media do it well or poorly. technology, which can obscure other of blogs in the tens of millions. Ac- trends that will be potentially more Certainly blogs seem to be every- cording to several Pew studies, of the influential in the long run. where—some estimates put the number estimated 120 million U.S. adults who
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1986 Weblogs: Knowing What Can Be Known About Them United Kingdom Prestel reports 65,000 terminals in use Several times each year, David Sifry, the • Weekends tend to be slower posting and 1,200 information providers. Users founder of Technorati, issues his State of days by about 5-10 percent of the view 8.7 million pages each week. the Blogosphere based on the activity of weekly averages. Weblogs that he and his staff track. At • During the day, posting tends to the beginning of August, his three-part peak between the hours of 7 a.m. 1986 report examining blog growth, posting and noon Pacific time (10 a.m.-3 United States volume, and the increasing use of tags, p.m. Eastern time). The first Freenet (Cleveland) comes on- revealed the following information: • Worldwide news events cause rip- line under the auspices of the Society ples through the blogosphere—not for Public Access Computing. • In July 2005, Technorati was tracking only in search volume, but also in over 14.2 million Weblogs and more posting volume. 1986 than 1.3 billion links. • Growth has been tremendous in France • The blogosphere continues to the past six months: Technorati has Some 1.4 million Minitel terminals are double about every 5.5 months. tracked over 25 million tagged posts in use. French Telecom grosses $70 mil- • A new blog is created about every from January to July of 2005. lion on the service. second; there are more than 80,000 • About 300,000 posts with tags created each day. were tracked each day at the end • About 55 percent of all blogs are of July. 1986 active, and that has remained a con- • About a third of all blog postings United States sistent statistic for at least a year. use tags or categories. CompuServe is purchased by H&R • About 13 percent of all blogs are • People are tagging more than blog Block Co. for $23 million. updated at least weekly. posts: Popular services include • Technorati is tracking about 900,000 tagging photos and links (social blog posts created every day; that’s bookmarks). 1987 about 10.4 blog posts per second, • About 12,000 unique tags are dis- United States on average. covered each day. The Middlesex (Mass.) News launches • Median time from posting to inclu- • Tagging is growing in languages Fred the Computer, a single-line BBS sys- sion in the Technorati index is under outside of English as well, includ- tem previewing the next day’s edition. five minutes. ing high adoption rates in Asian • Significant increases in posting vol- languages such as Chinese and 1987 n ume are due to increased mainstream Japanese. United States use of easy hosted tools as well as Ted Turner starts the cable-TV revolu- simple posting interfaces like post- More data, charts and information tion when he launches CNN, Cable from-IM and moblogging tools. on these topics can be found at www. News Network. sifry.com/alerts/.
1988 United States use the Internet, some seven percent praise of Strom Thurmond’s Dixiecrat July: Prodigy begins test marketing in have created a blog while more than campaign, and the South Asian tsunami. Hartford, Atlanta and California with a 30 million look at them regularly. Many In each case—and others—bloggers service for P.C.’s. blogs are basement setups—scribbled pushed and prodded old media to by one, read by few. In contrast, some change the ways they work. In response, popular blogs, like Instapundit, Power some journalists and news organiza- 1988 Line and Daily Kos, receive more daily tions have created blogs and use them United States traffic than many major newspapers or for newsgathering, self-reflection, November 2: Internet worm burrows TV news programs. opinion-testing, and interaction with through the Net, affecting 6,000 of the But blogs aren’t talked about just readers, listeners and viewers. 60,000 hosts on the Internet. because of their numbers, rather for Though blog-like sites existed during the news they make while critiquing the 1990’s—most notably the Drudge journalism and tracking events, such Report—blogs were officially born in as blogging about the rise and fall of December 1997, when Jorn Barger, presidential candidate Howard Dean, editor of Robot Wisdom.com, created Dan Rather’s “memogate,” Trent Lott’s the term “Weblog.” In the spring of
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1999, Peter Merholz broke “Weblog” to “decentralize” by starting their Dean Pushing the Rather “memogate” sto- into the phrase “we blog” and put it on Web sites and to raise funds through ry, bloggers simultaneously displayed his homepage. As the term spread, in their blogs. By September 2003 Dean’s their main virtue and vice—speedy August 1999 software-maker Pyra Labs blog was getting 30,000 unique visitors a deployment of unedited thought. One released the program Blogger, mak- day. When General Wesley Clark entered blogger on freerepublic.com posted his ing blogs user-friendly and generally the race, he cited a “Draft Wes” Web doubt about the memos’ authenticity: accessible. site’s popularity and supportive blog “They are not in the style that we used Blogs were not an instant big story comments as one reason to get in. The when I came in to the USAF. They looked in the mainstream media. One of the political parties and many candidates like the style and format we started first hits for “blog” in the press was in also began blogging. For example, the using about 12 years ago (1992). Our October 1999 when Great Britain’s New Democratic National Committee started signature blocks were left justified, now Statesman described it as “a Web page, up “Kicking Ass: Daily Dispatches from they are rigth [sic] of center … like something like a public commonplace the DNC,” which promised “frank, one- the ones they just showed.” Bloggers book, which is added to each day …. If on-one communication …. Blogs make such as Power Line’s Scott Johnson there is any log they resemble, it is the that possible.” launched an investigation of the pur- captain’s log on a voyage of discovery.” Blogs were now being portrayed as ported memos. Innovatively, the blog The first newspaper reference likely oc- voices of the people, political players, little green footballs posted a file that curred in January 2000 when Canada’s and as trip-wires for breaking stories. contrasted a modern Microsoft Word Ottawa Citizen quoted pop star Sarah recreation over CBS’s version of the McLachlan from her Web site. One of Blogs Arrive disputed papers. The text was almost the first broadcast stories about blogs an exact match. was in May 2000 when National Public 2004 was the year of the blog. That Within days, the story leapt from new Radio’s “The Connection” interviewed word became the most searched-for media to the mainstream news media. several bloggers. definition on several online dictionar- For two weeks CBS News stood by its Overall, in tracking mainstream ies. Indeed in our tracking, October reporting, but then admitted that its media’s reporting on blogs between 2004 was the time at which 50 percent document examiners could not verify January 1998 and April 2005, we found of blog coverage occurred before and the memos’ authenticity. The network 16,350 items mentioning the words after: In other words there has been as launched an investigation to determine “Web log,” “Weblog,” and “blog.” [See much blog news in the last half year as how the invalidated material ended up chart on page 63.] In gauging “blog- in the previous five. What follows are on the air. Eventually four people at CBS throughs”—events commonly ascribed some of the more memorable news were blamed for the error. Rather, who to have propelled blogs to media atten- stories about blogs: anchored the evening news for 24 years, tion—we found that journalists were announced his retirement in November barely acknowledging blogs in the • As Howard Dean started his political and left his position in March 2005. wake of 9/11. slide out of the race, stories about Many bloggers rejoiced at their power Blog obscurity changed decisively blogs grew by 50 percent. Instead to topple venerable institutions. Fre- in 2002, when Senate Majority Leader of seeking disgruntled supporters erepublic.com blogger “Rrrod” warned, Trent Lott, while attending a recep- for face-to-face interviews, reporters “NOTE [sic] to old media scum …. We tion for South Carolina Senator Strom cited Dean’s bloggers as newspapers are just getting warmed up!” Thurmond, made a racially insensitive carried articles about Dean’s blog More big blog news was ahead, in- comment. The item was first mentioned and how its participants reacted to cluding the following incidents: by ABC News and posted on its Web the campaign’s changing fortunes. site, but bloggers drumbeat the story • In July 2004 the Democratic Na- • When some bloggers heard of Sinclair into widespread salience. Lott ended up tional Convention credentialed 35 Broadcasting Group’s plan to air an resigning his leadership position under bloggers. While 15,000 journalists anti-[John] Kerry documentary, they party pressure. Still, as blogs gained were issued press passes, attention organized letter-writing campaigns stature as agenda-setters, they remained focused on the “bloggeratti.” and boycotts and again pushed the relatively lightly cited by the press. • Blogging exploded into view on Sep- item until it became a major story in In 2003, as the presidential pri- tember 8, 2004, when on CBS News’s the mainstream media. mary season kicked off, Howard Dean’s “60 Minutes II” Dan Rather reported • On Election Day, early exit polls team—led by technology-savvy Joe a story questioning President George indicated John Kerry held a lead Trippi, Dean’s campaign manager—pio- W. Bush’s 1970’s National Guard over George Bush in a number of neered the campaign blog for the public service. Offered as evidence were key states. Some bloggers pushed a and the press. Users posted messages papers, allegedly written by Bush’s “Kerry is winning big” headline. But to other supporters, and this network- then supervisor Lieutenant Colonel the flexibility of the blogosphere was ing ability enabled them to meet for Jerry Killian, stating that Bush did shown when bloggers Hugh Hewitt events. Supporters were encouraged not fulfill his service requirements. and Mark Blumenthal (Mystery Poll-
62 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News
1988 United States October 10: New York Times photog- raphers use a Macintosh and 9600 bps modem to send Dodgers-Mets photos from Los Angeles to New York.
1989 United States Prodigy begins rolling out service in various metro areas. Pricing is unique— a flat rate of $9.95 per month plus a $49.95 start-up kit. It also sells modems for $100.
1990 United States Microsoft introduces version 3.0 of Windows. It really works and sales take off. Its sales hit $1 billion, an industry first.
1990 Graph created by David D. Perlmutter. United States September 5: Prodigy goes national, ster) pointed out that exit polls were $20,000 to CNN and ABC News. offering local dial-ups in most major only scientifically valid in a state until Even as blogs soared in attention U.S. cities. IBM and Sears have invested after voting had finished. and influence, a blowback from the $600 million. Within a month it has • The December tsunami in Southeast mainstream media was underway. 500,000 subscribers at $12.95 per Asia contributed to a 39 percent month. growth in newspaper coverage of • Blame fell on bloggers for leaking the blogs. Stories of victims surfaced in raw exit poll results on Election Day blogs, and for the first time traditional and spreading conspiracy theories 1990 media were bypassed as a source as afterwards. United States relatives searched for information • Some bloggers were outed for faking September 29: AOL, still a service for about loved ones online. data or retroactively changing posts Apple owners, announces a monthly without notation. feature called “Online Tonight,” an In the tsunami coverage, in par- • Some bloggers accepted pay from online talk show, and says P.C. software ticular, old media took another step political candidates or parties but is in the works. toward co-opting the new. Uncensored did not reveal the arrangement to and unedited video surfaced in video their readers. 1990 blogs (vlogs) and people relied on • Questions arose about whether United States the Internet to watch scenes from the blogs were, indeed, the “voice of October: Access Atlanta becomes local disaster. Free of Federal Communica- the people” since most domestic dial-up system offering classifieds, the tions Commission regulations, vlogs and foreign blog creators are white business section, and movie reviews. showed grisly and gripping footage, journalists, professors, lawyers or Cost: $6.95 per month. while TV newscasts often censored middle-class professionals. their reports to avoid upsetting the • CNN was ridiculed for creating an American public. WaveofDestruction. “Inside the Blogs” segment that 1990 org, created by an Australian blogger, consisted of people reading blogs United States posted 25 amateur videos of the event on air—an exercise in synergy that December 13: The Electronic Trib, first and in five days logged nearly 700,000 drew laughs even from bloggers. multiline, P.C.-based electronic newspa- visitors. Soon American TV networks • In March 2005, “The Daily Show” per system, is launched by The Albu- vied for broadcast rights. Norwegian skewered one of the intellectual querque Tribune using BBS software editor Oliver Orskaug sold his video for fathers of blogging, New York Uni- and a 286-12 PC.
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versity’s Jay Rosen, as the program’s newspaper column by calling it a blog sound- and visual- bytes and horserace correspondent satirized the entire or trying to feign technical innovation handicapping. idea of amateurs hosting a news and by telling readers that one’s musings Finally, let’s step back and take the commentary Web site. were done on a Blackberry (though longer view into this blogger/main- • Questions are raised about whether suspiciously without typos). stream media debate. Once upon a time, the number of blogs is inflated by Regular media are challenged, too, as historian Gwenyth L. Jackaway docu- ones that are inactive or are spam. about how to cover novelties in their mented, a new medium came along— business. Journalists noticed blogs loud, raucous, uncontrolled and full of Blogs vs. Old Media late, but interest intensified as blog- unprofessional and discordant voices. It was called radio. The print Given what’s happened with press of the 1920’s and 1930’s blogs and journalism, can saw radio as a danger, not only we say that their upward Though some news-related blogs have to their livelihoods but also to trend is now in decline? Or the future of the republic itself. are blogs being relegated to more ‘hits’ than others, blogging lacks both The New York Times fumed, “If places where journalists troll defined leadership and a constituency. Post the American people … were for funny stories or human to depend upon scraps of in- interest filler? Neither seems an item on a blog and comments range from formation picked up from air a likely outcome. complete agreement to irate dissent. It’s reporting, the problems of a Blogs are likely to thrive workable democracy would be due to their adaptability and messy, but that’s what blogs are …. multiplied incalculably.” Editor innovation. Bloggers’ per- & Publisher asserted that radio sonal style, their technology, was “physically incapable of the use of open-end sourcing, and their gers showcased their potential. Now supplying more than headline material,” ability to get information and specula- a frenzy of attention by journalists and thus it was “inconceivable that a me- tion out quickly enable this new media is coupled with mocking. Is this an dium which is incapable of functioning to go around the clunky logistical trails inevitable cycle—building up what is in the public interest will be allowed to and leadership—bypassing what econo- new to unwarranted levels of praise, interfere with the established system of mists call the “structural rigidity” of the then despairing at its flaws, which were news reporting in a democracy.” old. Moments after the “60 Minutes II” evident at the start? Print news survived and thrives and story aired, for example, ABC News’s Blogs cannot be stuffed into ill-fit- radio did not destroy democracy. There Peter Jennings was not going to break ting stereotypes. Blogs represent the will always be a mainstream media, onto the air and proclaim, “There’s divergent voices of millions. Though though perhaps blogs will blur into something screwy about a story on some news-related blogs have more it. But the point worth remembering CBS.” And when a few bloggers had an “hits” than others, blogging lacks both is that the rise of new media should idea about how to speed up and collate defined leadership and a constituency. not make the old media panic or be information about tsunami victims and Post an item on a blog and comments dismissive or fearful. Rather what is survivors, they didn’t have to wait for an range from complete agreement to irate new ought to remind us of the need OK from senior editors or management. dissent. It’s messy, but that’s what blogs to grasp ever more tightly ahold of Blog failures cost much less than do are, and we hope they stay that way. the fundamentals of journalism as we those of mainstream media, so bloggers Certainly traditional journalists have journey forward. n can experiment on a whim and do so a right to feel as sports stars do when faster than giant operations. they have to endure catcalls and advice David D. Perlmutter is an associate “Old world panic” is also a problem. shouted at them by obnoxious fans. professor at the Manship School of At some level, blogs seem a threat to And compared with most journalists, a Mass Communication at Louisiana almost everything in the news business. lot of the bloggers have not paid their State University and a senior fellow OhmyNews, for example, is a South dues in education, training or experi- at the Reilly Center for Media & Pub- Korean Web site where anybody can ence. But the problems that mainstream lic Affairs. He is writing a book on post news stories and editorials; if the journalism is experiencing today have political blogs for Oxford University content proves popular enough, the little to do with bloggers. After all, it Press. Misti McDaniel is a master’s author gets paid for it. If such a model wasn’t bloggers who slashed newsroom degree candidate at the Manship becomes dominant, it would mean budgets for basic beat and investigative School of Mass Communication and the end of journalism, not to mention reporting. Nor did bloggers create a has a background in political com- journalism schools. But forcing new star system of astronomically paid an- munication and research. technology into old holes doesn’t work, chors and pundits. And bloggers were either. Reading blogs on TV is artificial not the ones who reduced coverage of Y [email protected] and unworkable, as is “hipping up” a political campaigns and elections to
64 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News
1990 Switzerland Traditional Media in the Digital Age Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is invented by Tim Berners-Lee, an Eng- Data about news habits and advertiser spending lead to lishman, and colleagues at CERN, the a reassessment of media’s prospects and possibilities. European particle physics laboratory.
1990 Switzerland By Douglas Ahlers and October: Tim Berners-Lee coins the John Hessen phrase “World Wide Web” to describe his hypertext project. Harvard graduate student re- lation. In fact, there is a great deal of cently went to a job interview information suggesting that most news 1990 A at The New York Times and was consumers prefer to use new media United States asked why she would want to pursue as a complement to print and televi- The World comes online (world.std. a career in an industry that probably sion rather than as a substitute. This is com), becoming the first commercial would not survive the decade. The good news for well established media provider of Internet dial-up access. message she walked away with was brands that can leverage their visibility clear: The Internet is killing the print to expand both audience and revenues newspaper. online. When we went on to examine 1991 As the Internet has developed into the degree to which not just consumers United States a ubiquitous source of news and infor- but advertisers have substituted new February: Omaha World-Herald closes mation, many observers and industry media for traditional news outlets, the its videotex service, saying “The public professionals have openly questioned results again suggest an encouraging just didn’t buy it.” the long-term viability of printed news- economic outlook for print and televi- papers or network television news sion news. programs. Such fears are supported by The idea that the rise of the Internet 1991 statistics like a staggering 1.9 percent spells the end of print and TV news Europe drop in newspaper circulation in the stems from the popular sense of the Linux, a UNIX-like operating system, is six months ending March 30, 2005 and Internet as a disruptive rather than a created by Linus Torvalds and released a decline in total circulation of more sustaining technology. As described free across the Internet. than 15 percent since 1984. Television by Clayton Christensen of the Harvard network evening news viewership has Business School, sustaining technolo- 1992 fallen 37.8 percent during this same pe- gies are those that change an industry United States riod. The audience for local TV evening through incremental improvements, March: AOL begins offering stock to the news has also slipped from 76 percent while disruptive technology creates a public on the Nasdaq market. in 1993 to 59 percent today. new playing field, knocking down tradi- With dismal numbers like these, it tional barriers to entry and transforming is not a surprise that a February 2005 an industry or market completely. The 1992 story appearing on the front page of The Internet certainly has the appearance France Washington Post’s Sunday business sec- and characteristics of a disruptive May 6: Minitel serves more than 6 mil- tion concluded, “The venerable news- technology, but its impact on the news lion terminals with 1,800 information paper is in trouble,” and The Wilson industry has been far less profound sources. Quarterly recently dedicated an issue than anticipated. to “The Collapse of Big Media.” But to Traditional media’s high overhead paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of their costs have always been outweighed by 1992 death have been greatly exaggerated. high profit margins. But with the U.S. United States Department of Commerce estimating, The term “personal digital assistant” Unconventional Wisdom for example, that 30 to 40 percent of enters the lexicon with Apple’s release newspaper production costs go to print- of the Newton. In an extensive analysis of the impact ing and delivery, there are clearly power- online media is having on its traditional ful economic advantages favoring online print and television counterparts, we media where these costs are near zero. found little evidence to support the Thus we’d expect to see online media, claims that the latter are facing annihi- with its decisive cost advantages in du-
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 65 Journalist’s Trade
plication and distribution, gain market This news-consumer generation multichannel users who actively seek dominance at the expense of print and gap exists online as well. Survey data out news through a variety of media, television. In theory, these cost differ- show that only an average of 5 percent for instance using the Internet to find ences between the traditional news of adults over the age of 45 use the more information about a story first media and the online media should Internet as a source for national news, seen on network news. For such indi- be passed on to the consumer, causing whereas 22 percent of adults 18-24 viduals, the broad spectrum of online news consumers to substitute the lower and 14 percent of adults 25-34 use the and offline media is used as a kind of cost online media for traditional media. Internet to get news. This data show information buffet from which they News producers, in turn, should seek that few existing newspaper readers sample according to appetite and inter- out lower-cost means of duplication are switching outright to online media, est. Among those who are younger and and delivery, pushing consumers to but the younger age group is gravitat- those with more online experience can the online distribution channel much ing to using online and offline news be found a large and growing number the way banks encourage customers to media in roughly equal proportions of “multitasking” users, comfortable use ATM’s. But the reality is that consuming news from several these competitive advantages media sources simultaneously. are simply not as great as they As the use of multiple media channels has The Magid study also found appear, and they have not led strong evidence of overlap to the predicted wholesale sub- become the dominant strategy for news between users of online and stitution of online media for off- consumers, credibility and public profile, offline news sources, with line alternatives. What follows 70 percent seeing the two as are some reasons—economic established via the offline media, can complementary and only nine and psychological—that help provide tremendous leverage for an online percent suggesting that online to explain why: and offline media were in direct presence. And a strong online audience can competition. Among users of • The cost of news to con- translate into better sales at the newsstand online news sites, 64 percent sumers is typically heavily reported that they also use the subsidized (an average of 85 as brand preferences are carried offline. corresponding offline media percent in the case of news- property (i.e., NYTimes.com papers) or completely subsi- and The New York Times) either dized (as in the case of television) by as they become news consumers (23 frequently or occasionally. advertisers. So despite the economic percent reading papers and 22 percent Conclusions can be drawn from this advantages inherent to online media, going online for news). This gives us that in a rich world of media choices, there is little pass-through benefit to reason to believe that the vast majority the majority of Americans choose “all the consumer from these cost savings of newspaper readers will not change of the above.” This suggests that brand and therefore little financial motive their news consumption habits in the identity and reputation could play a de- for consumers to actually substitute near future. But it also raises long-term cisive role in shaping consumer choices. one form of media for another. concerns (15-25 years out), when the As the use of multiple media channels • There is strong evidence that news younger age cohorts begin to replace has become the dominant strategy for consumption habits are hard to today’s older newspaper reading gen- news consumers, credibility and public break absent a major price benefit erations. This same trend holds true for profile, established via the offline media, of switching. The major decline in TV network news for which the median can provide tremendous leverage for an newspaper readership is actually viewer age is 60, with only 18 percent online presence. And a strong online due to a generational gap rather of adults under 30 watching. audience can translate into better sales than to a switch in behavior from Another factor in understanding the at the newsstand as brand preferences established newspaper readers. It psychology of news consumers is the are carried offline. is attributable to the fact that young widespread perception that online and adults, ages 18-35, are not adopting offline media are largely complementary The Internet’s Impact the newspaper readership habit in rather than competitive. While industry- the first place. In 1972, 42 percent of sponsored research tends to view the So how big of an impact is the Internet people under 30 read a newspaper audience as monolithic consumers of having on the traditional news media? daily, but now, only 23 percent of one media at the expense of others, the The Magid study showed that only 29 adults under 30 read a newspaper reality of the dynamic “multichannel” percent of news Web site visitors were yesterday. This is in contrast with the media user is very much the norm. “online-only” news consumers. This older age cohorts where 52 percent A study by Frank Magid Associates translates to only 12.2 percent of the of people aged 50-64 and 60 percent for the Online Publishers Association adult U.S. population. Another 21.5 of people who are 65 or older read found that 51 percent of users of online percent of this group are multichannel a newspaper yesterday. news Web sites identified themselves as news media users, as described above,
66 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News so this leaves two-thirds of the popula- a total of 15 percent despite a major 1992 tion as offline-only news consumers or advertising recession in 2001-2002. In U.S. & Canada as “dabblers,” who are people who go the case of newspapers, ad revenues NAA reports 11 newspapers have an on- online for news very infrequently in have grown at an inflation-adjusted line presence in the United States and response to high profile events. 6.24 percent during the past two years Canada and more than 250 offer voice From this data we can see that roughly and will return to prerecessionary information services. 12.2 percent of the U.S. population levels by the end of this year. Analysts substitutes the online news media for have projected continuing growth for offline news. For another 21.5 percent, newspapers at a compound annual rate 1992 the online news media acts as a comple- of 5.3 percent through 2008. United States ment rather than as a substitute. And Network TV morning news shows February: Gannett’s Florida Today 66.3 percent of Americans have shown were scarcely affected by the recession, launches on CompuServe. Content no change in their news consumption with revenues growing at an annual- focuses on U.S. space program. habits. A 12.2 percent shift is significant, ized rate of 10.6 percent since 2001. but it scarcely represents a disruptive Local news broadcasts accounted for 1992 migration to online media. 46 percent of station revenues in 2004, United States But what about the future? Does up from 39 percent in 1999. And ad June 9: Congress removes restrictions this shift represent the entire impact revenue for the cable-TV news channels prohibiting commercial use of the or is it just the beginning of a mass grew 39.4 percent from 2000 to 2004 Internet. migration? Long-term trends can be despite the advertising recession. This inferred by looking at the media mix leaves only the evening network news of experienced Internet users. Those broadcasts having yet to return to pre- 1992 with six or more years online report recession revenues, but even they have United States spending three hours per week reading rebounded substantially. November: Delphi becomes the first print newspapers, which is 14.3 percent While virtually all segments of the consumer online service to offer access less time than new Internet users and offline media were hit with recession- to Internet mail, ftp, newsgroups, telnet 25 percent less than nonusers. The ary declines in revenues in 2001-2002, and gopher. experienced users spend an average the online advertising market also saw of 45 minutes per week reading news a similar drop at this time (26 percent online. Notable in these numbers is decline between 2000 and 2002). This 1993 that even for long-term Internet users, suggests that the decline in traditional Switzerland there is only a fractional reduction in news media ad revenues during this pe- February: First alpha version of Marc newspaper readership. riod (10 percent) was due to a pullback Andreessen’s Mosaic browser for The resounding implication is that in total advertiser spending rather than a Windows is released by the NCSA at a generational news-consumption pat- shift to advertising online. As advertisers conference at CERN in Geneva. terns are of far greater significance returned to the market in 2003-2004, to the well-being of the industry than offline news media has seen overall ad 1993 competition from the Internet. revenues increase by 7.15 percent an- United States To properly assess the future of the nually. Advertisers are showing no real March 2: First known Internet e-mail news media, it is necessary to acknowl- signs of abandoning newspapers or TV message from a U.S. President is sent by edge that the news business serves two news in favor of the online media. Bill Clinton. interrelated markets—consumers and Just as online news media have si- advertisers. Though declining circula- phoned away a small but not catastroph- tion and ratings figures tell us that print ic share of the offline audience, so too 1993 and television have undoubtedly lost have some ad dollars migrated online. Worldwide a share of their audience, they’ve not But again the percentages are not the Number of countries now reachable by experienced a corresponding drop in stuff of doomsday predictions. In 2004, e-mail: 117. advertising revenues. Despite increas- all online advertising accounted for 3.61 ing fragmentation of the market, ad- percent of total U.S. advertising spend- vertisers have not found any suitable ing versus 17.5 percent for newspapers 1993 substitute for the exposure generated and 25.4 percent for television. Switzerland by traditional media. Findings by the Interactive Adver- April 30: CERN board declares that tising Bureau and Pricewaterhouse- WWW technology will be freely usable Tracking Advertising Dollars Coopers show that online advertising by anyone. continues to be the fastest growing sec- Between 1998 and 2004, news media tor of the advertising market. In 2005, advertising revenues have increased by online advertising is expected to grow
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 67 Journalist’s Trade
at a rate of 22.4 percent while news- at a puny 2.67 percent CAGR. premature. The same prospect exists paper ad revenue growth is projected In numerous cases, publishers have for the traditional media entities that to be 5.13 percent. But behind these responded by going online themselves fail to understand and explore the numbers is the simple fact that even at to recapture lost revenues and leverage complementary nature of online and the slower growth rate, newspaper ad their ability to reach consumers both offline media and take steps to attract revenues will grow substantially more on and offline. From 2002-2004, Knight the next generation of news consumers. in actual dollars than online advertis- Ridder’s online classified revenues Doing so will allow them to capture ing. And even when we look forward, doubled to $83.3 million, or 10.67 per- an ever larger audience and increase projections for 2008 show 94.3 percent cent of their print classified revenues. ad revenues. If they fail to do so, early of total advertising dollars still going Knight Ridder also owns Cars.com and reports of their death might be issued to offline media; hardly the stuff that in partnership with Gannett and Tribune with little exaggeration after all. n industry collapses are made of. Company owns CareerBuilder.com, an The one area that has seen direct on- online employment service. Similarly, Douglas Ahlers, who was a founder line competition growing significantly The Washington Post Company recently of Modem Media and a pioneer of is classified advertising, particularly purchased Slate, and The New York online advertising and electronic for cars, real estate, and employment. Times Company acquired About.com. commerce, was a spring 2005 fel- With classified ads contributing 35.5 Such ventures are among the ways low at the Shorenstein Center on percent of total newspaper ad revenues, for established media entities to lever- the Press, Politics & Public Policy, newspapers have been hardest hit as age their brand and customer base where he examined the intersection 9.1 percent of classified advertising online. Extending their brand presence of online and offline news media. He has moved online ($1.73 billion in online provides companies with the is now at Harvard’s Belfer Center for online classified advertising versus opportunity to capture new audience Science and International Affairs. $17.3 billion in newspaper classified and new advertising markets. For ex- John Hessen is a communications advertising). Jupiter Research projects ample, Knight Ridder’s 2004 results consultant based in Silicon Valley. that online classified advertising will show that online earnings contributed He specializes in the fields of media, more than double to $3.7 billion by just 3.78 percent of total revenue, but technology and politics. 2009. This increase of two billion dol- because of high online profit margins, lars in less than five years is a staggering these earnings contributed 5.7 percent Y [email protected] compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to total operating income. of 16.4 percent. But it is still less than While initial reports of Mark Twain’s Y [email protected] the $2.5 billion growth that the news- death were greatly exaggerated, even- paper classified business will produce tually they were proven to be merely The News Media’s 30-Year Hibernation Online newspapers ‘are not creative. They are not interactive. They’re too much like newspapers.’
