NIEMAN REPORTS THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY VOL.57 NO.3 FALL 2003 Five Dollars

Journalism and Black America: Then and Now

Journalist’s Trade: Weblogs and Journalism

Editorial Disasters: Newsrooms and Normal Accident Theory “… to promote and elevate the standards of journalism”

—Agnes Wahl Nieman, the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation.

Vol. 57 No. 3 NIEMAN REPORTS Fall 2003 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Publisher Bob Giles Editor Melissa Ludtke Assistant Editor Lois Fiore Editorial Assistant Elizabeth Son Design Editor Deborah Smiley

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]

Subscriptions/Business Internet Address: Telephone: 617-496-2968 www.nieman.harvard.edu E-Mail Address: [email protected] Copyright 2003 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Subscription $20 a year, $35 for two years; add $10 per year for foreign airmail. Single copies $5. Second-class postage paid at Boston, Back copies are available from the Nieman office. Massachusetts and additional entries.

Please address all subscription correspondence to POSTMASTER: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Send address changes to and change of address information to Nieman Reports, P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. P.O. Box 4951, ISSN Number 0028-9817 Manchester, NH 03108. Vol. 57 No. 3 NIEMAN REPORTS Fall 2003 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

4 Journalism and Black America: Then and Now

6Reporting on the Civil Rights Movement BY JACK NELSON

8Documenting the Orangeburg Massacre BY JACK BASS

11 The Work and Struggles of Black Reporters BY DORI J. MAYNARD

13 The Black Press: Past and Present BY LARRY MUHAMMAD

16 A Racially Motivated Murder Leads to a Uniquely Reported Documentary BY WHITNEY DOW AND MARCO WILLIAMS

21 Lacking a Worthy Story, a Columnist Retreats From Writing About Race BY JACK E. WHITE

22 Reporting on the Minority Education Beat BY TIM SIMMONS

25 Racial Reverberations in Newsrooms After Jayson Blair BY NEIL HENRY

27 Contemplating the Relevancy of Age and Race BY ERRIN HAINES

29 Newsroom Diversity: Truth vs. Fiction BY BRYAN MONROE

31 ‘Coloring the News’ Collides With Journalists BY WILLIAM MCGOWAN

34 Why Journalists Can’t Talk Across Race BY DORI J. MAYNARD

35 Having Conversations Across Race in Newsrooms BY CONDACE L. PRESSLEY

37 Making Race a Part of Local TV News Coverage BY CRAIG FRANKLIN

39 Mainstreaming and Diversity Are Gannett’s Core Values BY TOM WITOSKY

42 Reporting on Race: Building a New Definition of ‘News’ BY JAN SCHAFFER

44 Asking Questions So a Community Thinks About Race BY PHIL LATHAM

46 Words & Reflections

47 Journalism’s ‘Normal Accidents’ BY WILLIAM F. WOO

WATCHDOG 54 While the Watchdogs Slept BY GILBERT CRANBERG

55 Reflecting on a Different Era in Political Journalism BY ALEX S. JONES

56 Reporting in Southern Africa BY WILSON WANENE

Cover photo: Malcolm X, 1968. Photo by © Gordon Parks. 59 Journalist’s Trade Weblogs and Journalism

61 Weblogs and Journalism: Do They Connect? BY REBECCA BLOOD

63 Is Blogging Journalism? BY PAUL ANDREWS

65 Weblogs: A Road Back to Basics BY BILL MITCHELL

68 Weblogs Threaten and Inform Traditional Journalism BY TOM REGAN

70 Blogs and Journalism Need Each Other BY J.D. LASICA

74 Weblogs Bring Journalists Into a Larger Community BY PAUL GRABOWICZ

76 Blogging Journalists Invite Outsiders’ Reporting In BY SHEILA LENNON

79 Moving Toward Participatory Journalism BY DAN GILLMOR

81 Weblogs and Journalism: Back to the Future? BY GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS

82 Blogging From Iraq BY CHRISTOPHER ALLBRITTON

85 Determining the Value of Blogs BY ERIC ALTERMAN

86 The Infectious Desire to Be Linked in the Blogosphere BY MARK GLASER

88 Readers Glimpse an Editorial Board’s Thinking BY KEVEN ANN WILLEY

91 A Reporter Is Fired for Writing a Weblog BY STEVE OLAFSON

92 An Editor Acts to Limit a Staffer’s Weblog BY BRIAN TOOLAN

94 Blogging Connects a Columnist to New Story Ideas BY MIKE WENDLAND

95 Bloggers and Their First Amendment Protection BY JANE E. KIRTLEY

97 A Weblog Sharpens Journalism Students’ Skills BY LARRY PRYOR

3 Curator’s Corner: Nieman Reports Revisits the Coverage of Black America BY BOB GILES

99 Nieman Notes COMPILED BY LOIS FIORE

99 ‘Sister in the Band of Brothers’ BY KATHERINE M. SKIBA 101 Class Notes

107 End Note: A Nieman Visit to Cuba BY DAVID DAHL

2 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Curator’s Corner Nieman Reports Revisits the Coverage of Black America Journalists explore connections between the racial climate in newsrooms and news organizations’ coverage of race.

By Bob Giles

his issue of Nieman Reports takes a search- environment” of nonwhite America, Maynard wrote, “If ing look at reporting on black America and at the racial anything accounts for the problems of misportrayal, the Tclimate and conversations in U.S. newsrooms. These answer must begin with those statistics” documenting a are topics the magazine has visited before and will likely dominantly white news workforce. explore again, since the racial situation both inside and Newspapers have made modest gains since then, but the outside the newsroom continues to be a source of tension newsroom population today of slightly more than 12 per- and unfulfilled aspirations. cent journalists of color badly lags behind the dynamic Pieces published in the years just following the magazine’s growth of a nation that is becoming more and more diverse. creation in 1947 reported on the American South and the Committed editors and newspapers—spurred on by news- civil rights movement, describing the dangers and difficul- paper foundations and news industry organizations like ties that reporters and photographers faced in chronicling ASNE and minority news organizations—have recruited vig- that struggle. Simeon Booker’s account in 1956 of the orously and can show gains in hiring journalists of color. Emmett Till trial in rural Mississippi told of the uncommon Once on the job, however, many journalists of color don’t collaboration between 12 black journalists and a few white see promising career prospects and, over time, four of every reporters in investigating the disappearance of witnesses to five leave the newspaper business. It is no secret why Till’s murder. Simeon, a reporter for Jet magazine, and the retention is the problem. The newspaper industry, by com- other black newsmen found allies among white reporters in parison to other industries, invests only modestly in leader- spite of the local sheriff’s order that there was to be no ship and management training. When spending is tight, mixing between white and black journalists. training and education, typically, are the first to be cut. By Most reporters covering racial news in the Deep South for shortchanging their investment in training and education, mainstream newspapers were white. John Herbers, a chief of newspapers are undercutting the value of brainpower and United Press International’s Jackson, Mississippi bureau, the opportunity to build a culture of lifelong learning that wrote for Nieman Reports in 1962 about the reality of being can help sustain a stable, diverse workforce. despised by the white community and a stranger to the ways In explaining why they turn away from newspaper jobs, of life lived by rural blacks. The framework in which the journalists of color mention lack of training and opportu- reporter must function, he said, included harassment by the nity, absence of effective leaders and role models, and local newspaper and radio stations “for reporting some uncertainty about the newspaper’s commitment to diver- behind-the-scenes developments that did not fit the official sity. Constructive training and educational programs would version of what happened.” help journalists of color rise to positions of responsibility in Many years passed before the focus of racial coverage was which they could serve as mentors to a new generation of broadened to address concerns about the inadequacy that minority journalists. Such a nurturing cycle would inevitably resulted when news staffs had few journalists of color and influence greater retention of minorities in newspaper jobs, directing editors who were typically white and male. By as well as demonstrate to young journalists of color that 1978, U.S. newspapers began to face up to the reality that newsrooms are a welcoming place for them. their workforce did not reflect the racial and ethnic makeup The impact of editors of color on story assignments and of the communities they served. Journalists of color repre- judgments about news play would help build credibility and sented about four percent of the news staff while the per- trust among the diverse communities our newspapers are centage of racial and ethnic minorities in the nation’s popu- seeking to serve better. lation was at least three times as large. That year the American Training, education and commitment to opportunity is Society of Newspapers Editors (ASNE) decided to use its the surest course for creating leaders and role models who influence to encourage papers to aggressively recruit jour- can show the way to new generations of journalists of color nalists of color, hoping that newsroom population would and strengthen the effectiveness of newspapers in an in- reach parity with the national population by 2000. creasingly diverse world. If newspapers fail to make good on Robert C. Maynard, an influential leading voice in this their intentions, they will become less credible and more effort, wrote in this magazine in 1979 about the conse- marginal as institutions in their communities. ■ quences of news organizations whose managerial ranks were “purer white than Ivory Snow.” Describing the “unseen [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 3 Journalism and Black America: Then and Now

Black and white journalists, at times working as colleagues, at other times separately, have produced the first draft of our nation’s difficult history of race relations. In this issue of Nieman Reports, journalists examine reporting at the intersection of black and white America and look at the racial conditions, climate and conversations in newsrooms. Our series of stories begins with journalists’ remembrances of covering the emergence of the civil rights movement and subsequent calls for “Black Power.” Jack Nelson, who covered the civil rights struggle from 1965 to 1970 as the Los Angeles Times’s Atlanta bureau chief, observes that “… many journalists, no matter what else they might have covered, look back on that period as the highlight of their careers—a time when the press had a profound impact on the most dramatic and important domestic revolution of the 20th century.” Jack Bass, the coauthor with Jack Nelson of “The Orangeburg Massacre,” reminds us of the national news media’s reluctance to report on the February 1968 shooting deaths by state police of three students at Orangeburg’s almost all-black South Carolina State College. “In the aftermath of major urban riots, the national media’s interest in civil rights faded, and what happened on the campus of Orangeburg, where the victims were black, was out of tune with the times and not considered ‘news,’” writes Bass. The Maynard Institute History Project preserves the unique contributions of African- American journalists, including the journals of Earl Caldwell, a former New York Times reporter and Daily News columnist. In writing about Caldwell’s experiences, Dori J. Maynard, the institute’s president, notes that reporting on the Black Power revolution was “the only time that mainstream media put an important story entirely in the hands of black reporters.” Larry Muhammad, a reporter with The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, writes about the 176-year-old black press, its past and present and its impact on ethnic progress. Today, he writes, “… black papers must attract younger readers.” When documentary directors and producers Whitney Dow and Marco Williams went to Jasper, Texas to tell the story of the brutal dragging death of James Byrd, Jr., they divided their reporting by race. Whitney, who is white, relied on a white crew to interview white residents of Jasper. Marco, who is black, worked with a black crew to hear from black citizens. Dow and Williams edited their stories together to make “Two Towns of Jasper,” and here discuss their technique and the challenges they confronted. Jack E. White, who wrote the “Dividing Line” column for Time, explains why he writes about race no longer. “The debate has gotten so fractious I can’t hear myself think.” White urges coverage of critical issues such as the “yawning academic achievement gap between African Americans and every other ethnic group in the nation.” That challenge is being met by Tim Simmons, a reporter for The (Raleigh) News & Observer, whose minority education beat provides the platform to examine such issues in-depth in projects such as “Worlds Apart: The Racial Achievement Gap” and “The New Segregation.” As Simmons writes, coverage such as this might never have happened if the paper “didn’t have a reporter specifically assigned to a minority education issues beat.” The Jayson Blair situation at The New York Times awakened interest in issues revolving around the work environment of minority journalists. Neil Henry, a journalism professor at the University of California at Berkeley, heard from many former students who are black and working in

4 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 newsrooms. Henry writes, “… because Blair was young and black and the product of a training program aimed at increasing the racial diversity of the news staff, the scandal and its national news coverage became freighted with an added dimension of race, provoking pain and fury that was especially keen to blacks and other minorities in the industry.” Errin Haines, entering her second year of the Tribune Company’s two-year Minority Editorial Training Program, reflects on her experiences and on possible impacts of Blair’s actions. “… for anyone to conclude—or even speculate—that the Blair incident was proof positive that young or minority journalists rise too far, too fast, made me nervous for my colleagues and myself.” Bryan Monroe, assistant vice president for news at Knight Ridder and a vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), explores why racial diversity in newsrooms matters and how a few news organizations are meeting diversity goals while so many others are not. Monroe writes, “… It will take 10 times this activity level to even come close to hitting the parity goals for staffing and coverage that our industry has pledged.” William McGowan, author of “Coloring the News: How Crusading for Diversity Has Corrupted American Journalism,” tells how his arguments were received by members of the journalism community. “Traveling through the intersection of journalism and our nation’s racial tensions requires a hard head, if not a helmet,” he writes. Dori J. Maynard describes finding “a conversation fraught with frustration and mistrust” when she visited newsrooms to talk about diversity, training and the conversations around diversity. Recent NABJ president Condace L. Pressley, program director at WSB radio in Atlanta, Georgia, connects the failure to reach diversity goals with how uncomfortable journalists are in speaking about race. NABJ can help, she says, to “create the safe place so desperately needed by journalists to have necessary, difficult and rare conversations about race in the newsroom—and have them across race.” Craig Franklin, a news producer at KRON, explains how the TV station’s “About Race” project and race committee—appointed to examine KRON’s coverage of race as well as racial attitudes inside the newsroom—“began to slowly change our company’s culture, exposing hidden fault lines and reducing tensions.” Gannett measures its newspapers’ commitment to staffing diversity and the “appropriate use of minority experts in reporting stories.” Tom Witosky, sports project writer for The Des Moines Register, asks whether the policies “amount to cynical political correctness” or if they “uphold journalism’s primary responsibility to mirror accurately individual and community accomplishment and failure.” Jan Schaffer, executive director of the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, reviews findings from a report on race reporting, “Delving into the Divide: A Study of Race Reporting in Forty-Five U.S. Newsrooms,” that shows why such stories are difficult to cover and provides reporters useful tools for doing so. From a small East Texas town, The Marshall News Messenger editor Phil Latham describes how both Bill Moyers and his newspaper explored the roots of his community’s racism. In his paper’s series, “12 Questions On Race,” Latham posed the same questions to six white and six black ministers and published their responses. For a time after the series was published, a Racial Reconciliation Committee was convened in the community “to try to improve the racial climate.” ■

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 5 Race and Reporting Reporting on the Civil Rights Movement ‘… the issue seemed so cut and dry and the injustices so stark that reporters struggled to remain objective….’

By Jack Nelson

n the spring of 1965, as the Los Angeles Times’s recently named At- Ilanta correspondent, I arrived in Selma, Alabama to find Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. standing on the court- house steps, demanding voting rights for blacks. Meanwhile, Sheriff Jim Clark, backed by a mounted force of deputies armed with clubs and cattle prods, was yelling, “Get those niggers off the court- house steps.” The story went far beyond that con- frontation, of course, and I was new on the civil rights beat. But thanks to help from a superb reporter, The New York Times’s John Herbers, I was able to find my way around a confusing and sometimes dangerous situation. It quickly became clear that reporters on the scene felt so deeply about the im- portance of this movement that at times they even exchanged information with competing publications. In more than 50 years of reporting, I covered no Civil rights leaders Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., left, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, center, other continuing story where report- and Rev. Ralph Abernathy held a news conference in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 8, ers of rival newspapers routinely shared 1963. They suspended racial demonstrations, and King said a settlement was near. Photo information. courtesy of The Associated Press. It was a story where the issue seemed so cut and dry and the injustices so the Wind,” reporters became “very sym- strations or dangerous situations, re- stark that reporters struggled to re- pathetic to the movement. … You porters willingly briefed each other. main objective, though many found it couldn’t be human and not be affected difficult not to become emotionally deeply by these kinds of experiences, Learning About Reporters’ involved. Seeing hard-eyed state troop- in these kind of settings.” Coverage ers (always described as hard-eyed— I was reminded of my Selma experi- and they were) in Selma slamming their ence while reading the two-volume The problems of covering civil rights clubs against the skulls of blacks who “Reporting Civil Rights,” published by were especially daunting in the Deep were demonstrating for the right to The Library of America on the 40th South in the 1950’s and 1960’s. In vote left reporters feeling there weren’t anniversary of the March on Washing- those years, the white establishment two sides to this story. And there ton. The books—an anthology of cov- dug in its heels, and the Ku Klux Klan, seemed to be only one side to Jim ering civil rights from 1941-1973, the white citizens councils, and other Crow justice when the only black you mostly by journalists but some by au- racists lashed out at the media, as well could find at a county courthouse thors and civil rights figures—present as the civil rights movement, in a last- would be a defendant or one pushing a compelling history and are a great ditch effort to preserve segregation. As a broom. reference source. As the articles make Herbers wrote in an April 1962 Nieman As civil rights leader John Lewis, clear, much of the coverage was exclu- Reports article reprinted in the anthol- whose skull was fractured at Selma, sive and therefore highly competitive. ogy, “fear of being mauled by racists” wrote in his memoir, “Walking With But when there were massive demon- was just one of many problems report-

6 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting ers faced in Mississippi and other Deep tive editor, wrote a vivid account of civil rights for fear it would compro- South states where white supremacists “Bloody Sunday” (March 7, 1965) when mise my relations with law enforce- ruled with an iron hand. Sheriff Clark’s forces attacked a John ment sources and hinder my reporting It was not surprising that Herbers’s Lewis-led voting rights march with on corruption in Georgia. Newspaper article appeared in Nieman Reports clubs, whips and cattle prods, injuring executives in the South generally rather than the daily press, because in Lewis and 16 others. “The mounted thought the less attention given the those days journalists generally con- possemen spurred their horses and civil rights movement the better. sidered the media’s role in covering rode at a run into the retreating mass,” However, both McGill and Patterson just about any story to be irrelevant. he wrote. “The Negroes cried out as were liberals who railed against racial Even though the media was a major they crowded together for protection, injustices in their columns and both player in the unfolding drama, the and the whites on the sideline whooped won Pulitzer Prizes. McGill won his public supposedly wasn’t interested in and cheered.” Pulitzer for writing about hatemongers problems encountered by reporters. In those days most newspapers left who bombed an Atlanta synagogue; Nevertheless, many journalists, no the coverage of civil rights to the wire Patterson was awarded one for his col- matter what else they might have cov- services, which mostly offered bland umns decrying violence and injustices, ered, look back on that period as the reports. The Washington Post didn’t including the Birmingham church highlight of their careers—a time when even open an Atlanta bureau until 1970. bombing. the press had a profound impact on the Major southern newspapers were no Happily, the University Press of most dramatic and important domes- different. The Atlanta Constitution, Florida has published “The Changing tic revolution of the 20th century. News where I was an investigative reporter South of Gene Patterson: Journalism coverage of the civil rights movement before joining the Los Angeles Times, and Civil Rights, 1960-1968,” a collec- helped galvanize public opinion and didn’t even staff Selma. In fact, the tion of columns written by one of the prod the government to enact and en- publisher, Ralph McGill, and the edi- most gifted writers of our time. In force laws to protect the rights of mi- tor, Eugene Patterson, both columnists columns carried by the Constitution norities and demolish the old system at the Constitution, used to debrief me during that time, he wrote with pas- of segregation and white supremacy. on developments in Selma when I’d sion and lucidity about racial injustices The anthology includes so many ar- return to the Times Atlanta bureau. and the damage segregation was in- ticles by New York Times reporters Both McGill and Patterson had flicting on the South. that the paper might appear to be over- wanted to go to Selma, but Jack Tarver, One column, a poignant account of represented. But the Times was far out chief executive officer of both the Con- the church bombing and the collective front in covering the story, not only stitution and The Atlanta Journal, nixed guilt of southern whites, began: “A focusing on it long before other news the idea. Similarly, Constitution edi- Negro mother wept in the street Sun- organizations, but also devoting more tors decided against assigning me to day morning in front of a Baptist Church resources and top news space to it and thereby helping make it part of the government’s agenda. Claude Sitton, the legendary Southern correspondent of the 1960’s, wrote six of the articles in the anthology, including dramatic ac- counts of the disappearance of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi, whose bullet-riddled bod- ies were discovered under an earthen dam; the Birmingham church bomb- ing that killed four little girls, and the assassination of Medgar Evers, a Missis- sippi NAACP leader. Other New York Times reporters whose articles the anthology reprinted include Tom Wicker, Anthony Lewis, David Halberstam, Hedrick Smith, Pe- ter Kihss, Earl Caldwell [See story on page 11 for more on Caldwell’s report- ing], E.W. Kenworthy, Nan Robertson, and Roy Reed. Reed, once described to me as the newspaper’s best writer by Abe Rosenthal, then the Times’s execu- First drafts of civil rights history.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 7 Race and Reporting

in Birmingham. In her hand she held a “Covering Civil Rights” and “The Chang- reporter for 13 years at The Atlanta shoe, one shoe, from the foot of her ing South of Gene Patterson” are su- Constitution where he won a dead child. We hold that shoe with her. perb examples and rich reading for Pulitzer Prize for exposing condi- Every one of us in the white South anyone interested not only in history, tions at a state mental institution. holds that small shoe.…” The column but also in excellent journalism that After serving as Atlanta bureau chief ended: “With a weeping Negro mother, helped to tell the stories of race in for the Los Angeles Times from 1965 we stand in the bitter smoke and hold America in the mid-20th century. ■ to 1970, he joined the Times’s Wash- a shoe. If our South is ever what we ington bureau where he served 31 wish it to be, we will plant a flower of Jack Nelson, a 1962 Nieman Fellow, years, 21 years as Washington bu- nobler resolve for the South now upon became a reporter at the Biloxi reau chief. He retired at the end of these four small graves that we dug.” Daily Herald in 1947 after graduat- 2001. We often hear newspaper reporting ing from high school, where his described as the first draft of history. nickname was “Scoop.” He was a [email protected] Documenting the Orangeburg Massacre Campus killings of black students received little news coverage in 1968, but a book about them keeps their memory alive.