By David Carlson
he problem with online news- them to be more than just a new way of A bit more than 30-years later, online papers is this: They are just like distributing the same old information. newspapers still struggle to deliver these T offline newspapers. That means Led by Sam Fedida, the researchers came services and, for the most part, haven’t they are not particularly interactive, they up with the idea that led to videotex, figured out how to deliver online news are barely customizable to individual a graphical approach to the display of in new ways, either. preferences, they contain mostly out- information online that can be said to The great promise that online jour- dated information, and they are hardly be the forerunner of today’s online nalism brings is the potential to tell relevant to most readers’ daily lives. services. The prototype, named Prestel, stories in ways they never have been From the very conception of online was first demonstrated in 1974. By later told before. Using online technologies services (1970 at the British Post Of- that year, these researchers had identi- it is possible to capture the strengths fice Research Laboratory outside of fied six classes of services that could be of the existing news media, eliminate London), the inventors envisioned delivered via the new medium. most of the weaknesses, and roll them
68 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News up into a new medium that can offer tion numbers, letters to the editor, and 1993 news and information in much more angry calls to the switchboard (any of us United States compelling ways. who’ve been there can tell you that the August: Mosaic, first graphical Web The strengths of printed news are not happy readers almost never call). browser for Windows, is released by the difficult to enumerate—great breadth Broadcast media have a different set University of Illinois. It causes WWW to and considerable depth. Newspapers of strengths and weaknesses. By their grow at a 341,634 percent annual rate and magazines include a wide variety of nature, they are more compelling than of service traffic. news, and they are capable of exploring print because they offer sound, in the a topic in considerable detail. They can case of radio, and both sound and pic- be browsed, offering readers the poten- tures, in the case of television. Radio 1993 tial to discover information they didn’t and television have immediacy that print United States know they were interested in—seren- never will be able to match, but their September 2: Middlesex (Mass.) News dipity, if you will. Print publications biggest and most compelling strength launches first Internet gopher-based also are cheap to buy and extremely is the ability to take us to the action, to online newspaper. portable. A newspaper or magazine can make us witnesses to events. be taken almost anywhere. While these are very powerful 1993 Print’s weaknesses are considerable strengths, broadcast media have major United States as well. Never is there enough space in weaknesses as well. The first is time— October: First journalism site on the a print publication for all the news that not time in the sense of the broadcast Web is launched at the University of might interest its readers. Another is im- day being too short, but in the sense Florida. By now there are about 200 mediacy. By their very nature, print news of how long a viewer or listener must Web servers in the world. publications are out of date before they spend to see or hear a specific item on can be read. That fancy color weather the news. It’s about linearity. Wanting map in this morning’s newspaper is at to find out how a particular event is 1993 least six hours old and very likely older reported requires being in place before United States than that by the time you see it. Print the newscast begins and watching or Apple says its new consumer online ser- is expensive to produce and distribute. listening to every second of it, commer- vice, eWorld, will debut in April 1994. Worldwide, some 80 cents of every cials and all, to ensure that you don’t dollar newspapers spend goes to some miss the little piece of it that interests part of the production process—paper, you. Another of broadcast’s weaknesses 1993 ink, presses, trucks, personnel and the is depth. It is much more difficult for United States like. It’s not cheap to put a pound or broadcast media to present dense, December: Prodigy for Windows finally more of paper on tens of thousands of deep information about a topic than debuts, nearly a year after AOL’s Win- doorsteps every morning. it is for print. And talk about feedback dows version. There are 232,000 orders Print’s other Achilles’ heel is its feed- problems. Broadcast station managers placed in the first 10 days. back channels. They are clogged. It is have an even more difficult time gauging extremely difficult for editors to gauge their customers’ happiness. They have 1993 how well pleased customers are with the only ratings growth or decline and those United States product. The measures are few: circula- angry calls to the switchboard. December 8: First article about the Web appears in The New York Times under the byline of John Markoff. Creating The Online Timeline 1994 The online world left no physical tracks. That was the impetus for The Online Worldwide This meant that a permanent record Timeline. Starting in 1990, I captured More than 3 million hosts exist on the was nearly impossible to keep because screen shots almost daily. I tracked Internet. Editor & Publisher reports hard disks were small and CD and DVD events and accumulated hundreds of about 20 newspaper online services writers were not yet invented. When clips from print media. In 1998 I had the exist worldwide, mostly BBS’s. technology advanced, everyone raced idea for the timeline and spent months to implement it. A new version would in libraries and on LexisNexis search- appear online, and the old very likely ing print archives to piece together the would be lost forever. early years. It appeared to me that the history of a If you have materials from these early new medium—one that I believed could years, especially promotional ones, be nearly as important as the invention contact me at [email protected]. of the printing press—was being lost. n — D.C.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 69 Journalist’s Trade
The Promise of Online News compelling new ways. While most newspaper sites publish I’m sorry to say that none of these letters, they’re usually the same letters The promise of online journalism is the ideas is particularly new. The founda- that were put in print. Why not include ability to encompass all these strengths tion for these concepts was laid back to the dozens of letters that don’t make it and more. Online news has breadth and the 1970’s. What’s wrong with online into the newspaper? depth and can be unlimited in its cover- newspapers is that they have not—and Why not publish columnists online age. An online news site has the poten- are not—taking advantage of the emerg- who aren’t published in the print edition tial to offer its customers access and other comics, too? Why to every story ever published don’t online music and film about a topic. Online news can sections offer more sound be browsed and, making it even Lots of these Web sites, big and small, are clips and video clips? Why more useful, it can be searched, very deep and wide, but what makes up these aren’t newcomers’ guides enabling visitors to quickly find and reviews of restaurants, information about a topic of deep, wide sites is repurposed content. At movies and recordings kept interest. Online news can have least 90 percent of the content of every news easily available long after the immediacy of broadcast publication? This is material and, using audio and video, it site I’ve seen is ‘shovelware’—news prepared that has a long, useful life to can have that same ability to for one medium and shoveled into another. customers. Why don’t more make us witnesses to events. media companies offer news Online’s feedback channels on different platforms, such are wide open, too, enabling as mobile phones and pda’s? instant response from readers. ing capabilities of the medium. They are And do TV station gurus really believe Online media also have new capabili- not creative. They are not interactive. it serves viewers to make them go to ties that so-called “old media” never did. They’re too much like newspapers. their Web sites to find a link to some They can be personalized—better yet, government agency? individualized. The top of your front The Missing Pieces In many ways, advertising on media page of news and the top of mine don’t Web sites is even farther behind. Why have to be the same. If you care more The first step on the road to real change aren’t real estate ads easily searchable about the Chicago Cubs than anything is to stop thinking about these new by any criterion, even workshops, else, the top of your front page could be methods of distributing news as if they garage stalls, lot size, and number of the Cubs—not how they did yesterday are newspapers. As a judge of two of the fireplaces? Why can’t owners or real- but how they are doing now, today, in most prestigious international contests tors be e-mailed directly from the ad? I the bottom of the sixth inning. If it’s for online news sites, I can tell you that can count on one hand the number of money that matters to you, instead of the evidence of original thought out newspaper sites I’ve seen that offer the delivering news about the markets an there is pretty limited. opportunity to include a photo with a online publication could report how Lots of these Web sites, big and small, classified ad. Just in case newspapers your personal wealth has changed in are very deep and wide, but what makes haven’t noticed, pictures sell mer- the past 24 hours, or the past 24 min- up these deep, wide sites is repurposed chandise. Does that help explain why utes, if you prefer. Advertising can be content. At least 90 percent of the eBay is winning this competition? Does interactive, with a restaurant ad, for content of every news site I’ve seen is that help us understand why Craigslist example, leading to a menu, and the “shovelware”—news prepared for one threatens newspapers? Consumers want menu leading to a way to make a reser- medium and shoveled into another. instant gratification. Print and broadcast vation. Classifieds can feature photos. Broadcast news scripts, complete with ads never have offered that, but if news Distribution is cheap, with no need for bad spelling and capitalized letters, Web sites are to succeed, they must find presses, ink, trucks, or production and do not make interesting content, nor a way to connect their customers with distribution personnel. does a 30-minute newscast offered in advertisers, both retail and classified. Nor does online journalism have to one linear chunk. Thousands of wire Newspapers could have been eBay be limited to the traditional methods stories do not make a compelling Web and Amazon.com and Monster.com, of storytelling. Databases and spread- site, either, especially if they are the too. They could have done what Pric- sheets, for example, can be used and same wire stories that were published eline did and should have done what even can allow visitors to interact with in the paper edition and don’t offer a Craigslist did. Newspapers even could the data to ask questions and often seek single hyperlink to additional infor- have done what FedEx and UPS do. After answers to their queries. Each part of mation or related stories. And far too all, delivery cars and trucks roll up and a story can be told with the medium often the photos and graphics that were down every street early each morning, that tells it best. Words, pictures, audio, published with a story don’t ever make seven days a week. video and data—even reader contribu- it to the Web. Why have media companies failed to tions—can be mixed to tell stories in Then there are letters to the editor. capitalize on this medium that seems
70 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News such a natural extension of what they do? this sort of thinking prevents these 1994 I can think of three primary reasons. companies from seeing the trouble United States they are in. Trade organizations, the January 19: The first newspaper to 1. Media companies have not historical- Newspaper Association of America, regularly publish on the Web, the Palo ly invested in research and develop- for example, continue to cheerlead by Alto Weekly in California, begins twice- ment. It’s not in their nature; it is an reporting that newspaper advertising weekly postings of its full content. industry that adopts the inventions revenues grow year after year, but they Price: Free. of others, not one that paves its own fail to adequately report that the piece way. of the overall advertising pie going to 2. Media companies are cursed by their newspapers continues to shrink. As a 1994 high-profit margins. That sounds result, many publishers and editors United States illogical, but the high margins that have their heads in the sand when it January: The first online venture from they’ve been able to generate have comes to seeing the true picture. And The (Raleigh) News & Observer is Nan- led Wall Street not only to expect such very few news media companies are doland, a bulletin board system aimed profit levels quarter after quarter making any serious investments in new at public-school children. but also to demand them. But this media. Strategic thinking seems short- is a mature industry, one that is not term, at a time when there is a pressing 1994 growing. Newspaper penetration need for long-term thinking about new United States has been declining for 30 years, and business models. February: American Online hits the broadcast has been losing significant In order to move forward—I fear in 600,000 subscriber mark. market share to cable for a decade, order to survive—news organizations so the only way to keep the profit must remove the cataracts that blur margins up is to cut costs by shrink- their vision. They must convince inves- 1994 ing products, cutting personnel, and tors that they are worth saving and find United States raising prices. The result: Customers ways to invest in the future. They also March 13: Access Atlanta, the first news- find it easier to do without the prod- must take another very big, very difficult paper site on Prodigy, is launched by uct. The entire industry is, in effect, step and stop thinking like newspapers, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a Cox cashing out, as Philip Meyer explains stop thinking like radio and television newspaper. in his recent book, “The Vanishing stations. They must recognize that they Newspaper.” Quietly, perhaps even sell information, not newspapers or unknowingly, the industry is com- television or radio. They should work 1994 mitting suicide, and the corporations to become platform independent and United States appear to be greedy moneygrubbers worry about selling the data, not the Netscape is formed by Jim Clark and instead of public-spirited entities format. Remember the once-mighty Marc Andreessen and a Web browser, staunchly defending the public’s railroads. They thought they were in Netscape Navigator 1.0, is released. right to know. the railroad business when it was trans- n 3. Most troubling is myopia. News or- portation they were selling. 1994 ganizations are nearsighted. They are United States suffering from short-term thinking, as David Carlson is the Cox Founda- June: The New York Times launches @ Vin Crosbie, an online news industry tion/Palm Beach Post professor of Times on AOL. The content, mostly arts consultant, put it in a recent posting new media journalism at the Uni- coverage, is widely criticized. to an online newsgroup. He wrote: versity of Florida, director of the “Newsrooms are concerned just with university’s Interactive Media Lab, today’s or this weekend’s stories; ad and president-elect of the Society of 1994 sales departments with this month’s Professional Journalists. He has been Worldwide quotas; marketing departments with involved in online journalism since June: Over 1,500 Web servers are regis- the next Audit Bureau of Circulations 1989. Information for The Online tered with CERN. or Nielsen deadline; general manag- Timeline that weaves information ers only with capital investments along the side of the pages in this that can be recouped within 12 to section of stories was provided by 1994 36 months, and news corporations Carlson and adapted for this use. United States only with the next financial quarter’s His complete Online Timeline can be July: Raleigh News and Observer goes results. Relentlessly short-term think- found at: http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/carl- to the net, launching the NandoTimes ing is pandemic in the news industry.” son/timeline.shtml. and the SportsServer, both Web-based And it’s killing it. news services. Y [email protected] It’s a sad but true predicament, and
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 71 Journalist’s Trade Reinventing A Newspaper’s Web Site The online Los Angeles Times is ‘very different. It should be different. It should look different.’
By Barbara A. Serrano
he Los Angeles Times has had a ries, mostly foreign and national news, site a more vibrant feel. Stories about prominent online presence for became lead stories on latimes.com’s food and the outdoors rose to the top T a decade with its Web site. But it homepage. Web visitors could find little of the page, and television and movies wasn’t until this spring that a genuine on the site that was not lifted directly received even better play than before. effort was made to tap into its full po- from the paper’s pages. Sappell and I attended the same tential and integrate the print and online One day this summer three of news meetings as print editors. But staffs. There has been experimentation us—the deputy business editor, Joel working with the online staff, we dug with reporters’ online notebooks and a Sappell, tapped by Baquet to act as a deeper into story lists to find content shift in how the site’s content is gener- “guest editor” with the online staff; Dan that might resonate with Web users. ated and arranged. Gaines, a senior online producer, and One day we featured a story about Asian Perhaps the most significant turning I—stood at a computer screen in the women who go to excruciating steps point in this new venture came this online newsroom looking at the site’s to avoid the sun and stay white. The summer, when editors who’d spent homepage. We could count as many provocative nature of the article—ac- their careers on the print side were as 14 headlines, and that was only on companied by a rather unsettling shot asked to venture into the digital world the top half of the screen. Few of these of a woman sitting behind a steering of journalism and think about how stories were drawing much Web traffic, wheel wearing a Darth Vader-like helmet to attract more readers. The path we perhaps because the site provided no and other photos—proved exception- charted is part of an ongoing attempt way for readers to tell which were the ally popular. It drew more than 36,000 at the Times to give latimes.com its own more important. page views that day, making it the most voice, while also bridging two mediums Sappell envisioned a more stream- requested story. (print and online) in ways that encour- lined look—one strong enterprise or As we watched which stories users age the newspaper’s staff to think more feature story, packaged with lead art, were gravitating to, it became apparent comfortably—and instinctively—about and a few headlines running alongside that celebrity, conspiracy and sex are working for both. it. He wanted snappier headlines and quite popular topics on the Web. Photos, “I think that all papers, including a story mix that was distinct from the too, attract viewers. “I’m hearing from ours, were too slow to really embrace paper. He looked over at the box in the masthead editors downstairs that the Web,” said Dean Baquet who, as the screen’s upper right-hand corner they like it—fewer stories, better display, managing editor, succeeded John S. with local TV video clips, a feature we that it’s working very well,” Sappell de- Carroll as editor of the newspaper knew was drawing fewer than a hundred clared at an online staff meeting. on August 15th. “And I would include visits daily. myself in that, as a reporter and as an “What if we were to move this box Making Changes editor. It felt to us for years—for too down to another place on the page?,” long—it felt like this odd thing that Sappell asked Gaines. A moment later, At the Times, change hasn’t come eas- required us to do more work, and now he asked about the possibility of placing ily, nor has it come without resistance. I think of it as an essential part of the a homepage photo gallery where the Those who work on the extended news paper, and when I say ‘the paper,’ I also video clips were located. Then, point- desk, which handles breaking news think of the Web site. It’s very different. ing to a spot on the screen just below for the online site, didn’t like having It should be different. It should look where Sappell’s envisioned gallery their headlines set aside (and placed different.” might go, I wondered aloud, “What if in the new smaller box) to make room we put the breaking-news stories here for larger, splashier features. Other as- Creating a Different Look in a box?” signment editors weren’t thrilled with So began a week filled with experi- the interruption in workflow when Even after an earlier, much-publicized ments and risks. Promotional boxes the guest-editor-of-the-week called redesign, latimes.com looked like the were moved—or made bigger—to dis- or e-mailed them for early postings. paper did. The Times’s front-page sto- play eye-catching photos and give the Copyeditors were rattled. How could
72 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News they guarantee the same quality with explained. “So we’re trying to do a lot 1994 copy if they were being pushed to move of culture change on both sides.” United States stories in a matter of minutes? Until a few months ago, hardly any- August: AOL tops the 1 million sub- Once some of this initial anxiety wore one in the newsroom or senior man- scriber mark. off—and people began negotiating agement even knew where the online the rules—a palpable sense of energy operation was located or who was in settled in. Print editors, for example, charge of it. The focus has always been 1994 began to realize that they now had to aim for a Page One story or, better Spain another platform to think about. With yet, column one, the coveted home for “El Mundo” starts an edition on the In- that realization came a sense of owner- long-form features. ternet, but only with “Su dinero” (your money) and “La revista” (the magazine), two weekly supplements from the newspaper. It launches October 22nd.
1994 United States November 1: A guild strike shuts down San Francisco’s daily newspapers. Strik- ers and management create rival dailies on the Web, the Free Press, and The Gate.
1994 Worldwide November 29: Deutsche Presse-Agentur reports some 200 newspapers around the world are offering editions online. It says 48 papers have “full-fledged elec- The Los Angeles Times online homepage prior to suggested changes by “guest editors.” tronic editions.” ship about a medium that previously So some of us have found this new 1994 had been more or less ignored. “Why embrace of the Web exciting—and long United Kingdom can’t we run it with a bigger picture? overdue. December 7: The Daily Telegraph Can we do video?,” editors started to Integrating the print and online staffs launches a Web-based version, The ask. Meanwhile, the noon meeting at requires a paradigm shift that Baquet Electronic Telegraph. latimes.com evolved into free-flowing began to pursue earlier this year. As a conversations about story placement long-time newspaper editor, he says 1994 and design, rather than the usual mind- he knew intellectually that the Internet Luxembourg numbing discussions about technical was important, but its full power—and Europe Online is founded by three issues. potential—did not become tangible to European publishers. Rob Barrett, the site’s general man- him until he saw the impact bloggers ager, was also reiterating his long-stand- were having during the 2004 presiden- ing pitch: experiment, share ideas, and tial campaign. Declining circulation 1994 watch what competitors do. “We’re five figures also entered into heightened United States years behind the planet earth. We’ve got interest in online readership. (In the Java, a programming language that to get with it,” he told the staff. six month period ending March 31, the allows animation on Web pages and Soon after Barrett’s arrival in January, Times reported its steepest decline in much more, is introduced by Sun Mi- he and Baquet were holding meetings several years, as daily circulation fell 6.5 crosystems. with department heads in the newsroom percent and Sunday’s paid readership to preach the importance of the Web and plunged 7.9 percent.) talk about changes ahead. “There were Top editors now regard Web users 1995 some very basic connections that had as part of the Times’s readership, and United States never been made between the Web staff they view the vast online community of Consumer online services experience and key people on the editorial side and bloggers as a part of the paper’s future 64 percent growth rate in 1995 and the business side of the paper,” Barrett outreach. “There’s plenty of handwring- now reach 8.5 million members.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 73 Journalist’s Trade
ing in the business these days about notebook’s biting style and worried that ment industry insiders (as users and circulation losses,” Carroll said. “If you the blog was blurring the line between advertisers) by providing Web-specific consider the people who read us on opinion and news reporting. content and a database of entertainment the Web site, there’s no problem. It’s and travel listings. To this end, consul- actually very, very good.” There have The Web Site’s Future tants and staffers are at work on two new been about a dozen reporters’ online products: a site focused on news and notebooks (akin to blogs) since the Latimes.com, which is fifth among U.S. information about awards, such as the site’s redesign, most tailored around newspaper sites in the number of visi- Oscars and Emmys, and a Hollywood specific events, such as the Cannes Film tors it draws, generates revenues that page in which bloggers weigh in on the Festival, the Los Angeles Film Festival, run into the tens of millions of dollars day’s news and gossip. and the Tour de France. and draws 5.5 million unique viewers Podcasting of Times’s stories began in August, and there is talk of having the site be a conduit for the work of citizen journalists and bloggers. “No one in my opinion has really solved the problem of what a newspaper site ought to be, because it’s a local and national infor- mation business, as well as something that reflects the paper,” said Barrett. “Latimes.com is evolving …. The issue is how fast and how far can we go with something that’s great because there are so many competitors. If we’re not fast enough, they’re going to figure out ideas before we do it.” If our recent experience is prologue, the Times will be rushing full speed into the digital universe in 2006—wrestling A redesigned homepage of latimes.com, with more emphasis on enterprise features with how to maintain its commitment and images. to high quality, resource-rich hard news reporting while enabling its Web site The most extensive online report- a month, up by 39 percent from a year to attract more readers by spotlight- ing effort involved coverage of the ago. And page views grew by 7 percent, ing edgier and glitzier stories. There presentations by TV networks in New according to data from Sage, The Tri- is also hope that the Web will offer a York in mid-May. For five days, network bune Co.’s metrix reporting tool. The way for the newspaper to strengthen executives and celebrities put on flashy publishing side wants to increase and its relationship with Southern Califor- presentations and attend star-studded diversify the site’s advertising and its nia communities, a goal that has long parties to promote new prime-time audience, since about 70 percent of eluded the paper. shows. With three reporters and a busi- latimes.com users are from outside the The Web, Baquet says, “should be ness editor filing dispatches from the five-county area in Southern California. part of who we are. We’re a serious, scene, staff writer Shawn Hubler pulled Our audience isn’t as loyal as advertis- hard-hitting newspaper, and we always the narrative together from her home ers would like: In June, only about 17 will be. The Web offers a way to get a in Laguna Beach, while I was working percent of new users returned to the site glimpse of what people want to read as the editor in Los Angeles. after their initial visit. Nor do our site’s and what people care about.” n Internal feedback was overwhelm- daily visitors—the majority of whom are ingly positive. But at one point, around men between 35-44 in age—resemble Barbara A. Serrano, a 2002 Nieman 6:30 in the morning, Hubler and I the younger digital audience the Times Fellow, is Web news editor for fea- agreed that we truly understood what would like to attract. tures at the Los Angeles Times. Previ- it’s like to be bloggers. (They have There are plans to invest newsroom ously, she helped supervise coverage no life.) As much as editors liked the resources (i.e. staff) in the online opera- of the television industry and was result (particularly when bloggers like tion. The goal is to have a Web editor deputy political editor during the Defamer linked to it), reporters in the working for each department in the 2004 presidential campaign. She is a field were tired and frustrated. They newsroom. Barrett and Baquet are also former political editor and reporter had filed dispatches morning, afternoon collaborating on an ambitious plan to at The Seattle Times. and night, which left them virtually no develop new content and rebuild the time to develop sources or story ideas. site. Y [email protected] Some were also uncomfortable with the Barrett intends to target entertain-
74 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News
1995 Spain Griping About Newspaper August 1: “El Diario Vasco,” a daily newspaper, starts a weekly edition on Editorials Doesn’t Change the Internet.
The problem editors face is figuring out how to get 1995 people to read editorials. United States August 21: Gannett’s USA Today begins offering its content free via the World Wide Web. By Michael Gartner
1996 wo quotations: “The prestige of in the 1880’s, and USA Today went to a United States the editorial is gone …. There are controversy-averse format when it was In January, Google founders Larry Page Tjournalists who think the time is launched 100 years later. and Sergey Brin begin work on the at hand for the abolition of editorials search engine’s predecessor, BackRub. and the concentration of the whole force Making Editorials Matter of journalism upon presenting to the public the history and the picture of the Parton and Kinsley are right, of course, 1996 day …. Editorials neither make nor mar in raising questions about the editorial Luxembourg a daily paper.” And “Michael does like page. But history shows that neither they Europe Online declares bankruptcy on to ask questions, such as, ‘In today’s nor USA Today has the right solution. August 2nd with $40 million in debts world, what is the continuing relevance It is folly—and dereliction of duty—for and 25,000 subscribers. of a newspaper editorial board?’” newspapers to abandon editorials, and Ah, the more things change, the more it is equal folly to move to group-edit they stay the same. The first quote is or groupthink. Editorials can—and 1996 from James Parton, a noted biographer should—always be strong parts of news- Worldwide of the 1800’s, and it appeared in the papers. Especially today, in this era of In April, NAA reports about 175 North North American Review in April 1866. instant news and instant rumor, thought American dailies are currently avail- The second quote is from Andrés Marti- is a commodity in scarce supply. able on the World Wide Web. About nez, the editorial page editor of the Los The problem editors face today is 775 publications are available online Angeles Times, and it appeared in The no different from the problem edi- worldwide. New York Times in June 2005. tors have faced for 150 years: How do The “Michael” that Martinez referred you get people to read editorials? The 1996 to is Michael Kinsley, who was then the answer, too, remains the same. Report United States editorial and opinion editor of the Los thoroughly, think clearly, write grace- In May, The Wall Street Journal launch- Angeles Times. Kinsley had been shak- fully. Be passionate in your beliefs. Be es its Interactive Edition, a pay Web site. ing things up at his newspaper, moving persuasive in your writing. That’s the Cost: $49.94 a year. writers around, asking outsiders to formula that worked for the four great- contribute editorials, letting insiders est editorial writers in history: Greeley offer dissents, and—in a brief experi- of the Tribune, Henry Watterson of The 1996 ment—encouraging readers to rewrite Courier-Journal of Louisville, William United States editorials on the Internet. Allen White of the Emporia (Kan.) Ga- In October, The Associated Press Kinsley was just the latest—but he zette, and Vermont Connecticut Royster launches A.P. Online, a wire service to certainly won’t be the last—among of The Wall Street Journal. provide content for online newspapers. the legions of people who have been These men wrote in four different debating, dissecting, or disparaging the eras, but they had much in common. editorial page ever since Horace Greeley They held strong beliefs, and they were 1997 invented it in the 1850’s. (Until Gree- stirring. The editorials of a young White China ley set apart a page for opinion in The helped put William McKinley in the In April, Prodigy launches its service— New York Tribune, newspapers readily White House. The editorials of an old with Internet access—in Shanghai on mixed reporting and editorializing— Watterson helped stir a nation to war. mainland China. something critics say that newspapers Greeley, in his day, was as influential as continue to do today.) Joseph Pulitzer’s any politician. Royster, in his way, set the New York World abandoned editorials political agenda for business leaders and
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 75 Journalist’s Trade
Greeley, Watterson, White and Royster, however loyal, however entrusted, one of the best in the modern era of and their newspapers, had something however brilliant, cannot be great editorial writing, wrote editorials for lacking in most of today’s editorial because it speaks through the mist of newspapers owned by Knight Ridder writers and newspapers—personality. subordination.” and Newhouse, and clearly they and And that personality—personal and their editors gave him great freedom. institutional—made the men voices to Restoring an Editorial Voice “It’s about time for Leonard Edwards to be listened to and made the institutions take the Hot Squat,” began a 123-word forces to be reckoned with. They wrote Neither Michael Kinsley nor anyone else Aregood editorial in the Philadelphia anonymously, but they were far from is going to undo chain ownership, of Daily News of 1975. And after outlin- anonymous. course, but Royster—and a handful of ing the crimes of “this piece of human There’s something else, too. Greeley others—proved that corporate-owned crud,” he ended the editorial by saying: and White owned their newspapers. newspapers can have vigorous editorial “Fry him.” Watterson had an ownership interest in pages. “The proprietors have put up “A lot of people don’t have opin- his. And Royster worked for a benevo- with my prejudices while by no means ions,” the opinionated Aregood told an lent family, and a benevolent company always sharing them,” Royster wrote interviewer from the Poynter Institute president, who encouraged him to be after he retired. Indeed, that tradition in 1993. “That’s where the passion as outspoken as an owner. probably continues. The Wall Street comes from. You’ve got to believe in Watterson, who left the Courier-Jour- Journal continues to put out perhaps the something. There are a lot of things I nal in 1918 in a dispute with the new best editorial page in the nation—the believe in and strongly. And you’ve got owners over their favorable views on editorials are well-reported, well-rea- to care about what you’re writing or,” the League of Nations, “was the last of soned and well-written and often outra- he laughingly told the interviewer, “it the great editors, for the reason that he geous and outlandish and outspoken. reads like an editorial.” was the last of those editors who wrote It’s hard to believe that the owners and Kinsley need only to have looked with the power of ownership,” Arthur executives agree with every word and in the files of the Los Angeles Times Krock, a great journalist himself, wrote. every position. to find some of that passion. At the “A hired journalism, however zealous, The now-retired Richard Aregood, height of World War II, the Times ran
Graceful and Persuasive Words and Passionate Beliefs
These excerpts from editorials illus- country, are sorely disappointed and men, Christian men, soldierly men, to trate how, as Michael Gartner writes, deeply pained by the policy you seem the flag and the fray—wherever they lead “personality—personal and institu- to be pursuing with regard to the slaves us—over the ocean—through France tional—made the men voices to be of Rebels. I write only to set succinctly to Flanders—across the Low Countries listened to and made the institutions and unmistakably before you what we to Koln, Bonn and Koblens—tumbling forces to be reckoned with.” require, what we think we have a right the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein into the to expect, and of what we complain.” Rhine as we pass and damming the “Unworthy of the Bench from which it —Editorial written by Horace Greeley in mouth of the Mozelle with the debris was delivered, unworthy even of the The New York Tribune, August 20, 1862, of the ruin we make of it—then on, previous reputation of the jurist who addressed to President Lincoln. on to Berlin, the Black Horse Cavalry delivered it, unworthy of the American sweeping the Wilhelmstrasse like lava people, and of the nineteenth century, “There are old reasons enough down the mountain side, the Junker it will be a blot upon our National char- against woman suffrage, and it would and the saber rattler flying before us, acter abroad, and a long-remembered be futile to cite them now. Men’s minds the tunes being ‘Dixie’ and ‘Yankee shame at home.” —The Albany Evening are made up. At this time of all times the Doodle,’ the cry being, ‘Hail the French Journal, March 10, 1857, commenting poetizing and enfeebling of the practical Republic—Hail the Republic of Rus- on the Dred Scott decision by the Su- instincts, experience and capability of sia—welcome the Commonwealth of preme Court. the State by the admission of women the Vaterland—no peace with the Kai- as voters would be a perilous venture.” ser—no parley with Autocracy, Absolut- “Dear Sir: I do not intrude to tell —An editorial appearing in The New ism and the divine right of Kings—to you—for you must know already—that York Times, November 12, 1915, op- Hell with the Hapsburg and the Ho- a great proportion of those who tri- posing women’s suffrage. henzollern!’” —An editorial written by umphed in your election, and of all Henry Watterson in the Courier-Journal, who desire the unqualified suppression “First of all on bended knee we should April 17, 1917, as the United States was of the Rebellion now desolating our pray God to forgive us. Then erect as preparing for war.
76 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News an editorial with the headline: “Apology ruined by asking him to think.” 1997 to Rattlesnakes.” It began: History is the best teacher. So here’s United States “Once or twice since Pearl Harbor, some advice to those who endeavor to On November 14th, the Pulitzer Prize The Times has likened the Japanese to make editorials readable and relevant: board opens the public-service prize rattlesnakes. This is to apologize to the Find some people who can think. And competition to articles published on- rattlesnakes. who can write. Find some people who line—but they must be entered on “a “Compared with self-styled human are passionate. And who can be outra- single CD-ROM.” beings who strike from the dark and geous. slay without provocation or warning, Then leave them alone. who torture their helpless victims and If that doesn’t work, call up Richard 1998 murder them in cold-blooded defiance Aregood. n United States of honor and decency, the rattlesnake On September 7th, Google, Inc. is es- is one of nature’s noblemen.” Michael Gartner’s book, “Outrage, tablished in Menlo Park, California. Today, the chain-owned newspapers Passion & Uncommon Sense: How tend to use editorial pages as convenient Editorial Writers Have Taken on the 1999 rest stops for reporters and editors who Great American Issues of the Past 150 United States have lost their edge—or their patrons— Years,” will be published by the Na- February: One-quarter of U.S. news- in the newsroom. And it shows. “Most tional Geographic Society in October. papers’ Web sites are said to be profit- journalists come to [editorial writing] He won the Pulitzer Prize for edito- able at Editor & Publisher’s Interactive because they have been good report- rial writing in 1997 and is principal Newspapers conference. ers,” Royster noted, “and it is assumed owner of the Iowa Cubs and presi- that because they are knowledgeable dent of the Iowa Board of Regents. about, let us say, government or foreign 1999 affairs, they will have opinions worth Y [email protected]. United States listening to. Sometimes it’s true, often On November 5th, after a yearlong not. Many a good reporter has been antitrust suit, a federal court finds that Microsoft has a monopoly.
2000 United States January 10: America Online announces “You say that freedom of utterance is “A bully by nature, a mountebank by it will acquire Time Warner in a deal not for time of stress, and I reply with instinct, a Senator by choice…. Thus worth $162 billion, an agreement Wall the sad truth that only in time of stress this preposterous blob excites our pity Street Journal technology columnist is freedom of utterance in danger …. if not our respect, and we leave him Kara Swisher later calls the “messiest Only when free utterance is suppressed to his conscience in order that he may merger” in corporate history. is it needed, and when it is needed, it be entirely alone and meditate over is most vital to justice.” —An editorial the life of a charlatan whose personal 2000 written by William Allen White in the interest and personal vanity are always South Korea Emporia Gazette, July 27, 1922, during of paramount concern to him.” —Edito- OhmyNews is founded by Oh Yeon labor unrest in Kansas. rial written by Grover Cleveland Hall Ho in Seoul, South Korea. During the in the Montgomery Advertiser, August country’s election, the free online news “Frank Munsey, the great publisher, is 19, 1927, about Alabama Senator Tom service registers 20 million page views dead. Frank Munsey contributed to the Heflin. per day in a country of 40 million. journalism of his day the talent of a meat packer, the morals of a moneychanger, “A newspaper exists only to provide and the manners of an undertaker. He information for its readers; it has no 2000 and his kind have about succeeded in other reason for being. It provides that United States transforming a once noble profession service only so long as it diligently seeks February 23: Stock prices for online into an eight percent security. May he out what is happening and reports it as companies have risen so high that rest in trust.” —An editorial written accurately and as clearly as it can.” — Michael Bloomberg tells the Editor & by William Allen White in the Emporia Editorial written most likely by Vermont Publisher Interactive conference in New (Kan.) Gazette on December 23, 1925, Connecticut Royster in The Wall Street Orleans that Yahoo! has a higher market on the death of Munsey, who was one Journal, June 16, 1954, after General capitalization than the six largest Ameri- of the early owners of a newspaper Motors pulled advertising because of can newspaper companies combined. chain. news stories. n
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 77 Journalist’s Trade Getting Acquainted With Newspapers and Journalism Students who didn’t read newspapers started doing so, and before long they knew a lot about journalism and were inventing news outlets of their own.
By Susan E. Tifft
t seems like a contradiction. People the conventions under which we oper- who they think meets the definition in their late teens and early 20’s ate, and even what constitutes “news.” of “journalist,” and what the mission Ihave grown up in what amounts This doesn’t mean they are lazy or stu- of journalism is. Last semester, at the to a media marinade. From reality pid. On the contrary. Most come from first class meeting, I gave students a shows to video games, iPods to instant the nation’s top public and private high questionnaire calculated to tell me what messaging, talk radio to they know, so I could MTV, they are practiced adjust my teaching multitaskers. They surf What stumped students most was journalism’s public accordingly. The sur- the Web while listening vey asked them to to music downloads and function. They seemed comfortable thinking of the list their four main cell phone their friends news media as corporate and private, yet surprisingly sources of news and while thumbing e-mails then gave them an on their BlackBerries. uncertain about its proper role in a democracy. Many array of names and Yet when it comes to said it wasn’t journalism’s mission to help citizens make job descriptions journalism—to the news and asked them to media—they know very informed choices in the voting booth or to spur them to check those they little and are not as savvy political or social action. And many fewer than I would considered to be about technology as we “journalists.” I used might think. That’s the have liked said it wasn’t the responsibility of journalism the same method to conclusion I’ve come to serve as a watchdog or a check on those in power. find out what they to based on seven years considered “news” teaching an admittedly and how they de- unscientific sample of fined the mission of undergraduates at the Terry Sanford schools; they are whip-smart, hardwork- journalism. Institute of Public Policy at Duke Uni- ing and eager to learn. But they didn’t Here is some of what I learned from versity. grow up, as most of us did, in homes their responses: Duke doesn’t have a journalism where reading newspapers and news school. What we offer is a journalism magazines, or watching nightly news- • Virtually all of the students’ news certificate, which is the rough equiva- casts, was routine. The whole notion sources were Web sites—cnn.com lent of a minor without the academic of “gatekeeper,” at least as mainstream was the top pick by far, followed by discomfort it would cause to actually journalists understand the term, is for- msnbc.com, nytimes.com, and espn. call it that. I teach the core course for eign to them. And why shouldn’t it be? com—with the occasional mention the program—a seminar in media eth- The world they’ve inhabited since the of a print outlet such as Newsweek ics, which all certificate aspirants must moment they became conscious has or The Economist. The good news take—as well as three electives: one always had multiple cable channels, here is that almost without excep- focused on investigative reporting, many featuring partisans screaming at tion, the students chose a nutritious one on media ownership, and one on each other, and an infinite array of Web diet of mainstream sources; they just journalism’s effect on public policy. sites. Separating fact from opinion and preferred to get them on the Web. The students run the gamut. Some are balance from bias in such a swirling • The “Who’s a journalist?” question liberal arts majors hell-bent on pursuing stew is daunting even for those of us produced more confounding results. journalism careers. Others are premed, who are journalists, so I’m sympathetic A large percentage of the class said prelaw, or engineering students who are with young people who have a tough that Bill O’Reilly, Jon Stewart, and simply curious about the media. time divining the truth. the President’s press secretary are What they have in common, with That said, it’s been edifying—and journalists, while a few said that Rush some exceptions, is a profound lack of occasionally horrifying—to find out Limbaugh and columnists for The knowledge about who journalists are, where my students get their news, New York Times weren’t worthy of
78 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News
the title because “they’re just giving as a watchdog or a check on those in 2000 you their opinion.” Several insisted power. As it turned out, these views United States that a network anchor was not a jour- were based not on any conviction about July: America Online announces it has nalist (“Anchors just read the news, the news media, but almost entirely on hit the 25 million subscriber mark. they don’t report,” said one), while a ignorance of what the press is, how it startling majority scribbled question works, and what it does. marks around the term “blogger.” Students also haven’t figured out 2000 (Some didn’t know what a blogger how to square the high-minded stuff United States was; others knew but had never they learned in high school about the Studies show that fewer Web users are read one, so didn’t feel qualified to press and the First Amendment (to the clicking on banner and button ads. judge.) So much for the blogosphere extent they were taught it at all) with Percentages, once 1 percent or higher, as province of the young! (They had what they experience in the culture: are now .1 percent. no idea what RSS or podcasting is, 24/7 coverage of the latest murder trial either.) or celebrity hookup; high profile cases 2001 • As for what constitutes “news,” the of journalistic error (Dan Rather and United States students unanimously agreed that a “60 Minutes II”) or malfeasance (Jay- March: With advertising revenue falling, story about a car bombing in Baghdad son Blair), and an administration that, major news organizations lay off staff would make the cut, but they were together with its fellow travelers, some in their online operations. New York less certain about movie reviews, of whom call themselves journalists, has Times Digital, for example, cuts 100 stock tables, and politically liberal mounted a largely successful effort to positions. Print operations suffer layoffs or conservative opinion columns. portray the mainstream press as politi- as well. Knight Ridder rids itself of 10 Oddly enough, almost everyone said cally biased, untrustworthy and—even percent of its workforce. that an obituary of a locally promi- worse—beside the point. nent citizen was not news—a mis- apprehension I was able to correct Discovering Newspapers 2001 the following week when a former United Kingdom Duke president died and the student In all my courses, I require students Interactive TV takes off in Britain, newspaper carried the obituary on to subscribe to and read The New where 23 percent of households are the front page. York Times—the ink-on-paper version, expected to use it this year, The New • As for the mission of journalism, the although they’re welcome to browse York Times reports. This compares with responses were all over the map and the Web site for updates and breaking 9 percent in Europe and 7.5 percent in often contradictory. Many said our news. For many, it is the first time they the United States. goal is to make money, to please the have read a newspaper on a regular stockholders of the owning company, basis. Using the Times as our common to promote that company’s products text, students learn about journalistic 2001 and services, and to beat the competi- conventions such as the wall between United States tion. At the same time, most agreed editorial and advertising, objectivity, the May: AOL has 29 million subscribers that news organizations should difference between editorials and news, and AOL-Time Warner says it has 133 “report truthfully about community, and the use of anonymous sources. At million subscribers to AOL, cable and national and world affairs,” “please the end of the semester, most students magazines. The New York Times reports readers and viewers” rather than say they’ve become addicted to the 57 percent of U.S. households have advertisers, and challenge people’s news and are much more analytical some type of Internet access. views and assumptions rather than (and skeptical) about what they read reflect them. and see and hear. Recent grads report, 2001 to their shock, that they’ve become Worldwide What stumped students most was faithful newspaper subscribers. May: Some 461 million people world- journalism’s public function. They If mere exposure to newspapers wide are connected to the Internet, ac- seemed comfortable thinking of the could make readers out of every 18- to cording to a study from IDC. Forecasts news media as corporate and private, 34-year old, the market for Maalox at say it will be 1 billion by 2005. yet surprisingly uncertain about its major news organizations would com- proper role in a democracy. Many said pletely dry up, which is not the case. it wasn’t journalism’s mission to help The take-home point is that exposure citizens make informed choices in the can make a difference, provided young voting booth or to spur them to political people also have their hands held as they or social action. And many fewer than are walked through it. By comparison, I would have liked said it wasn’t the my students were indifferent to blogs. responsibility of journalism to serve During the fall semester of 2004, in the
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 79 Journalist’s Trade
run-up to the presidential election, I presence in addition to the print edition. We prefer our news online, interactive, made each student follow a political One suggested outfitting subscribers downloadable and e-mailable to an array or journalism blog of his or her choice with a “news box,” not unlike AOL’s of hand-held devices. In short, every way and post on the class Web site a weekly instant message box, that would stay that cutting edge technology allows. analysis of what was being said. Some on users’ computer screens while they But these same students were also students picked the blogs of the can- were connected to the Internet, provid- surprisingly traditional when it came didates or the candidates’ supporters; ing updated headlines in real time and to the meat-and-potatoes of journal- others chose high-hit favorites such as making the paper a sort of online buddy. ism. They insisted that their dream the Daily Kos, Wonkette and andrewsul- Another invited junior high and high newspapers aim for objectivity, balance livan.com. They liked the exercise—one school students to contribute blogs to and fairness; avoid conflicts of interest; said adopting a blog was like adopting the paper’s Web site as a way of building refuse to pander to advertisers, and a pet rock—but they weren’t impressed links to the community and nurturing support tough investigative reporting. with what they found there, which they news interest in the young. Yet another And, of course, make money. (Hey, I variously described as invective, bias, permitted readers to receive the paper said it was a dream, didn’t I?) hype, spin, gossip and propaganda. (“I in PDF format and to choose the order Of course, they had to learn about just don’t trust them,” said one.) and composition of the online sections, journalism basics to embrace them What kind of news product would turning readers into their own personal but, once they were informed, they young people create if they were given layout editors. did—with gusto. Now, that’s news. n free rein? Last spring I divided my me- The students wanted slightly shorter dia ownership class into three teams stories, more sidebars, photos and Susan Tifft, a former Time associate and assigned each to come up with its graphics, and slightly more entertain- editor, is the Eugene C. Patterson pro- own “dream newspaper.” What they ment, but they also rejected the “news fessor of the practice of journalism & proposed might hold lessons for print lite” model of youth-oriented papers public policy at Duke University. news outlets struggling to retain read- such as the Chicago Tribune’s Red Eye ers. Each one envisioned a strong Web edition. Their message seemed to be: Y [email protected] Organizing the New News ‘… the greater velocity of information today multiplies the opportunities for confusing and misleading the public.’