By Jack Bass

t 10:33 p.m. on the night of Feb- college campus. ruary 8, 1968, eight to 10 sec- Unlike Kent State, the students killed Aonds of police gunfire left three at Orangeburg were black, and the young black men dying and 27 shooting occurred at night, leaving no wounded on the campus of South Caro- compelling TV images. What happened lina State College in Orangeburg. Ex- barely penetrated the nation’s con- actly 33 years later, Governor Jim sciousness. Hodges addressed an overflow crowd In an oral history project done dur- there in the Martin Luther King, Jr. ing that 33rd anniversary, the eight Auditorium and referred directly to the attending survivors told their stories. “Orangeburg Massacre”—an identify- Robert Lee Davis, a 260-pound football ing term for the event that itself had player when he was shot, was one of been controversial among South Caro- them. He drove from the small county linians. Governor Hodges called what seat town an hour away, where he happened “a great tragedy for our state” worked with emotionally disturbed and expressed “deep regret.” children. He told his interviewer, “One His audience that day included eight thing I can say is that I’m glad you all men in their fifties—including a clergy- are letting us do the talking, the ones man, a college professor, and a retired that were actually involved, instead of Army lieutenant colonel—who had outsiders that weren’t there, to tell you been shot that fateful night. Some of exactly what happened.” them still had lead in their bodies from gunshot wounds. For the first time, The Orangeburg Shootings survivors were honored at this annual dents were treated at the college infir- memorial service for the three students The shootings occurred two nights af- mary. College faculty and administra- who died, Samuel Hammond, Delano ter an effort by students at the then tors at the scene witnessed at least two Middleton, and Henry Smith. Their almost all-black college to bowl at the instances in which a female student deaths, which happened more than city’s only bowling alley. The owner was held by one officer and clubbed by two years before gunfire by national refused. Tensions rose and violence another. guardsmen in Ohio killed four stu- erupted. When it ended, nine students After two days of escalating tension, dents at Kent State University, marked and one city policeman received hospi- a fire truck was called to douse a bon- the first such tragedy on any American tal treatment for injuries. Other stu- fire lit by students on a street in front of

8 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting

hearing shots. Some fired more than once. A ninth patrolman said he fired his .38 caliber Colt service revolver six times as “a spontaneous reaction to the situation.” At least one city policeman— he later became police chief—fired a shotgun. At a noon press conference the next day in Columbia, South Carolina, Gov- ernor Robert E. McNair called it “one of the saddest days in the history of South Carolina” and referred to “this unfor- tunate incident.” He expressed con- cern that the state’s “reputation for racial harmony had been blemished.” Contrary to all evidence, McNair also said the shooting occurred off campus. He placed blame on “black power ad- vocates” and added other inaccurate embellishments.

Reporting on the Massacre Tyrone Caldwell, a student at South Carolina State College, shook his finger at law and Its Aftermath officers after arrests were made when black students were barred from an all-white, private bowling alley in Orangeburg, South Carolina, February 6, 1968. Windows were In federal court more than a year later, smashed, cars overturned, and police hospitalized before the crowd dispersed. Photo a jury took less than two hours to courtesy of The Associated Press. acquit nine troopers charged with im- posing summary punishment without the campus. State troopers—all of them Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! And stu- due process of law. The trial uncov- white, with little training in crowd con- dents were hollering, yelling and run- ered stark facts about this armed attack trol—moved to protect the firemen. As ning. I went into a slope near the front on a college campus, and this evidence more than 100 students retreated in- end of the campus, and I kneeled down. helped immeasurably in research that side the campus, a tossed banister rail I got up to run, and I took one step; a fellow Nieman, Jack Nelson, and I did struck one trooper in the face. He fell that’s all I can remember. I got hit in in writing “The Orangeburg Massacre,” to the ground bleeding. Five minutes the back.” a book first published in 1970. The later, almost 70 law enforcement offic- Later, Davis lay on the bloody floor book has been accepted by historians ers lined the edge of the campus. They of the campus infirmary, head to head as the definitive account of what hap- were armed with carbines, pistols and with Hammond, a friend and quiet pened that night and of actions that riot guns—short-barreled shotguns that freshman halfback who also got shot in took place in its aftermath. by dictionary definition are used “to the back, and watched him die. Smith, In the fall of 1970, two-and-a-half disperse rioters rather than to inflict a tall, slender ROTC student who had years after the shooting, a jury in serious injury or death.” But theirs called his mother at two a.m. to tell her Orangeburg convicted Cleveland L. were loaded with lethal buckshot, about the “shameful” beating of the Sellers, Jr. of “riot” because of limited which hunters use to kill deer. Each female students by policemen, died activity at the bowling alley two nights shell contained nine to 12 pellets the after arriving at the hospital with five before the shooting. Sellers, who had size of a .32 caliber pistol slug. separate wounds. Middleton, a 200- grown up 20 miles from Orangeburg, As students began returning to the pound high school football and bas- had returned from the Deep South front to watch their bonfire go out, a ketball star whose mother worked as a combat zone of the civil rights struggle patrolman suddenly squeezed several maid at the college, died after asking as national program director for the rounds from his carbine into the air— her to recite the 23rd Psalm for him militant Student Nonviolent Coordi- apparently intended as warning shots. and then repeating it himself while nating Committee (SNCC). The presid- As other officers began firing, students lying on a hospital table with blood ing judge threw out charges of con- fled in panic or dived for cover, many oozing from a chest wound over the spiracy to riot and incitement to riot, getting shot in their backs and sides heart. but the charge of riot stood. “Nobody and even the soles of their feet. Of 66 troopers on the scene, eight here has ever put the defendant into Davis recalled in his oral history later told FBI agents they had fired the area of rioting on Wednesday or interview: “The sky lit up. Boom! Boom! their riot guns at the students after Thursday [the night of the shooting]

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 9 Race and Reporting

with the exception that he was wounded and that to my mind means very little,” the judge commented. Sell- ers, who is profiled in the book as “the scapegoat,” served seven months of a one-year sentence in state prison, with early release for good behavior. In a November 1970 report on the Sellers trial in the Southern Patriot, Dave Nolan (now a historian for civil rights and other issues in St. August- ine, Florida) wrote that had the shoot- ing happened “earlier, there might have been a public outcry. But this was 1968, not 1964, and in the intervening years civil rights demonstrations had come to be seen as ‘riots’—and most whites seemed to feel that it was justified to put them down as brutally as possible.” He suggested that the slaughter of the Vietnam War had so brutalized the pub- lic mind as to make three black lives “seem that much less important.” The Associated Press initially misreported the shooting as “a heavy exchange of gunfire”—and didn’t cor- rect it. In the aftermath of major urban riots, the national media’s interest in civil rights faded, and what happened on the campus at Orangeburg, where the victims were black, was out of tune Two black demonstrators killed in the Orangeburg Massacre lie on the ground at the with the times and not considered edge of South Carolina State College in Orangeburg on February 8, 1968. Following “news.” Few questioned Governor three days of protests, which began when blacks were barred from entering a bowling McNair’s misleading account. alley by the proprietor, state police and national guardsmen confronted demonstrators. In his report, Nolan concluded, “A Three students were killed and 27 wounded. Photo courtesy of The Associated Press. new book, ‘The Orangeburg Massa- cre,’ … will hopefully prick the public conscience.” Our book was widely and flowed from our editor (now deceased), to secure the Orangeburg Massacre’s positively reviewed, and it also received who had been described to me by an place in history and to see that my extensive news coverage, especially its author who had worked with him as native state addresses issues of truth disclosures about shoddy FBI practices “brilliant—and the most vindictive per- and justice. Along the way, I have that included false statements by FBI son I’ve ever met.” With us, he soon authored or coauthored six other agents on the scene to Justice Depart- became contentious. Once, when I in- books, including a text for a television ment superiors to cover up for the sisted to a sales clerk at a bookstore in history course on the American South state troopers. F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Philadelphia that the book actually ex- since World War II—a project for which Hoover sent me a three-page letter— isted, he opened the current issue of I served as director and executive edi- scalding in tone but erroneous and “Books in Print,” showed me there was tor. That project led indirectly to a defensive in content. Together with no entry for “The Orangeburg Massa- 1984 reissue of “The Orangeburg Mas- my rebuttal letter to him, it generated cre,” and said, “You must be mistaken. sacre” by Mercer University Press. another spate of news stories. There is no such book.” Subsequently, I became involved in In many cities where the book had the process that led a decade ago to the received rave reviews, however, it was Working to Right the Wrongs pardon of Sellers, who then received a unavailable in major bookstores. Al- faculty appointment at the University though Hoover’s wrath scared away a Journalism, of course, requires that of South Carolina (USC). Despite a syndicate that had committed to pur- reporters remain detached from events master’s degree from Harvard and PhD chase rights for a series of newspaper they cover. But since becoming an aca- from the University of North Carolina articles, the distribution problem demic, I have been free to do what I can at Greensboro, he had been unable to

10 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting get a college teaching job in South tion annual meeting, the first such pre- Los Angeles Times that you don’t apolo- Carolina. He remains at USC, directing sentation at a major academic confer- gize for something unless you’re guilty. the African American Studies program ence. It attracted an overflow crowd. Now there is interest in a film. and teaching classes that consistently This year I produced a 35-minute In the concluding sentence of a 2002 are oversubscribed. In June he received video about the Orangeburg story based postscript to a new paperback edition the 2003 Distinguished Service Award on the oral history interviews, which I of our book, Nelson and I wrote, from the mainstream Greater Colum- showed to the 2003 class of Nieman “Whether the state eventually provides bia Community Relations Council. Fellows. On that visit I also met with restitution as the final stage of recon- When I returned to South Carolina producers from Northern Lights Pro- ciliation, as Florida did more than a in 1999 as professor of humanities and ductions in Boston, who have begun half-century after the destruction of social sciences at the College of Charles- working on a major documentary about the all-black town of Rosewood, re- ton, I became involved in efforts that the Orangeburg Massacre. As I write, a mains to be seen.” ■ led to a state historical marker about major religious denomination in the the Orangeburg Massacre being placed state is developing a plan to use the Jack Bass, a 1966 Nieman Fellow, as on the South Carolina State campus. video as a mean of developing dia- Columbia, South Carolina bureau The 2001 oral history program devel- logue around the issue of race. chief for The Charlotte Observer oped from a student project in a “Depth On this year’s 35th anniversary, covered the tragedy as it unfolded in Reporting” class I taught, and Gover- Governor Mark Sanford went a step 1968. He received the 1994 Robert F. nor Hodges made his speech after I beyond what Governor Hodges had Kennedy Book Award grand prize dropped off a copy of “The Orangeburg said, issuing a statement: “I think it’s for “Taming the Storm,” a biography Massacre” at his office. He later told me appropriate to tell the African-Ameri- of Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. of he was 11 when the shooting occurred can community in South Carolina that Alabama. Bass spent 12 years as and had never really understood what we don’t just regret what happened in professor of journalism at the Uni- happened until he read the book. Orangeburg 35 years ago—we apolo- versity of Mississippi, received a PhD Historian Bill Hine at South Caro- gize for it.” Two black state senators at Emory University, and is now a lina State has worked closely with me responded by introducing legislation professor of humanities and social on many of these issues, as well as calling for an official state investigation sciences at the College of Charleston. convening a panel on Orangeburg at (there’s never been one) and report of last year’s Southern Historical Associa- what happened. One of them told the [email protected]

The Work and Struggles of Black Reporters Covering the Black Power revolution ‘was the only time that mainstream media put an important story entirely in the hands of black reporters.’

By Dori J. Maynard

t was an era unlike any other. It risked their lives and made their ca- African-American journalists who broke came on the heels of the civil rights reers, covered the civil rights move- into general circulation media during Imovement. First came the urban ment. But as civil rights morphed into the turbulent 1960’s and 1970’s. The explosions of the mid-1960’s known as Black Power, white journalists could two-part project includes The Caldwell “the riots” and then the calls of “Black not cover all aspects of the emerging Journals. Written by former New York Power” and the emergence of “the black story. Suddenly, white editors hired Times reporter and Daily News colum- consciousness movement.” What took black journalists who had been repeat- nist Earl Caldwell, the serialized ac- place became known as “the black revo- edly rejected from scores of newspa- count of those stormy years captures lution,” and it was a revolution that pers. the dramatic tale of the journalist be- changed the country and changed the The Maynard Institute History hind the words, the journalist as player. way the media covered issues involv- Project and its Robert C. Maynard Oral The Robert C. Maynard Oral History ing race in this country. History Collection document and pre- Collection captures the voices of jour- White journalists, many of whom serve the stories of those courageous nalists telling their own stories. Those

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 11 Race and Reporting

Malcolm’s aide pointed to their press credentials. ‘Put ‘em in your pocket,’ he said. They complied. Once they did that, they were told, ‘As black citizens, you can go on in.’ “Scott was covering that day for the UPI news service; Simpson was with WMCA radio. After the kind of exclu- sive they reported that day, there were significant rewards to be reaped. Scott was enticed to leave UPI and join WINS radio, then New York’s premier all- news station. Simpson was lured to television, first as a writer at the local CBS station in New York and then to WABC as an on-camera reporter.” (For the rest of the story go to www.maynardije.org and click on The Caldwell Journals.) These are the important stories at the core of the project—stories of black reporters who were at the center of this Former New York Times reporter Earl Caldwell at the Robert C. Maynard Institute for revolution. Until now, black reporters Journalism Education. Photo by Joaquin Siopack/Courtesy of the Maynard Institute. who covered this era rarely had oppor- tunities to tell their stories in books, in documentaries, and in magazine ar- interviewed include Ed Bradley, of “60 Covering the Black Power ticles. As a result a large part of history Minutes,” Charlayne Hunter-Gault, of Story remains untold. CNN, Institute cofounder Nancy Another story largely ignored in Maynard, and Earl Caldwell. The Insti- As Caldwell explains in his journals, books that document the news media tute also plans to document the stories the beginning of the change happened is the genesis of shield laws. As the of journalists from other ethnic groups on the day Malcolm X was assassinated. Black Panthers rose in prominence, who broke general circulation barriers “In Harlem on the Sunday that Malcolm the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the news media. X was killed, two reporters were right and the Department of Justice began to This collection explicitly docu- up front in the Audubon Ballroom, so demand that black reporters “spy” on ments—for the first time—the unique close to the podium that when the the Black Panthers. They did this by contributions of African-American jour- shooting started, they had to dive to demanding notes, tape recordings, and nalists, and it stands as a rebuttal to the floor for cover,” Caldwell wrote. other information gathered by report- those who claim that diversity is at the “Being there changed a lot for the ers. Caldwell, who was then with The root of a decline in the quality of jour- two journalists. But how it happened New York Times in its San Francisco nalism. Hearing and reading what can that Stan Scott and Gene Simpson got bureau, was a particular target. There be found in this archive makes it abun- into the ballroom at all that afternoon was an effort to force him to appear dantly clear that it was white journal- played a large part in ushering in a before a federal grand jury investigat- ists who reported on the civil rights whole new era for black reporters. In ing the Panthers. movement (except for those reporters the epilogue of ‘The Autobiography of In response, black reporters across from the black press), while it was Malcolm X,’ the author, Alex Haley, the nation organized and led a legal mainly black reporters who covered explained that on the day of his assas- fight against the government. Bay Area this other era—Black Power, black con- sination Malcolm X specifically ordered black journalists began publishing their sciousness, and the black revolution. that no press be allowed inside the own newspaper, “Ball and Chain Re- In fact, this became the only time that ballroom. When Scott and Simpson view,” to publicize this case and their mainstream media put an important arrived for Malcolm’s meeting they had actions. They convened the first na- story entirely in the hands of black their press credentials in clear view. tional gathering of black reporters. And reporters. That was a decision borne “At the door, they were greeted by they obtained then Stanford University from necessity. With cries of “white one of Malcolm’s lieutenants. ‘No press professor and noted Constitutional law- reporter out,” black journalists were allowed,’ he told them. Stunned, the yer Anthony Amsterdam to argue their the only ones who were able to get the two pondered the ‘no press’ edict until case. That battle reached the Supreme story. a suggestion was volunteered. Court, where the government won.

12 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting

However, the case created the ratio- tapes and the History Project remind heads the Fault Lines Project, a nale for state-enacted “shield laws,” us of these journalists’ contributions framework that helps journalists which protect reporters’ notes from to our craft. ■ more accurately cover their commu- government seizure. nities, and is coauthor of “Letters to The lawsuit is well known. But the Dori J. Maynard, a 1993 Nieman My Children,” a compilation of story behind it—the way black report- Fellow, is president of the Robert C. nationally syndicated columns by ers organized to fight for their rights to Maynard Institute for Journalism her late father, Robert C. Maynard, a be reporters who covered the black Education. Prior to being named 1966 Nieman Fellow. community and didn’t “spy” for the president in January 2001, she FBI—has largely been ignored. These directed the History Project. She also [email protected]

The Black Press: Past and Present ‘Once considered an outdated protest medium, the black press today is appreciated as crucial to ethnic progress.’