By Philip Meyer
e’re going to need some new of John Adams, the Federalist Party’s communities and their advertisers. Now institutions. Between the an- choice for his successor. that media power is becoming radically W archy and spontaneity of the Parties are needed to mediate decentralized through the Internet, we blogosphere and the rigid, hierarchical between the complex networks of need a new kind of media organization structure of the old media, there lies a individual interests and the purposely to focus responsibility. huge gap. Soon it will be time for some separated power centers in govern- For bloggers and their fans, this idea new organizational form to take root in ment. When things go right or wrong, is counterintuitive. With everyone free that fertile middle. it’s hard to pin the credit or blame on to reach everyone else, they argue, a free Democracy has always been good at specific officeholders. But if one party market will force truth to the top. John making room for organizational creativ- or the other is clearly in control of the Milton made the same observation in ity. The two-party system in the United government, you can hold that party 1644 when printing was in its early state: States is a good example. The Constitu- responsible. The decision is reduced “Whoever knew truth put to the worse tion makes no provision for parties, and to its most basic form. Support goes to in a free and open encounter?” But the the founding fathers didn’t like them the ins or the outs. greater velocity of information today much. In his farewell address, George It’s going to be the same with media. multiplies the opportunities for confus- Washington warned against “the baneful When big media were natural monopo- ing and misleading the public. Process- effects of the spirit of party.” But he was lies, the best of them knew that trust ing is far more important now than it already involved through his support had economic value, both for their was when information was scarce. It will
80 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News be necessary to invent a new institution which is really bad. In academe there 2001 to take the responsibility for evaluating, are few greater sins than claiming cre- United Kingdom grading and processing information to dentials you don’t have, and anytime Some 35 percent of British households make it fair and accurate. somebody calls me “Dr.” I have to go will connect to the Internet via com- It’s no use asking me what this in- to the trouble of correcting him or her puter this year, Jupiter MMXI in London stitution will look like. I don’t know. I at the peril of passively pretending to predicts. just have faith in the ingenuity of free have a title I never had. I explained this markets to keep finding new things to to Robinson, and here’s what his blog try until something works. Some kind said after the “correction.” 2001 of order will arise. “I haven’t read Dr. Meyer’s book United States yet—and I emphasize yet—but I’ve July: 63 percent of U.S. households Promise Meets Reality been following Porter’s deconstruction have computers, and “nearly all of closely. Dr. Meyer, a journalism profes- them” have Internet access, The Wall For an example of the existing confu- sor at UNC, apparently has done what Street Journal reports. sion, consider just one simple moral so many other media watchers haven’t: issue—the ways that bloggers deal with Substantiated his conclusions with re- 2001 corrections. Back when I was part of the search. (Updated correction: Meyer’s United States team helping Knight Ridder develop its not a Dr.)” November: America Online passes the pre-Internet experiment, Viewtron, it The problem is evident. Now it 32 million subscriber mark, adding 1 seemed obvious. When we found mis- sounds like I did inflate my academic million in 2 1/2 months. MSN has 7 takes, we’d fix them right then. Many credentials, and he caught me at it! Why million and Earthlink has 4.8 million. were the times as a newspaper reporter not just remove the offending error? NetZero counts 6.1 million users, but when I found an error in my own story Blogger Tim Porter, who honored only 1.25 million of them pay. and wished that all the papers out on me by serially reviewing each chapter the street could be yanked back into the of my book, made an error in his first office and fixed. One of the ways that reference to Hal Jurgensmeyer, creator 2001 electronic delivery would add value to of the “influence model” on which I United States information, I fantasized 25 years ago, based the theory. When I sent Porter a November: Apple introduces the first was that such after-the-fact error fixing correction, I was terrified that it would Apple iPod. could be done. end up sounding like I, not Porter, was But it’s not happening. The Internet the one who made the error. So I made culture has developed an odd impulse a point of assigning blame: 2002 to preserve every error as though it United States were part of some important historical “Good introduction to the concept, April: NAA study finds that online record. Corrections do show up, but Tim. Out of respect for its originator, I’d newspapers are the top source for local without disturbing the supposedly sa- like to correct your fumble on his name. news on the Web. cred significance of the original error. It’s Hal Jurgensmeyer, not Hans.” It reminds me of those automo- 2003 bile drivers who, when involved in a My words were dutifully added to United States fender-bender, insist on preserving the commentary section way down at July 15: The Mozilla Foundation, a non- the accident scene, right where it hap- the bottom of Porter’s review of chapter profit California organization, is estab- pened, regardless of the impediment to one. Six months later, near the top of lished. The foundation soon produces traffic. You’ve seen the highway signs: his review, the influence model was still the award-winning Mozilla browser. “Fender-bender? Remove vehicle from credited to “Hans” Jurgensmeyer. The roadway.” Why is such a sign necessary? correction wasn’t even on the same What are those drivers thinking? That screen. Only readers who made it all 2003 the wreckage will be a candidate for a the way through Porter’s piece and Taiwan national monument? That they want to continued to the commentary section Its Central News Agency reports 61 per- get it bronzed like baby shoes? could learn Jurgensmeyer’s real name. cent of the island’s population (12.64 Journalists who make errors in their That’s ethical? million people) use the Internet and 9 blogs treat them with the same tender Chapel Hill’s Martin Kuhn, in a paper million use broadband equipment. respect. Here’s a personal example: prepared for the August 2005 meet- John Robinson, the well-known Greens- ing of the Association for Education boro newspaper editor and blogger, in Journalism and Mass Communica- mentioned my book, “The Vanishing tion, explained this urge to preserve Newspaper,” in his blog, which was errors. It represents, he said, a desire good, but he called me “Dr. Meyer,” for “accountability.” It has become the
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 81 Journalist’s Trade
generally observed rule that “once a The old journalism has been figuring Subject-matter competence is still so blogger makes a post, that post should this out gradually, but it has never been rare in journalism, mainstream or blog- be treated as if it were carved in stone, willing to pay reporters enough or to ging, that it can be the critical element and bloggers have a duty never to erase subsidize their training sufficiently to that gets a voice heard above all the din. their posts … warts and all.” bring standards to where they ought Russell Neuman, writing in “The Future Thus is preserved a lot of unnecessary to be. We’re still not very far from the of the Mass Audience” in 1991, called messiness. Why not just fix the damned situation described by Nelson Antrim this the “upstream strategy.” Profits mistakes and acknowledge them at the Crawford, who headed my old jour- have been high in the media business end of the document? Robinson would because of the bottleneck created by offend no one if he removed the silly ref- the expensive means of production, erence to me as “Dr.” from his column. Subject-matter i.e. printing presses and TV stations. As He could preserve the history of his competence is still these are supplanted by the Internet, mistake, if he insisted, by adding a note the bottleneck is moving upstream, to at the bottom, e.g. “In an earlier version so rare in journalism, the creation of content. of this column, I erroneously referred mainstream or blogging, The fact that higher quality content to Professor Meyer as a doctor. He has is a logical outcome of the new media advised me that he is not any kind of a that it can be the critical technologies has been obscured by the doctor, and I regret the error.” element that gets a voice reaction of mainstream media to the That would eliminate a distracting competitive threat. Instead of making speed bump in the start of his oth- heard above all the din. their content better, they have been erwise very readable document. Tim making it cheaper, a byproduct of their Porter could do the same thing for Hal short-term preoccupation with main- Jurgensmeyer. Just fix the man’s name! nalism school before I was born. (It taining their historic profitability. That That would leave a clean first reference, was then the Department of Industrial situation will reverse itself after some and then, in a footnote, he could, if he Journalism at Kansas State Agricultural apocalyptic adjustment. wished, preserve his precious error by College.) Here’s what he said in his 1924 When it does, the investment in bet- admitting that he got the name wrong volume, “The Ethics of Journalism”: ter content is more likely to come from on his first attempt. brash new risk-takers, not the careful, “Real knowledge of modern econom- conservative old media. And they will The Value of Knowledge ics is less likely to gain promotion for need a new institution, perhaps some a reporter on the average paper than League of Extraordinary Journalists, Ethical standards develop over time the ability to write an interesting but to help us identify them and make our through a natural selection process. largely untruthful story about a street personal media choices on the basis Rules that work tend to be kept, while fight over the ownership of a custard of the ethical standards and the com- those that cause confusion eventually pie. The public, the editor says, is more petence of their content creators. As get dropped or repaired. So it is not interested in the humor of custard pies individual consumers, we can’t track surprising that a medium as new as than in economics.” all the complexities of those variables blogging would be in a period of moral without help. confusion. In the past 80 years, that situation The League of Extraordinary Journal- Nature likes to organize herself into has not changed nearly as much as it ists. Doesn’t that name have a nice ring hierarchies of dominance, and blog- is about to change in the next 20. In to it? I can hardly wait for it to show up. ging will be no exception. A pecking order to stand out in the noisy buzz of Keep watching. n order based on reputation is starting the information age, a talent for trivial to emerge, and trusted bloggers are humor will still be useful. But a reputa- Philip Meyer, a 1967 Nieman Fellow, slowly rising to the top. We need some tion for competence and truth-telling is a Knight Professor of Journalism mediating agencies, perhaps the rough will be worth a lot more, and raising at the University of North Carolina equivalent of political parties or trade as- the standards of training is the best way at Chapel Hill. This article is based sociations, to help that process along. to get there. on notes prepared for the 2005 meet- When it comes to building trust, Thomas Friedman’s advanced degree ing of the Association for Education blogging’s needs are no different from in Middle Eastern studies isn’t the only in Journalism and Mass Communi- those of the old journalism. It helps if reason that his overseas reporting in The cation. you know what you are talking about. New York Times is followed closely. His And so one way for a journalist, blog- clear writing and clever reasoning by Y [email protected] ger or mainstream, to earn and keep a analogy also help. But his ability to speak reputation is by demonstrating subject- with such persuasive authority would matter competence. be weaker without that training.
82 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Changing News
2003 United Kingdom When Major News Has a Very October: Dutch fileshare program KaZaa is the most downloaded piece Short Shelf Life of software in history, with 230 million P.C.’s with it installed. With The Associated Press offering an ‘optional lead,’ 2004 questions arise about the handling of yesterday’s news. United Kingdom January: The UCLA World Internet Proj- ect reports that 63.6 percent of British By Russell Frank men and 55.0 percent of British women use the Internet. puff of white smoke rose from one sense: We don’t just read the paper the Vatican just before noon, to find out what happened. Look at the 2004 A Eastern Standard Time, on April sports section. Most who read a game United States 19th, signaling the election of a new story, I suspect, already know who won. January 20: Apple’s 4-gigabyte iPod pope. I heard about it from a colleague, A lot of them probably watched the Mini is released and sells well. verified it online, and heard more about game. They’re fans; they want to know it on the radio when I got home from everything, again, from start to finish. work. Nevertheless, when The New York When big news breaks, all of us share 2004 Times landed on my doorstep the next the sports fan’s hunger for a reaffirma- United Kingdom morning, the lead story was addressed, tion of what happened. March: The Manchester-based Guardian as usual, not to me, but to those who Still, if we’re as busy as many of us Unlimited newspaper has 7.5 million had spent the preceding 18 hours in an claim we are, and there’s lots of com- unique visitors on its Web site—less isolation tank. Here is the lead: petition for our fleeting attention, and than 1/3 of whom live in the United only the most abject news junkies are Kingdom. “Roman Catholic cardinals reached going to spend more than a quarter- to the church’s conservative wing on hour reading the paper, it seems silly Tuesday and chose as the 265th pope to waste such precious moments telling 2004 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a seasoned us things we already know. Korea and hard-line German theologian who March: The Korea Times reports more served as John Paul II’s defender of The Dilemma of the than 11 million Korean households the faith.” Optional Lead have broadband connections.
Self-described caveman Jim Naugh- So what are newspapers to do? Since 2004 ton defended such a conventional ap- March, The Associated Press (A.P.) has United States proach to news reporting in an online offered its subscribers an optional lead. An AOL survey finds that 70 percent of debate posted on the Poynter Institute While the “straight” lead tells readers U.S. teens age 12-17 use the Internet Web site in September 2001. “I don’t what happened, the optional lead is for instant messaging, which is ex- care if you’ve already watched the news designed to “draw in the reader through pected to overtake e-mail as the most on television,” wrote Naughton, now re- imagery, narrative devices, perspective popular form of Internet communica- tired from the Poynter presidency. “Print or other creative means.” The A.P.’s tion in 2005. n can tell it anew, and sometimes better, advisory about this expanded service in a manner that provides context, came with an unfortunate example of breadth and depth and, importantly, what the news service had in mind. durability.” The straight lead was the usual spatter- When big news breaks, says Gene ing-blood-and-body-parts account of a Foreman, former managing editor of suicide attack in Iraq. The optional lead The Philadelphia Inquirer and now warbled about a day of hope turning my colleague at Penn State, “the paper into a day of tears. The bloggers had provides ‘affirmation’ of the event as a field day. The urge to parody turned well as an orderly, coherent account of irresistible. everything that happened.” There is nothing new in any of this. Naughton and Foreman are right, in Max Frankel skewered the drift toward
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 83 Journalist’s Trade
anecdotal leads on hard news stories in us what might happen next rather than a morning newspaper fresh perspectives a column he wrote for The New York what has just happened. and information on yesterday’s news Times Magazine in 1998. The former The problem is that nobody knew without just slapping on an anecdotal executive editor recalled an even earlier what was going to happen next. “Mr. lead and demoting the news lead to the push at the Times to replace traditional Hussein’s capture could entice more nut graf. In an e-mail exchange, Naugh- hard news leads with “throat-clearing Iraqis to cooperate in tamping down ton tells me he doesn’t buy the notion trivia,” a move that also invited parody. the insurgency,” the Journal suggested. that readers need to be “seduced into Frankel cites a mock-story that begins Maybe. On the other hand, “The arrest a story by a lead that subordinates the with a description of Elvira Brown’s ag- of Mr. Hussein could also encourage news.” Nor does he grant that straight ing face and devotes five sentences to militant Iraqi Shiites, who didn’t want leads are invariably dull. “In the olden all Brown had seen from her Dallas days,” Naughton recalls, “we had a front porch before getting around to choice between an A.P. lead that as telling us that the old lady had just a rule paid homage to the inverted seen a motorcade rush past at top Surely there is a way to offer pyramid and a UPI lead that as a speed. “Top speed because, it seems, readers of a morning newspaper rule was more writerly. Both told the President of the United States was the news, however.” If A.P. can offer inside. And he was dead.” fresh perspectives and information optional leads that do not subordi- Perhaps the newspaper in a posi- on yesterday’s news without just nate the news and are as “sprightly” tion to make the smoothest adjust- as UPI’s used to be, Naughton says ment to the reality of the 24-hour slapping on an anecdotal lead he has no objection. news cycle is The Wall Street Journal, and demoting the news lead to But I would argue that the chal- probably because it has never felt lenge of reporting early breaking obliged to traffic in breaking news. the nut graf. … Spin it forward, in news isn’t a matter of not subor- Compare the Times’s traditional ap- other words—not with reporter dinating the news or choosing proach to the December 2003 capture between straight vs. sprightly of Saddam Hussein to the Journal’s speculation, but with the informed leads. After 18 hours, the name “forward spin” approach. opinion of experts …. of the new pope simply isn’t the news anymore. Nor do I need to “Saddam Hussein, once the all- read a you-are-there reconstruc- powerful leader of Iraq, was arrested tion of the papal election. What I without a fight on Saturday night by their opposition to be misconstrued as want to know more about is what sort American soldiers who found him support for the former dictator.” Also of pope this Ratzinger is going to be. crouching in an eight-foot hole at an a possibility. Spin it forward, in other words—not isolated farm near Tikrit, haggard, dirty In other words, the capture of Sad- with reporter speculation, but with and disoriented after eluding capture dam Hussein could lead to less violence the informed opinion of experts and for nearly nine months.”—The New or it could lead to more violence. acquaintances. n York Times The dilemma is clear. Newspapers know they’re going to lose readers when Russell Frank teaches journalism at “The capture of Saddam Hussein by they only tell them news they already Penn State University. U.S. forces ends a brutal era of Iraqi know. But going with a second-day history and gives a huge boost to the lead, says Gene Foreman, “causes you Y [email protected] American occupation and Iraqis who to have to guess just how much the support it.”—The Wall Street Journal reader already knows and often sends reporters down a dangerous path of The Journal’s lead doesn’t tell us speculation.” anything we didn’t know (the “boost” While Naughton’s fellow cavemen on given to the American occupation the copy desk complain that the A.P.’s doesn’t count because the reporters optional leads take too long to tell us didn’t know this either). But a major the news (apparently it doesn’t bother difference between the two leads is that them that straight leads take too long the Times’ is written in the traditional to tell us what we don’t already know), this-just-in style, while the Journal’s con- some bloggers commented that they saw tains an implicit parenthetical phrase: opinion sneaking in the door opened “The capture of Saddam Hussein by U.S. to admit “imagery, narrative devices, forces (that you already know about) perspective or other creative means.” ….” The Journal story goes on to tell Surely there is a way to offer readers of
84 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Campaign Coverage Looking Behind the Scenes of Political Coverage A study compares national presidential press coverage with local reporting on congressional races and emerges with some unexpected findings.
Do national reporters covering the presidential campaign and local reporters assigned to con- gressional races approach their work with the same journalistic values and assumptions? Are their reporting techniques similar? Which approach serves their readers better? Three members of the department of communication at Stanford University attempted to learn answers to these questions. Shanto Iyengar, the Chandler professor in communication, teaches courses on mass media and political campaigns. William F. Woo, former editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, teaches in the graduate journalism program. Jennifer McGrady is a doctoral student and re- search assistant in the department’s political communication laboratory and at the Center for Deliberative Democracy. The following article, composed by the three of them, explains what they learned in surveying newspaper reporters and editors about their political coverage.
y the middle of January, the 2004 whenever a new poll is released, and it journalists with those of local report- campaign horserace was in full is cheap and easy to do. The “scientific ers assigned to congressional races we Bswing. In just a few days, the method” of political polling also makes might unearth some important differ- Iowa caucuses would select the nation’s such coverage relatively immune to criti- ences. Among the questions we wanted first presidential delegates. In less than cisms of bias. Moreover, by conducting to consider were the following: two weeks, New Hampshire would polls, news companies offer powerful hold the first presidential primary. On incentives for this horserace approach. • Was the horserace as compelling a February 3rd, seven more states would During the 2004 political campaigns, news story in congressional cam- hold their primaries. Never had so many CNN collaborated with Time to conduct paign coverage as it seemed to be votes been cast so early, and never had polls; NBC News linked up with The in a presidential race? they been so important in selecting a Wall Street Journal; The New York Times • Were the conventions of presidential party’s presidential candidate. with CBS News, and The Washington reporting migrating down to the lo- While poll results are the most Post with ABC News. Journalists might cal level and affecting that coverage? obvious manifestations of horserace grumble about the fixation on polls, And if so, how? coverage, the term also can include but results from them are showcased • Was the trend toward more analytical stories about the candidates’ strategies by the nation’s most prestigious news and interpretive political coverage and fundraising, predictions of who outlets. taking hold in coverage of more lo- will and will not turn out to vote, and As the caucus and primary voting cal races? other “nonsubstantive” topics that do began, the polls were in alignment. • In short, was there a growing ho- not bring to citizens the information The Democratic frontrunner was for- mogenization of U.S. election news? they need to make informed voting mer Vermont Governor Howard Dean. If so, what were some implications decisions. On the other hand, stories CNN-Time and CBS-The New York Times for voters? linking vital policy issues to candidates’ placed Senator John Kerry, who would positions, competence and experience, emerge as the candidate, fourth. In all, 101 reporters and editors rep- as well as articles taking readers be- resenting 37 papers from every region yond the daily polling or the insider’s Examining the Coverage of the country shared their thoughts analysis of the campaign, provide the and practices with us in an online kind of substance voters need. [See We decided to take a close look at the survey. (To recruit these participants, pages 86-87 for comparative examples techniques of election reporting as they we contacted managing or executive of coverage.] would play out during the rest of the editors and asked for permission to ap- Horserace journalism has long been campaign. We brought to this task our proach the reporters and section editors criticized—by those who practice it varied perspectives of a political scien- responsible for election coverage. We and by academic observers and even tist, newspaper editor, and campaign invited 161 journalists to participate in news consumers—but there is no de- researcher. We believed that in com- our survey, of whom 101 agreed—a re- nying its appeal on a number of levels. paring techniques, assumptions and sponse rate of 63 percent.) Correspon- Such reporting produces fresh stories approaches of presidential campaign dents from major national newspapers
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 85 Journalist’s Trade
in nonsubstantive information, while less than 20 percent dealt with substan- Senate Hopefuls Clash Over Minimum Wage tive matters. With issues, too, more than 80 per- This excerpt is from a story written business. cent of the journalists rated the econo- by Schuyler Kropf that appeared in “The way to create high-paying jobs my as one of the three most important The (Charleston) Post and Courier on is by reducing regulations, not increas- issues to cover. In fact, it was the leading October 20, 2004. Those conducting ing them,” his spokeswoman, Kara one journalists cited. Yet stories about this study regard it as an example of Borie, said. the economy amounted to less than substantive political coverage. Tenenbaum accused DeMint of 10 percent of all of the issue-focused wanting to eliminate the minimum campaign coverage we found. Terror- After being debated at the national level wage, based on ideas he’s supported ism, on the other hand, was named as this election season, the politics of the in Congress. one of the most important issues by only minimum wage flared up Tuesday in In 1999, DeMint, Greenville’s 4th 48 percent of the journalists, but made South Carolina’s U.S. Senate race. District representative, backed legisla- up 17 percent of issue-focused stories. Democrat Inez Tenenbaum wants tion that would have let states set their [See accompanying graphs on page 88 the federal minimum wage of $5.15 own minimum wage. The idea has faded for more detailed findings.] an hour to increase “over time, once out, his office said. the economy recovers,” her campaign Under the plan, the national mini- Comparing Local with said. mum of $5.15 per hour would not be National Coverage She doesn’t have a target of how done away with, DeMint said. But if high she wants the hourly wage to go the federal government raised the rate, We also discovered that local journalists or when she wants an increase to take states would be free to adopt it, leave the and newspapers covered congressional effect. wage unchanged, or pick a compromise. races in significantly different ways than Republican Jim DeMint opposes The decision would depend on the local national journalists did the presidential increasing the minimum wage be- economic climate, he said. n race. Though we had less congressional cause he’s against more regulation on coverage to compare—since during our two-week examination we found an average of 50.6 stories per newspaper about the presidential race and only 6.3 stories about a specific race for agreed to discuss their coverage of the were in progress, the survey went out Congress—local political reporting presidential race; for congressional on November 10th. tended to be more substantive. The races we reached out to local and re- We have divided our findings into papers we analyzed for the presidential gional newspapers whose circulation two categories. race had a significantly higher propor- areas included districts where races tion (about 50 percent) of horserace were considered competitive. (National 1. Answers to questions we posed. stories than did those we examined for reporters received a slightly different 2. A wholly unexpected picture that congressional races (about 25 percent). version of our questionnaire than emerged of the journalistic envi- Likewise, coverage of the congressional did local reporters; editors from both ronment and processes that govern races included a higher proportion of national and local papers received an election coverage. substantive stories—about policy issues identical third version. See box on page and candidate competence—than did 89 to learn more about the project’s This second category of findings the presidential coverage. Stories about methodology.) surfaced when we noticed that in many congressional races tended to also To compare what journalists said to instances the coverage we read reflected include more quotes from candidates what they did, we examined—through neither the news values nor production than did stories about the presidential LexisNexis searches and by subscrip- processes that the journalists reported race. Articles dealing with congressional tion—a selection of national and re- following. For example, on a scale of races were more descriptive, emphasiz- gional newspapers on a daily basis for one (focused entirely on horserace ing what happened during the course the two weeks leading up to Election coverage) to five (focused entirely on of the campaign day, than those from Day, November 2, 2004. The smallest of issues), journalists rated their coverage presidential reporters, which concen- the papers had a circulation of 12,704, at 3.4 on average saying, in effect, that trated more on analysis or interpreting the largest more than two million. Be- issue-oriented stories outnumbered the meaning of events. cause many of the editors and reporters horserace ones. In fact, we found that In their survey responses, those who were too busy to complete a lengthy almost 50 percent of all stories were es- covered congressional races reported questionnaire while the campaigns sentially horserace coverage or dwelled different news values than those track-
86 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Campaign Coverage ing the presidential race. Both rated candidate debates, interviews with Winning By Just Losing Less Badly; candidates, and interviews with pun- dits as having the highest news values. Edwards Visits Lima to Nibble at GOP However, presidential reporters rated campaign TV commercials as having This excerpt is from a story written After leaving Lima, the blue cam- substantially higher news value than did by Stephen Koff that appeared in The paign bus took Edwards to Toledo, congressional reporters. And congres- (Cleveland) Plain Dealer on October another Democratic stronghold, where sional reporters rated campaign press 25, 2004. Those conducting this study he spent the night and plans to speak releases more highly on this scale than regard it as an example of nonsubstan- this morning before flying to Wisconsin did presidential reporters. tive political coverage. and Iowa. We also asked the journalists which In Allen County, the Democrats’ three issues they considered more im- Not a soul in Ohio or national politics strategy is not to try to win but, rather, portant to cover. While both congres- believes that Democratic presidential to hold down the Bush numbers. If sional and presidential reporters rated candidate John Kerry and running mate Kerry and Edwards could make Allen the economy as important in approxi- [John] Edwards can actually win in Al- County’s Republican lead take a dip, mately equal proportion, on Iraq they len County, one of the most rock-solid it’ll mean Bush has to outperform in differed substantially, with 92.3 percent Republican counties in the state. other, less-secure parts of the state such of presidential reporters and 65.4 per- But with some voters sore over job as northeast Ohio. Given the dead-heat cent of congressional reporters rating losses and others questioning the war nature of the race, any votes Bush loses it an important issue in the context of in Iraq—this, in a city that takes pride here have to be made up elsewhere for their reporting. With terrorism, 76.9 in being home of the only combat tank- him to win. percent of presidential journalists rated maker in the United States—Democrats “When you’re in western Ohio, you it important, while just 26.9 percent of say they have a chance to hold back just try to keep down the margins,” said congressional journalists did. the runaway victory that gave Bush a Dan Trevas, spokesman for the Ohio These foreign policy differences are better than two-to-one margin over Al Democratic Party. not surprising since terrorism and Iraq Gore in 2000. The Kerry-Edwards campaign would were primary issues in the presidential That’s why Edwards, in open-collar consider it a win “if we can get up to campaign. Education and—perhaps blue shirt and navy blazer, visited for 40 percent in Allen County,” said Jim more surprisingly—tax policy and the about a half-hour, making what other- Ruvolo, the campaign’s Ohio campaign environment, were named as important wise would seem an unusual stop in chairman. by a higher proportion of congressional a daylong bus tour. Earlier Sunday he County Democratic chairman Gary than presidential reporters. went to a predominantly black church Frueh sees his county’s role this way: in Cincinnati and then to an urban high “If we get in the 40, 45 percentile, Kerry The Intersection of Coverage school in Dayton, both places certain may win the state.” n to give Democrats comfort. We also tried to learn whether congres- sional journalists felt national political reporting affected their coverage. What most influenced them was the topical focus of the national coverage (the adherence to journalistic standards is question agreed with the statement, emphasis on horserace vs. issues), as higher, as is their expertise in coverage and 67 percent of those who agreed well as decisions on what issues to of national issues. This emerged as we said national news organizations cover or ignore and stylistic aspects asked all of the respondents in our had a “better grasp of professional of the coverage. National reporters survey whether national news organiza- standards.” and editors (especially the latter) also tions that “regularly cover presidential • Nearly two-thirds of journalists who indicated that they were influenced by elections produce reports that are covered local congressional races the coverage of other national media, a consistently superior to those of local also agreed with this statement, but finding we attribute to the near-instant or regional papers that provide occa- only four percent of them said na- access journalists had via Web sites and sional coverage of national politics.” tional reporters had a better grasp of Weblogs to stories appearing through- We went on to ask those who agreed standards. Instead, they ascribed the out the country. with this statement about the basis of perceived superiority of the national One clear message we received was their perceived superiority. news organizations to their access that national journalists consider them- to better sources, more newsroom selves a cut above their local counter- • One hundred percent of the national resources available, and a better parts in two respects: They believe their reporters who responded to the understanding of the issues.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 87 Journalist’s Trade
we set out on this project was what we began to think of as a culture of con- fusion in the production of America’s political coverage. As we described earlier, there were significant differ- ences between what the journalists thought (or said) they produced and what was actually published. Strik- ingly, reporters and editors significantly overestimated the substantive content of their stories. When we tried to determine who is in charge of making decisions about what stories to cover, we learned that on this point, too, there appears to be some confusion, which likely accounts, in part, for the discrepancy between what journalists assert is important and what news actually reaches readers. The editors we surveyed were evenly divided as to whether they or reporters had the most control over stories. But when asked about decision-making of what to cover and how, nearly 80 percent of both local and national reporters said they made the call. Anyone who has worked in a news organization knows that plans and good intentions can easily go astray. Yet we are troubled by the wide gulf that exists between what journalists told us they covered (or should cover) and what they put in front of readers. Reporters in the field need to make coverage decisions, but the discrepancy between reporters’ and editors’ perceptions of their control points to the need for a more coherent decision-making process. This apparent absence of one cannot possibly benefit readers. On assessments of the importance of various sources of news, reporters and Interpreting the Findings coverage of congressional races. Local editors were again often on different readers received coverage that was often pages. For example, editors regarded What can we learn from these results, more solidly grounded in reporting, of- a local appearance by a candidate as a as we look at these many responses that fering descriptions of what happened more important source of news than provide a tantalizing hint of the signifi- and letting readers hear directly from did reporters. cantly opposing ways in which national the candidates. Unlike their national Interestingly, professional values and local journalists regard their work? counterparts, local political reporters clashed sometimes with the ability to One can assert that local papers provide seem not to function as a Greek chorus do good journalism. In response to an a different kind of election coverage providing context and meaning to the open-ended question about why actual to their readers than do the national action on stage. Hence readers had coverage diverged from their stated press. This is evidenced especially in more opportunities to draw their own news values, editors reported that ef- the topics that are covered—with conclusions as to the significance of forts to serve readers by providing bal- proportionally more substantive and campaign developments. ance and strict fairness resulted in some fewer nonsubstantive stories found in What we did not expect to find when campaigns getting too much publicity
88 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Campaign Coverage while others got too little. Editors also affirmed the watchdog function of their How the Stanford Study Was Done news organizations, which often took the form of fact-checking commercials Our survey was responded to by The average circulation of or scrutinizing candidates’ statements. 101 journalists (27 reported on newspapers—determined by In some cases, these values got in the congressional races, 26 covered the Audit Bureau of Circulation way of substantive coverage. One editor the presidential race, and 48 (ABC) and, when necessary, told us that important issue and policy were editors at small and large other sources—used only for stories were overshadowed by those ex- newspapers). Both sets of re- coverage of the presidential race amining political commercials. Another porters received similar surveys, was 632,143 (minimum 211,163; said the newsroom was so busy doing varying only in the wording of maximum 2,119,052). For news- ad watches that it could not find time some questions. The editors papers coded for a congressional to deal with issue-related stories. [See were asked different questions race only, the average circulation graph on page 88 for more on journal- because of the role they play in was 60,833 (minimum 12,704; ists’ appraisal of the shortcomings of shaping political coverage. maximum 175,834). (Circula- their coverage.] For our content analysis of tion figures came from ABC in coverage, we coded 22 newspa- most cases; where the data were Why This Matters pers with campaign coverage of not available from ABC, sources either the presidential race or a varied.) Are national and local campaign cov- congressional race. (Two papers While we endeavored, as much erage becoming homogenized? If not, were included for their national as we could, to have the same what do the differences that surfaced and local political coverage. In all, newspapers represented in our in our project mean for voters? 11 newspapers were coded for survey and our content analysis, Inevitably, overlaps in local and na- the presidential race and 13 for a this overlap was not exact for two tional political coverage exist, as they congressional race.) Our analysis reasons. We could not know in always have. It would be ludicrous to was focused on campaign stories advance which journalists would assert that there should be one set of appearing in the two weeks prior accept our invitation to partici- rules or values for local political journal- to Election Day, giving us a total of pate in our survey, and not every ists and another for reporters who cover about 80 stories dealing with con- newspaper whose reporters and presidential campaigns. Such dual-track gressional races and with more editors we targeted for inclu- journalism would not help readers. But than 500 about the presidential sion in our survey was available we think that the following differences race. For each of these, we coded through LexisNexis or by mail between presidential and local cover- specific aspects of the coverage, subscription. age that we uncovered in our content such as the topic the story focused More information about this analysis are important: on, sources used, and whether its survey and analysis is available by content was primarily descriptive e-mailing the authors. n • Local election coverage seems more or primarily analytical. focused on descriptive reporting and on letting the candidates speak in their own voices. only 15 percent of the congressional papers be encouraged to apply their • National coverage is based to a sig- coverage. impressive resources to the delivery of nificant degree on analysis and on • Almost twice the proportion of more substantive coverage? And how what journalists and other “experts” presidential stories as congres- can local newspapers stretch their had to say. sional stories used other reporters staffs and budgets to do more of what as sources. they already are doing well? And for These disparities were reflected in dif- all political journalists, the challenge fering patterns of sourcing in presiden- The results of our study point to a remains to bring clarity, coherence and tial vs. congressional coverage. paradox. National campaign coverage is consistency to a process—vital for de- abundant, but predominantly nonsub- mocracy—that seems too often mired • More than 10 percent of the national stantive. More than half of the stories in confusion. n coverage used pundits as sources; by the national political press focused less than four percent of the local on the horserace. Local campaign cov- Y [email protected] stories relied on them. erage is scarce, but more substantive, • Independent experts—mainly aca- with only 25 percent devoted to the Y [email protected] demic specialists—were used in 39 horserace. percent of presidential stories vs. So the question is: How can national Y [email protected]
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 89 Words & Reflections
In reflecting on the book, “A Matter of Opinion,”Ray Jenkins explains why its author, Victor S. Navasky, so strongly advocates “cutting-edge reporting, with an acknowledged point of view unrestrained by the demands of objectivity,” and shares experiences he had with opinion journalism as editorial page editor of The Evening Sun in Baltimore and his views on what he reads today: “What passes for editorial writing these days is all too often a mishmash of dullness, vacillation, predictability, obscurity and, ultimately, irrelevance.” Gilbert Cranberg, coauthor of “Taking Stock: Journalism and the Publicly Traded Newspaper Company,” reveals that in “Knightfall: Knight Ridder and How the Erosion of Newspaper Journalism Is Putting Democracy at Risk,” its author, Davis Merritt, former editor of the Wichita Eagle, presents “a story in microcosm of journalism generally during an era hit with the double whammy of consolidation and the shortsighted decision by media executives to ‘go public’….” Cranberg uses his own findings to illuminate costs associated with these circumstances. Working as a photojournalist in Iraq for The Dallas Morning News, David Leeson shared the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography with his colleague, Cheryl Diaz-Meyer. Now he writes about enduring issues confronted by war photographers as he contemplates the display of news photographs from the Vietnam War that photojournalist Catherine Leroy collected in “Under Fire: Great Photographers and Writers in Vietnam.” Leeson also shares his images from Iraq. Steve Northup, a photojournalist who was with UPI during the Vietnam War, finds in Leroy’s book a lot of pictures “taken by old friends,” and observes how “Vietnam was different, with its daily realities, some would later argue, all too apparent.” With Iraq, Northup observes, most Americans don’t have “any idea of the terrible suffering that goes on hourly, on every side,” given constraints that photojournalists now work under. James McCartney, who reported from Washington, D.C. for more than 35 years, tells us about what Donald A. Ritchie unearths in his book, “Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps,” and about aspects of the job he overlooked. “… he fails to examine why the Washington press corps often fails and why it matters when they do,” McCartney writes. “The evidence suggests that the same factors that contributed to the failure in Vietnam were also present 40 years later in the run-up to the war in Iraq.” John Geddes, who is Ottawa bureau chief for Maclean’s, focuses on the early journalistic pursuits of Canadian- born John Kenneth Galbraith, as chronicled by Richard Parker in “John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics.” Galbraith’s five years at Fortune magazine were, he writes, “a key formative period when his early interest in journalism intersected with his growing confidence as an economist.” Philadelphia Inquirer columnist and theater reviewer Howard Shapiro contemplates the manipulative forces of media as seen through Thomas de Zengotita’s writing in his book, “Mediated: “How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It.” One result is that we “surf everything in life, concentrating on little.” Madeleine Blais, a journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts and narrative book author, finds in Robert S. Boynton’s book, “The New New Journalism: Conversations with America’s Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft,” a “useful guidebook” to learn about immersion journalism and “the revolution in nonfiction writing,” launched by John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” in 1946.n
90 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Words & Reflections
Opinion’s Place in Journalism Victor S. Navasky explains why he loathes objectivity and values ‘critical opinion.’
A Matter of Opinion Victor S. Navasky Farrar, Straus and Giroux 464 Pages. $27.
By Ray Jenkins
In the first few pages of this extraor- without gaining a reputation as a “kept dinary book, the reader will sense woman” was a remarkable achievement that Victor S. Navasky is taking us on indeed. (Consider, by contrast, the a rollicking joy ride, not only through ignoble fate of a contemporary right- his own exhilarant life and times, but wing journal of opinion, The American also through the life of The Nation as Spectator. When its principal patron, America’s oldest surviving magazine Richard Mellon Scaife, withdrew his of opinion. As he gathers speed, we massive financial support in a fit of ish devotion to journalistic objectivity, discover that Navasky is also ruminat- pique over the Spectator’s refusal to which Navasky heartily loathes. ing—confronting and examining—with give a good review to a shoddy book, It might be noteworthy that only relentless candor and honesty, the the magazine, for all practical purposes, fleetingly does Navasky mention The most vexing ethical and moral issues collapsed into irrelevance.) New Yorker, which is undergoing a of journalism, which chiefly involve One must stand in a certain awe of spectacular renaissance under the bril- maintaining fidelity to principle. When Navasky’s courage to take over what liant editorship of David Remnick. Long the ride is over, we know that we have appeared to be a moribund magazine of noted for the highest quality journalism read one of the best books on the trade dwindling circulation and resources, in that changed the whole political land- in a generation. the aftermath of the cold war, and carry scape—Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” And no one is better equipped to the tattered banner of socialism in the and John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” being take us on such a ride than Navasky, land of triumphant capitalism. And yet foremost examples—in recent years who in his half-century in the business by cobbling together support from that The New Yorker has converted its once- has been reporter, editor, publisher fading band of conscience-driven liberal gossipy “Talk of the Town” into a major and journalism professor. With zest capitalists—most notably the actor Paul voice of opinion journalism through the and relish he covers his tours of duty Newman—Navasky, now ensconced in must-read work of Remnick, Hendrik as editor of the saucy 1960’s satirical the publisher’s chair, not only rescued Hertzberg, Adam Gopnik, and other magazine, Monocle, then at The New The Nation from threatened oblivion talented writers. With a decidedly liberal York Times Magazine before settling in, but also brought its circulation to a tilt, and with the great advantage of solid 25 years ago, at his life’s calling as the record-breaking 184,000. (It must be bases in readership and advertising, chief helmsman of The Nation. added that the circulation drive was The New Yorker might well turn out That The Nation has survived at all greatly enhanced by its bete noire of to be The Nation’s chief competitor for is something of a miracle. The maga- the day, George W. Bush.) readership and influence. zine first appeared the year the Civil Ever the indomitable optimist, Na- In Navasky’s words, The Nation’s War ended and seems to have turned vasky confidently believes that in an highest purpose is “to explain the a profit in only four of its 140 years of age when print journalism seems to underlying meaning of the news.” And existence. Through all those years its be rushing headlong to take its place this means more than mere pompous survival depended not so much upon in history beside the quill pen, The ranting. It means avoiding all the pit- the kindness of strangers—fickle read- Nation not only will survive but will falls enumerated in George Orwell’s ers—but rather on the benefaction of flourish—along with, he quickly adds, sacred text, “Politics and the English wealthy patrons whose own interests its much newer polar opposite, William Language.” Most of all it means the seemed quite inimical to the magazine’s F. Buckley, Jr.’s National Review. The pursuit of cutting-edge reporting, legendary leftist editorial philosophy. reason, Navasky believes, is that these with an acknowledged point of view To carry on under such arrangements journals are not constrained by slav- unrestrained by the demands of ob-
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 91 Words & Reflections
jectivity. Whatever he might mean by still snickering. out my time until retirement a dozen “critical opinion”—a term he repeatedly In a time of midcareer boredom, I years ago. uses—Navasky makes a compelling case succumbed to the lust that lurks in the Thanks to the Internet, I now that The Nation’s place in history lies hearts of all editors: I got mixed up in can follow opinion journalism more in the work of such great reporters as politics. In 1979 I took a position as dep- broadly than ever before, and I must Lincoln Steffens and his spiritual heirs uty press secretary to President Jimmy say that while there are fine examples such as Fred Cook, Robert Sherrill, An- Carter. Almost the day I arrived at the of thoughtful commentary to be found drew Kopkind, Christopher Hitchens, White House, my new colleagues—and, here and there in the hinterland and so many others whose work has for that matter, my former colleagues in press—modern equivalents of William graced the pages of the magazine over the press as well—began to cautiously Allen White’s Emporia Gazette, I sup- the past half-century. approach me with the loaded question, pose—what passes for editorial writing what have you learned from being on these days is all too often a mishmash The Editorial as Opinion “the other side?” of dullness, vacillation, predictability, It wasn’t long before I came up with obscurity and, ultimately, irrelevance. What are we lesser mortals to learn from an answer that is still valid today. “Well, But I don’t wish to be judgmental. the joy ride with this renowned editor I learned that it’s a lot easier to write As one wag put it in describing the and teacher? As I read Navasky’s tales an editorial than it is to write a public predicament of opinion writers (this is of high adventure, I often found myself policy,” I’d tell them. “When you write the cleaned-up version), no cook can ruminating over the experience of my an editorial, you can be reasonably cer- make the soufflé rise every time, but own half-century in journalism, much tain that nothing specific will happen: when you are an editorial writer, you of which was spent writing opinion no one will put a bomb under a train, have to put it on the table no matter journalism—meaning, in daily journal- or switch their party affiliation, or even what the condition. ism, editorials. And I confess it has not kick their dog. But when you write a Navasky’s sparkling book is here for been a comforting experience. public policy, all sorts of things happen: one and all to read and to apply the When I was a young reporter, a businesses fail, people lose their jobs, tough lessons to themselves. n favorite pastime of the new kids in nations go to war. So serving on ‘the the newsroom was to snicker at the other side’ is a humbling experience Ray Jenkins, a 1965 Nieman Fellow, palpable nonsense served up each day for someone who had an opinion on was editorial page editor of The Eve- by the learned editors of the day. Even- every subject on earth, whether he knew ning Sun in Baltimore for 10 years tually, of course, I reached that exalted anything about it or not.” before his retirement in 1993. position myself, but I must admit that Thoroughly chastened after my brief I secretly looked over my shoulder to stint in politics, I returned to the safer Y [email protected] see if the new kids on the block were realm of opinion journalism to serve
The Silent Takeover of American Journalism ‘… realistic solutions to the problems newspaper editors face nowadays are elusive as best.’
Knightfall: Knight Ridder and How the Erosion of Newspaper Journalism Is Putting Democracy at Risk Davis Merritt Amacom. 256 Pages. $24.95.