By Larry Muhammad

frican-American newspaper pub- Founded in 1905 and one of the great- lishers got a new and unlikely est newspapers ever published, the Acolleague in 1998—boxing pro- Defender jump-started the Great Mi- moter Don King. That’s right, the con- gration in the early 1900’s, when mil- troversial sports impresario with the lions heeded its call to leave the Klan trademark Afro, outbidding all comers, terror and pseudo-slavery of the South paid $760,000 for the Cleveland Call & behind for freedom and opportunity Post, rescuing from bankruptcy an il- up North. In 1928 it helped elect Oscar lustrious black weekly dating to 1902. DePriest the first black congressman “The Lord is directing my path,” he after Reconstruction, pushed President told a convention of the National News- Harry Truman to integrate the U.S. paper Publishers Association (NNPA), military in the 1940’s, and pioneered trade group of America’s black press. demands for racial equality that sparked And he promised in a Call & Post edito- the civil rights movement. It went daily rial to “continue the legacy of founder in 1956 and acquired a regional chain Williams O. Walker. The light will con- circulating 522,000 papers. But its fu- tinue to shine.” ture was thrown into limbo in 1997 Skeptics might see an embattled with the death of publisher John H.H. public figure burnishing his image af- Sengstacke. Then, in late 2002, after ter making millions in the fight game. five years of legal and financial wran- But almost immediately the native gling, it was bought for $10 million by Clevelander bought new equipment Real Times, Inc., a Chicago-based mul- for the paper, replaced its phone sys- timedia company headed by Thomas tem, and has used his deep pockets Picou, a Sengstacke family member. and high-powered contacts to increase “Chicago Daily Defender remains in And a host of individuals and advocacy advertising and circulation. Black hands,” said a relieved black jour- groups are coalescing to support it. Naturally, Cleveland readers and the nalism review on its Web site, The Defender deal, for instance, also 200-some publishers in the NNPA wel- www.blackjournalism.com. reversed the uncertain fortunes of the comed King with open arms. But it 67-year-old Michigan Chronicle by at- wasn’t the only time that the financially The Link to Ethnic Progress tracting Detroit-based investors, includ- strapped black press needed a knight ing District Judge Greg Mathis, funeral to rescue a failing but important insti- Once considered an outdated protest director O’Neil Swanson, Detroit Black tution. medium, the black press today is ap- Chamber of Commerce chair Vivian Take The Chicago Defender. preciated as crucial to ethnic progress. Carpenter, and others.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 13 Race and Reporting

Earlier this year, National Associa- Scoop, which distributes 105,000. would also be proud to see a black tion for the Advancement of Colored There was also The Black Suburban journalist ask questions about Iraq.” People board chairman Julian Bond, Journal at 150,000, Philadelphia Sun As a war correspondent, Curry con- the National Black Anti-Defamation and Philadelphia New Observer, both tinued a proud black press tradition. League, and other groups, protested a at 240,000, and the 420,000-circula- The Pittsburgh Courier, The Chicago Black History Month advertising cam- tion Philadelphia Tribune. Defender, and other papers provided paign by Nissan that excluded black At the NNPA’s 63rd annual conven- critical insights on both world wars papers. The National Black Family Em- tion in June, there were some 400 from regular dispatches by correspon- powerment Agenda, a clearinghouse publishers, editors, writers and pho- dents on the ground. In the 1960’s, for ideas on racial progress that spon- tographers representing not only stan- Muhammad Speaks had bureaus in Af- sors initiatives like “Renounce and dard-bearers like the 70-year-old Los rica and at the United Nations. Denounce the N-Word Resolution” and Angeles Sentinel, 98-year-old Chicago publishes its own paper, The Chal- Defender, and 119-year-old Philadel- The Black Press’s History lenger, has a “buy black” program ben- phia Tribune, the nation’s oldest con- efiting media. Visitors to its Web site tinuously published black newspaper. The U.S. black press is 176 years old (www.nbfea.com) can complete a reso- There were relative newcomers like this year. It began in 1827 when John lution form pledging to “subscribe to the Ft. Lauderdale Westside Gazette, Russwurm and Samuel Cornish started at least one black newspaper, and call started in 1971, and the Villager, Freedom’s Journal in New York. By the upon public and private entities to founded in 1973 in Austin, Texas. Civil War, 40 black newspapers were guarantee an equitable share of adver- There were old hands, like newly being published. And, during the 1920’s tising revenue.” elected NNPA president Sonceria Mes- and 30’s, when major papers virtually And when Black Entertainment Tele- siah-Jiles, publisher of the Houston ignored black America, the glory days vision (BET) was sold to Viacom in Defender, but also new blood like of the black press began. 2001, which subsequently canceled George Curry, the Chicago Tribune Back then, major papers usually BET’s main public affairs shows—the veteran, chosen National Association wouldn’t even run African-American newsmagazine “BET Tonight with Ed of Black Journalist’s “2003 Journalist obituaries. Black papers became the Gordon” and “Lead Story,” which fea- of the Year.” Curry is editor in chief of primary means of group expression tured heavy-hitting political pundits BlackPressUSA.com, the official NNPA and main community service outlet, Clarence Page, Cheryl Martin, DeWayne News Service Web site and an online reporting on job opportunities and Wickham, George Curry, and network of 15 black-owned papers, retailers that didn’t discriminate, and Armstrong Williams—the NNPA made including the New York Amsterdam covering charity events in uplifting so- it an object lesson on the perils of News, The Jacksonville (Fla.) Advocate, ciety pages with big pictures of smiling, nonblack ownership. “Even with its The Toledo Journal, Philadelphia New dignified black people enjoying each videos, the old BET provided more Observer, and Milwaukee Courier. other’s company. Politics, sports, black-oriented public affairs programs Curry covered the war on Iraq for money and social issues were reported than all of the other cable networks NNPA News Service and from the perspective of black readers. combined,” wrote NNPA national cor- BlackPressUSA.com, noting in his The careers of Lena Horne, Little Rich- respondent Artelia C. Covington. online journal, “Eight Days in Doha, ard, Paul Robeson, and many other NNPA leaders have publicly criti- Qatar,” that outgoing NNPA president entertainment greats were promoted cized the recent FCC vote relaxing John J. “Jake” Oliver, Jr., a black press in their early stages before major me- ownership restrictions as a threat to veteran and publisher of the Baltimore dia took notice, and editorial writers alternative voices like the black press, Afro-American, schooled him on the crusaded for open housing, quality at a time when affirmative action and a gravity of a black media presence at the schools, voting rights, fair employment, range of social issues are under assault. scene. Curry wrote: “What Jake saw at and equal accommodations—demands And they’ve capitalized on public rela- the outset and I didn’t was that my that later formed the civil rights agenda. tions opportunities, like last year’s race- presence in the daily briefings would There were bylined stories from based boycott of the Philadelphia Daily do wonders for the NNPA. In his mind, America’s leading black activists and News over insensitive crime coverage. my being there allowed us to play on intellects—Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Six black newspapers promoted it, tout- the world stage and let the world know Brooks, and Langston Hughes in The ing their own journalism bona fides in that there is a strong, vibrant black Chicago Defender and W.E.B. DuBois, a related advertising campaign with press in the United States. … Just as Zora Neale Hurston, Marcus Garvey, the tagline, “More than 1.2 million read- many African Americans, even those and Elijah Muhammad in the Pittsburgh ers every week get the truth about the who oppose the war on Iraq, take pride Courier. black community from the Black Press.” in U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks Black publishers grew rich and pow- Participating papers included not only when he steps up to the briefing room’s erful. Robert S. Abbott started the De- smaller publications like the 60,000- podium every day, there would be a fender with $13.75 and became one of circulation Neighborhood Leader and certain segment of black America that America’s first black millionaires. By

14 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting

1929, the Defender circulation was with Howard University, it also oper- thieves. And so was Blair.” 230,000 a week, but the Pittsburgh ates the Black Press Institute that con- Ever scrappy and rambunctious, the Courier was biggest, topping 300,000 ducts market research and career de- black press doesn’t hold much sacred. with 15 editions across the country. In velopment seminars and archives black Even the highly regarded documen- 1932, Courier publisher Robert L. Vann, newspapers. Two years ago, the NNPA tary, “The Black Press: Soldiers With- Abbott and others steered black voters created BlackPressUSA.com. The Web out Swords” got the once-over for his- en masse to the Democratic Party, site is a project of the Black Press Insti- torical omissions and faulty research in breaking traditional ties to the Repub- tute and handled by XIGroup, a Web a 2000 Journal of MultiMedia History lican Party of Abraham Lincoln and development firm co-owned by Joy essay by Reginald Owens, former man- helping to elect Franklin D. Roosevelt Bramble, publisher of The Baltimore aging editor of The Informer and Texas President. Gunnar Myrdal’s landmark Times, an NNPA member publication. Freeman. In an otherwise complimen- 1944 study, “An American Dilemma: The project has increased the number tary review, Owens wrote that the 1998 The Negro Problem and Modern De- of black papers online by helping to film minimized the black press’s role in mocracy,” said the strongest, most in- create or update individual sites and the Harlem Renaissance and Black fluential institution among blacks was linking them to BlackPressUSA.com. Power movement; underplayed its im- its crusading press. It set the stage The Web site features news and com- portance in electoral politics; didn’t for—and helped engineer—monumen- mentary exclusively by black journal- mention Ebony and Jet, the Johnson tal change from school desegregation ists from black-owned publications, Publishing Co. magazines that first at- in 1954 to the voting rights bill of 1957, presenting itself as “a gateway” to tracted national ads by developing a the marches, sit-ins and civil rights leg- America’s black press with a combined black middle-class audience, and gen- islation of 1964. readership of 15 million. It is a spe- erally misrepresented black newspa- By the Black Power era, the formerly cialty medium, and its stories are un- pers by prematurely ending its fasci- cutting-edge medium was considered likely to appear in other major newspa- nating saga in 1975. powerless. The black press was consid- pers. What follows is a sampling of “Yes, there are fewer readers,” ered, at best, a farm team for major headlines: Owens acknowledges. “Yes, black pa- dailies, which recruited top black jour- pers are no longer the main media for nalists to cover the civil rights move- Bush’s Tax Cuts Crippled the Poor many African Americans. Yes, the num- ment and eventually attracted readers ber of black publications goes up and and advertisers once considered the The Questions Sisters Ask About Gen- down depending on social and politi- black press’s captive market. Conven- eral Vincent Brooks cal circumstances. Nonetheless, the tional wisdom by the 1980’s was that black press is no more dead than the the black press, by doing such a bang- Harlem Guard Unit is Prepared for Iraq white press. An analysis of the num- up job promoting racial equality, had bers—historical and current—simply made itself obsolete. Blacks Fear War With Iraq Would Drain does not support the idea.” Resources From Social Programs Owens quotes circulation numbers The Black Press Today from Gales Directory of National Pub- Lawsuit Says DaimlerChrysler Treated lications and Broadcast Media, show- In reality, racism remains a major ob- Black Car Buyers Unfairly ing long-term growth that disputes stacle to black progress in America to- perceptions of a black press in decline. day. Forty years after the March on Study: Blacks Live Closer to, Suffer Totaling about 150 papers with three Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s More From Power Plants million readers in 1965, shortly before dream is still unachieved—and the the “Soldiers Without Swords” timeline black press is still on the case. The In the wake of the Jayson Blair situ- ends, the black press actually included NNPA, founded in 1940, has kept the ation, George Curry’s article, 230 papers in 1998 when the docu- professional house in order, promot- “Colorizing The New York Times Pla- mentary aired, according to Gales, ing journalism excellence as an alter- giarism Case,” appeared on the Web which listed in its 2001 edition 237 native media industry. Its NNPA News site. It typifies the alternative perspec- publications with 15 million readers. Service supplies government and for- tive readers of the black press rely on. eign affairs coverage to member publi- As Curry wrote, “When it was discov- Strengthening the Black cations and distributes nationally the ered that columnist Mike Barnicle of Press local stories they originate. The Boston Globe and Stephen Glass There is also the NNPA Foundation, of The New Republic had engaged in But the black press has a ways to go a tax-exempt entity that awards schol- writing stories that contained more before reaching its full potential. arships, runs a student internship pro- fiction than fact, no one indicted all Overall, coverage must be improved. gram, and bestows journalism prizes white journalists for their misdeeds or The Philadelphia Tribune swept the like the A. Phillip Randolph Messenger blamed it on white privilege,” Curry awards competition at this year’s NNPA Award for Excellence. In partnership wrote. “To be blunt, they were simply convention, taking the coveted

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 15 Race and Reporting

Russwurm Award for “Best Newspaper ers. The average NNPA reader is 44 also helped integrate the U.S. military in America” and placing first in five years old, 54 percent male and 60 per- in 1948. categories—Best News Pictures, Com- cent college trained; it is not the free- NNPA president Messiah-Jiles said munity Service, Best Business Section, spending 20-something reader that in a press statement: “What the black Best Church Page, and Best Entertain- most advertisers want. press offers is a historical record, which ment Section. More black newspapers But most of all, black papers must is a base for knowledge and a catalyst must perform at this high level of qual- continue the proud tradition of coura- for change. It can empower us to act, ity journalism. geous journalism established at argu- and also challenge the powers that be Black papers must seek advertising ably its finest hour, during World War to move in a positive direction.” ■ more aggressively. There are few ads II. I wrote a play about it, “Double V: A on the BlackPressUSA.com Web site, Docudrama of the Negro Press and Larry Muhammad is a reporter for and when King first took over the Call World War II,” which dramatically pre- The Courier-Journal in Louisville, & Post, some Cleveland advertisers said sents fearless black publishers putting Kentucky. His play, “Double V: A the newspaper’s ad reps had been slow out damn good papers despite news- Docudrama of the Negro Press and to approach them. But to win big ac- print shortages, unfair rationing, FBI World War II,” was published in counts, black papers need to stop rely- harassment, and loss of advertisers. 2002 by Harmony House and is ing on protests and moral suasion and The “Double V” campaign—victory available directly from the author. instead bring an appealing readership against Hitler abroad and victory against demographic to the table. This means racism at home—not only set a stan- [email protected] black papers must attract younger read- dard for wartime news coverage but

A Racially Motivated Murder Leads to a Uniquely Reported Documentary Whites interviewed whites. Blacks interviewed blacks. The stories came together.

Whitney Dow and Marco Wil- body disintegrated and his head liams directed and produced was decapitated by a roadside “Two Towns of Jasper,” a film culvert. Three white men from broadcast this year as part of Jasper—John William King, the P.O.V. series on the Public Lawrence Russell Brewer, and Broadcasting Service. In the Shawn Allen Berry—were ar- article that follows, Dow and rested for kidnap and murder. Williams create a dialogue of In the days following the mur- questions and answers to ex- der, Whitney Dow called Marco plain how and why they di- Williams, his friend of over 20 vided their reporting along years. As the two spoke about the racial lines to document a murder, they both expressed dis- racial hate crime in the small may, shock and outrage at the Texas town of Jasper. In the crime. However, Marco (who is opening section—as they black) did not share Whitney’s speak of themselves in the third (who is white) surprise that so person—they describe how Codirectors Whitney Dow (left) and Marco Williams brutal an act, one motivated by their project began. (right) outside the Jasper, Texas county courthouse. Photo race, could occur in the last half by Danny Bright. of the last decade of the 20th How It Began century. Over the course of the next three months, race contin- On June 7, 1998, perhaps the most hours of the morning, James Byrd, Jr., ued to serve as a catalyst in their discus- vicious, racially motivated murder since an African American, was beaten, then sions, and Whitney and Marco decided the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till oc- chained to the back of a pick-up truck to create a documentary on the events curred in Jasper, Texas. In the early and dragged for three miles until his in Jasper and the subsequent trials of

16 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting the three men accused of killing Byrd. With the perception divide being a recurrent theme in their talks, they concluded that the best and, in fact, the only logical way to document the town where James Byrd was murdered, was by using segregated crews. Subse- quently, Marco spent a year in Jasper with a black crew talking with and filming only black people, while Whitney spent that same year with white people and a white crew. The resulting film is “Two Towns of Jasper.” To tap into their experiences and what they learned, Marco and Whitney pose and respond to questions they’ve been asked—and questions they asked themselves—about the difficulty and benefits of using this approach in the coverage of stories about race. Discussing the Shawn Allen Berry murder trial over breakfast at the Belle-Jim Hotel, The Technique Jasper, Texas. Photo by Danny Bright. Can a white reporter cover stories in black communities and arrive at “the trust of the white community and, more ers business, fashion reporters fash- truth” and vice versa? specifically, of the family members of ion. Such assignments are rarely ques- the accused killers, if I had an African tioned. But when a racially motivated Whitney Dow: Can journalists work American on my production team. The murder occurs, some challenge the effectively across race? Absolutely, but whites were so focused on their desire idea of reporting or documenting this I now believe that blacks and whites to present a positive image of race story with “specialists” or, as others will necessarily file fundamentally dif- relations to the media that many times contend, it exacerbates the problem. ferent stories when they cover racially during the initial phase of a relation- In covering a news event or telling a charged events. During the research ship with a documentary subject I felt story, “truth” often seems determined phase of this project, I spent some time as though I was being subjected to a by who is privileged to narrate the in Jasper immediately following the P.R. blitz. It took time for the white coverage, choose the angle, identify murder of Byrd interviewing both white residents to let down their guard and the protagonists, and determine the and black residents. At the time, I got begin to speak honestly about their questions to be asked. These decisions what I thought were some valuable feelings. Having a black person there are not random or in any way “natural” interviews with some of the black resi- would have been a constant reminder choices. Each reporter, each documen- dents. Later, when we began filming to keep themselves in check. tary filmmaker, each witness brings to the project in earnest and Marco spent the situation a set of biases and percep- time filming some of these same black Marco Williams: Why are we in- tions that arise out of who they are and residents, something startling was re- timidated, if not outright afraid, of the what has been their personal, cultural vealed: Many of the people I’d inter- idea of utilizing racially specific report- and social history. If the “truth” of a viewed deliberately misled me about ers to cover a racially specific type of story could be defined before report- their identity, occupation, place of resi- story and to help uncover the “truth”? ing or documenting is done, then who dence, etc. Although blacks were will- In most newsrooms, specialization of defines the “truth” becomes critical to ing to talk to me about the murder and reporting is practiced daily: sports re- understanding the events and putting the problems that existed in their com- porters cover sports, business report- them into a larger context. munity, they were unwilling to reveal anything that might put themselves at risk. This called into question the value of the interviews I had done and re- … I now believe that blacks and whites will vealed the baseline of distrust that col- necessarily file fundamentally different stories ors almost all interaction across race. when they cover racially charged events. At the same time, I cannot imagine I could have gained the same level of

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 17 Race and Reporting

to the same subject. In fact, he had no one discussing Byrd’s character because it was not an issue in the black commu- nity. This scenario was repeated again and again. What we discovered was that much of the time the scenes we created explicated specific periods of time, rather than specific events.

Marco: In the making of “Two Towns of Jasper,” Whitney and I effectively shot two different movies. In editing, we had to figure out how to make one. This demanded a relinquishing of ab- solute power and a movement toward shared power. In the framework of collaborative decision-making, is this possible? In the context of race, is this possible? Who defines the context of a given scene or the order of the story is an assertion of power. No decision is sim- ply an aesthetic choice. Who speaks first or last in a given sequence is of subtle if not overt significance. Huff Creek Road, where James Byrd, Jr., was murdered. Photo by Steven Miller. Struggles about this power played themselves out repeatedly in the edit- Perhaps, therefore, it is foolhardy to Whitney: The difficulty of weaving ing room. The sequence about the pursue the “truth.” Instead, our goal Marco’s and my footage into a single school board’s decision to temporarily can be understanding. But there is a narrative was not that the white and eliminate Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birth- difference between explaining and black residents of Jasper saw things day as a school holiday provides a po- sharing an experience. Sharing relies differently—it was that they saw and tent illumination of both the nature of on having a common ground of expe- experienced entirely different things. the fabric of the town and of the impact rience and understanding, which is Events important to the white commu- that race had on the decision-making often not the case for black and white nity were often not even on the black in the editing room. Just trying to ar- people in America. (Think O.J. Simpson community’s radar screen, and vice rive at an order that satisfied a sense of verdict.) This is why Whitney and I versa. An example of this was discus- narrative, let alone a sense of theme determined that the best way to arrive sion of James Byrd’s character. For the and content, was problematic. Black at a truthful understanding of Jasper, whites, their understanding of the and white residents saw the decision to and by extension America, was to use murder was inexorably tied to their remove the holiday very differently. So segregated film crews. This would give perception of James Byrd, the man. did Whitney and I. people the space to speak freely—out Many whites felt that the fact that Byrd Who should speak about this inci- of their experience and understand- was unemployed and had many past dent? What should this decision reveal ing—and then allow us to bring these run-ins with the law either mitigated about individual characters? About the voices and viewpoints together to tell the gravity of the crime or somehow town? We debated, too, whether the the events through black and white implicated Byrd in his own death. They sequence or its placement detoured lenses. felt he should be “judged by the way he from the linear narrative of three mur- In the case of race, where division lived not the way he died” and were der trials. But where our debate lin- often lurks, arriving at “truth” is more uncomfortable with any positive cov- gered the longest was in deciding whose likely to happen when we embrace our erage he got in the media. words (whose image) should end this differences through the embrace of For blacks, how James Byrd lived his section of the film. our commonalities. life was entirely irrelevant. He was killed Should it end with the radio re- because of his race and so, in effect, porter Mike Lout? He tells us that the The Edit they were James Byrd. After putting holiday isn’t important to him because together a scene in which whites dis- he never had to sit in the back of the Was it hard to knit our two perspec- cussed Byrd’s background, I expected bus; he tells us, with a nervous laugh, tives into one film? Marco to have footage that would speak that whites won’t ever do that to black

18 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting

Luther King, Jr. day a black holiday or an American holiday? Either ending has validity, but in a film as tightly woven as “Two Towns of Jasper,” what is said last is likely to be what viewers remember. The recognition that power is em- bedded in the storytelling played out repeatedly in the editing room. In a film that struggles to make vivid the differing perceptions of blacks and whites, what the audience retains is crucial.

Our Differences

Were there times when our two view- points were irreconcilable?