By Gilbert Cranberg
Knightfall is the cri de coeur of an idealis- is not the history of Knight Ridder but be judged in the marketplace by the tic journalist who witnessed, in the latter rather a story about the company “told unforgiving standards of Wall Street. part of a 42-year career, his employer’s by an informed participant/observer.” By Merritt’s count, more than two- brand of public-service/public-trust Actually, it’s a story in microcosm of dozen Knight Ridder editors and pub- journalism undermined by a focus on journalism generally during an era hit lishers left the company in the latter profit margins and stock price. with the double whammy of consolida- 1990’s because they could not adapt Davis “Buzz” Merritt, former editor tion and the shortsighted decision by to the new countinghouse culture. The of The Wichita Eagle, says his account media executives to “go public” and thus same disaffection has been evident virtu-
92 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Words & Reflections ally industrywide, though likely more elusive at best. There might well be very so in the publicly traded newspaper few with a chance to be implemented. sector. I know that I encountered many Merritt, for one, candidly acknowledges Buzz Merritts during the research we that “Knightfall” cannot “provide the did for “Taking Stock: Journalism and answers to the difficult underlying ques- the Publicly Traded Newspaper Com- tions of how the current state of affairs pany,” a book I wrote with Randall could have been avoided and what now Bezanson and John Soloski that was needs to happen.” published in 2001. The dejection so The experience in 2002 of the low- evident in Knightfall was for me a replay profile Ad Hoc Committee on the Press is of the widespread gloom I encountered instructive. The committee, comprised among the 50 editors at publicly owned of nine well-known journalists, was papers who were interviewed at ran- organized to present newspaper com- dom for the study. What follows is a pany CEO’s and directors with concrete composite of their complaints: measures they could take to put quality ahead of profits and so reshape the orga- • “Before, journalistic quality was the nizations to have them look and behave only consideration, now it’s not.” like institutions engaged distinctively in • “The point corporate misses is how journalism instead of just profit-driven not proposing things because of corporations. [See accompanying box cost inhibits creative thinking and on page 94.] what it does to ‘soul’—the really big Those who signed on to the commit- things, the story you decide not to tee’s report were Hodding Carter, Bob do in-depth, the constant turnover Giles, Max King, Bill Kovach, Dave Law- due to ‘atrocious’ pay, the errors rence, Jim Naughton, Geneva Overhol- because of being short ser, Gene Patterson, and of people on the copy Gene Roberts. Individually desk, the stories that … anyone drawing a paycheck has a powerful and collectively, they’re of go uncovered because disincentive to speak up publicly, although a few such stature in journalism of vacancies that can’t that one would think they be filled.” brave souls now and then chance it. It’s perverse could not be ignored. For • “You write about car that, in the land of the free, a person has to leave the most part, however, dealers very carefully; they were. home builders also a newspaper company to speak candidly about Responses were in- are big advertisers, so journalism in a way that hits close to home. vited, but not a single di- the publisher wants to rector contacted in the 14 see and soften those publicly traded companies stories.” responded. Only three • “The staff’s experience level reduced CEO’s, and a representative of a fourth, 50 percent in five years because of To most of the editors who expressed answered. One of the respondents ex- pay.” their frustrations, I was a stranger, a dis- pressed general agreement, while two • “It’s always been true that being a embodied voice on the telephone. They CEO’s took strong exception to the journalist is like being on an expedi- unburdened themselves in part because suggestion that directors have a hand tion—every day, you make do with they trusted the pledge of anonymity in assuring the quality of a company’s what you have,” but there’s “more I was obliged to offer in exchange for journalism. quarterly pressure now” and delayed candor, but mostly, I suspect, because of Stock analysts, who told me in inter- investment. deep-seated anxiety about the direction views that they focus on the quality of • “I put in things [in the newsroom in which journalism was headed. newspaper company financial reports budget] they can cut out. I hope Given the discontent, why haven’t rather than their publications (they they buy more papers so they’re too there been more “Knightfalls”? Perhaps seldom read them), assuredly can’t be busy to nitpick. They put me through because disheartened editors are by expected to pick up where the Ad Hoc agony. Why do you need this and now a familiar story. Then, too, accounts Committee left off. Nor can investors need that?” of troubled newsrooms also virtually or, for that matter, advertisers or read- • “I became an editor because I wanted require prescriptions for reform, but ers. That leaves journalists, present and to do journalism, but now it’s about realistic solutions to the problems former, to advocate for quality journal- the bottom line.” newspaper editors face nowadays are ism, but anyone drawing a paycheck
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 93 Words & Reflections
has a powerful disincentive to speak Street that they’ve done all they can Gilbert Cranberg, former editor of up publicly, although a few brave souls to improve the bottom line and focus the Des Moines Register’s editorial now and then chance it. instead on producing a quality news pages, is George H. Gallup profes- It’s perverse that, in the land of the product for their subscribers.” sor emeritus at the University of free, a person has to leave a newspaper Well, better late than not at all. So let Iowa and coauthor of “Taking Stock: company to speak candidly about jour- there be more tales from the trenches Journalism and the Publicly Traded nalism in a way that hits close to home. like “Knightfall.” Above all, let there be Newspaper Company.” It’s difficult, for example, to imagine more people in newspaper boardrooms John Curley saying, before he retired as prepared to act on the conviction that Y [email protected] Gannett CEO, what he was reported to journalism serves a far more crucial have said afterwards, namely that “some public purpose than piling up profits of the chains would do well to tell Wall and upping stock prices. n
Recommendations From the Ad Hoc Committee on the Press
In 2002 the Ad Hoc Committee on the spot, although we may want to encour- so designated preferably should Press, made up of nine well-known age public discussion of these issues be a member of the compensation journalists, presented newspaper com- somewhere down the road. We would committee. In the alternative, a com- pany CEO’s and directors with sugges- appreciate hearing from you about any mittee on editorial quality should tions about how they could put quality action you take or about thoughts you be established, said committee to ahead of profits and, in doing so, have have on these issues. work closely with the compensation them look and behave like institutions Thank you for your attention and for committee. focused on journalism. What follows your consideration of the suggestions 3. Incentive compensation for corpo- is the message that was sent by the attached. rate management should be tied in members of this committee: significant part to achieving - jour Sincerely, nalistic quality goals. Boards should The undersigned individuals believe establish criteria for judging quality, that newspaper companies have special Hodding Carter and these may be both objective (e.g. obligations to the communities they Jim Naughton circulation, news hole) and subjec- serve and to society at large. We assume Bob Giles tive criteria, the latter preferably that you share this conviction. Yet we Geneva Overholser after consultation with experienced feel that, too often, media companies Max King nonemployees as well as in-house look and behave the same as any other Gene Patterson journalists. Judgments concerning commercial enterprise. Bill Kovach the extent to which the criteria are In an effort to encourage a reexami- Gene Roberts met should take into account the nation by newspaper companies of the Dave Lawrence views of journalism professionals degree to which they are sustaining and knowledgeable readers in the their commitment to journalism, we 1. Boards of directors of newspaper relevant communities. call your attention to the enclosed rec- companies should have among their ommendations drawn from a number outside directors one or more mem- These judgments should figure im- of sources. We urge you to consider bers with experience on the editorial portantly in the compensation of local adopting these, or your own variant, in side of a news organization. Outside publishers, editors and key editorial keeping with the unique, constitution- directors with editorial backgrounds employees. Newsroom bonuses should ally protected, public-trust mission of should be represented on board be rewarded exclusively for achieving your companies. compensation committees. journalism-related objectives. Stock op- We do not write in an adversarial 2. The board should designate a direc- tions should not be part of the compen- spirit. We take this approach without tor to have special responsibility to sation package of editorial employees. fanfare or publicity and do not wish to monitor the quality of the company’s Nor should stock options constitute all put any company or individual on the editorial performance. The director or part of directors’ fees. n
94 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Words & Reflections
Going to War With a Camera as Artillery With war photography, ‘similar themes emerge; even the fields and faces can start to appear to be the same.’
Under Fire: Great Photographers and Writers in Vietnam Catherine Leroy Random House. 172 Pages. $35.
By David Leeson
My grandmother’s high school gradu- I carry with me from my teenage years. ation gift—a little mechanical box— They are images taken by a single pho- changed my life in ways I could never tographer, and they changed my life, have imagined on the night when I too. Perhaps his photos were the ghost- opened this package. At times it’s led like terror of a reality I unconsciously me to places only reached when genies was trying to ignore. I was maybe 13 magically rub their lamps; at other years old when I found Don McCullin’s times, it’s taken me into a Pandora’s book, “Is Anyone Taking Any Notice?” box of hell. at the Abilene Public Library in West I can barely remember the tears of Texas where I grew up. His images are my first wife on the day I told her I was some of the most chilling and evocative leaving to photograph my first conflict in pictures from war that I believe have someone who has been to war with Nicaragua in 1983. But I recall vividly the ever been taken. a camera, what I found most striking words of the wife of the man who sent There have been other great war about Leroy’s book—with its many me—the director of photography of The photographers such as the Civil War’s pages of photography taken from the Times-Picayune in New Orleans—when Matthew Brady, along with his assis- frontlines and behind them—is how she asked, “Are you sure about this? War tants, and from the last century’s wars, the incomprehensibly cruel landscape changes men.” David Douglas Duncan, Joe Rosenthal, of war never changes. Perhaps I should have known better W. Eugene Smith, Robert Capa, Larry In fact, if one tracks war photography, about entering this world of war. After Burrows, and Catherine Leroy. The list similar themes emerge; even the fields all, I had watched my older sister’s boy- is longer still. Capturing war’s horror be- and faces can start to appear to be the friends leave to fight in Vietnam pimply comes a team effort. When a photo fails same. All that changes is the uniform. faced and silent and then watched as to touch our heart or grasp our mind, Perhaps this is why to look back at this they came home and demonstrated on another steps in. And if we keep looking, striking compilation of images from me, using imaginary knives, how they slit the bombardment never ceases. Vietnam is perhaps more poignant now enemy throats. Back then I remember A few decades after reading his than it was when these images were first thinking to myself that war does change book—and taking my camera to a few released. Fitting, too, that at this time men in cruel, silent ways. Now I wonder battlefields, too—I had the chance to when our nation is embroiled again in if they see the same horrible things in meet McCullin. Earlier this year the two another distant war, these photographs dreams as I do. of us joined Vietnam War photographer can help us to recognize some parallels, I went off to war, with my camera Catherine Leroy in a panel discussion if only in the pain endured and sacrifice as my artillery. The two words “I went” about war photography at the University given in every war. As we survey these define much of the rest of my life, just of California at Berkeley. As we spent images from a past war, Iraq seems but a as they define the lives of any journalist time together, what McCullin couldn’t toss of the stone from the ripple that was who goes and who cares. I went. I saw. fathom but did appreciate was the Vietnam. Where one war finally ended, I brought back images. But what hap- enormous influence his images had another has begun. When we no longer pened in between is a legacy buried in on my life. see the poignancy in these ripples, we a thousand stories, a half-dozen close must question humanity itself. calls with death, and probably a dozen Do Images of War Matter? During our panel discussion an more I don’t even know about. Going audience member asked if we thought is easy. Coming home is hard. But duty The Berkeley panel marked the of- images of war make a difference. Mc- called, so I went. I never look back on ficial release of Leroy’s book “Under Cullin replied that he doubts they do, that decision because I can’t. Fire: Great Photographers and Writ- as he observes from afar a war that rages There is another memory of Vietnam ers in Vietnam,” which she edited. As even now. His words offered chilling
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 95 Words & Reflections
evidence of my silent fear that all of the images of suffering I’ve sent home for publication have been for naught. Yes, I worked hard, and I’ve won a few awards. But if that is all there is that comes out of my work, then the thought sickens me. I know that as photojournalists raise their cameras amid shocking scenes of the death and destruction and devasta- tion of war, they harbor the hope that this captured moment might bring an end to the madness of war. But they don’t, for war continues unabated, wrecking lives without abandon. It explains why when I shared a Pulitzer Prize for photography from Iraq, my overriding feeling was one of failure. The images of war don’t change. They are as brutal and obscene as they were a thousand years earlier. Death Taking advantage of the calm, Captain Andy MacLean rests after a night of fierce fighting and atrocity mingle like roommates in near Karbala two weeks into the war. a despotic neighborhood of loss. No one really wins in war. Innocence can never be regained. Were it that the din of voices raised could overshadow the thunder of artillery, shouting men in the name of diplomacy might rescue us, even if images of this diplomatic battle would not stir our emotions, as our scenes of war do. When McCullin finished speaking, it was my turn, and I told the story of finding his images on a bookshelf in my small town in Texas and how my life was changed by them. I told about times when I raised my camera and saw his photos in the viewfinder. For me, a circle closed. I can only hope my images will do the same for some child today. On that evening at Berkeley, as stage lights glared in my eyes making it difficult to look out and connect with eyes across the stunned and silent audi- ence, images I’d fled from decades ago found me. n
David Leeson is a photojournalist for The Dallas Morning News. His news Soles on the worn-out, civilian shoes of dead Iraqi soldiers tell the story of an ill-equipped photography from Iraq, along with army. that of colleague Cheryl Diaz-Meyer, was awarded the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography. He is also a two-time winner of the Rob- ert F. Kennedy Award.
Y [email protected] Photos by David Leeson/The Dallas Morning News.
96 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Words & Reflections
Arms outstretched in surrender after being stopped along a road, an armed suspect is surrounded by U.S. troops on their way to Baghdad.
Squad leader and Staff Sgt. Lonnie Roberts stands at attention as troops from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team pay last respects to a fallen 19-year-old comrade in Baghdad.
Photos by David Leeson/The Dallas Morning News.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 97 Words & Reflections
When What War Is About Becomes Invisible ‘If it wasn’t for people like you, people over here would not know what was really going on.’
By Steve Northup
Writing about my time in Vietnam in just photographed for the name of their to get Higgs and Johnson to a safer 1965 and 1966 has never been plea- hometown.) The sergeants, after giving spot and some help. Nothing worse surable or easy. It was a difficult time. us a thorough looking over and deciding happened during that time, but I still Reading Catherine Leroy’s fine book, we at least looked like we knew what we felt bad about using it. Years later Ellis “Under Fire,” opened up a whole box were doing, were our best guides and and I met up, together with a bunch of Pandoras, to quote one of my state’s tutors. Officers, up through captain and of his outfit, A Company, 1/12th , 1st former governors. Many of the pictures major, were more cautious, but once Cavalry. After telling each other how she uses in her book, many of them trust and good friendships were formed, happy we were the other one was alive taken by old friends, bring back a dif- they gave us a lot of help. Contact with (I always believed that Ellis hadn’t made ferent time, a different war, and the anything above that rank was rare. We it), the first thing I did was apologize loss of too many good for taking that time. “Don’t people. be silly,” Ellis told me. “You Again our nation is at Again our nation is at war, in one of our choosing. were there to take pictures, war, in one of our choos- and you did what you were ing. I don’t think most I don’t think most Americans have any idea of the supposed to do.” Americans have any idea terrible suffering that goes on hourly, on every Later he sent me a letter of the terrible suffering I will always cherish. Here’s that goes on hourly, on ev- side. The grim human reality of the war in Iraq is part of what he wrote: “I ery side. The grim human damn near invisible …. We have no idea of the daily don’t know what makes a reality of the war in Iraq is guy go to a combat zone damn near invisible: Most lives and terrors of sons and daughters who are armed with only a camera, of what we see are images serving there, or of the Iraqis, for whom they are but I’m glad you were there, of plumes of smoke on and I thank you for all you the horizon, chewed and trying to construct a nation. did for me and everyone twisted metal midstreet, else over there and back and our beleaguered home. If it wasn’t for people soldiers, peering out from 70 pounds were the grunts of the press corps. like you, people over here would not of Pentagon gear. We have no idea of In March 1966 Martin and I went know what was really going on.” the daily lives and terrors of sons and into the Ia Drang Valley with a reac- Our government has done all that daughters who are serving there, or of tion force to try to extricate a squad of it can to make the war in Iraq invisible the Iraqis, for whom they are trying to trapped 1st Cavalry troops and fell into and thus, in the eyes and lives of many, construct a nation. a deadly trap. We lost a good part of our a war without sacrifice. The reality is the Vietnam was different, with its daily company before the battle was finally sacrifices are many, yet they are terribly realities, some would later argue, all too over. At one point I heard a shout for uneven. When a nation goes to war, it apparent. As a photojournalist, I spent help and looking behind me saw a pair expends what is most precious: its name a lot of time in the field as part of a of paratroopers, Ellis Higgs and Collin and honor, the gold of its treasury, and two-man team, working with Martin Stu- Johnson, Jr., both wounded. I crawled the blood of its children. We deserve a art-Fox for United Press International. over and gave Johnson a chamois from much better accounting. n In the time we were there, we were in my camera bag to try to use as a bandage. almost every province in South Vietnam. Then I lifted up my Leica and made a Steve Northup, a 1974 Nieman Fel- Moving throughout the country was not couple of quick frames, one of which low, is a freelance photojournalist difficult. And here’s the good part—the became one of the more widely seen who lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. troops really liked having us around. images from the war. Young privates were happy to have a For 30 years I felt guilty about the link to their hometown paper. (It was two seconds or so it took to make that Y [email protected] decades before I quit asking those I had picture, time I could have spent trying
98 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Words & Reflections
Probing the Successes and Failures of the Washington Press Corps ‘Great reporting in Washington is about cutting through the bureaucratic maze.’
Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corps Donald A. Ritchie Oxford University Press. 432 Pages. $30.
By James McCartney
In analyzing the reasons for his defeat by of his research in today’s Washington has done—and done well—and what a relatively inexperienced John F. Ken- world. For all practical purposes, Rich- he has not done. nedy in the 1960 presidential election, ard Nixon and his “savvy team” invented Let’s give Ritchie his due and deal Richard Nixon concluded that it boiled the modern presidency. The tech- with the good news first. In significant down to a single definable problem—his niques that Treleaven and Shakespeare areas, he has carefully researched and television image. If he wanted to con- pioneered have become the model for skillfully reported some of the great tinue in national politics he would have George W. Bush’s White House. changes in the history of the Washington to change that image. Bush and his team have stolen the press corps, and this results in some Thus in 1967 and early 1968, with Nixon playbook. They seek total con- truly fine chapters. Here’s a sample of his great deliberation, he set about doing trol of information and try to avoid any writing and research in a chapter about so. He hired two experienced problems black reporters craftsmen, Harry Treleaven, had in gaining access to from the advertising giant J. There is in Washington reporting an intrinsic sources and recognition: Walter Thompson, and Frank Shakespeare, from CBS bias to power and position. Stories by reporters “The Washington press television, with help from who refuse to honor this hallowed tradition often corps remained exclusively a youthful Roger Ailes, who white until President Roos- now runs Fox TV. Between get lesser play—or no play at all. But these evelt’s press secretary, Ste- them, they repackaged Rich- contrarians are often closer to the truth. phen Early, kneed a black ard Nixon and sold him to policeman in the groin America in the 1968 election during the 1940 campaign. campaign much like J. Walter His rash act set in motion a Thompson would sell a bar of soap. unscripted moment. They have even chain of events that finally toppled racial In his book, Donald A. Ritchie recalls copied one of Nixon’s major contribu- barriers for African-American journalists this astonishing achievement—the tions to modern statecraft—staging at the White House and the Capitol.” manufacture, through modern adver- phony so-called “town meetings” with tising techniques, of a “new” Nixon carefully selected audiences, faking From there, Ritchie walks readers when, in fact, as history subsequently spontaneity. through the chain of events that fol- demonstrated, there was no new Nixon. The past is indeed prologue. Why else lowed. He also provides an effective But with the Washington press corps, study history? Ritchie provides a great narrative about the battle for equality Nixon and his team got away with this deal of the history of the Washington waged by women. And there are intrigu- massive deception and, in doing so, press corps, much of it fascinating and ing and detailed accounts of how both they changed American politics. certainly well documented. But he fails radio and television fought, and gained, to examine why the Washington press acceptance. In a thoughtful chapter, he The Past Foretold the corps often fails and why it matters when writes about the rise and fall of Wash- Present they do. In a book that presumes to be ington syndicated columnists, whose a definitive history, one might expect an role, he points out, has been diminished This story illustrates both the strengths examination of the quality of Washing- by television talking heads or, perhaps and weaknesses of Ritchie’s book. ton reporting—if not a critique, then more accurately, shouting heads. Ritchie clearly understands Nixon’s con- at least an assessment. That apparently In possibly the most devastating and, siderable achievement. He attributes it never occurred to Ritchie. Nevertheless, in a sense revealing, chapter, he exam- to “a savvy team of media advisors.” But there is much to recommend in this ines how Senator Joseph McCarthy was Ritchie seems unaware of the relevance book. But it should be clear what he able to use many willing members of
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the Washington press corps in his climb the bureaucratic maze. The real news often get lesser play—or no play at all. to national prominence. He winds up frequently does not come from the But these contrarians are often closer his tale with a perceptive chapter on top, from authorized statements at the to the truth. That is the problem, and the growing influence of Weblogs and White House or the State Department Ritchie is clearly aware of it. In his pref- the Internet. or other agencies. Normally those words ace, he observes that “the Washington are spin. Often important news comes press corps has always paid the greatest The Paths to Failure from the deep bowels of the bureau- attention to those in authority.” But cracy or from no-name staff members in his book, he fails to recognize the By profession, Ritchie is an historian of congressional committees. It comes implications of this obsession to the who has worked on the staff of the U.S. from those who know what is going on nation’s consumers of news. Senate since 1976. In that capacity he and who think it is important for the Thus even a well documented and has come to know dozens of Washing- public to know. well written selective history, as Ritchie ton reporters, and his book reflects But the Washington media too of- has produced, doesn’t help readers to considerable knowledge of the tribal ten appear trapped by an obsession understand how the game is played and customs of the Washington press. The with the official—the White House why Washington reporters often fail. It stories he tells are often packed with announcement, the Pentagon briefing, is important to recall how the Wash- background and detail. Where, then, ington press corps failed to perceive does the book fall short? the disaster in Vietnam, for example, The book is not truly a history of the essentially providing support for Presi- Washington press corps, as its subtitle dent Johnson’s misguided crusade until suggests. It is a selective history. While he after the Tet offensive in l968. That is very good at what he covers, matters of represented years of failure. significance are missing. Ritchie appears The evidence suggests that the same to have no knowledge of the specialized factors that contributed to the failure in worlds of some of Washington’s impor- Vietnam were also present 40 years later tant reporting beats—the White House, in the run-up to the war in Iraq. The the Pentagon, the State Department, the Washington press corps enthusiastically Justice Department, and other leading bought Secretary of State Colin Powell’s agencies—each a world unto itself. The phony arguments to the United Nations book also offers no insight about the seeking to justify a unilateral American influence and impact the 24-hour news attack. Both The New York Times and cycle has on Washington reporting. The Washington Post—trendsetters for This might be because Ritchie has Washington news—have acknowledged viewed the reporting world from the failure in their prewar reporting. limited pedestal of the U.S. Senate. He Ritchie’s book is excellent in what it appears unaware of many dramatic does and in the areas it seeks to explore. changes in the press in recent years—for He deserves his scholarly reputation. example, the enormous expansion of But what he failed to perceive is that many regional bureaus, most notably there is a larger and more meaningful the Los Angeles Times. Forty years story to tell. n ago the Times had two reporters in ‘A reporter who could Washington, D.C.. Today the Times’s call Henry Kissinger by James McCartney, a 1964 Nieman Washington-based staff is more than 40. Fellow, was a Washington correspon- It is a major player in political coverage. his first name wasn’t dent for more than 35 years, first for So is The Wall Street Journal, which 40 worth a damn on the six years for the Chicago Daily News, years ago stuck strictly to reporting on then for Knight Ridder Newspapers, business. Watergate story.’ specializing in national security. More important, the book doesn’t — Ben Bradlee For 10 of the Knight Ridder years engage what really great Washington he wrote a syndicated Washington reporting is all about. Former Wash- column. In retirement in Florida, ington Post Executive Editor Benjamin he continues to write a column for Bradlee once put it this way: “A reporter the congressional press conference, the Florida newspapers. who could call Henry Kissinger by his staged event. There is in Washington first name wasn’t worth a damn on the reporting an intrinsic bias to power Y [email protected] Watergate story.” Great reporting in and position. Stories by reporters who Washington is about cutting through refuse to honor this hallowed tradition
100 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Words & Reflections
Blending Economic Ideas With the Persuasive Power of Journalism Galbraith ‘performed that balancing trick as well as it has been done.’
John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics Richard Parker Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 787 Pages. $35.
By John Geddes
It is a well known bit of John Kenneth businessmen, not least of which was Galbraith lore that his path to becom- Luce himself, proved to be a delicate ing a towering public intellectual began task. The ideas themselves seemed at Ontario Agricultural College (OAC), bound to give offense; the trick was to which he once described as “not only the present them in a way that stayed on cheapest but probably the worst college the side of safety. in the English-speaking world.” As Parker shows, those Fortune Richard Parker’s monumental new articles—in sharp contrast to the anti- biography doesn’t dwell unduly on Keynesian slant adopted at the time by Galbraith’s five years at OAC, but moves The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, ahead briskly to the University of Cali- and Forbes—prepared the ground for papers. In 1931, he won a research fornia at Berkeley, Harvard University, Washington’s post-Second World War scholarship in agricultural economics at and an astonishing lifetime of influenc- economic policy. So while we think of the University of California at Berkeley ing and observing American economics Galbraith as having influenced popular and left Canada behind for good. He and politics. Journalists, however, might understanding of economics mainly then went to Harvard and from there pause for a moment on learning about through his 1958 book, “The Affluent to a job in farm policy in Franklin D. Galbraith’s editorial policy at the OAC Society,” and his other bestsellers, Roosevelt’s administration. He was an campus newspaper he helped found, there can be no doubt that his earlier early convert to Keynes’s theories about The OACIS. Parker recounts how Gal- experience in Luce’s shop hammered government economic management. braith has variously reminisced that his home lasting lessons about how writing By the time Roosevelt was assembling aim was to “give maximum offense to persuasively for a big audience could the bureaucracy he would need to run the faculty” and to keep “well on the amplify a thinker’s impact. a wartime economy, Galbraith was a side of safety.” Galbraith had come from a family natural recruit; he landed in the Office of So which was it? Parker doesn’t and a rural culture in which what the Price Administration (OPA). With char- attempt to resolve the contradiction. newspaper said mattered a great deal. acteristic wit, Galbraith later described Read on, though, and the unresolved He was born into the farming com- the creation of the OPA as even more question of whether Galbraith set out munity around little Iona Corners in controversial than instituting the draft, to defy authority or soothe it takes on Ontario, Canada. The Toronto Globe since “the draft involved only the life greater significance. He emerges as at was known there as “the Bible” to the and liberty of the subject. Price control once a consummate insider and an local Scots-Canadians, the Galbraith involved money and property and thus intellectual maverick. Nowhere is this family prominent among them, who had to be taken more seriously.” apparent paradox more striking than shared its support for the Liberal Party Seriously, indeed. In 1943, the sys- in Galbraith’s five-year stint at Henry and generally progressive bent. (When tem of price controls and rationing Luce’s Fortune magazine, a key forma- I interviewed him early this year, Gal- that Galbraith had helped create came tive period when his early interest in braith also made a point of mentioning under sustained attack by conservative journalism intersected with his growing that the first magazine he remembers congressmen and editorialists. Parker confidence as an economist. seeing as a boy was Maclean’s, my To- contends the OPA worked remarkably In a series of important articles he ronto-based home publication.) well. Still, Galbraith was finally fired, wrote or oversaw at Fortune from 1943- His first foray out into the world was a big enough story to make Page One 48, Galbraith interpreted John Maynard to nearby OAC, where he majored in of The Washington Post. In one of the Keynes for the magazine’s affluent animal husbandry, helped launch that biography’s more dramatic episodes, readership. Touting Keynesian-style school paper, and did freelance writing Galbraith, just 34, collapses on his living government intervention to skeptical for two small southwestern Ontario room floor from the stress—a glimpse at
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the fragile side of a man whose public editor, Ralph “Del” Paine, to see if the survey Galbraith’s life as a Harvard persona would come to be defined by offer still stood. professor, presidential adviser, and a sardonic self-assurance. Paine wouldn’t regret his decision household-name author, but his link to take on the promising out-of-work to the news media commands our at- Galbraith and Journalism economist. Luce had a grand vision for tention in its own right. His superbly American world leadership after the accessible writing has always threatened His salvation came at the unlikely hands war, and he had become convinced that to overshadow his economic insights. of Henry Robinson Luce, founder of Keynesianism would need to be part of These two elements of Galbraith’s gift, Time, Inc., and sworn enemy of the the policy mix. Galbraith would bring though, are finally inseparable. New Deal and Roosevelt. What did that message to the readers who mat- For anyone who values journalistic Luce see in Galbraith? The same thing tered. His first big piece on the transi- independence, but also strives to pro- he saw in the many liberal journalists tion to peace was published in January duce the sort of journalism that can he employed despite his conservative 1944. It was a triumph. Parker is at his influence the powerful, Parker shows bent—brains and talent. Just as impor- perceptive best describing the article’s how Galbraith performed that balancing tant was what Galbraith evidently saw inner workings. “Carefully avoiding trick as well as it has been done. No won- in Luce’s publishing empire—scope any mention of Keynes by name,” he der he became such a fast friend of the and opportunity. writes, “Galbraith established why big Nieman Foundation. But as a student While Galbraith has suggested that business itself should want a Keynes- reporter, way back when, was he out to his move to journalism was almost a ian-style activist government.” By May shock his teachers in animal husbandry matter of chance, Parker has mined 1944, Fortune’s readers were ready for or placate them? By the evidence of what the Time, Inc. archives to uncover a what Parker calls a “stunningly flatter- came after, one can only guess that he more elaborate, two-way courtship. Ed ing” article on Keynes, written by John managed to do both. n Lockett, of Time’s Washington bureau, Davenport, a conservative editor, but talked to Galbraith “innumerable times” overseen by Galbraith. John Geddes, a 2003 Nieman Fel- about joining Fortune. Galbraith turned This pivotal phase of Galbraith’s life low, is Ottawa bureau chief for down three overtures while working at is also a key chapter in the history of Maclean’s. the OPA. When he suddenly found him- American journalism in the last century. self unemployed, he hit up Fortune’s The biography goes on to engrossingly Y [email protected]
When Media Create the Message The author of ‘Mediated’ makes us ‘feel as if our very beings are enslaved by the messages as well as the messengers.’
Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It Thomas de Zengotita Bloomsbury. 291 Pages. $22.95.
By Howard Shapiro
When one of my kids began obsessing by employing Princess Di. He tells us about getting herself a navel ring, it was that her mourners were not exactly about the same time I’d begun to read involved in an outpouring of spontane- “Mediated.” I found the first hour of the ous, real emotion. They were, he says, book highly frustrating. Its premise, that a “mediated” lot. They were acting the we are what the media have taught us way they’d been queued to act from to be, was making me angry. years of watching people respond to the Thomas de Zengotita, a contributing deaths of major figures or even minor editor at Harper’s magazine, a PhD in ones on TV, in the movies, on the pages anthropology and a teacher at New of glossy magazines, anywhere where York University, immediately lays out someone with a message has the means his doctrine and turns it into a polemic to reach large segments of society or
102 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Words & Reflections even specific niches. some value I was preaching: “Sweetie, pelling social commentary; you might These Princess Di mourners were you’re going into high school now, so agree with it one minute, then shake representing—representing is a word it’s time to start seriously thinking about your head against it the next, as you de Zengotita uses a lot to show that the grades you earn and the upcoming turn the page. I began laughing out things are not always simply real—what SAT’s, about a solid and fulfilling career, loud somewhere in the second chapter, they believed grief was, or thought that about a college that will nurture and when I realized that de Zengotita was it should be. They were part of an in- energize you, and about piercing your putting me on at the same time he was ternational wave of sadness that had a tongue.” making serious points. certain dynamic because everyone had No, it wasn’t from me. The preaching He is an uninhibited writer, tossing been—mediated. was being done all around me. It was on out thoughts in the same wild beat De Zengotita ends up having Princess MTV, in teen and celebrity magazines; it as perennial Broadway borscht-belter Di’s mourners be representative and was on the silver screen and her comput- Jackie Mason. If you’ve ever seen Ma- real—a nice finesse that, later in the er screen. It was all around the house, son, a living bobblehead on stage, you book, fits under his definition of The too, with several of her older sister’s know what I mean: there’s a WIZ-a-wiz-a, Blob in American society: our constant WIZ-a-wiz-a rhythm to the delivery of need to see so many sides of things, we his ideas, and it catches you, making it end up manipulating their real purpose We are ‘systematically hard to release yourself from its thrall. or meaning. After laying out his media- De Zengotita achieves the equivalent, tion thesis, de Zengotita Blobs himself conditioned by the in print. In one spin of the cycle, his by telling us that the mourners “were media’ to avoid anything thoughts are crystalline, in another, truly grieving and they were perform- his prose is so banal you can’t help ing. [Italics his.] Immersed in a world we cannot understand but howl. In another, a thought from continuously represented from every in a minute. We buy into left field strikes you as being worth an angle, they understood Di’s death as entire chapter. In another, his mastery an opportunity to play a significant role hype. of academic nonsense language leaves in it, to represent themselves at levels you breathless. of prominence usually reserved for the He tells us we surf everything in celebrated.” friends, who teethed their piercings life, concentrating on little. The Blob, I began to take exception to this idea as they sat in front of our large-screen a powerful defense mechanism that instantly. Was I not honestly grieving television (hah!), fully unaware of their ameliorates everything, sublimates our for John F. Kennedy as a shocked 10th- constant little oral dance. Perhaps de courage by making us indifferent. We grader, or later for Martin Luther King, Zengotita had something. are nostalgic for things we never expe- Jr. or Robert Kennedy? When the terrible rienced, because we live virtually. We time came, for my own parents? Had I Living Through Media can’t have real heroes because they eat filled my psyche with what I thought into our fattened notion of ourselves. grieving should be and acted simply There is nothing really new in all this. We are so deeply into self-help we’ve on that belief? I think not. Through the ages the media in any form forgotten the self and possibly why Well, whatever I was thinking, I didn’t would in some way inspire people, we help it. Our genetic engineering think for long, because my 14-year-old or try to move them to action; the is nothing more than “self-help on a interrupted me with another argument Bible, the Koran, the I Ching are three Divine scale.” for her most passionate desire. This examples. And we could fill the next He uses, as examples to bolster his was her umpteenth plea for a pierc- dozen issues of this journal with more points about the influences upon us, ev- ing. The entreaties had begun weeks names of books and article headlines erything from the power of popular mu- earlier, when she hit me and my wife, and broadcast titles and ad campaigns, sic to Mister Rogers, from “Goodnight head-on, with tongue-piercing (and down through time, which would be a Moon” to stress, from Bill Clinton’s headsplitting) arguments. These were cheap way to stop Nieman Reports itself lies and George Bush’s performances complete with Internet documenta- from inspiring you, or trying to. What and self-flattery and being possessed tion, all representing one side. We is new, though, is the thought process, to a beautiful little riff on keys and the were steadfast. No tongue pierces. She refreshing tone and cadence that de singularity of objects. (See the end of turned her attention to navel rings. We Zengotita uses to make us all feel as Chapter 5, as de Zengotita would write figured that we could hold her at bay if our very beings are enslaved by the throughout the book. He overuses all until she worked her way fully south, messages as well as the messengers. manner of cross-references to mock and demanded an ankle bracelet. Then De Zengotita’s book is smart, often academic, or mediated, or representa- we’d give in. hilarious, frequently infuriating, and full tional writing.) I thought a lot about de Zengotita. of little ideas that zoom around you, De Zengotita comments, through it Where did this piercing stuff come seemingly coming from nowhere—light all, on the roles that journalism plays in from? It certainly wasn’t reflected in bulbs flashing from a page. It is com- our current behavior. We are “systemati-
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 103 Words & Reflections
cally conditioned by the media” to avoid He ends his book by looking at the Howard Shapiro, a 1981 Nieman Fel- anything we cannot understand in a influences on the way we perceive—and low, is a travel writer and columnist, minute. We buy into hype: “Who cares he, in particular, has reacted to—terror. and a theater reviewer, on the staff how much the woman on ‘Fear Factor’ I will treat this as a theater critic treats a of The Philadelphia Inquirer. His is exaggerating her trepidation—she is denouement and tell you nothing about younger daughter now wears a shiny eating a mouthful of live worms.” Crisis it, so as not to ruin the experience. This navel ring. and scandal allow politics to compete is only right, because there is a theatrical- with sports and entertainment because ity to “Mediated” that is obvious. Every Y [email protected] “only then are politicians genuine worthwhile piece of theater has a right postmodern performers, being in the to play out its story without someone moment, packaged and real.” like me mediating. n
Time and Techniques Define A ‘New New Journalism’ Conversations with writers reveal how and why their stories are being told in different ways.
The New New Journalism: Conversations with America’s Best Nonfiction Writers on Their Craft Robert S. Boynton Vintage. 456 Pages. $13.95 pb.
By Madeleine Blais
The world of letters struggles to this day tions, then raised the stakes—“changing to figure out how precisely to describe the way one gets the story” by practicing the revolution in nonfiction writing that immersion journalism on a grand scale. appears to have begun in 1946 when Boynton cites Ted Conover, who worked John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” was pub- as a prison guard for “Newjack” and lived lished in its entirety in one issue of The as a hobo for “Rolling Nowhere.” For New Yorker. How is it best to refer to this many of these writers, deadlines exist genre of writing—the nonfiction novel, as theoretical concepts: They put huge creative nonfiction, the literature of fact, swathes of time on their side. Boynton narrative journalism, new journalism, cites several examples of writers who new old journalism? Now, courtesy of immersed themselves for quite some Robert S. Boynton, comes another label, time in the lives of their subjects: the “new new journalism.” In his useful guidebook, which • Leon Dash spent five years following should have a long life in classrooms various characters who surrounded as well as on the desks of reporters Rosa Lee, a drug-addicted grand- aspiring to do this kind of work, Boyn- mother he met who had been ar- journalism. The new new journalism ton focuses on the writing of 16 men rested for selling drugs to feed two is the literature of subcultures and the and three women. They differ from of her grandchildren. literature of the every day, as well as be- Tom Wolfe’s new journalists, who in- • Adrian Nicole LeBlanc devoted nearly ing the literature of the long haul. habited the first wave of innovators, 10 years to living among the young whom Boynton describes as expanding people and their children whose Glimpses of Technique “journalism’s literary scope by placing connected lives comprise her book, the author at the center of the story, “Random Family.” The format Boynton selects to share channeling a character’s thoughts, using • Jonathan Harr spent about eight years his ideas is simple and straightforward. nonstandard punctuation, and explod- working on “A Civil Action.” He frames each author’s work with an ing traditional narrative forms.” introduction that includes biographical As Boynton sees it, Wolfe’s heirs, These long commitments to one’s material and a kind of critical bibliogra- whose major work appeared well after subject are the opposite of the slap- phy. Then the thoughts of each subject the 1960’s ended, built on those innova- dash hit-and-run aspect of parachute are captured in a series of question
104 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Words & Reflections and answers. The inspiration for the Yosemite Valley, the enormity of the neighbor’s garage facing a blank wall? volume came from the classes in maga- undertaking can be paralyzing. So a Are we enriched by finding out that zine journalism that Boynton teaches climber breaks down the ascent into Harr gets upset if he has to go out to a at New York University; the insights rope-lengths, or pitches. If you can dinner party in the middle of the week, offered by these writers to his students think of the climb as a series of 20 while Gay Talese finishes his work day provided the spine for his subsequent or 30 pitches, and focus on each of at eight in the evening and then goes interviews. these pitches to the exclusion of the out? (“I like to go out. Every night. I Because the book’s structure has the scary pitches that lie above, climbing love restaurants. Not necessarily good casual back-and-forth quality of real El Cap suddenly doesn’t seem to be restaurants, but any kind of restaurant,” conversations, repetitions do creep into such an intimidating project.” Talese says.) Does it matter that Jane the text, but there are plenty of payoffs • Jane Kramer speaks to her special Kramer wakes up at 7:30 each morning when the writers take over the podium, method for interviewing peripheral and needs a lot of juice and coffee and including some small telling moments characters in which she asks each of does a crossword puzzle before she can of vanity, as well as some inspiring words them the same questions. “It’s a kind settle in? At any rate, Ron Rosenbaum about how they do what they do (or of Rashomon tactic. I am interested in beats her in the early-bird game: “I wake sometimes don’t do). what emerges about each person in up at four a.m., make some strong cof- terms of what he or she adds or sub- fee—Ethiopian lately.” • Ted Conover on bad ideas: “Well, in tracts from that basic narrative.” The book is marred by a few flaws— the early 1990’s, when everyone was • Susan Orlean, in response to the which could have been fixed by some getting online, I thought of doing a question “How do you know when basic fact-checking. When Harr laces travel book about the Internet. My the interviewing phase is done?,” pro- into Joe McGinniss for betraying his cyber-travel would itself structure vides the brilliantly succinct answer, main character, Jeffrey McDonald, in the narrative. At the time it sounded “When my attention span becomes “Blind Faith,” he is clearly alluding to good, but eventually I concluded it shorter. In the beginning of a story another McGinniss’ book, “Fatal Vision.” was more interesting as a sentence my learning curve is so steep that Boynton uses the name “Michael” when than as a book.” everything the person says is new referencing Mikhail Gilmore. And it • Leon Dash shares his response to and fascinating. Then it slows down seems curious for him to tell us that Rosa Lee after she’d asked him about naturally as I become more and more Calvin Trillin’s wife, Alice, died in late whether she should stop teaching familiar with the person and his story. 2001, when her death had the coinci- her daughter to shoplift. His answer Finally, I feel an intuitive shift from dental poignancy of occurring in New is not a simple one, veering into listening to the process of writing York City on September 11th. the murky ethics of the relationship the story in my head.” In his introduction Boynton posits between author and subject. • Calvin Trillin’s measure for what that there is something deeply American • Jonathan Harr describes his disap- makes a good story is whether it about this narrative art form: We are a pointment when he was preparing sounds interesting, which he real- practical people who like facts, yet we do a book on a dig at the Turkish- izes has more to do with some are a polyglot nation with an instinctive Syrian border, but backed off when internalized click than any other understanding that there is more than the lead archeologist demanded a more objective system. He believes just one narrative line to our shared percentage of whatever he earned murders make good stories because history. That said, most of Boynton’s from the book. they have a built-in plot line and, bet- featured writers are male and are Cau- • Alex Kotlowitz explains why he es- ter yet, there is likely to be a court casian. While no one would deny them chews tape recorders, other than for hearing with a transcript: “I used to the breadth of their commitment nor interviews with public figures who he say that I’d go anywhere there was the worthiness of their contributions, thinks could become argumentative, a transcript—which isn’t quite true, one is left to wonder how long it will while Adrian Nicole LeBlanc likes to but almost. My absolute favorite thing take a more variegated chorus to enter use them. As a way to avoid the awk- is when there is always a transcript the “canon” and be routinely included wardness the recorders sometimes from a defendant’s previous trial. in volumes of this sort. n inspire, from time to time she hands That way I have both a transcript to hers over to her subjects so that they read and a trial to attend.” Madeleine Blais, a 1986 Nieman Fel- can control the “on” button. low, is professor of journalism at the • Jon Krakauer shares his secret for Through Boynton’s lens, we learn a University of Massachusetts and the outlining complicated subjects, lot of details about the work habits of author of “In These Girls, Hope is a which he compares to rock climbing: these writers, perhaps more than is re- Muscle.” “When you embark on a really big ally helpful: What does another writer climb, like, say, the Salathé wall of El learn from knowing that Conover does Y [email protected] Capitan, which rises three thousand not need a room with a view and wrote vertical feet from the floor of the one book in the upstairs room of a
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 105 WordsNieman & Reflections Notes Compiled by Lois Fiore
Shahla Sherkat Receives the 2005 Louis M. Lyons Award The Iranian journalist is honored for her ‘dangerous and challenging job’ as publisher of Zanan, a magazine about women.