Whitney: Our goal of having white and black viewpoints represented in Trent Smith (left), Director of Photography Steven Miller, and Whitney Dow (right) at almost every sequence was a major Smith’s home in Jasper. Photo by Danny Bright. challenge. But our attempt to include a visit to Jasper by the New Black Panther people again. Or should it end with the Ending with Mike provides an ar- Party during the trial of John William minister Ray Lewis? Ray tells us that ticulation of the holiday’s lack of sig- King proved particularly difficult. It “they” must have thought that “we” nificance to whites, as well as an unam- was impossible for us to cut a sequence weren’t going to say or do anything, as biguous feeling of guilt. Ending with in which neither the whites looked we didn’t in the past; he also expresses Ray provides an illumination of the afraid—which they were not—nor the some disconcertedness by the ques- state of black power in the town, the blacks looked weak—which also was tioning of how the school board could ability or inability to say or to do some- not the case. The scene structure we consider doing this with all that had thing. And his words reveal the fissure settled on was dissatisfying to each of been going on. between black and white. Is Martin us, and this entire sequence was cut from the film when we reedited it for broadcast on PBS. This was an excep- tion. Though we initially disagreed on how most scenes should be structured, we managed to find ways of melding our opposing viewpoints. This method of working yielded much more com- plex and compelling sequences than either of us could have constructed on our own.

Marco: To take on the challenge of questioning race relations, whether within or across the boundaries of race, is not without potential casualty. The scene with the New Black Panther Party offers a good illustration of what can happen when the perception and mean- ing of an event is not shared. In the festival and the theatrical version of our film, we included the New Black Panther Party. But we omitted them Marco Williams (left) and Director of Photography Jonathan Weaver with Rev. Ray from the television version. Why? The Lewis (right) in Jasper. Photo by Danny Bright. simple answer is that the New Black

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 19 Race and Reporting

standing be achieved. It should not disturb us to realize that those who don’t share a history could have different interpretations and understanding of the same event. When James Byrd was murdered, the way in which white (or mainstream) and black newspapers reported the news was as different as black and white. This should not surprise us. Future events will polarize Ameri- cans, and we should be able to accept and embrace that which polarizes us, rather than avoiding or ignoring what divides. Differences need to become part of our discourse. Who interprets an event, who gets to report on stories that shape our collective histories, who has the chance to define the “truth”— all of these decisions are important in shaping our understanding of events and how events are interpreted. Ulti- James Byrd, Jr.’s sister, Mary Verrett, after Shawn Berry’s testimony. Jasper, Texas, mately, how they are reported and re- 1999. Photo by Danny Bright. corded is crucial to giving us a basis to think about and perhaps understand Panther Party did not fit into the narra- Lessons Learned how they could have occurred. ■ tive. More complicated are the differ- ing reasons we had for its removal. Whitney: It is easy to forget, as a liberal Marco Williams is an award-win- Whitney saw them as outsiders to the white journalist covering issues of race, ning documentary and fiction film community and therefore not fitting that to many people I come in contact director. His films include “Two into the framework of our film—the with in my reporting I represent a power Towns of Jasper,” “In Search of our inclusion of residents of Jasper. I judged structure that repeatedly has shown Fathers,” “From Harlem to this scene expendable because al- itself to be inherently untrustworthy Harvard,” and “Without a Pass.” His though the New Black Panther Party’s and, at times, even dangerous to people 1998 film “Making Peace: Rebuilding entrance into the film is clear, its even- of color. Although I am still extremely Our Communities” was part of a tual disappearance is not explained. confident in my ability to penetrate four-hour PBS series profiling people However, beneath concerns for the communities of color, I now have a working to heal the conditions that narrative justification there lurks a more healthy skepticism about the quality of create violence in their communi- profound difference of what the New the material and information I come ties. Whitney Dow directed more Black Panther Party represents for away with and am more diligent about than 200 commercial film and Whitney and me and for white and checking sources. I also am far more commercial projects before he was black residents of Jasper. For Whitney aware of my biases, even as I attempt to asked to direct two documentary (serving as proxy for whites), the New be “objective” in my coverage, and I try shorts for the American AIDS Rides Black Panther Party was seen as a joke, to use this awareness as a tool to help in 1997. In 1998, he created Feral not threatening, and no white resident me become a better storyteller. Films to pursue documentary film- took them seriously. For me, (a proxy making full-time, and “Two Towns for the blacks), its members repre- Marco: Whitney and I experienced of Jasper” became his first feature sented “manhood,” power and the con- what few experience on the battle- documentary. flict of confrontation vs. reconciliation ground of race in America: We asked that blacks have wrestled with through- questions about race on a daily basis [email protected], out our history in the United States. In for four-and-a-half years. What I learned [email protected] the face of such broad differences, com- in making “Two Towns of Jasper” was promise or accommodation was re- how crucial ownership of my reality is quired. When the debate could not be to changing the relationship between reconciled, the exigencies of narrative black and white. When differing view- became the ultimate basis of our deci- points in a debate have equal footing, sion-making. then and only then can fruitful under-

20 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting Lacking a Worthy Story, a Columnist Retreats From Writing About Race ‘Race is a subject that needs lowered voices, or even some benign neglect.’

By Jack E. White

rdinarily, abandoning a project myself, as one of a tiny handful of black and, ultimately, senior editor of the that was supposed to be the journalists at Time, as a journalistic Nation section, which covers national Ocapstone of one’s career and extension of the movement—loyal to affairs. In 1995, I started my column, repaying a rather handsome advance its lofty goal of racial equality, but com- “Dividing Line,” and promptly began to a publisher would be, at the very pletely independent of the personali- pissing off people, black and white, by least, an occasion for regret. Yet I felt ties who purported to lead it and thus playing no favorites. Those who praised nothing but relief this spring when I able, even duty bound, to criticize them me for castigating Supreme Court Jus- decided to pull the plug on the book when necessary. tice Clarence Thomas as an Uncle Tom on black political leadership that I had who had enslaved himself to the Re- been working on since I retired as a Discovering a Journalistic publican right wing howled with anger columnist for Time two years ago. After Mission when I refused to endorse the Million more than three decades of reporting Man March because of the lunatic op- and writing about race relations, I dis- In this, I was following the example of portunism and anti-Semitism of its covered that I had been rendered virtu- the late Robert C. Maynard, who be- leader, Louis Farrakhan. My editors ally speechless by a growing ambiva- friended me when I was a cub reporter gave me plenty of leeway, offering sug- lence about the only story I ever had at The Washington Post during the late gestions on topics and how I should really wanted to cover, the struggle of 1960’s, and he was already one of the approach them, but never imposing black Americans to liberate themselves greatest black journalists of all time. the magazine’s point of view. The re- from centuries of slavery and degrada- Bob inspired me, and a generation of sponse from readers was extraordinary, tion. The debate has gotten so frac- youthful black reporters who came especially blacks who had never ex- tious I can’t hear myself think. under his spell, to believe that we were pected to encounter an unmistakably I hadn’t realized until I started the caught up in something much bigger black, unapologetically militant voice book how conflicted my view of racial than our individual careers, part of a like mine in the pages of an establish- issues such as affirmative action has continuum of journalistic freedom mentarian white publication like Time. become. When I joined Time in 1972, fighters that went back to Frederick The only trouble was the story. The the racial issue was clear as a bell, the Douglass, William Monroe Trotter, and monumental clash between oppres- great civil rights victories of the 1960’s Ida B. Wells. Heady stuff. My mission, sion and freedom that unfolded dur- were still fresh in the nation’s collec- as I came rather grandiosely to define ing the 1960’s had devolved, by the tive memory despite the murder of it, was to pound away at the racial time I began columnizing, into an eth- Martin Luther King, Jr., the still smol- mindset of Time, which by the time I nic power struggle marked by venality dering fires of the long hot summers, arrived had evolved from galling racial and intellectual fraud. The movement, and the backlash-inspired hostility of paternalism under Henry Luce to re- or what was left of it, had become less the Nixon administration to what re- flexive skepticism toward the and less concerned with uplifting the mained of the black freedom move- movement’s increasingly militant lead- most oppressed of African Americans, ment. And I didn’t have much trouble ers under Luce’s successors. I set out to those trapped in impoverished inner figuring out where I stood. Like many create a journalistic space at Time in cities and isolated rural backwaters, other young African Americans who which a black journalist could write and more and more focused on ex- became reporters then, I felt a sense of about black issues with unvarnished ploiting their sorry plight as a rhetori- calling toward the civil rights move- candor from a distinctly black point of cal lever to pry loose concessions for ment, a faith rooted in the Kerner view in a distinctly black voice that those who claimed to speak in their Commission’s finding that the press some whites and some blacks might name. There were no heroes among could and must play a crucial role in find offensive. those who claimed to be leaders. Orga- the struggle for racial equality by ex- It took 23 years, during which I nizations from the NAACP (since re- posing the true depth and horror of worked my way up the ladder at Time, formed) to the National Baptist Con- the second-class status white America from junior writer to foreign and cam- vention that had once formed the had imposed on its black citizens. I saw paign correspondent to bureau chief vanguard in the struggle for equality

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 21 Race and Reporting

had been turned into personal that conservative critics of racial pref- Meanwhile, the plight of ghetto school piggybanks by their leaders. Jesse Jack- erences have a point when they claim kids keeps getting worse. son fathered a child out of wedlock. Al that black students, in too many cases, Well, not to put too fine a point on Sharpton—well, what more need I say? are being held to a lower standard for it, this is not what I signed on for when admission than their counterparts from I decided to become a journalist. And Distractions on the Racial other ethnic groups. perhaps I made a mistake by becoming Beat There is obviously a need for new too personally invested in my specialty. approaches and bold experimentation I wanted to write about the quest for But I’m less troubled by the personal to improve black academic perfor- justice, not a sterile shouting match corruption of black leadership than by mance, yet far more intellectual energy between the bankrupt remains of the its failure to address candidly the big- is being wasted on the futile crusade to civil rights movement and its equally gest challenge facing black America: win reparations for slavery. Black lib- unprincipled and grasping opponents. the yawning academic achievement gap eral leaders are virtually unanimous in I’m so angry about the way the debate between African Americans and every their opposition to vouchers, often about race has degenerated that I can other ethnic group in the nation. The phrased in sanctimonious rhetoric only write about it with disgust, not the tendency among so-called black lead- about preserving the public school sys- dispassion that we need for a produc- ers is to wish away the embarrassing tem from people like Jackson whose tive conversation about such a touchy fact that despite the enormous growth children attended elitist prep schools. subject. Race is a subject that needs and unprecedented opportunities en- They seem to be more concerned with lowered voices or even some benign joyed by the African-American middle preserving their links to teacher unions neglect. So for now I’m keeping quiet. class, blacks’ SAT scores are still, by far, and patronage-minded local school There’s no reason to add to the din. ■ the lowest of any ethnic group, or blame administrations than they are with re- it on alleged racial bias. There is almost pairing what goes wrong in the class- Jack White, a 1977 Nieman Fellow, no acknowledgement, by liberal black room. Trouble is that their opponents wrote the “Dividing Line” column for leaders, that it’s this substandard per- are equally hypocritical. Their alleged Time until he retired in 2001. He formance on standardized tests and compassion for downtrodden black currently serves as writer-in-resi- grade point averages that makes dubi- youngsters masks their real agenda of dence at the School of Communica- ous race-base admissions policies nec- diverting tax dollars from public schools tions at Howard University. essary at selective colleges and univer- to predominantly white private acad- sities. Nor is there much recognition emies linked to the Christian right. [email protected]

Reporting on the Minority Education Beat At The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina, attention is focused on how race affects education.

By Tim Simmons

orth Carolina’s public schools I was assigned to that beat almost beat grew from the publication of a are rapidly resegregating by four years ago after spending the previ- three-day series I reported in 1999 that Nrace and class. Classroom ous eight years covering general edu- explored the depth and reasons for the achievement of students is suffering as cation issues statewide for The News & state’s racial achievement gap. Built a result. This story, “The New Segrega- Observer. I rarely find a colleague who upon a computer analysis of test grades, tion,” was published in The News & shares this title at other newspapers. dozens of interviews, and countless Observer of Raleigh in early 2001, and Yet the role of race is reshaping schools hours watching silently from inside this news was hardly a surprise to many in ways unseen since the days of inte- classrooms, the series was titled people within the education commu- gration. From court decisions to aca- “Worlds Apart: The Racial Achievement nity. But it did surprise many of our demic achievement, from efforts to hold Gap.” Worlds apart was an apt descrip- readers. It was also a story the paper schools accountble to community de- tion for the different ways in which might never have told if it didn’t have a cision-making, race matters in today’s many black students saw their schools reporter specifically assigned to a mi- classrooms. compared with their white classmates. nority education issues beat. Our decision to break out a separate The series also helped define the

22 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting debate about the differences in aca- levels—from preschool to historically “First” is an important word, for these demic achievement between black and black colleges—is just a part of our larger stories that explore issues affect- white students in North Carolina. It education reporting stable. In addition ing minority children often require introduced the problem to our read- to the traditional series that we publish multiple visits to schools and class- ers, made the topic a priority on the over several days, this beat produces rooms. The data only provides the fac- public agenda, and often served as a weekend stories and daily articles that tual foundation of a story. It is the visits reference guide for countless state and our education reporters might other- and interviews that bring the story to local discussions. Readers ordered wise never find the time to do. But life. more than 5,000 reprints of the series; more important, “Worlds Apart” estab- When “Worlds Apart” was published, copies were sent to every school prin- lished a template for how we continue it was obvious that resegregation con- cipal in the state. to address sensitive issues of race, class- tributed to lagging minority achieve- room achievement, and equity in pub- ment. But we did not want that fact to Creating a New Education lic education. overshadow other important issues, Beat It is difficult to understate the im- especially those involving low expecta- portance of data analysis for reporting tions by teachers, administrators and Once we’d published this series, there on this beat, much of it done by Susan sometimes even parents. Low expecta- was only minimal discussion about Ebbs in the newspaper’s news research tions by adults, we found, were often at whether we’d return to covering edu- department. Each year, the newspaper the heart of creating and maintaining cation as we had before. The News & collects the test results of mandatory the achievement gap. That meant re- Observer still uses a general education state reading and math exams as well as turning to the topic of resegregation reporter to cover statewide education corresponding surveys taken by roughly later—more than a year later as it turned issues and separate reporters who cover 700,000 students. The records are ba- out. It was a delay caused, in part, by local school districts. Readers would sically student-level data stripped only the state’s newfound interest in clos- likely find it unacceptable if we relin- of the students’ names. They include ing the achievement gap after “World’s quished those beats in a region that is student eligibility for subsidized Apart” was published. home to Research Triangle Park, three lunches. Because of our ability to ana- major universities, and public schools lyze this data, I often know as much Data Defines the Story that enroll more than 150,000 students. about minority achievement as the Today, a beat that covers minority school principal does when I show up While the data framed our stories about education issues spanning all grade for my first visit at a particular school. the low expectations for minority chil-

During lunch at Chapel Hill High School, students gathered in front of a mural promoting unity even as they chose to largely separate themselves by race at the cafeteria tables. Photo courtesy of The News & Observer.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 23 Race and Reporting

regation produces a different school altogether.

Seeking Answers

Bolstered by the success of these re- ports, in 2002 The News & Observer took on yet another important issue, largely avoided in many discussions about minority achievement—the amount and effect of parental involve- ment in the schools. Eventually, the reporting I did on this appeared in a series entitled “The Parent Gap.” This time the numbers did not offer an obvious storyline. Instead, they gave hints and insights that seemed to indi- cate a communication breakdown be- tween many teachers and minority par- ents. The data also showed that regardless of income, African-Ameri- can students were entering kindergar- ten less prepared than their white class- As an African-American male, Isaac Hatcher was an exception to the rule in this Algebra mates, and during the first year of school II class. When Tim Simmons reported his story, white students were still three to four the gap between them increased. Data times more likely than black students to enroll in advanced sections or honor courses in showed, too, that African-American stu- the schools of the Raleigh-Durham area. Photo courtesy of The News & Observer. dents in elementary and middle school watched more television and did less dren, it also defined the storyline for Irrefutable data did not necessarily homework. Again, the differences were my articles on resegregation. Rob Wa- make the interviews more comfortable. obvious across income levels. ters, who edited both series, often said Some middle-class parents found the But numbers could not tell us why. he could not recall an issue in which news unsettling; others, in largely white Again, that came from interviews and numbers so clearly told the story. schools, quickly turned defensive. The observations. Relying again on test score data, we students and teachers at one predomi- If talking with teachers and students coupled our analysis of trends in nantly black high school, in particular, about the role of race is difficult—and resegregation with other data. We were quick to embrace the message it is very, very difficult—those conver- looked at: but incensed to find the school used as sations seem relatively easy when I an example. But in general, the combi- compare them with my job of asking • Enrollment trends during the past nation of data analysis and shoe-leather parents why they seemingly refused to 15 years reporting offered a view of the public get involved in their child’s education. • Teacher turnover within schools schools that differed considerably from Much of what I heard from them has •A comparison of teacher experience the schools that readers thought they been told before—parents without levels based on the percentages of knew. transportation; parents with two jobs; poor or minority students in each of “The New Segregation” showed, for parents who are still basically children the state’s schools. example, how morale and discipline themselves. But these reasons certainly plummeted when a school that was do not explain the circumstance of The numbers did tell the story. Mi- two-thirds white becomes a school that every minority parent or even a major- nority students of similar family in- is 96 percent black in the course of a ity of them. And they don’t convey their comes posted lower test scores when single year. The series also offered the feelings. they attended largely segregated lament of teachers in Wayne County In time, many of those parents schools. The ability I now had to show who want to know how a child who stepped forward and talked about why this information to principals and su- lives in a diverse school district can they weren’t very involved with their perintendents—black and white—as attend school for 13 years and never children’s school. At times, they spoke well as to share it immediately with see a white classmate. And the stories individually; in other instances, they teachers and parents took most of my showed that no matter how fondly Af- accepted invitations to be part of dis- interviews to a different level of con- rican-American adults remember the cussion groups. I went to their homes versation. schools of their childhood, today’s seg- and met them in reading rooms of

24 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting public libraries. Oddly, some asked to Many teachers wondered out loud what Tim Simmons covers minority edu- meet in the schools they rarely visited. other choice a parent has but to trust cation issues for The News & Ob- They looked at the data and listened to the schools. server in Raleigh, North Carolina.. what others said, then many offered A story like this one covers a lot of His work has won several state and their assessment of what the schools ground when it has to bridge the dis- national awards, including the 1999 look like from their perspective. tance between something as precise as Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for “It’s a matter of trust,” said a father data analysis and something as intan- Distinguished Education Reporting of four from Wake County. “Why would gible as perceptions of trust. There is from the Education Writers Associa- a black parent trust the schools to do no one answer to give to this father’s tion for “Worlds Apart” and recogni- the right thing?” His view was shared by question, just as there is no one way to tion by the Columbia University many other parents who were often impress upon teachers—and readers— School of Journalism for exemplary skeptical about teachers’ intentions why he would ask it. But we report and coverage of race and ethnic issues even when their children succeeded tell this story so that all readers have a for “The New Segregation.” Those academically. Without trust, advice chance to hear his question and reflect stories and others can be found at about homework and television was on what it means for public education. www.newsobserver.com/gap. suspect—maybe even trivial—from It’s an opportunity that exists largely their point of view. Some teachers we because The News & Observer has cre- [email protected] spoke with clearly understood the par- ated a beat found at few other newspa- ents’ frustrations; others couldn’t re- pers—a beat focused on minority edu- late at all to the feeling he’d expressed. cation issues. ■

Racial Reverberations in Newsrooms After Jayson Blair ‘The coverage of the scandal showed once again that African Americans are still not allowed to be seen as individuals when they fail.’

By Neil Henry

he e-mail messages came from and bitterness stemming from her early saults on diversity—I’m just perpetu- journalists around America, reporting career in the 1980’s, when ally [furious] about my business and Tmore than a few containing the white editors—spurred by a similar my newspaper, the one I learned to line “you don’t know me, but ….” All scandal involving a disgraced black re- love while [in] school. I feel like we are were commenting about racial rever- porter, Janet Cooke, at The Washing- in for some stormy months, if not years. berations in their newsrooms stem- ton Post—baldly questioned her verac- Though I have not sensed any extra ming from the scandal of Jayson Blair, ity after she turned in a terrific piece of eyes on my work or had anyone ques- the 27-year-old black reporter who re- investigative work. The reporter was tion me, I am mentally preparing for signed in disgrace from The New York unsettled, she wrote, by how deeply it.” Times in May after admitting to system- the racial pain still cut more than 20 atic plagiarism and fabrication during years later. Understanding the Racial his three-year career. But among the most heartfelt mes- Fallout An African-American copyeditor at a sages came from a young African-Ameri- Midwestern daily wrote that she was can reporter in the early months of his It’s big news when a journalist admits humiliated to hear three white male career at a top newspaper on the East lying to the public. It’s even bigger colleagues openly criticize affirmative Coast. The reporter had graduated five news when that journalist works for a action policies for lowering “journalis- years earlier from a leading school of newspaper as trusted and influential as tic standards” across the country, poli- journalism and excelled in two previ- The New York Times. But because Blair cies under which the editor herself had ous jobs at smaller newspapers before was young and black, and the product been hired only a year earlier. being hired by the big Eastern daily. of a training program aimed at increas- A second message came from a na- “Nothing in this business has an- ing the racial diversity of the news staff, tionally recognized black reporter, who gered me like this situation,” he wrote. the scandal and its national news cov- confided that the Blair scandal had “From Blair’s misdeeds, to the reaction erage became freighted with an added reignited in her a long suppressed rage of some of our editors, to these as- dimension of race, provoking pain and

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 25 Race and Reporting

fury that was especially keen to blacks present at the Post as a staff writer scandal] and why diversity programs and other minorities in the industry. during the Janet Cooke scandal in 1981 are at fault,” wrote a journalist in north- Did the scandal represent—as some (when the 26-year-old black reporter ern California. “It sickens me.” Added conservative white critics charged— was fired after admitting she had fabri- another writer from Tennessee, “The the dangers and failures of such diver- cated a Pulitzer Prize-winning feature tragedy of this obviously talented, sity programs, which many news orga- about an eight-year-old heroin addict) charming yet highly disturbed and self- nizations have adopted in the decades and was startled and hurt by the reac- destructive young man is being used by since 1968 when the Kerner Commis- tion of a few of my white editors and people in the industry who do not wish sion urged the press to hire more mi- reporter peers. They had seemed black journalists well to undermine norities and women to better serve the emboldened in the scandal’s aftermath [our] hard-won progress. This is an public interest? Were Blair’s misdeeds to question not only the ability and abomination. They’ve spun this and overlooked for too long precisely be- trustworthiness of African-American made it all about race, in the words of cause of his race, as the same critics reporters but also even our right to Frederick Douglass, ‘to put thorns un- maintained? What ramifications would work there. der feet already bleeding. …’” the scandal present for race relations Still, all that was more than 20 years in America’s newsrooms? ago, and as I typed out the essay to my Diversity in Newsrooms Such questions spurred me, a jour- former students a part of me assumed nalism educator, to write an essay amid that the climate in America’s news- The New York Times, like many U.S. the heat of the Blair scandal to my black rooms had improved in the years since newspapers, has actively pursued a former Berkeley students now work- with greater diversity and integration. diversity hiring program aimed at im- ing in the news media across the coun- What I wasn’t prepared for was the proving the paper’s credibility in local try. Even though these former students volume of response I received from communities and its coverage of the had nothing to do with the disgrace, I more than two dozen journalists and world by making its newsroom more knew they would feel hurt and out- citizens of all color after the essay was reflective of the American population. raged by the critics and likely bewil- published, many containing anecdotes According to the American Society of dered by a strange press focus on Blair’s written with raw emotion and reflect- Newspaper Editors (ASNE), minority race that made it seem as if the young ing the exact sort of apprehensions, journalists today make up about 12.5 man’s color had more to do with the fallout and racial typecasting I had percent of the workforce in the nation’s reasons behind the scandal than his feared. “Right after the [Blair] situation newsrooms—a marked increase from distinct problems of character. blew up,” wrote a minority New York four percent in 1978. But the rate of I had several aims for the essay, Times reporter whose identity, like the increase has slowed drastically during which was also published in The other letter writers, I am protecting, “I the past decade, and some fear that the Chronicle of Higher Education: to pre- found myself having to defend to many Blair scandal may hurt this limited pare young people emotionally for ra- of my white colleagues the right of the progress even more. cial fallout in the workplace that might Times to hire reporters of color, as well ASNE has stood by its stated goal of include increased scrutiny by white as young reporters, and pointing out making the nation’s newsrooms more superiors because of their skin color; that such reporters were expected to truly representative of American soci- to remind them of the historical im- perform to the same standards set for ety. The industry’s leading professional perative for diversity programs in a everyone.” organization has urged 38 percent mi- field in which blacks were effectively Another minority reporter at the nority staffing of newspapers by the excluded as recently as 35 years ago, Times wrote that he, too, was startled year 2025. From today’s vantage, and to reassure them at a time of anger, and outraged by having to defend the though, such goals seem as distant as pain and emotional insecurity that they diversity training program under which ever. While blacks represent about 12 indeed had earned their right to prac- he was hired, while a third confided percent of the American population, tice their talent and skill with the best that the Blair episode had sparked for example, barely more than five per- in the country. awkward tensions even among some cent of newspaper staffers are black. I felt somewhat qualified to issue minority reporters. The rift seemed to African Americans in upper newsroom such advice because I, too, was a ben- be between those who argued that all management remain miniscule in num- eficiary of diversity efforts in their early minority reporters had a responsibility ber and tragically lost a key player in days at The Washington Post in the to lash back at the criticism of diversity, New York Times’s managing editor 1970’s. As a young man, I had wel- publicly and often, and those who felt Gerald Boyd, who resigned in May comed the special chance to prove my it was more prudent to focus on work along with executive editor Howell mettle, not least because I considered and to let the scandal blow over. Raines after the Blair controversy. such affirmative action a long overdue The reactions seemed similar across If the scandal, its news coverage, bridge to opportunity in mainstream the country. “I am surging with rage and the racial reverberations in news- journalism that had been denied black about every single story that talks about rooms were any guide, the progress people for centuries. I also had been race as being such a player [in the made in the years since Kerner ap-

26 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting peared very delicate indeed. said. certainly seemed ironic in light of the “I live and work in southwest Geor- But more significant to Newkirk was controversy and attacks on diversity gia, in the heart of the Black Belt,” this: “The coverage of the scandal sparked by the Blair scandal. What ap- wrote a white educator. “Our popula- showed once again that African Ameri- pears certain for now is that such tion is 60 percent black and 40 percent cans are still not allowed to be seen as progress within the American press, at white. We would never have a Jayson individuals when they fail,” she said. least, remains incipient and fragile, at Blair incident at our regional newspa- “When they succeed, yes. When they best, with success ultimately depen- per, because it consistently has no black win Pulitzers and earn Nieman awards, dent on the work of today’s pioneers, journalists. Period. The few who are they are individuals, exceptions in our who often have to be as strong of con- hired refuse to stay because of the society. But when they fail, it’s failure viction inside the newsroom as they backward culture of the news organi- all around, failure for the race.” are fearless in their pursuit of the news zation. It’s a shame.” Such attitudes are particularly sad outside of it. Pamela Newkirk, an associate pro- and shocking, Newkirk added, for “When something like this happens, fessor of journalism and mass commu- young journalists, “who perhaps it can shake your confidence,” wrote nications at New York University, who thought we had gone a lot farther in the young African-American reporter authored “Within the Veil: Black Jour- our industry and society.” quoted earlier about the Blair disgrace, nalists, White Media,” a 2000 book ex- In June, the U.S. Supreme Court, who is working for an eastern daily on amining the experiences of black pio- supported by briefs from numerous an exciting beat he dreamed of cover- neers in the mainstream press, believes companies in private industry, includ- ing all his life. “I think it did mine for a the Blair scandal says more about the ing the news media, issued a signifi- few days. But no longer. I have been at greater need for diversity programs in cant ruling upholding the right of uni- this paper and in this business long the culture of American journalism than versities to factor race into admissions enough to know that there are prima it does about any inherent flaws in decisions with the aim of improving donnas and grinders and workers and such programs as they exist. diversity and career chances for mi- liars and bitchers and moaners of every Newkirk said she was “appalled” by norities. But with the decision the court stripe. editorial commentaries and news cov- also cautioned that such affirmative “Me?” he went on. “I’ll put my name erage of the scandal, especially “by the action programs will likely not be and talent up against anyone in the suggestion that somehow Blair’s dis- needed after 25 years or so. The jus- building.” ■ grace should reflect on all African- tices believe that by then the nation American, Asian-American, Latin Ameri- effectively will have become “color Neil Henry, a former staff writer for can, and Native American reporters, or blind” due to progress in bettering The Washington Post and Newsweek, have an effect on diversity efforts.” She race relations and leveling access to is a journalism professor at the said she received numerous calls from schooling and jobs. University of California, Berkeley. reporters seeking comment from her Whether that bright change will in- He is the author of “Pearl’s Secret: A in the days after the Blair scandal broke, deed come within the court’s 25-year Black Man’s Search for His White and nearly all of the questions focused time frame, in colleges or in news- Family.” on the merits of diversity efforts. “I’m rooms for that matter, remains to be still shocked by that story line,” she seen. But the timing of the decision [email protected] Contemplating the Relevancy of Age and Race ‘My youth and race have been assets to my journalism during my budding career.’

By Errin Haines

here’s nothing wrong with small going to be a reporter at one of the sics: accuracy, solid reporting, news newsrooms; I just knew I didn’t country’s biggest daily newspapers. judgment, and strong writing. Eight Twant to work in one. So last year, Let me be clear: I was certainly not classmates and I might have made it to when I was accepted into the Tribune getting around paying my dues. The the Los Angeles Times, but by no means Company’s two-year Minority Editorial program, which recruits and trains had we “arrived;” in fact, I doubt en- Training Program (METPRO), begin- young reporters of color and exposes titlement was on any of our minds as ning at the Los Angeles Times, it was a us to some of the most talented people we sat humbly beside Pulitzer Prize- dream come true. Not only was I skip- in journalism, is highly competitive, winning reporters and editors during ping the small time, but also I was rigorous and firmly rooted in the ba- these past 10 months.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 27 Race and Reporting

So when the correlation was made per. The journalistic juggernaut at- (Odds are she’s unique in that way, between former New York Times re- tended the University of Maryland, but too.) porter Jayson Blair’s age, race and his left school his senior year for a job at Thankfully, at the Los Angeles Times journalism, I was offended. For any- The New York Times. There were many there is generally a mutual apprecia- one to blame his numerous errors, things he did right to land him in this tion among veterans and neophytes. fabrications and even quick ascent on position. He was a legend at his alma Our main advocate in the newsroom the color of his skin or his rookie status mater and college newspaper. He had has been Assistant Managing Editor was unfair and unwarranted. And for been a star summer intern at The Bos- Miriam Pawel. She is excited about anyone to conclude—or even specu- ton Globe and The New York Times. METPRO and the opportunity to grow late—that the Blair incident was proof Like many young reporters, he was a young talent. Not only is Pavel aware of positive that young or minority jour- hungry, talented writer who knew how one rookie journalist’s slam poetry nalists rise too far, too fast, made me to schmooze his higher-ups. He had a hobby, but she also appreciates this, nervous for my colleagues and myself. big personality for a big newsroom. values that reporter’s youth and cul- Would veterans and others begin to But unlike the majority of his peers, ture, and fully expects these experi- wonder where rookies belong at big- Blair used his charm to mask, not ences to manifest themselves in our time news organizations? How many complement, his character and report- newspaper’s coverage on any given people would accept the argument that ing flaws. day. For the most part, the nine interns diversity, whether of race or age, was In my three internships and at the in this year’s METPRO class were fortu- being used as a substitute for talent? I Los Angeles Times, I was frequently nate to find at the Los Angeles Times hoped journalists wouldn’t take as long cited for both my upbeat personality what I believe is a rarity at other big to recognize the flimsy argument of and my ability as a reporter. While I daily newspapers—a nurturing home diversity being the cause of this prob- have many years to become a curmudg- at a paper that wants to run our stories lem as Blair’s bosses did to see through eon, building a reliable reputation as a as much as we want to tell them. In- his flimsy and false reporting. journalist my editors and colleagues stead of finding ourselves in a cut- The numbers would certainly belie can trust and depend on is something throat environment with a sink-or-swim such an accusation. According to the I cannot afford to delay. And both my mentality, reporters and editors are 2002 Annual Survey of Journalism and hard work and pleasant disposition genuinely interested in our success Mass Communication Graduates, con- have paid off: My coworkers look to me and progress and helping us reach our ducted at the University of Georgia, the as a reporter who can step up and journalistic goals. number of graduates with full-time jobs deliver when big stories break and as I also receive support from scores of in journalism decreased for the second someone who can contribute relevant men and women colleagues of all ages year in a row—down from 71 percent ideas to the paper. at the National Association of Black in 2001 to 65 percent last year, the My youth and race have been assets Journalists (NABJ), where I serve as the lowest number in a decade. More im- to my journalism during my budding chair of the organization’s Young Jour- portantly, the survey indicated that the career. I’ve written several stories that nalists Task Force. In that role, I’ve gap between minority and nonminority required me to interact with children— discussed with dozens of my peers and graduates is widening: 61 percent of no easy task, but I like to think it was mentors why the Jayson Blair affair is minority graduates had jobs after col- made easier because I’m only a decade not a reflection on either young or lege, compared with 71 percent of older and a lot more friendly than black reporters. Currently, my contem- nonminorities. Only a handful of these some reporters. It doesn’t hurt that I’m poraries (NABJ members ages 18-34) graduates are hired each year to work familiar with the Powerpuff Girls and are working to erase the stain on diver- at newspapers such as the Los Angeles SpongeBob SquarePants, and donning sity caused by Blair and proving every Times, The Wall Street Journal, and a pair of Seven jeans when I have to go day that young minority journalists are The Washington Post. Similarly, the to a high school breaks the ice faster getting it right and will continue to do American Society of Newspaper Edi- than small talk ever could. As one of my so. Meanwhile, other journalism orga- tors reported this spring in its annual peers observed recently, “I might not nizations, such as the Asian American Newsroom Census that only a third of have as much experience as other re- Journalists Association, UNITY: Jour- last year’s newsroom internships went porters here, but I’m eager to learn, nalists of Color, and the National Les- to minority candidates. This number and I don’t mind doing assignments bian and Gay Journalists Association has declined since 2001, and it shrinks other people don’t want to do. Plus I were swift to publicly stand shoulder- even more if one considers placements can tell an older journalist that Britney to-shoulder with NABJ and young jour- at top-tier newspapers. Spears isn’t as hot as she used to be.” nalists to aggressively decry any at- She and I decided our younger years tempts at a connection between Blair’s Two Journalists, Two Paths bring just as much to the table in terms actions and his minority status or youth. of diversity as our race or gender and No matter our age, I’d like to think Blair began his ascent as a 21-year-old wondered whether she is the only per- similar motivations attracted us and minority intern at a top-tier newspa- son in the newsroom with a nose ring. keep us coming to the newsroom. Jour-

28 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting nalists share a sense of curiosity, a the other differences that separate us, (In METPRO’s first year, reporters desire to accurately chronicle events the Blair incident is a call to all of us, are at the Los Angeles Times; the around us, and a dedication to the young and old, to come together in the second year is spent at one of the public responsibility of our craft. Green name of what unites us—journalism, Tribune Company’s 11 daily news- journalism isn’t necessarily yellow jour- practiced with fairness and accuracy. ■ papers.) She has interned at The nalism. As young journalists, we don’t Daily Press in Newport News, Vir- connect ourselves to Jayson Blair or to Errin Haines is a 25-year-old re- ginia, The Atlanta Journal-Constitu- others who perform their jobs as irre- porter who has worked at the Los tion, and The Associated Press. sponsibly as he did any more than do Angeles Times for the past 10 months Haines chairs the Young Journalists our veteran colleagues. On closer ex- and is entering her second year of Task Force of the National Associa- amination, we have more in common the Tribune Company’s Minority tion of Black Journalists. with the veterans than with our mis- Editorial Training Program guided peer. Regardless of race, age or (METPRO) at the Orlando Sentinel. [email protected] Newsroom Diversity: Truth vs. Fiction Before and after the Times’s debacle, American newspapers are still ‘telling our readers an incomplete, inaccurate story.’

By Bryan Monroe

he New York Times scandal in- The Reality Behind the the rest of America will likely look like volving reporter Jayson Blair left Numbers those communities. And unless things Tmany victims: The readers were change dramatically, newsrooms will lied to. The staff was humiliated. The In an industry already struggling to still be ill-equipped to cover this new two top editors were ousted. The meet its meager goals of reflecting the America. paper’s reputation was tarnished. Jour- racial and ethnic makeup of their com- Why is this important? Too many nalism itself was scarred. munities by 2025, efforts to recruit, newspapers still cannot fully cover the But the entire debacle’s most unfor- hire and retain journalists of color have richness and complexity of their tunate victim may be the good name of been plodding along, at best. Nearly communities because their staffs come diversity in American newsrooms. Or nine of 10 newsroom professionals in from a limited perspective. We are un- was it? America are white—and most of them able to regularly listen to those in the Early on in the drama, The Washing- white males. People of color make up shadows and too often incapable of ton Post’s Howard Kurtz made the now- just one-tenth of newsroom leaders. hearing voices different from our own. laughable proclamation on CNN: “I And the needle has barely moved in the We, therefore, are telling our readers wonder if a middle-aged hack would past decade. an incomplete, inaccurate story. And, have gotten away with 50 mistakes and If diversity is taking over the news- in the process, we are practicing bad still be at that job?” (The answer, by the room, I guess most folks didn’t get the journalism. way, is yes.) memo. Three years past an initial in- Whether it is coverage of the local Then blowhard conservatives and dustry target for local parity in news- Muslim community leading up to the frustrated newsroom left-behinds be- room staffing nationwide—editors had war, or getting inside a Vietnamese- gan to pile on, calling Blair the poster performed so pathetically they ex- American neighborhood in everyday child for what’s wrong with newsroom tended the deadline to 2025—the in- stories, our newsrooms too often miss diversity, claiming that it has taken dustry still misses the mark. nuances in coverage or miss entire over the newsroom and lowered stan- Meanwhile, the nation grows rap- stories completely because we don’t dards. idly more diverse and complex, with have staffs diverse enough to “get it.” But just when Fox News was ready people of color making up 31 percent Or we miss fresh angles on the routine to go live (cue the whoosh sound ef- of the U.S. population. And that figure stories because the few staffers of color fect), reality set in. People began to will only rise, according to the census there are have been pigeonholed into look at the facts, and journalists started bureau. In states such as California and doing stories on Cinco de Mayo or to form clearer impressions about the Texas, and cities like Miami and Phoe- Black History Month. They don’t get to value and impact of diversity in news- nix, those so-called “minorities” are in cover the drama on the city council or rooms. And the truth hurt. fact the majority. Within a generation, developments in Tel Aviv.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 29 Race and Reporting