The Louis M. Lyons Award for con- accepting an honorable prize like this their religious beliefs and identity—it’s science and integrity in journalism is has a political price, and that price could all because of the courage women like an honor given each year by the sitting sometimes be so high that we would Shahla have had in facing traditional class of Nieman Fellows. The award is prefer to avoid receiving it. So in spite attitudes. named in memory of Lyons, a member of the financial problems that Zanan But apart from facing the danger of the first Nieman class, in 1939, and has had, many times Shahla preferred and struggle of the difficult political Curator of the Nieman Foundation to refuse to accept the prizes different situations, courage could be also in- for 25 years. This year, the class of countries have wanted to give to the terpreted the way Kant has referred to 2005 chose to honor Shahla Sherkat, magazine. it—meaning that facing the truth needs the founder and publisher of Zanan I wish Shahla was here tonight to talk courage. Twenty-seven years ago, dur- (Woman), a monthly magazine that to you herself. The way I know her, I am ing the revolution, Shahla was a young focuses on the concerns of Iranian woman of 22 who started in journalism women. In Sherkat’s absence, Roza with traditional views on women. Today Eftekhari, an Iranian journalist who Journalism, especially she is a 48-year-old Muslim woman who is a member of the 2005 class, accepted initiated the first feminist magazine in the award at a dinner at the Nieman if focused on women, Iran after the revolution with modern Foundation in June. An edited version is a dangerous and and human rights lenses to look at of Eftekhari’s remarks follows. women. Such transition for a woman challenging job in Iran who wants to keep her traditional hen I was told that Shahla had given the sensitivity we beliefs, and at the same time cannot been nominated for the Nie- have about women’s be indifferent about injustice, means W man prize, I became happy criticizing her own core beliefs; and and worried at the same time. I became issues. it is an internal process that could be happy, feeling that for my journalist painful. Such transition has influenced fellows the cliché of Iranian women and challenged her personally before as backward and passive has changed. influencing and challenging the socio- They are now seen as champions who sure she is thankful for this support. political context of the country. challenge the traditional image of wom- Zanan has been published for 13 What makes Shahla’s personal- en in a nondemocratic environment. years, and its life has been endangered ity unique is that she was courageous I became happy to see that the effort many times due to political struggles. to learn and was honest to face the Iranian women are making to change Journalism, especially if focused on truth. their situation is being acknowledged women, is a dangerous and challenging Finally, on behalf of all Iranian wom- by other journalists even though they job in Iran given the sensitivity we have en, I would like to thank the Nieman may have different attitudes towards about women’s issues. Today if those Foundation and all of the 2005 fellows the “veil.” Islamic laws on inequality between men for their special attention that is a sup- But I became worried, too, and this and women are being challenged—if port not only to Shahla but also to all feeling is the result of working in a there are talks on adapting laws for Iranian women. I am happy I had the nondemocratic context that we—female women based on human rights, if more honor to be the messenger of this note journalists—have internalized. … In Muslim women could call themselves that gives voice to the woman journalists the environment in which we work, “feminist” and not feel scared of losing of my country. n
106 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Nieman Notes
—1953— Nieman Foundation Announces 2006 International Melvin Mencher’s book, “News Reporting and Writing,” will be pub- Fellows lished in its 10th edition by McGraw Hill Higher Education in 2006. The Twelve international journalists (Bogotá, Colombia), content manag- textbook, which at its ninth edition have been named Nieman Fellows for er of new media and editor, eltiempo. had been adopted by more than 300 the 2005-06 academic year. They will com. He is a John S. and James L. colleges and universities, will come join 11 U.S. journalists whose names Knight Foundation Latin American with an Instructor’s Resource CD-ROM. were announced in May to make up Nieman Fellow. Mencher, who worked for the United the 68th class of Nieman Fellows at Takashi Oshima (Tokyo, Japan), Press and newspapers in New Mexico Harvard University. The names of reporter, The Asahi Shimbun. and California, is professor emeritus at the international fellows are: Altin Raxhimi (Tiranë, Albania), the Graduate School of Journalism at producer/editor for Top Channel TV Columbia University. Claudia Antunes (Rio de Janeiro, and correspondent for Transitions Brazil), Deputy Rio de Janeiro bureau Online. Raxhimi is the Carroll Binder —1963— chief, Folha de S. Paulo. Antunes is a Fellow, with funding provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Founda- Carroll Binder Fund. William J. Eaton died in a hospice tion Latin American Nieman Fellow. Beena Sarwar (Karachi, Pakistan), in Potomac, Maryland, on August 23rd, Zippi N. Brand (Tel-Aviv, Israel), editor op-ed and features, The News after a long series of illnesses. He was freelance journalist and documentary International, Jang Group. Sarwar is 74. Eaton was the Los Angeles bureau filmmaker. the Chiba-Nieman Fellow. Her fel- chief in Moscow from 1984-1988, dur- Kim Cloete (Cape Town, South lowship is supported by the Atsuko ing the years that led to the collapse Africa), specialist journalist, South Chiba Foundation, established in of the Soviet Union. He won a Pulitzer African Broadcasting Corporation. memory of Atsuko Chiba, a 1968 Prize for national reporting in 1970 for Funding for Cloete’s fellowship is Nieman Fellow. articles he wrote while at the Chicago provided by The Nieman Society of Bill Schiller (Toronto, Canada), Daily News on the Senate confirmation Southern Africa. foreign editor, Toronto Star. Schiller fight over President Richard Nixon’s Taghreed El-Khodary (Gaza City, is the Martin Wise Goodman Cana- unsuccessful nomination of U.S. Circuit Palestine), freelance television and dian Nieman Fellow, with funding Court Judge Clement J. Haynsworth, Jr. print reporter. El-Khodary is the Ruth provided by the Goodman Trust in to the Supreme Court. For Eaton’s ag- Cowan Nash Fellow, with funding Canada and the Goodman Fund in gressive, in-depth reporting, he was also provided by the Nash Fund. the United States. on Nixon’s enemies list. Eaton retired Yaping Jiang (Beijing, China), Alice Tatah (Yaoundé, Cameroon), in 1994 and became the curator of the executive vice president, People’s producer/presenter, Cameroon Radio Humphrey Fellowship program at the Daily Online. and Television. Tatah is the Robert University of Maryland. Mary Ann Jolley (Sydney, Austra- Waldo Ruhl Fellow, with funding Eaton is survived by his wife, Carole lia), producer/reporter, Australian provided by the Robert Waldo Ruhl Kennon, a daughter, and two grandchil- Broadcasting Corporation. Fellowship Fund. n dren. In lieu of flowers, Eaton’s family Guillermo E. Franco Morales asked that contributions be made to the Reporters Committee in Washington. A memorial service will be held at the National Press Club on October 1st. a little harder look at journalists lately.’ with only limited success. Hostess for In the skit, McCartney tries repeatedly the evening, which included a buffet din- —1964— to get past St. Peter and into heaven ner and live music, was Molly Sinclair but is rejected several times before fi- McCartney, NF ’78. Molly and Jim met James McCartney turned 80 on nally winning redemption. Playing the in Washington, D.C. in the early 1980’s July 22, and a group of about 100 role of McCartney was his son, Robert and were married in 1984. people—including at least eight Nieman McCartney, who was recently named “Other Niemans on hand for what Fellows—met at the National Press Club metro editor at The Washington Post. was billed as Jim’s ‘Birthday Bash’ were in Washington, D.C., that night to help McCartney’s daughter, Sharon Allex- Murray Seeger and Jack Nelson, NF him celebrate. Morton Mintz writes: saht, introduced the skit. ’62; Jack Kole, NF ’63; Morton Mintz, “The evening featured a short skit, which “Wayne Kelley, Jr., NF ’64, gave the NF ’64, and Ken Freed and Bill Henson, was inspired by a recent New Yorker opening toast, describing McCartney’s NF ’78. Bill Eaton, NF ’63, helped to magazine cartoon in which St. Peter tells weakness for ‘cheap red wine’ and his develop the skit for the party but was an applicant for heaven: ‘We’re taking lifelong effort to improve his golf game unable to attend because of illness.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 107 Nieman Notes
[Eaton died on August 23rd.] In his 1954. Lacked respect for price of crude Margaret Milne, and a daughter. remarks, McCartney said he felt guilty cottonseed oil. Reporter on The News that he is in such good health when Leader, Richmond, Virginia, 1954-57. —1972— many friends are experiencing serious Departed after motorist failed to pay health problems. The crowd of well- five cent toll and guard shot at him. John S. Carroll retired as editor wishers gave him a standing ovation and Managing editor didn’t think it was news of the Los Angeles Times in July. The sang a rousing ‘Happy Birthday.’” [See because publisher and his neighbors paper’s managing editor, Dean P. McCartney’s article on page 99.] owned the bridge. Reporter and editor Baquet, will succeed him. Carroll had at The Miami Herald from 1957 to 2001 been with the Times since 2000 and —1968— until tax-deferred buyout from Knight was praised as an editor with a broad Ridder ($287,365.28), then contracted and deep vision for the newspaper and Gene Miller, who worked at The as a newsroom ‘vendor.’” for his support for aggressive, in-depth Miami Herald for 48 years as a reporter Miller won two Pulitzer Prizes, one in reporting. During his tenure as editor, and editor, died on June 17th of can- 1967 and one in 1976, for what he calls the Times won 13 Pulitzer Prizes, the cer at the age of 76. By all accounts a “malfunctions of justice;” he reported most successful stretch of the paper’s flamboyant, soulful journalist, he was for more than eight and a half years 123-year history. And a series on the Mar- described in The Washington Post as stories that led to the exoneration and tin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, “a loud, lusty, likable guy who had release of two men tried and convicted which provided care so poor that it put two Pulitzer Prizes and two olives in for murder and sentenced to death in the health of some patients in danger, every martini. Always wore a bow tie, Florida. won the Gold Medal for Public Service rarely knotted it. Knew everyone worth Miller leaves his wife, Caroline this year from the Pulitzer board. knowing in Miami, from jewel thief Jack Heck Miller, four children, a stepson, In a quote from the Los Angeles ‘Murph the Surf’ Murphy to future At- and eight grandchildren. His first wife, Times, Carroll said that his years as torney General Janet Reno to the man Electra Yphantis, died in 1993. editor there were a “privilege.” He who founded Burger King. Preferred Miller ended his obituary this way: went on to say, “I’m grateful for the Wendy’s—single with cheese.” In the “Swam a thousand yards daily with the staff’s fine work and generous spirit. Herald, he was called “the soul and the grace and beauty of a floating log. Pace- The journalistic achievements speak for conscience of our newsroom …. He maker installed for slow heartbeat and a themselves. Regarding my successor, I coached novice reporters. He turned fib. Treated in 2000 for malignant tumor hired Dean five years ago, hoping he’d butterfingered writers into prizewin- with predicted five percent chance of be right for this job. I doubt there’s a ners. He challenged senior editors when future problems. Ha! In lieu of flowers, better qualified editor anywhere.” he thought they were wrong….” have a martini. Try Boodles gin. Parting Carroll was editor of The Sun, in One of the last things that Miller words: Great run! Much joy! For sexual Baltimore, from 1991-98. He received wrote was most of his own obituary. escapades, see addenda.” the American Society of Newspaper Here is some of it: Editors Leadership Award and the Com- “Gene Edward Miller, 76, newspaper- Thomas Sloan died of throat cancer mittee to Protect Journalists Burton man, died Friday morning at his home on June 3rd. He was 76. Benjamin Memorial Award for lifetime near South Miami. Cause: cancer, the Sloan was born in Hamilton, On- achievement in defense of press free- family said. Noted Gene: ‘Excellent tario, Canada and obtained both his dom in 2004. health’—except for a fatal disease.’ undergraduate degree in philosophy “Self-portrait: Born in Evansville, and his masters degree from the Uni- —1983— Indiana, September 16, 1928, grandson versity of Toronto. He then went on to of a Utah railroader and a grandma who postgraduate work at the Sorbonne in Callie Crossley is a media critic could outshoot the sheriff. Prekinder- Paris and the London Graduate School on the WGBH-TV program, “Beat the garten firebug. Hid under bed as fire- of Economics. In 1958 he joined The Press,” and that program received its men from Engine 15 extinguished grass (Toronto) Globe and Mail, serving first third Arthur Rowse Award for media fire. As a $12-a-week copyboy, misfiled as real estate editor and later as Quebec criticism from the National Press Club. clips in the morgue of The Evansville correspondent. Sloan was the first di- The program received the award in Press. Look for ‘assassination’ under rector of the Université Laval School of 2001 and 2004 as well. Crossley is also ‘assignation.’ Journalism. He worked as executive as- program manager at the Nieman Foun- “Overpaid at $50 a week at first sistant to Robert Stanfield, a Progressive dation and principal of her company, newspaper job, The Journal-Gazette, Conservative leader in the early 1970’s, CrossChannels. Crossley received the Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1950. Secret agent and was briefly The (Quebec) Gazette’s duPont-Columbia’s Gold Baton for her in Army Counter Intelligence Corps, editorial page editor in the late 1970’s. production work on “Eyes on the Prize: 1951-53. On surveillance, forgot where Sloan also wrote the book, “Quebec: America’s Civil Rights Years 1954-1965” parked car. The Not So Quiet Revolution.” and was appointed to the duPont-Co- “Fired from The Wall Street Journal in He is survived by his second wife, lumbia jury last year.
108 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 Nieman Notes
—1984— 2004 as chair in China and Asia-Pa- Genome.’ Now begins the struggle to cific Relations, where he also teaches find a publisher, both in Portuguese Paul Knox writes: “After 27 years at political science and history. Because and English.” The Globe and Mail, I’ve moved on from the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 the world of daily deadlines. I started interrupted his journalistic career in —1999— work in July as chair and associate pro- China, after his Nieman year he went fessor in the School of Journalism at to Princeton University to pursue a Christopher Hedges’s new book, Ryerson University in Toronto. Ryerson PhD degree in political science, which “Losing Moses on the Freeway: The is Canada’s second oldest journalism he obtained in 1995. He taught at the 10 Commandments in America,” was school and expects to enroll more than Chinese University of Hong Kong for published by the Free Press in May. 500 students this fall. Toronto is an nine years before this recent move to Hedges’s book is adapted from a series amazing laboratory for journalism—one Canada. Wu welcomes Nieman alumni/ of articles he wrote as a correspondent of the world’s most culturally diverse alumnae to visit the Northwest Pacific, for The New York Times and consists cities, with vibrant and competitive and to visit the UVic campus, where of profiles of individuals “struggl[ing] media. I’m joining great colleagues he says he will be more than happy to on a deep and visceral level with one of on the faculty who have a well-earned organize the audience for a lecture by a the commandments.” Cited examples reputation for giving students the skills Nieman visitor. His contact information include a chapter on consumerism as they need to hit the ground running in is: 1-250-721-7497 (office telephone); taking the Lord’s name in vain and the news business. We’re working hard [email protected] (e-mail). the greed of a woman who dreams of to strengthen our capacity for scholarly, becoming a multimillionaire. Hedges’s research and creative activity, and we —1993— “Losing Moses on the Freeway” was hope to generate ideas that will be useful inspired by Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “The to journalism’s ongoing transformation Rick Bragg, formerly with The New Decalogue,” a series of 10 films about in Canada and elsewhere. York Times, will teach magazine writing the commandments. He has also written “I left a lot of great friends and a little this fall at the University of Alabama. “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning,” piece of my heart at The Globe and Mail, He will be teaching advanced reporting and “What Every Person Should Know where I was fortunate enough to have and writing for print, and special topics About War.” an unbroken string of challenging and advanced magazine writing. Bragg won rewarding assignments in Canada and the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for feature writ- —2001— abroad. As foreign editor—my last posi- ing and was the recipient of the Univer- tion—I didn’t have much opportunity sity of Alabama’s 2004 Clarence Cason J.R. Moehringer, a national cor- for writing, and I’m looking forward Award for nonfiction writing. His books respondent for the Los Angeles Times, to getting back into it, drawing on my include “Somebody Told Me,” “I’m a has a new book out, “The Tender Bar: experience in Latin America and tackling Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story,” A Memoir,” which was released by some of the tough issues facing journal- and “All Over But the Shoutin’.” Hyperion September 1st. The book ists and media proprietors. It was a thrill documents Moehringer’s relationship to reconnect with Niemans at the May —1998— with a New York-style saloon and its reunion. I hope to stay in touch with inhabitants beginning in his youth and all via [email protected].” Marcelo Leite passed his PhD exam spanning several years into his adult- at the University of Campinas in São hood. Moehringer received the 2000 —1988— Paulo, Brazil with honors and distinc- Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for tion. He writes: “It was a 4 and a 1/2 his Los Angeles Times portrait of an Eileen McNamara is working on hour grilling session, but in spite of the Alabama river community. a book, “The Parting Glass: A Toast initial tension a pleasant one, if you un- to the Traditional Pubs of Ireland.” derstand what I mean. There were three Linda Robinson, a senior writer at McNamara’s narratives will combine sociologists, a molecular biologist, and U.S. News & World Report, won the with the work of photographer Eric Roth a philosopher of science on the panel 18th annual Gerald R. Ford Prize for to portray 43 traditional Irish pubs and …, and the official degree I hold now Distinguished Reporting on National their patrons. McNamara, a columnist is ‘doctor in social sciences.’ Defense. Robinson received the prize with The Boston Globe, won the 1997 “It is a long way since my Nieman for her work in the mountains of Af- Pulitzer Prize for her columns on Mas- year is over, but the thesis is a direct ghanistan, where she traveled with sachusetts people and issues. result of my becoming reinfected with soldiers searching for Osama bin Laden. the academic bug while at Harvard, In Baghdad, the award announcement —1990— especially the two courses I took with said, “she explained how minutes count the late Stephen Jay Gould. The title in processing intelligence information Guoguang Wu joined the University of my thesis is ‘Total Biology: Hege- in the hunt for the terrorist Zarqawi and of Victoria, British Columbia in fall mony and Information in the Human other insurgents.” And in a report on
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 109 Nieman Notes
U.S. Special Forces, she described the at The Hindu. I continue on the edito- “The city, which I visited many times impact of Pentagon “turf wars” on the rial board of the newspaper, writing on during the tumultuous early 1990’s, ability of the United States to respond to national and South Asian issues.” is stunningly beautiful—a blend of terrorism. Robinson’s entry was noted Provence, San Francisco, and Rio de “for its balanced reporting and analysis, —2004— Janeiro at the southern tip of Africa. … written in a lucid, easy-to-understand Cape Town in many ways is a South Afri- and elegant style that made it a pleasure Pekka Mykkanen writes, “Reunions can microcosm: Affluent, American-style to read.” The $5,000 award recognizes and more reunions! We are happy to suburbs exist side-by-side with sprawl- journalists whose reporting helps read- say that we had Geoff [Nyarota] as ing shantytowns. And though apartheid ers better understand national defense our guest here in Helsinki yesterday is 11-years gone, a quasiapartheid issues. The award, sponsored by The [June 19th]. Miro—now over 5 months still exists here: Each morning when I Gerald R. Ford Foundation, was pre- old—had a great time with him. Un- bring Max to school I pass an army of sented at the National Press Club in fortunately Geoff had only a couple of minibuses carrying African domestics Washington, D.C., in June. days in Helsinki; we had so much to to work from the townships in the low- talk about.… rent Cape Town Flats to the still largely —2003— “Yin Zi’s book on ‘Young Nordic white communities along the beach. It Design’ was published in China a couple remains in many ways a divided society. Bryan Monroe, assistant vice presi- of weeks ago. It is such a beautiful book Cape Town’s crime rate has soared in dent of news at Knight Ridder in San and her publisher believes that it may do recent years. Everyone living in the Jose and incumbent vice president very well.… There is no way to describe affluent areas has invested heavily in of print of The National Association how much both Yin Zi and I benefited private security, including laser alarms of Black Journalists (NABJ), has been from our Nieman year.” and roving, armed ‘rapid response’ elected the NABJ’s 16th president. The teams that descend upon your house election took place in early August at the —2005— at the touch of a panic button.… Anniversary Convention and Career Fair “Workwise I’m keeping a low profile, in Atlanta, Georgia. Replacing Herbert Richard Chacón has been named trying to get us settled before heading Lowe, Monroe is the first NABJ president ombudsman for The Boston Globe, out on the road. My title is Africa bu- to serve from the West Coast. replacing Christine Chinlund, NF reau chief and correspondent at large Monroe is former managing editor ’98, who is a Globe editor. Chacón will for Newsweek, which means that I’m of the San Jose Mercury News, a former handle readers’ complaints and sug- expected to do a few big Africa pieces chapter president in the San Francisco gestions, advise Globe reporters and a year but can roam regularly farther Bay area, founder of the NABJ Visual editors, and write a column every other afield. … I feel a little rusty after a year at Task Force, and on the board of directors week. In a further outreach between the Harvard, but I’m greatly looking forward of the Children’s Discovery Museum in Globe and its readers, he will create an to getting back into the field.” San Jose. online ombudsman’s page and arrange for community leaders to meet regularly Chris Waddle is director of the Nirupama Subramanian writes: with Globe staff members. Knight Community Journalism Fellows “My book, ‘Sri Lanka: Voices From a War In the Globe announcement in July, Program at the University of Alabama. Zone,’ came out in May 2005, published Chacón said, “I am sure that there will Fellows in the program will receive the by Penguin/Viking. It is an account of be moments when we’re going to have university’s journalism Master of Arts for the events in that country from 1995 to disagreements, whether it’s with me study over 12 months at The Anniston 2002, the years I was there as a foreign and a reporter, me with an editor, me Star, which will serve as a teaching correspondent, first for the Indian Ex- with some of the top editors, or me newspaper for the program. The first press and, later, The Hindu. The book with some of the people in our front class of fellows will begin in the fall of has been received well in India and, offices. … I don’t think the job has to 2006. A journalism education project for one short week, it was on the New be one of constant conflict.” Chacón has with the newspaper was first proposed Delhi nonfiction bestseller list. I see been at the Globe for 10 years, covering in 2001 by H. Brandt Ayers, NF ’68 and the book primarily is the product of my Latin America, higher education, and publisher of The Anniston Star, and is Nieman year because I began writing Boston politics. supported by a grant from the John S. it then, imposing at least one chapter and James L. Knight Foundation and on my fellow Niemans in Rose Moss’s Joshua Hammer writes: “The family investments by the university and the class. Their feedback, plus the time the (Nadja, Max, Nicholas, our two German Star’s parent company, Consolidated fellowship gave me and the distance it shepherds, and I) arrived in Cape Town Publishing. Waddle, president of the enforced from Sri Lanka, was crucial to on August 6th…. We settled immediately Ayers Family Institute for Community the writing of the book. into a temporary home in Bantry Bay, Journalism, has served as a long-time “In June 2005, I was promoted and one of the beach communities strung editor at The Anniston Star. n redesignated a senior assistant editor out beneath Table Mountain ….
110 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 End Note End Note
A Long Journey Home A photojournalist on assignment uncovers dormant feelings about his past and the South.
By Lester Sloan
was returning to a place that I had running water her only accompaniment. the promises of the first. never really known, the South. It My father had already bought several In New Orleans a young woman sat Iwas both my end station and my loaves of day-old Wonder Bread and with her 100-year-old grandmother beginning. A little over a year ago, when Fago red pop for the journey. There were while she told her story. She seemed I signed on to work on a project called blankets, paper towels, and toilet paper amused that so many people were mak- “Voices of Civil Rights,” I had no idea for the pit stops beyond Indiana where ing such a fuss over her. She had grown that it would put me in touch with a we were not allowed to stay at motels or old in a white world where people called part of me that had been snuffed out for use bathroom facilities. It was a picnic. her by her first name, or “auntie,” and more than 50 years. The journey started We laughed at the roadside Burma Shave now she was finally being honored. in Washington, D.C., and it would end signs and played car tag with friends we In Baton Rouge, I met the four men nine weeks later in Topeka, Kansas. met along the way. Years later I learned who called themselves the “Deacons for Sponsored by AARP and The Leader- that these were not chance meetings, Defense.” They looked like the aging ship Conference on Civil Rights, a team but part of a strategy worked out by frontline of a professional football team. of some half dozen reporters worked my father and his friends so that we Actually, one was known for rushing a in three-week shifts, collecting stories didn’t have to travel on long stretches quarterback, but collectively for stand- and pictures of those unknown foot of dangerous road alone. ing up against the onslaught of a system soldiers of the civil rights movement. I On the Voices tour, we traveled like that set out to destroy them. was the project photographer and was rock stars in an air-conditioned bus, At every stop along the way, I met lucky enough to go for the entire time. stocked with food and drink, replete strangers who were my kin. “Boy, where The tour was a symbolic gesture, with with fax machines, satellite dish, and did you say you was from? Who’s you say the stories and pictures donated to the two wide-screen television sets, front your people were? Sloan? I don’t know Library of Congress as the beginning of and back, with a drawer full of recent no Sloans, but you show remind me of an archive. films. And at every stop along the way, some Baileys and Borroughs.” there was someone waiting with hotel At the beginning of this tour I felt Contrasting Journeys keys to our rooms. estranged from my southern roots, But the real joys were not the maybe also a little ashamed. In much The earliest memories of my childhood amenities on the bus, but the people the same way that some Europeans were about the trips to the farm of my I met on the way. They came out in wanted to make their children Ameri- maternal grandparents—“going down their Sunday best, singing some of the cans by not speaking the language of home,” we called it. We were one of songs my mother sang. They told their the old country, I realized that at some those northern or Midwestern families, stories, shedding them with tears of point in my life I turned my back on in our case Detroit, who every summer joy for being able, at last, “to put their the birthplace of my parents and, by would pile in a car and make the trek burden down.” extension, a part of myself. When I back to the places of our roots: Georgia, In Birmingham an old man sat in a went “down home” again, the South Alabama, Mississippi, Florida. We had barber chair like a great warrior king, embraced me with open arms, and it family in every stop along the way. But his ebony face and head freshly shone, was good to be back. n back in the 1950’s, getting there could while off in a corner his grand nephew be pretty hazardous. told the story of his uncle’s life. These Lester Sloan, a 1976 Nieman Fellow, Those trips began with my mother were the men, young and old, who had is a freelance photojournalist based standing at the kitchen sink plucking a run the gauntlet of police dogs and in Los Angeles, California. freshly killed chicken and singing, “Jesus cattle prods, who had fought America’s keep me near thy cross,” the sound of second revolution in order to realize Y [email protected]
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 111 End Note
“The Deacons For Defense and Justice was formed by African men in Jonesboro and Bogalusa, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi. They were factory workers, farmers, common laborers, fathers, hus- bands, and church-goers who organized to protect them- selves and their communities from the terrorism and op- pression of the Ku Klux Klan organizations, White Citizens Councils, and police agencies.” — Lester Sloan
“This photo was taken at the Talk of the Town barber shop in the historic 4th Avenue district of Birmingham, Alabama. He was my ‘warrior king.’”— Lester Sloan
“This photo of a 100-year-old woman with her granddaughter was taken in New Orleans.” — Lester Sloan
Photos by Lester Sloan.
112 Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 End Note
“The photo of this man and his grandson was taken in Summerton, South Carolina.” — Lester Sloan “… to promote and elevate the standards of journalism”
—Agnes Wahl Nieman, the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation.
Vol. 59 No. 3 Nieman Reports Fall 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
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Photo by Lester Sloan.
Nieman Reports / Fall 2005 13