Many newsrooms still look like a 15.55 percent average nationwide and has on coverage. 1950’s “Leave It to Beaver” image of nowhere near the goal of parity with The impact: At a recent roundtable America. Sure, some have progressed the rest of America by 2025. By that in Denver, nearly every senior editor at to a 1970’s picture of black and white, year, the national population is ex- the Rocky Mountain News heard first- allowing George Jefferson to coexist pected to be nearly 40 percent people hand from Latino community leaders with Archie Bunker. But only a handful of color. about their impressions of how their of U.S. papers, less than three percent, Looking at average hiring and attri- paper covers—or doesn’t cover—their reflect the real America in 2003, “In tion rates in American newsrooms, to community. One community member Living Color.” meet the 2025 parity goal editors will complained about the narrow cover- It’s time for serious action, but only need to make virtually every new hire age of Cinco de Mayo; he felt the paper a few editors have demonstrated the during the next two decades a person focused too much on young Latinos guts or ability to do what it takes. of color, just to catch up. cruising the streets. Another person And which editors have the will and said the paper was too dense, distant Failing Grades at Big and the guts to do that? and impenetrable. After listening to Small Papers this feedback, editors pledged to open A Few Success Stories up the newsroom, listen more to these According to a 2003 diversity survey, and other communities, and increase the overwhelming majority of Ameri- While radical action like this may be efforts to diversify their staff and their can newspapers—some 97 percent of inconceivable for most editors, a quiet coverage. those that responded—are miles away few have started taking dramatic steps Meanwhile David Yarnold, now edi- from having staffing that reflects the and should serve as examples. tor of the San Jose Mercury News, chair- racial richness of their local communi- For instance, during the recent eco- man of the diversity committee for ties. For instance, The Miami Herald, nomic downturn, hiring has been scarce ASNE, and recipient of the Ida B. Wells in a market that is 65 percent minority, in most newsrooms. At The Washing- Award from the National Association of might have a staff of about 45 percent ton Post, hiring has been limited as Black Journalists (NABJ), was tired of people of color—the highest percent- well, but editors were tired of seeing hearing reporters say that they couldn’t age of any major paper in America. But their diversity efforts stall until the find diverse sources for their stories the only slightly smaller Boston Her- economy rebounded. So according to and photos. So he, at that time execu- ald, in a market that is almost 20 per- Post deputy managing editor, Milton tive editor, challenged reporters to cent minority, reported only five per- Coleman, the leadership focused its quickly and measurably go out in the cent of its staff as people of color. efforts especially on strong journalists community, find new sources, take And to make matters worse, 40 per- of color. them out to lunch if needed, and look cent of all American papers still have The impact: At the Post through the to expand their diverse contacts. And no—zero—journalists of color work- end of 2002—and during the worst not only did he offer to pay for the ing for them. That means that more economy in recent history—nearly 50 lunches, he gave every reporter a full than four million readers—more than percent of all new hires have been week off their beats to do nothing but the circulation of USA Today, The New people of color. expand their source lists. York Times, and The Washington Post On the other side of the country, The impact: More than 100 report- combined—do not read the work of journalists in Denver were tired of see- ers have significantly expanded their people of color in their newspapers. ing the Latino community lists and are now including women Papers such as The (Everett, Wash.) underrepresented or misrepresented and people of color previously absent Herald, circulation 50,506, and the in local papers. So editors at the Rocky from the Mercury News. Yarnold said Lancaster (Pa.) New Era, circulation Mountain News and the E.W. Scripps one reporter spent her week talking to 45,019, as well as companies like Lib- Company this spring teamed up with dozens of new leads and came away erty, Ogden and Community Newspa- The National Association of Hispanic with about 30 new people or groups to per Holdings top this hall of shame. Journalists (NAHJ) to be the test site for use as sources. The audit, conducted annually by NAHJ’s Parity Project. In this project, And national organizations are not the American Society of Newspaper NAHJ pairs community members with being left out. The Freedom Forum, Editors (ASNE), shows that nearly 500 newsroom leaders to match local staff- tired of hearing editors at smaller news- papers failed to respond at all, includ- ing and reporting patterns with com- papers complain they can’t find any ing such big names as the New York munity impressions of coverage and young, talented journalists of color Post and the Chicago Sun-Times. Of look for ways to bring the two closer. willing to work in small towns for little those that did respond, their news- Nationwide, the goal is to identify cit- pay, has teamed up with ASNE and The rooms have 12.53 percent profession- ies where Latinos are underrepresented Associated Press managing editors to als of color (Asians, blacks, Latinos or in local newsrooms but make up a help place young journalists at news- Native Americans). That figure is well significant portion of the population papers under 75,000 circulation. off ASNE’s own interim 2003 target of and look at the impact that divergence The impact: Nearly 50 young jour-

30 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting nalists of color—including five pro- But if editors continue our miserable Bryan Monroe, a 2003 Nieman vided by the NABJ—are now or will be level of progress, a new generation of Fellow, is assistant vice president for working at small and medium-sized leaders will, 22 years from now, still be news at Knight Ridder. He is also newsrooms around the country, sup- talking about the problem, scratching vice president/print of the National ported by a $20,000 salary supplement their heads, and wondering what to Association of Black Journalists and from the Freedom Forum. do. is on the board of Unity: Journalists While all these efforts are exciting Diversity hasn’t “taken over” Ameri- of Color, Inc. and laudatory, it will take 10 times this can newsrooms, as some claim it has. activity level to even come close to Truth is, it is barely showing up. Edi- [email protected] hitting the parity goals for staffing and tors should be tired of talking. It is time coverage that our industry has pledged. to act. ■ ‘Coloring the News’ Collides With Journalists ‘… too many of those with heavy investments in the diversity crusade either read my arguments wrong or preferred not to review their investments.’

By William McGowan

How did your colleagues respond News” confirmed that there are defi- thing about the abusive tone and inac- to your book?” nitely sanctions for speaking out too curacies of these broadsides was dis- “In the scores of radio and television candidly about this subject. Traveling turbing. They seemed to say some- interviews I did during the publicity through the intersection of journalism thing profound about the way our campaign for “Coloring the News: How and our nation’s racial tensions re- journalistic culture debates—or stifles Crusading for Diversity Has Corrupted quires a hard head, if not a helmet. debate—about its coverage of one of American Journalism”—an examina- Though some reviewers gave the book’s our most vexing national issues. And tion of diversity programs and their arguments and evidence fair treatment, they demonstrated the need to vilify often-corrupting impact on news cov- there were many instances when the those who step out of line and articu- erage—this question was the one most unacknowledged ideological leanings late a complex, dissenting view. frequently asked. And it’s natural to of a news organization or professional see why. Diversity is one of the most group made constructive dialogue The Book’s Message controversial issues in the press today. much more difficult than it should be. No nerves are quite so sensitive and Many journalists were all too ready In the book’s first chapter I write that raw as those attached to the issues of to read racial ill will into the book’s efforts to enhance “diversity” in news- race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, critique of the diversity crusade or to rooms and in the news “product” are and discussion of them has long been dismiss it as a “right wing” screed and “worthy, historically necessary, and surrounded by considerable discom- describe me as a conservative ideo- overdue.” I also note how this has led fort and taboos. logue with an agenda. While some crit- to turmoil in some news organizations Many news organizations demand a ics showed an almost religious attach- and explore accusations of racial double pronounced commitment to diversity ment to the concept of diversity, standards in hiring, assignment and as a requirement for career advance- frustrating rational discourse, others promotion policies, though I don’t lay ment. Failing to do so, or asking too approached it with cool careerist cal- blame or validate any side in discussing many questions either about its ani- culation. They did their best to dis- such accusations. mating premises or its execution in the credit it with blithe dismissals or un- The vast emphasis of the book, how- newsroom, can “dramatically narrow” founded charges about the book’s ever—almost 200 of the book’s 250 one’s career options, as New York “dubious scholarship.” (With some I pages—is devoted to an examination Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. sensed that the distancing they did of a more important issue: the impact phrased it. Indeed, stepping over the from the book was to avoid coloring that diversity efforts have had on news party line on this subject can result in their own career prospects.) coverage, with particular attention fo- ostracism, opprobrium and banish- I had been told to expect such treat- cused on diversity-related issues of race, ment to career Siberias. ment, and while it certainly did not gay rights, affirmative action, and im- My experiences with “Coloring the outweigh the positive responses, some- migration. These issues reside at the

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 31 Race and Reporting

red-hot center of the nation’s culture I felt then and still do that we’re at a Breslin and said if he were still teach- wars and had been the focus of many demographic and cultural crossroads, ing journalism “one book would be who claimed that the media had a left- when the need for honest and unbi- mandatory: ‘Coloring the News.’” wing bias. ased information is critical. Journalism Unfortunately, however, too many The evidence I found and presented needs to renew its appreciation for the news organizations with heavy invest- showed a disturbing level of ideologi- ideal of fair and detached reporting— ments in the diversity crusade either cal conformity in the press with cover- “armed neutrality in the face of doc- read my arguments wrong or preferred age of these issues and favoritism to- trines,” as one philosopher of the prag- not to review their investments. Sev- ward various politically correct (PC) matist school put it. eral influential news organizations sim- causes and protected PC constituen- ply blacked the book out, even when cies. Although diversity purported to How the Reviewers Saw It legitimate news pegs existed and not celebrate a multiplicity of viewpoints, reviewing it exposed institutional self- certain unfashionable voices were over- “Coloring the News” was commended protection and a lack of integrity. looked or muted for a variety of rea- in many reviews—some from surpris- The New York Times refused to re- sons. Certain groups felt more em- view my book and, in several ex- powered in the journalistic changes with book editors at the shouting match than others. Times, it became clear that my Why had well-intentioned di- book was too critical of some of versity efforts run off the rails? I the diversity efforts at the newspa- cited clumsy bureaucratic initia- per—and their impact on news tives that encouraged “reporting coverage—for a review to be as- by the numbers” and showed how signed. The Times was not exactly this led to bias. I wrote about a covert about this. Asked on-the- climate that allowed activism and record about the decision not to ethnic and racial cheerleading to review my book by a media re- eclipse neutral observation, as well porter for the San Francisco as the ideal of objectivity, and about Chronicle, the Times’s Book Re- a kind of wishful thinking that view editor, Chip McGrath, con- caused too many journalists to see firmed the suspicion. a world where “what ought to be Not reviewing “Coloring the true is substituted for truth itself,” News” was, in my view, the jour- as Washington Post columnist Ri- nalistic equivalent to the “blue wall chard Cohen has phrased it. of silence” that the Times often The book closes with an explo- decries. A newspaper’s job is to ration of the consequences this get past such walls and hold pub- kind of PC journalism has had on lic institutions accountable: My our political culture and on the book was trying to hold the news- media’s health and credibility. I paper accountable. Not being will- also argued that PC journalism hurt ing to respond to this scrutiny the credibility and financial health seemed a negation of the paper’s of mainstream news organizations mission and a decision that ill and fed the growth of right-wing served readers who depend on it. broadcasting backlash. This silent treatment from The My goal in writing the book was New York Times put “Coloring the not to condemn attempts to expand ing sources—for its careful research, News” on a lengthening list of books the ranks of minority journalists and its moderate tone, and for sparking an (considered to be “right-wing”), includ- enhance newsroom sensitivity to mi- overdue debate. The review in The ing former broadcast journalist Ber- nority issues. I wanted to ask probing Washington Post, a newspaper that took nard Goldberg’s “Bias,” which have questions that few people in the pro- a few hits in the book, noted that there not been reviewed by the Times Book fession seemed to be willing to ask, at were things that many reporters and Review, despite contributing to a vig- least out loud, and, by doing so, spark editors would not want to hear, but orous debate among journalists (and a debate. If the book had an agenda, it said it essentially was a liberal-minded in Goldberg’s case, achieving the num- was to reassert the values of intellec- book written in the spirit of George ber one position on the Times’s own tual rigor and honesty and to affirm a Orwell. Village Voice and Editor & Pub- bestseller list). real diversity of opinion and experi- lisher columnist Nat Hentoff put it in a At National Public Radio (NPR), black ence—whether or not it was deemed league with the work of George Seldes, talk show host Tavis Smiley essentially “progressive.” I.F. Stone, Murray Kempton, and Jimmy told me on the air that “black people

32 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting don’t need a white journalist to tell particularly officers and members of nalists piled on, too, calling the book them what’s good for them.” Juan Wil- the National Association of Black Jour- “insulting” and “poorly argued.” That liams had prepared a package with nalists (NABJ). Critics from the NABJ group went on to say that I had “a Bernard Goldberg and me, but it did blatantly misrepresented the book’s hostile attitude toward journalists of not reach the air for more than six main points. They claimed that I was color.” The NPC resisted the pressure weeks. The delay: Higher-ups at NPR’s against the hiring of minority journal- to rescind their award, but its presi- “Morning Edition” mandated a rather ists and that I singled out journalists of dent and board of governors issued odd second segment to follow the next color for newsroom political correct- statements—without letting me know day with two pro-diversity figures who ness and the miscoverage it had gener- their content or timing—finding vari- are not known for scholarship on the ated. Their reviews contained the worst ous faults with the book’s core argu- subject. This “balance” seemed to be kind of racial McCarthyism, as writers ment and its research, though once happening to appease those at NPR threw mud on my name and creden- again specific charges were lacking and, who thought giving airtime to us would tials. in the end, the award was bestowed. validate our arguments. This concern Writing in the Milwaukee Journal “Coloring the News” enjoyed sales seems less apparent when the liberal Sentinel, columnist and local NABJ far more robust than expected and did, perspective is voiced without a coun- president Eugene Kane said “McGowan I think, help to jumpstart a debate that terbalancing conservative one. strikes me as one of the white journal- had been stalled for too long. It also set Sometimes the response to the book ists who long for the days of all-white the stage for my next book, “Gray Lady has had a vaguely comic or self-parody- newsrooms, all-white society pages, and Down,” which uses the Jayson Blair ing quality. Some delegates at the Soci- no black faces in the newspaper unless scandal as a window onto the decade’s ety of Professional Journalists 2002 they were charged with a crime.” St. long slide of The New York Times un- convention tried to pass a resolution Petersburg (Fla.) Times media colum- der publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. condemning the book, until cooler nist Eric Deggans (another NABJ of- But the overall experience has left minds explained it might look a bit ficer) wrote that I seemed to be con- me a bit ambivalent. While I gained a hypocritical for people in the First sumed with anger and rage. “Anger more clear-eyed view of today’s corpo- Amendment business to condemn an that so many news organizations seem rate media realities, it was somewhat exercise in free speech. committed to hiring and promoting sad to lose the illusions I had harbored As these experiences suggest, “Col- minorities. Rage that other sensibili- up until then. Call me naive or idealis- oring the News” has become a hot ties, besides those of the white male tic, but despite my own research and potato—and I a bit of a pariah. Shortly power structure, are now helping shape reporting on the subject, I still had a after the book was published, I was the nation’s news agenda.” The vague confidence that American invited to be a keynote speaker for a Maynard Institute’s Dori Maynard had journalism’s maverick streak, which panel during the prestigious Media and problems with the book’s “scholarship” values iconoclasm and intellectual hon- the Law Seminar, an annual conclave though she offered no specifics what- esty, would help me overcome estab- sponsored by a consortium of Kansas soever. [See Dori Maynard’s stories on lished notions about what public con- City-based insurance companies, with pages 11 and 34.] On television, Les versations can happen and which can’t. support from The Kansas City Star. (A Payne of Newsday said that my politics This I found was wishful thinking, a number of the law firms sponsoring were “from the gutter.” version of the world as it “ought to be,” the event do First Amendment work.) It was not surprising when the NABJ not as it really is. As a friend who works Fliers for the event with my picture reacted strongly to the National Press at The New York Times said in explain- were printed up, but then I was Club’s (NPC) decision to give “Color- ing his paper’s blackout of “Coloring disinvited. According to one event or- ing the News” its 2002 award for media the News”: “We’re gutless careerists. ganizer, a lawyer with a firm with ties to criticism. Deggans wrote John What can I say? The treatment your the Kansas City Star put the kibosh on Aubuchon, then the NPC president, book got dramatizes the power that the invitation, arguing that he was con- that it was “amazing that the NPC would liberals have to dominate the discourse cerned that the newspaper, where di- honor a book that so blatantly twists and to shut down—or try to shut versity is a top priority, might pull their and bends the truth to attack such a down—dissidents or those who have sponsorship. Another member of the simple obvious and honorable goal.” alternative points of view.” ■ organizing committee whose wife (Yet a few months after this event, worked at the Star agreed. Curiously, when I had agreed to debate NABJ William McGowan is the author of the motto of the man’s employer is about my book, the NABJ pulled out.) “Coloring the News” and is currently “We insure free speech.” The Washington Post’s Richard Prince under contract with Encounter said “Coloring the News” “is simply a Books to write a book about The Fellow Journalists React continuation of the angry white male New York Times and Jayson Blair. backlash we have been contending with By far the sharpest and ugliest rebukes since we landed on these shores.” The [email protected] have come from minority journalists, National Association of Hispanic Jour-

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 33 Race and Reporting Why Journalists Can’t Talk Across Race ‘What we found is a conversation fraught with frustration and mistrust.’

By Dori J. Maynard

early 30 years ago the news because they are scared that if they say Trying to Talk Across Race media set out to diversify its the wrong thing they will be branded a Nranks. Since then it has more racist. During one newsroom-wide conversa- than tripled its number of journalists Years of compliance training, diver- tion we had during the institute’s as- of color from the recorded low of 3.95 sity training, and sensitivity training sessment, there was debate about percent. It’s progress, but progress that have taught participants what they can whether this lack of opportunity ex- was far short of its goal to have the say, and this has essentially left people isted because white managers over- nation’s newsrooms reflect the nation’s with a set of learned responses that looked journalists of color or because diversity by the year 2000. According to don’t take this conversation past pre- journalists of color did not put their the annual newsroom census by the dictable roadblocks. Little has been hands up. The discussion was a good American Society of Newspaper Edi- done to teach people how to say what illustration of the breakdown in com- tors (ASNE), journalists of color make they want to say in a way that can be munication across race that is appar- up 12.53 percent of the work force. heard and is effective. The result is that ent in many newsrooms. People of color make up 31 percent of even in news organizations that have a It should not be surprising that jour- the overall population. diverse staff, the strengths of that di- nalists do not know how to talk across There is one often overlooked rea- versity are often not reflected in either race. Little in most people’s experi- son why the industry continues to the content or the business practices. ence prepares them for these conver- struggle to retain journalists of color. It The reason: So many employees have sations. Most of us grew up (and now is because the news organizations that been trained to say what they think live) in mostly segregated communi- essentially serve as moderators of the they should say and not necessarily ties, attended schools lacking in a di- nation’s conversations have yet to learn what they believe. verse student body, and go to segre- how to talk about and across their own Greg Freeman, the late St. Louis gated houses of worship. Rarely are we racial fault lines. (Mo.) Post-Dispatch columnist, said in in situations that give us the experi- As part of the Maynard Institute’s “To Whom It May Concern,” a book ence and knowledge about how to talk strategic planning process, we spent about retaining journalists of color as- across race. In one community the lack the first few months of this year con- sembled by ASNE: “From talking with of contact among the races was so ducting more than 70 interviews with colleagues from across the country, I apparent that, in an attempt to bring 18 news organizations, most of them feel that many journalists feel that they some diversity to his church, an Afri- newspapers. Armed with a generous aren’t listened to by management in can-American Louisiana Baptist bishop grant from the Robert R. McCormick terms of stories and angles. Angles that recently offered white people $5 to Tribune Foundation, the institute was are perhaps different are often sum- attend a Sunday service and $10 to charged with examining three news- marily dismissed because they don’t attend a Thursday service. When asked room issues—diversity, training and always fit the mold of what some man- why, Bishop Fred Caldwell told CNN, the conversation around diversity. agers think stories should be.” “So let’s just cut to the chase. America What we found is a conversation Because of this, many journalists of needs to come together ….” fraught with frustration and mistrust. color stop offering ideas that they know While the bishop’s approach is Many people of color are frustrated cut against the grain. Over time, a lot of unique, it is equally clear that in our because they feel as though the indus- them decide to leave journalism, ac- news organizations we need to find try is failing to live up to its promise. cording to a 2001 study done for ASNE. ways to at least talk together, if not Much of that frustration is borne by the The study, brought together by work well together, if we want to sur- failure to meet the year 2000 goal and Princeton University researcher vive as an industry. then the subsequent decision to push Lawrence T. McGill, a meta-analysis of What makes this conversation more the goal back another 25 years seem- 13 studies looking at the retention of difficult is that we have yet to acknowl- ingly without making the necessary journalists of color between the years edge and understand the role that race changes to enable the goal to be better 1989 and 2000, cited the lack of profes- and gender play in shaping our per- met in the future. Many executives are sional opportunities and absence of ceptions of news and events around frustrated because they feel they re- opportunity for career advancement as us. Just as journalists of color and their ceive no credit for the progress made. two of the main reasons journalists of white peers experience industry op- Many white men expressed frustration color make the decision to leave. portunities very differently, they also

34 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting often view news events through very of the Times’s top editors, Howell news judgment questioned by a white different lenses. Raines and Gerald Boyd, makes it clear editor. After a while, many said, they News coverage of Jayson Blair’s situ- both race and management played a stopped going to their editors with ation at The New York Times offers an role. This is not because Blair was given such stories. At the same time, white example. For many white journalists, a break due to his race, but because editors have been heard to complain race and diversity efforts were at the those who work in newsrooms often that despite having a diverse staff, all core of the story. In The Washington shy away from discussions involving journalists think the same way. Post, syndicated columnist Richard race. Jonathan Landman, whose ur- To fulfill the industry’s promise to Cohen wrote: “Not only was Blair not gent memo noted the need to stop diversify its newsrooms so journalists stopped, he was promoted to the na- Blair from writing for the Times, said can accurately and fairly cover our in- tional staff and ultimately given more he did not aggressively block Blair’s creasingly complex communities, we responsibilities. Why? The answer ap- promotion to the full-time staff in part need to find ways to talk across our pears to be precisely what the Times because the issue of race was involved. nation’s racial fault lines. To do so denies: favoritism based on race.” “The racial dimension of this issue might require retraining ourselves in Many journalists of color saw the and Gerald’s [Boyd] obvious strong how to listen and how to speak hon- story differently, regarding what hap- feelings made it especially sensitive; in estly and respectfully to our colleagues. pened as a failure of management. that sense it is fair to say that I backed If we fail to learn how to do this, we “Over the years, the Times has rejected off a bit more than I would have if race stand a good chance of having these the notion that it needs an ombuds- had not been a factor,” Landman says same stilted and unproductive conver- man and has insisted that its editors are in the Siegal report. sations about how we once again capable of detecting errors, enforcing Landman’s experience in shying missed the mark in the year 2025. ■ a code of ethics, and addressing issues away from such discussions involving of credibility raised by its readers. The race is common. The fear of saying the Dori J. Maynard, a 1993 Nieman Jayson Blair affair should be enough wrong thing, appearing racist, or just Fellow, is president of the Robert C. for the Times to rethink that conclu- sounding stupid is so great that some Maynard Institute for Journalism sion,” wrote (New York) Daily News of the white men who participated in Education, a 26-year-old nonprofit columnist E.R. Shipp in an article she our assessment observed that it inter- dedicated to helping the news media wrote for the “Outlook” section of The fered with the newsroom’s ability to reflect the nation’s diversity in Washington Post. gather good stories and mentor and staffing, content and business opera- The Siegal Committee report, a com- criticize across racial lines. People of tions. prehensive examination of the events color told of times they found good and practices that led to the departure stories on their beats only to have their [email protected]

Having Conversations Across Race in Newsrooms We have not ‘found a safe place or way to discuss racial issues with each other.’

By Condace L. Pressley

he meteoric rise of former New that Blair will likely profit from his cheerleaders who failed to hold him York Times reporter Jayson Blair dishonesty should repulse all of us. accountable for the responsibility he Tand his swift and sudden fall into Those who ultimately managed Blair assumed when he joined this presti- disgrace has given us in the National have also been held accountable for gious news organization. Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) their actions. Howell Raines and Gerald The New York Times will emerge much about which to think, write and Boyd resigned their positions as ex- stronger from this dark period in its talk. The “Blair Incident,” as we have ecutive editor and managing editor at 152-year history, as will our industry. called it, also signals an NABJ call to the Times. However, it appears that the For better or for worse, Blair’s actions action. Our organization has stated managers with more daily contact with shone a white-hot light on the value of clearly and repeatedly that there is no this reporter could have done more to newsroom diversity initiatives. NABJ, excuse and perhaps no satisfactory prevent the tsunami of destruction like The New York Times and many explanation for Blair’s abhorrent be- done to the newspaper’s credibility other media companies, recognizes the havior. He was wrong and is being held and to the morale of its employees. value in having the diversity that is accountable for his actions. The notion Blair needed coaches. Instead, he had America reported on by those with

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 35 Race and Reporting

different voices and experiences. The involves expectations and lifestyles. its members to entertain and to accept content of our news coverage should Many entry-level journalists of color employment offers in the country’s reflect what is happening throughout come from the nation’s big cities and smaller and medium markets where the community. urban communities, and many of them their skills are needed. There will be want and expect to work in communi- benefits for them, as well. Rookie jour- Why Diversity Matters ties familiar to them. But the industry, nalists can learn, in a less-pressured especially newspapers, need entry-level environment, from the inevitable mis- Our challenge now lies in illustrating journalists of color in our smaller cities takes they will make and hone their the benefits of diversity to the readers, and communities, places that might skills across a range of assignments. listeners and viewers as well as to those lack the cultural environments to which There is something worth emulating in opposed to “a hand up and not a hand these entry-level journalists of color the way in which Major League Base- out.” We accomplish this goal by how are accustomed. ball relies on its system of farm teams. we compose our newsroom staff and This imbalance of expectation and What better way is there to get the best the quality of our coverage that emerges need is something NABJ can help to prospects in the pipeline and ready from it. While few openly state opposi- address. As an organization, we already them for the big time? There is also tion to newsroom diversity initiatives, work to strengthen ties among African- something to be said for understand- clearly the industry is a long way from American journalists and promote di- ing the value of “paying dues” and aligning its staffing with the demands versity in newsrooms. We honor excel- “earning stripes,” an understanding that for coverage of increasingly diverse lence and outstanding achievement in some younger journalists don’t seem communities. the media industry and work to ex- to have. Why is this disconnect still with us? pand job opportunities and recruiting I believe we are still not comfortable activities for established African-Ameri- Discussing Race Among having conversations about race. Man- can journalists and students interested Journalists agers fear being labeled “racist” while in journalism. And NABJ looks for ways journalists of color fear being labeled to expand and balance the media’s NABJ can communicate this message “not qualified enough.” These are is- coverage of the African-American com- to student members and entry-level sues we discuss among ourselves, but munity and experience. journalists. However, it will be most most of us haven’t found a safe place or Everyone—from NABJ and other effectively preached one journalist at a way to discuss racial issues with one organizations for journalists of color to time by individual members who can another. Another challenge our indus- the hiring managers in the industry— share what they have learned from their try faces in trying to reach its goals must urge entry-level journalists among experiences. Groups like NABJ can make other contributions as well. By using our Media Institute for journal- Minority journalists as a percentage of the professional work ism education as the vehicle and rely- force of newspapers in eight circulation categories. ing on NABJ member journalists in senior management positions as facili- tators, NABJ can create the safe place 1980 1983 1993 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 so desperately needed by journalists to have necessary, difficult and rare con- Over 500,000 7.2 9.4 16.1 17.3 17.0 17.3 18.4 18.4 18.5 18.6 versations about race in the news- room—and have them across race. Such 250,001 to 500,000 6.4 7.8 14.3 16.2 16.8 17.8 18.3 18.3 18.8 19.5 discussions would benefit all of us and improve what we, as journalists, pro- 100,001 to 250,000 6.3 6.0 11.8 13.1 13.2 13.6 13.6 14.0 14.5 15.0 duce. But there is work for the journalism 50,001 to 100,000 5.6 6.3 10.3 11.3 11.0 10.8 10.2 10.2 10.5 10.7 industry to do as well. It must continue to support minority journalism organi- 25,001 to 50,000 4.2 3.4 7.0 7.1 7.6 7.6 8.1 7.4 7.9 8.5 zations like NABJ by recruiting not only at our annual conventions but also 10,001 to 25,000 3.1 4.4 6.5 7.0 6.9 6.5 6.9 6.0 7.1 7.4 year-round via programming like the NABJ Media Institute and the National 5,001 to 10,000 2.4 3.7 4.9 5.1 5.9 5.6 5.6 4.4 4.8 5.5 Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Parity Project. [See more about this 5,000 and Under 2.8 3.8 5.2 4.6 6.6 5.7 6.0 6.4 4.8 5.7 project on page 30.] While it might continue to be fashionable and cost © Copyright 2003 The American Society of Newspaper Editors. effective to do more with less, when the economy finally rebounds the busi-

36 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting ness side of journalism (with its on- was sufficient blame to share. To at- managers who work with journalists of going emphasis on bottom line profit) tribute race as the cause of Blair’s ac- color, one risk is to figure out ways to must provide journalists with the nec- tions is unfair and wrong. In fact, in his get over the hurdle of having a young essary resources to achieve the goals of memo to the staff of The New York staffer confuse constructive criticism a diverse newsroom. Times, the newspaper’s new executive with racism. Only when we find ways Every young journalist—not only editor, Bill Keller, observed that in a to discuss these unnerving and dis- those of color—needs supportive detailed report on the Blair incident comforting issues will we advance our mentoring and solid training when they journalists from outside the paper “an- craft and our service to it. start working in the newsroom. Edi- swered the charge by some of our more I am willing to take that step. Are tors (and other journalists) also need partisan critics that the Blair case was a you? ■ support for and solid training in ways consequence of our determination to to manage diverse newsrooms success- hire and promote a diverse staff.” Condace Pressley is the 14th presi- fully. There is no reason for black jour- “That charge, they make clear, is dent of the National Association of nalists, especially young ones, to be wrong,” Keller wrote. Black Journalists. Her term as presi- forced to wear the scarlet letter for the For us, as we move forward, the dent ended in August 2003. Pressley sins of one bad journalist who is black. lesson is about taking risk. For entry- is the assistant program director of Thousands of black journalists go to level journalists of color the risk comes the nation’s top rated news talk work each day committed to uphold- in taking a job in a community where radio station, News/Talk 750 WSB in ing the standards of an industry that again you might be the first or the only Atlanta, Georgia. the civil rights movement led us to one who looks like you in the news- integrate and in which we continue a room and sacrificing social comfort in [email protected] struggle to advance. the short term, knowing a greater re- In the Jayson Blair incident there ward comes later. For the newsroom

Making Race a Part of Local TV News Coverage A news producer describes KRON’s reporting on race and the way this led to changes in how people work in the newsroom. By Craig Franklin

emember the Kerner Commis- our station when few newspapers and sensationalism and finger-pointing and sion? It’s surprising how few fewer TV stations were doing so) when focus on information that would help Rpeople do, even among those management at KRON-TV in San Fran- viewers better understand and deal who report news about the issue of cisco decided in 1997 to begin a year- with race in their daily lives. race relations that this 1968 report long project to report about race. With- We began the project by asking two addressed. out such efforts being made by news basic questions: What is race? Where In local TV news, we seem barely organizations, North Carolina State Uni- does prejudice come from? Our stories able to remember yesterday’s assign- versity professor Robert Entman, who then expanded to examine topics such ment as we scramble to our next live studies news and race, contends that as the roles race plays in religion, edu- shot. So it’s laughable to imagine re- blacks and other minorities are still cation and the workplace. Reporters porters stopping during their busy day being largely excluded or stereotyped, also looked at interracial marriage and to contemplate the race riots of the while the lives of whites are portrayed the lives of multiracial children. In time, 1960’s and how a group of presidential in a broader range—the good, the bad, we even produced a two-part series on appointees—the Kerner Commis- and the usual. how television news affects race rela- sion—reported back to the nation KRON’s “About Race” project set tions. about its racial divide and blamed it, in into motion an evolving growth in our part, on the mainstream white media’s newsroom that continues today. This Talking About Race failure to report about “Negro” life and project changed not only our approach issues. to news coverage but also affected the I was assigned to be the lead producer So it was scandalous (that it had lives of many on our staff. The initial of “About Race,” a decision that re- taken so long) and extraordinary (that goal of “About Race” was to reframe quires a brief explanation. In the early such an effort was about to be made by our reporting to deemphasize conflict, 1990’s, minority staffers were trying to

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 37 Race and Reporting

introduce a “rainbow Rolodex” into overall coverage of race as well as racial about the scripts, as were all of us who the newsroom. I was one of several attitudes inside the newsroom. At the worked on these stories. Nevertheless, white staffers who quietly grumbled first meeting of our so-called “race com- he kept a cautious distance, giving us about “political correctness” as this mittee,” a Filipino-American camera- support instead of interference. idea was put forth. Without widespread man calmly stated that KRON was the A few days before we broadcast this support, and in a majority white work- most racially segregated place he’d ever series, Rosenheim showed it to the place, the Rolodex project stalled. worked. newsroom. After they’d viewed it, Soon after, I was teamed with a Now at this point you might be pic- people voiced a broad range of opin- black video editor to co-produce a docu- turing racism flowing through the halls ions, which was another stunning ex- mentary about the history of African of KRON like hot lava. Not so. KRON ample of change from the safe silence Americans in baseball. I thought I was has always enjoyed the reputation of of years past. While concerns were ex- a well-intentioned, racially sophisti- being a friendly workplace. So when pressed that we didn’t dig deeply cated and sensitive guy. So it shocked he made his statement—and other non- enough, the tone of the comments was me when our increasing disagreements whites nodded—the whites in the room generally positive, as I sensed commu- led to a blow-up: she accused me of reacted with stunned protests. The dis- nal pride in seeing us tackle such tough being racist, and I called her incompe- cussion could have quickly disinte- issues. tent. At this point a little counseling grated but, instead, for the first time at might have helped, but we really didn’t our station, a diverse group of journal- The Diversity Committee know how to talk about race at our ists began talking about race—haltingly, station. Management removed her from uncomfortably—but with the frank By any standard, the “About Race” the baseball documentary, and I fin- curiosity we typically bring to less project was a success. Audience re- ished without her. threatening topics. As we took those sponse was huge and overwhelmingly She and I didn’t speak again until wobbly baby steps, we should have had positive. We extended the project for a the “About Race” project started four a trained facilitator to help us, but one second year, producing a total of two years later and—before management wasn’t there. Nonetheless, the race dozen in-depth news pieces. More than realized its mistake—she was assigned committee and the “About Race” project 400 teachers wrote asking for copies. as tape editor. At this point, the two began to slowly change our company’s KRON won a Peabody Award, the Pew people with probably the worst per- culture, exposing hidden fault lines Center’s James K. Batten award, three sonal race relations in the building and reducing tensions. consecutive Unity Awards from the were going to be reunited for a lengthy, Our news coverage changed, too. Radio-Television News Directors Asso- high-pressure project on race relations. For example, the race committee’s con- ciation, and repeated recognition from At her suggestion, we took a long, tent audit showed that our news relied Columbia University Graduate School long walk and decided we didn’t have heavily on white experts. The commit- of Journalism’s annual workshops on to like each other, but we had to learn tee recommended expanding our race and ethnicity. how to talk about our differences more sources. Suddenly the previously pooh- This collective effort could not have honestly. The fact is, I had a lot to learn poohed “rainbow Rolodex” became happened without visionary manage- about the different realities race can solid policy that all of us could sup- ment. But in 2000, KRON was sold and create for people. When I was talking port. that management replaced. Some 20 with a black man about that difference We documented this process as part staffers called a meeting with the new he said to me: “When you wake up in of a two-part series titled “News and bosses and bluntly asked whether the morning you don’t have to say to Race,” by devoting an extraordinary 24 KRON would continue its commitment yourself, ‘I wonder, what’s going to minutes on the 6 p.m. news. The sug- to racial issues. The answer was yes. happen to me because I’m white?’ But gestion of examining ourselves in pub- With that assurance, staffers formed somewhere inside my brain that ques- lic generated even more newsroom their own grassroots “diversity com- tion is always hanging.” conversation because our standard mittee.” Here’s how it works. We meet In working together on “About practice, as journalists, is to look at at nine o’clock every Thursday morn- Race,” she and I ended up living the others, not at ourselves. Some staffers ing to brainstorm story ideas. These very subject we were reporting on. thought “News and Race” would be a gatherings supplement the regular Through fighting, talking, listening, we self-serving whitewash, while manage- news planning meetings. Anyone in eventually reshaped our pain and dif- ment worried about exposing dirty the station is invited to come or submit ferences into an unlikely friendship laundry. ideas. About eight of us attend regu- that has grown through six more years Ultimately the news director felt we larly. While the focus is still often about of collaboration. Not a happy ending, were no better or worse than most race, we also look at issues related to exactly, more like a work in progress. companies and that showing our racial poverty, immigrants, gays, religion, Early in the “About Race” project, difficulties would spark broader public women, seniors and people with dis- news director Dan Rosenheim assigned discussion. But it was not an easy deci- abilities. Besides “issue” stories, we a team of 15 staffers to examine KRON’s sion. Rosenheim was clearly nervous also look for good features, or simply

38 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting ways to include a wider variety of folks The diversity committee has its de- cations Commission, the coverage cat- in daily stories. Often we are able to tractors—people who never attend but egory of “race, diversity and civil rights” provide background or context that see us as marching in lockstep to a has more than doubled since the com- news planners miss in their daily rush. mandate of political correctness. A mittee started, from about 25 stories a After September 11, 2001, for example, white producer calls us “The Politburo,” year to more than 50. we helped report in depth about Bay and another white, mid-level news Beyond those numbers, I believe Area Afghan and Muslim communities. manager was upset when we suggested that when news organizations make All of this means more work for a new, more cautious policy for identi- ongoing efforts to recognize, under- committee regulars, who still have other fying the race of crime suspects. “We’re stand and reflect the variety of people duties and deadlines. We make this supposed to be journalists,” he com- and issues in their community, those extra effort because it feels right, but plained, “not social workers.” Occa- who work for them become better jour- also because we love getting hold of a sionally, we have to dodge and weave nalists and possibly—to the horror of good story, and there are whole veins to get stories on the air—actions that hard-bitten reporters everywhere— of untapped gold out there. Some “di- one person on the committee refers to better human beings. ■ versity” stories we’ve managed to get as “drive-by diversity.” For example, covered include a look at how playing one committee member is in a position Craig Franklin is a news producer at basketball has connected the Japanese- to assign daily news crews. When she KRON. The station’s continuing American community for almost a cen- sees some rare downtime in the sched- efforts to cover race and diversity tury. And there were the ones about ule, she can often dispatch a crew to a have relied on several organiza- how school segregation in America was story that our committee has found. tions, including the PEW first challenged by a Chinese-American We also have a special projects unit Foundation’s Project for Civic Jour- girl in San Francisco and how disabled that can bypass the daily news appara- nalism, the Poynter Institute for people are trying to build “wheelchair tus. Media Studies, the Robert C. ramps” on the Internet. We’ve also But when push comes to shove, we Maynard Institute for Journalism brought to the attention of viewers that still need the backing of management. Education, and Columbia University Iraqi Americans have been broadcast- Thanks to news director, Stacy Owen, Graduate School of Journalism’s ing radio and television to Baghdad race and diversity remain on our “Let’s Do It Better Workshops.” from the farmlands of California for newsroom’s agenda. In KRON’s an- three decades. nual reports to the Federal Communi- [email protected]

Mainstreaming and Diversity Are Gannett’s Core Values But these programs ‘are not without controversy.’

By Tom Witosky

ay Harris’s argument for minority for comment when there was a plan- intentional in most cases, but rather it mainstreaming and diversity in U.S. ning and zoning proposal or a city was something that no one had really Jjournalism is the same today as it street paving problem. It’s like he didn’t thought about. It was the traditional was 20 years ago, when he was a na- exist when those questions came up.” way of doing things and that had to be tional correspondent for the Gannett Harris heard those comments in changed.” News Service and an African-American 1984, at a time when he and John city councilman from a small Louisiana Quinn, then the top news executive in Twenty Years of Attention to city that Harris can’t even remember the Gannett Company, were beginning Diversity presented it to him. work on a policy to end what they “He had been on the city council for considered to be a journalism myopia Since 1984, Gannett newspapers have years,” the former San Jose Mercury that was destined to alienate newspa- been on a path of change to bring a News publisher remembered recently. pers from their future readers. “Back diversity of culture and race into their “But the only time the local paper asked then, I never understood why report- newsrooms and their pages. Last year, him about anything, it was about a ers and editors always seemed to limit Gannett’s 100 newspapers had nearly problem in the minority community or the people they wrote about or talked 1,000 minority journalists on their staffs about the poor. They never asked him to,” Harris said. “I don’t think it was amounting to 17.1 percent of the

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 39 Race and Reporting

company’s newsroom workforce. That having minorities well represented in- soccer tournament held in Des Moines figure exceeded by nearly five percent- side the newsroom and in news col- in June. Owens had never covered a age points the average percentage of umns amount to cynical political cor- soccer game before and felt completely minority journalists working at daily rectness, or do these policies uphold out of her comfort zone. Like any rookie newspapers nationwide in 2002. journalism’s primary responsibility to serious about learning her job, she Gannett newspapers have also been mirror accurately individual and com- spent hours watching soccer on morn- evaluated annually during the last 20 munity accomplishment and failure? ing and afternoons so hot that she years on how well they met the expec- complained of sunburn. “I didn’t know tation that each newspaper include Gannett’s Policies at Work I could [get sunburned],” she said with expert minority voices where appro- a laugh. priate and reflect the activities of each Shannon Owens recently became a But Owens is dead serious about part of their communities. sportswriter for The Des Moines Regis- achieving her goal as a journalist. She “Mainstreaming and diversity in our ter. Owens, the great niece of Olym- wants to become a sports projects re- newsrooms and our news pages are pian sprinter Jesse Owens and the sis- porter and is already chomping to get essential to our newspapers maintain- ter of Chris Owens, a forward for the a project underway. “I am curious about ing credibility with our communities,” NBA Memphis Grizzlies, is enthusias- why minorities seem to concentrate said George Benge, the executive who tic, knowledgeable, but relatively inex- themselves into one or two sports. oversees the company-wide program, perienced in sports writing at age 23. Why they choose basketball and not named in typical Gannett fashion as She wrote for the student newspaper soccer or something else,” she said. the “All-American Review: at the University of Texas, where she Her idea is similar to a recent Green Mainstreaming and Diver- Bay Press-Gazette story sity.” “We believe that the that can be found on a program will provide our Simply put, does the goal of having Gannett editors’ Web site newspapers with the cred- minorities well represented inside that lists hundreds of sto- ibility needed to remain the newsroom and in news columns ries reflecting diversity in strong over the long term communities served by in the communities we amount to cynical political Gannett newspapers. In serve.” correctness, or do these policies Green Bay, the Gannett- Executives at Gannett uphold journalism’s primary owned newspaper won- define “mainstreaming” as dered why so few minori- the appropriate use of mi- responsibility to mirror accurately ties participated in nority experts in the re- individual and community athletics at Green Bay’s five porting of stories. For ex- accomplishment and failure? area high schools. ample, when a The paper’s reporting sportswriter is working a explained why. Among the story about how intercol- less obvious reasons was legiate athletics are financed, then the majored in journalism, and landed an that many potential athletes—many of reporter should include a minority internship at the Columbus (Ga.) Led- whom are recent Hispanic and Hmong expert on the topic. Gannett defines ger-Enquirer in 2002 through the pres- immigrants—still have trouble with “diversity” as relating to stories about tigious sports journalism institute spon- English and get confused when taking minorities and their communities. That sored by the National Association of direction from coaches. Also, many of means that to diversify the story on Black Journalists and The Associated their parents—particularly those with intercollegiate athletic finance, the re- Press Sports Editors organization. She daughters—oppose athletic participa- porter would use a predominantly black is only the second minority journalist tion because of their cultural beliefs. college or a conference like the South- hired to write full-time for The Des “This story area has some poten- western Conference to illustrate the Moines Register sports section in 30 tial,” Owens said. “I just hope I can impact of increased spending on ath- years. Despite this, she is one of 18 full- work it in with everything else I have to letic programs. time minority reporters and editors do.” But the company’s mainstreaming within the 160-member Register news- Owens’s addition to the Register and diversity program are not without room that amounts to 11 percent of the staff is just one example of what Gannett controversy. Given the Jayson Blair newsroom and just 1.1 percentage contends is the benefit of the company’s scandal at The New York Times, these point below the minority population mainstreaming and diversity program. reporting policies must be understood in the Des Moines metropolitan statis- Qualified minority candidates are diffi- within the context of the company’s tical area. cult to find, particularly minority fe- intentions and the execution of those Owens’s first Register assignment male sportswriters, but they can be intentions. Simply put, does the goal of was to help cover a 13-state regional found and trained. The primary ben-

40 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting efit—when they become staff mem- largely ignored. the news executives of the core corpo- bers—is the different perspective they Benge also recognizes the limits to rate value to expand minority inclu- bring to the newsroom in determining which such lists can be developed and sion into their newsrooms and onto what is and isn’t news. Questions about used. For example, there are plenty of their daily pages. “Actually the meeting minority participation in Des Moines minority experts in areas such as sports, was going pretty well until I began high school sports aren’t something where minority athletes are predomi- going through some examples of what that occurs to many sportswriters who nant, but in the front offices, many I considered to be inappropriate,” he aren’t from a minority background. fewer can be found. Currently, major said. For readers, there are benefits, too. professional sports have only two mi- Benge pulled out a high school foot- Different parts of a community will nority owners—Robert Johnson, who ball preview section from an Ohio pa- identify with a newspaper when they owns the NBA team in Charlotte, North per. The cover headline, “Redskins on believe the local newspaper under- Carolina and Arturo Moreno, who re- Warpath,” led to a discussion about the stands their views and concerns. cently became Major League Baseball’s use of mascots in Gannett newspapers. Benge, who is a member of the first Hispanic owner with the purchase Gannett doesn’t have a corporate policy Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and was of the Anaheim Angels. Still, these lists on the mascot issue, so decisions are editor at two Gannett newspapers be- can be effective tools to help reporters left to local editors. But in this case, the fore becoming a corporate executive, and editors avoid relying on the same headline provided an avenue for a dis- points to recent U.S. population pro- people who tend to be quoted again cussion about these broader corporate jections to emphasize the business ra- and again. issues. “Our discussion got pretty frank tionale behind Gannett’s policies. But sometimes by identifying “new” and that was a good thing,” Benge said. “Over the next 50 years, the percent- sources, they can quickly become over- “I think I was able to point out pretty age of minorities in the United States is used sources. In 1999, Brill’s Content well just why that shouldn’t have been expected to grow from 26 to 47 per- found The Greenville (S.C.) News, a the headline.” cent of the total population,” said Gannett newspaper, quoted the same Gannett provides newspapers with Benge. “That means millions of poten- Asian woman three times in 13 weeks direction based on the values it wants tial readers will be alive to witness and in stories about a new area jogging its newspapers to uphold. But Gannett experience a monumental cultural path, the need to change area rugs to also monitors how well each of its transformation. We have to be ready match the season, and an Elton John newspapers is adhering to its prin- for that.” concert to be held in the community. ciples of mainstreaming and diversity Benge isn’t strident about the com- “We don’t want the same person quoted and provides tools to help editors and pany policy but also isn’t afraid to con- in every story because that serves no reporters do this. “We believe in local front tough issues. His message to real purpose and acts to cheapen our autonomy on issues like that [the use Gannett staffers is a positive one, based effort,” Benge said. “The source list, if of mascots],” Benge said. “Our com- on the belief that good journalism is updated and used properly, can pro- pany policy about mainstreaming and about the successes and failures of all vide excellent sources for comment diversity is about how we want our parts of a community—not just the and is good, ethical journalism.” company to operate. Local papers still dominant one. “There are a lot of good A newspaper self-audit is done an- have the ability to make decisions based stories out there, but we need to find nually by a newsroom committee as on how they want to report the news.” them. Sometimes that’s easy and some- part of the All-American competition. ■ times that’s hard,” he said. These audits—like the rest of the com- pany-wide competition—can be effec- Tom Witosky, a 1992 Nieman Fel- Measuring Success tive tools in illuminating problems with low, is sports projects writer for The stereotypes, as well as spotting missed Des Moines Register and also a Gannett publications use two proce- opportunities to be more inclusive. “If member of the Cherokee Nation of dures to assure that mainstreaming a story is being written on the changing Oklahoma. and diversity become a part of the family, why not include an interview newsroom culture. Each newspaper and picture of a minority family?” Benge [email protected] must establish a list of minority experts said. “Subjects for features, businesses, for use by its reporters. These lists, sports as well as the daily news report often divided on the basis of subject, can cut across all parts of a community, are to be used by reporters and editors and we have to show our readers that to expand the pool of sources. Benge we recognize that.” acknowledges that these lists produce When Benge met with newsroom varying levels of success. In some news- editors from several Ohio and Wiscon- rooms, reporters turn to them con- sin newspapers that Gannett had ac- stantly; in other newsrooms, they are quired, one of his tasks was to inform

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 41 Race and Reporting Reporting on Race: Building a New Definition of ‘News’ A report on race reporting by civic journalists highlights some common approaches.

By Jan Schaffer

ournalists are pretty good at cover- are “going to meet a lot of people they problems and even creating new ones. ing issues in black and white. They didn’t meet before,” he heard a subtext Busing to foster integrated schools? Jquickly anoint the victims and the that sounded almost like a coded ap- “No thanks,” many communities say, perpetrators, grade schools as soon peal to those who fear blacks. Follow- “Give us back our neighborhood as test scores are tallied, and paint ing these clues, he did more careful schools.” Performance-based school ac- Enron or WorldCom in Darth countability? Give us charter Vader hues. But when it comes to schools with some different mark- covering issues related to race ers for a “good education,” others relations, it’s less about covering insist. Higher education quotas the black and white and a lot to open up access? Justified, say more about exploring the gray. some; illegal, counter others. Covering race is seldom about reporting the noise, except when Difficulties in Reporting overt hate crimes or police mis- on Race conduct motivate news coverage. More often, stories about race During the past decade, it’s be- emanate from reporting on un- come increasingly clear to us at comfortable silences that exist in the Pew Center that there are two every community—the ones that overarching storylines or master make people squirm. Chronicling narratives—failing schools and race relations in the 21st century race relations—that ripple is less about covering external through nearly every community conflict, a common and easy defi- in different ways. These storylines nition of “news,” and more about frequently emerged in many pro- capturing the internal tensions— posals we received for funding of a trickier challenge for journal- civic journalism projects in award ists. entries and in independent initia- Because internal racial tensions tives. are less noticeable, covering them Usually the failing schools story requires journalists to abandon is also a race relations story be- some knee-jerk habits and reach cause the schools that are per- for a different set of skills. They forming the worst have large mi- need to engage in deep listening by: reporting. And in his stories, he estab- nority student populations. Or these lished that light-rail opponents were schools have high minority dropout • Asking more open-ended questions. exploiting a fear of ferrying black Nor- rates. Or they receive fewer resources •Listening for patterns, not anecdotes. folk residents down to Virginia Beach and have less skilled faculty than schools • Seeking out new voices. resorts. in more affluent neighborhoods. More- •Framing the story after, not before, Covering race relations in the new over, reporters see year after year the doing the interviews. millennium is much different than cov- patterns of performance gaps in the •Burrowing deeper on code or buzz ering it during the civil rights decade of test scores of black and white students words to unpack what people really the 1960’s. Then, journalists who were and struggle to write stories that ad- mean when they use them. on the civil rights beat were seen as dress the problem rather than affix the reporting to rectify wrongs and ensure blame. [See page 22 for coverage of the Consider how deeper listening equality. Right and wrong seemed achievement gap.] helped Mike Knepler at The Virginian- pretty clear cut. Today, the terrain feels Yet racial tensions in the commu- Pilot understand the role race was play- much softer, more confusing. “Solu- nity or racial issues in schools often ing in the debate about a 1995 light-rail tions” that Baby Boomers might have don’t become news stories until some referendum. Hearing opponents talk embraced personally during the 1960’s visible, noisy conflict emerges. Perhaps about “bag ladies” and warn that riders are now cast aside as failing to remedy the governor slashes funding for el-

42 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting ementary and secondary public schools news organizations that are trying to •Walking the streets and talking to and community protests surface. Or a find ways to report on issues involving people—before a story is framed. political candidate lambastes poor test race, such as increased immigration to This works well because people scores and finger-pointing ensues. Or or diversity within their communities. open up if they think you don’t have the police unfairly target minority mo- The initiatives we cited employed a a predetermined point of view. torists. lot of classic civic journalism tools. •Creating venues for people to talk. Readers, listeners and viewers, how- They created venues for interactions These venues include focus groups, ever, don’t usually experience race as that became listening posts for report- task forces, and video-conferencing. conflict. For them, race plays itself out ers. These helped journalists to iden- By doing this, reporters have heard as a shifting array of epiphanies and tify leaders and understand the lan- poignant stories and built bridges to observations, difficult encounters, and guage people used to talk about their new sources. tough choices. The pattern of these experiences. Of course, we also see in •Debunking myths and address- experiences over time rather than a these efforts widespread use of “civic ing them straight on. This approach particular incident that happened re- mapping,” one of civic journalism’s has produced its share of “aha” mo- cently often provides the narrative contributions to race relations report- ments for reporters and readers. thread for people’s conversations and ing. • Fessing up. Some news organiza- stories about race relations. So, when Civic mapping gives journalists a tions, such as The Jackson (Tenn.) journalists report about race through a structure for going out in the commu- Sun, have published a mea culpa, lens of intense conflict, the stories don’t nity and finding new kinds of sources, acknowledging that their past cov- resonate with people’s experiences. so-called “catalysts” and “connectors.” erage was either biased or excluded From a journalist’s perspective, how- The catalysts are the “go-to” people big pieces of history. ever, eliciting and portraying such long- who attend to neighborhood business; •Inviting action. Letting people get term patterns are tough. Often news local people tend to know who they involved and take ownership of the organizations don’t have the appetite are. Connectors are the civic bumble- problem pays big dividends. or patience for stories that can be filled bees who pollinate a lot of community with ambivalence and be kind of messy groups, from sports to scouts. Both are The goal in reporting about race to write or tell. White journalists, not in short supply in journalists’ relations is to bring a long-term per- surprisingly, risk framing the stories Rolodexes. Civic mapping also helps spective and a broad, encompassing they report through a white lens, while reporters identify “third places.” These approach to reporting these stories. I minority journalists often struggle to are the spots where people informally like to say that it’s the 5,000-foot view, pitch ideas arising out of their experi- gather and trade information. Most not the 50-foot one, which results in ences and perspective to less-than-ea- politicians know where third places the best news coverage. To strive to ger editors. Good sourcing can also be are; fewer journalists do. inform people not only about what an ongoing problem, especially when “Delving into the Divide” spotlights, happened yesterday but, more impor- language issues become part of the too, many conventional tools for re- tantly, about how things are progress- equation. Sometimes reporters work porting on race, while featuring some ing over time, seems an approach that from Rolodexes that are packed with that are unconventional. What follows every journalist could benefit by pur- “quote commandos”—people whom are some that have been well repli- suing. ■ reporters elevate to community spokes- cated: persons even when they aren’t particu- Jan Schaffer is executive director of larly validated or even respected within • Giving news space to different the Pew Center for Civic Journalism their own community. perceptions. Journalists tend to and director of its spin-off project, J- want to validate a right or wrong. Lab: The Institute for Interactive Reporters’ Tools for But truth is in the eyes of the be- Journalism at the University of Covering Race holder. Those journalists who re- Maryland. She was a reporter and port “truth” as a plural word, not a editor for 25 years at The Philadel- In the more than 800 civic journalism singular word, tend to hear more phia Inquirer, where she was a key efforts the Pew Center has collected from community members, who feel part of the team of reporters that since 1993, we began to detect some they have some access. won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for new patterns in the coverage of racial • Polling, but only if it is done right. Public Service. “Delving into the tensions. Having identified them, we Respondents in race polls tend to Divide” can be ordered at reported further and assembled what give politically correct answers. www.pewcenter.org/doingcj/pubs/ we learned in a 108-page booklet called Drafting the questions is the most index.html. “Delving into the Divide: A Study of important step in good polling. Per- Race Reporting in Forty-Five U.S. News- ceptions always differ, even when [email protected] rooms.” Part how-to and part case study, aspirations are the same. Questions the booklet serves as a road map for should be able to probe for both.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 43 Race and Reporting Asking Questions So a Community Thinks About Race The Marshall News Messenger played a central role in creating a new dialogue.

By Phil Latham

he cover of the Pew Center’s happy, the other black and angry. to accept me pontificating on matters report, “Delving into the Divide: Moyers’s work was important and of race. If anyone would speak on this TA Study of Race Reporting in highly courageous, and it is worth not- topic, it would have to be someone Forty-Five U.S. Newsrooms,” shows an ing that he remains a beloved figure readers knew and trusted. East Texas is ever-widening, craggy gorge. One imag- here in the black and white communi- in the Bible Belt, which might be a term ines treacherous and slippery path- ties. Presenting the truth did not make of derision outside the belt, but a source ways, almost impossible to navigate, him an outcast. But showing the truth of pride inside it. So I thought we’d coming out of it. Equally difficult to also did not inspire most of our resi- come up with 12 questions about race imagine is one bridge being built to dents to do much about those prob- and pose them to 12 ministers, six connect the two sides: It would seem lems, either. After Moyers won the white and six black, covering as many puny and insufficient. But could two or Emmy, a black woman, well known in Christian denominations as possible. I three bridges possibly provide the space Marshall, was denied access into a local would not interview the ministers, but needed for people to pass freely from tour of homes. This occurred in the we’d print whatever they wrote on the one side to another? It isn’t likely. 1990’s, not some distant time ago. The topic of the week. But there is another way: If this local country club still has no black I spent a great deal of time working gorge is transformed into a plain, the members. While the by-laws don’t pro- on the questions that were, for the walking gets easier for everyone. And hibit it, the rule is chiseled in stone. most part, not about religion at all. filling up this gorge doesn’t require the These facts rightfully shame many in Many people in East Texas seek regular intense engineering of bridge-building Marshall, and some have even stepped guidance from their ministers on a or negotiation. It just requires shovel- forward to do something. But the ra- range of secular topics, so this was just ing. Lots of shoveling. Count me among cial problems remain worse here than an extension of that practice. Getting those journalists who tries to shovel as in any community in which I have lived. white ministers to be involved was easy. much as he can. We came to Marshall from another small I had only one turn me down. It was an East Texas city only 100 miles to the entirely different story with African Exploring Racism in south, but when we settled here, we Americans, and this puzzled me until Marshall, Texas felt the change in racial climate imme- one of them suggested that being a part diately. We’d only been here three of the series would be like painting a When I arrived in the East Texas town months when my 13-year-old daughter large target on his back for everyone— of Marshall (population 25,000) in 1998 asked, “Dad, why is there so much police, bankers, insurance agents, em- to become editor of The Marshall News racism here?” Good question. I only ployers—to see. White ministers at least Messenger (circulation 8,000), no is- wished I could have answered it. did not think they had anything to sue was as clear to me as the deplorable I couldn’t, but as editor of the news- worry about. A few may have been state of race relations in this commu- paper, I believed it was a question that surprised. nity. Marshall’s problems with racism needed to be asked and answers sought. Six black ministers agreed to partici- are infamous. They were first made so And there were other questions that pate, but on the day before the series by James Farmer, one of the cofound- for too long had gone unasked, such as was to begin—a Saturday—I still had ers of the Congress for Racial Equality, “What can we do about it?” These ques- not gotten a response from any of them. who lived here and went to school at tions and others formed the basis for a Finally, I went to a minister’s home and Wiley College, a local historially black series our newspaper undertook called, knocked on his door until someone college. Then, in the early 1980’s, Bill “12 Questions on Race.” answered. I told him I needed his an- Moyers explored our town’s racial swer to the question—“Using a scale of troubles in “Marshall, Texas/Marshall, Asking Questions About Race 1-100, how would you rate Marshall’s Texas,” a frank, tough look at racism. racial climate?”—right then. He took The piece was part of Moyers’s “Walk Before this series was published, I spent my notebook and, sitting in his paja- Through the 20th Century” series, a lot of time thinking about how I could mas at his kitchen table, scribbled out which won an Emmy. best communicate with readers. I was 60 or 70 words that I could use. He “Marshall, Texas/Marshall, Texas” a native Texan, but I was also new to never missed another deadline. depicts two Marshalls, one white and their community. They weren’t going Many of the ministers, white and

44 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Race and Reporting black, gave Marshall failing grades for After the 12 Questions Though I’d only been in Marshall a its racial climate. Ed Robb, Sr., a white, Were Asked short while when we did our series, I conservative Methodist evangelist who wasn’t new to Cox Newspapers. In one once took Billy Graham to task on the The day after the first installment, a story about our “12 Questions” series, “NBC Nightly News” for being too lib- wealthy local businessman called to I was singled out for going ahead with eral, gave the most enlightening an- say he’d pulled a small amount of ad- this controversial project even though swers throughout the 12 months that vertising from the newspaper, some- I was new on the job. The fact is that I’d the series was published in 1999. And, thing that didn’t concern me. What did known everyone to whom I report at once the series was done, it was Robb concern me were his barely veiled Cox Newspapers for many years. I know who reached out to African Americans threats against Robb and the other white their hearts on such racial issues, so I to form a Racial Reconciliation Com- ministers who were taking part. When never worried for a moment about mittee to try to improve the racial cli- I called Robb to warn him, he brushed their support. Indeed, Cox Newspa- mate. Before Robb’s health began to it off. “That doesn’t bother me,” he pers supported us fully as we faced a fail and the loss of another key mem- said. He was true to his word. variety of threats to our advertising and ber, this committee played an extremely Complaints lessened after the first readership along the way. important role in helping the commu- two or three installments, but they did It pains me that the Racial Reconcili- nity to resolve a racial dispute. not stop. Some charged that the news- ation Committee is gone, but the fact I am heartened by the impact our paper was guilty of “stirring things up.” that it existed at all—and had at least newspaper’s coverage had in the for- And few transgressions in Marshall— one resounding success—tells me we mation of this committee. It’s the exact and throughout the South—are quite can encourage the community to reju- effect you want as a journalist—to in- as serious as that. venate it and make it better. We simply spire others to take action. Of course, This newspaper and its staff did not have to get our backs behind our shov- many journalists disagree with civic stop its coverage of racial issues with els and get to work. ■ journalism—with the role journalists “12 Questions on Race.” It published a play in trying to influence the civic life complicated investigative piece show- Phil Latham is editor of The of their communities—but I would be ing the huge disparity in the high num- Marshall News Messenger in embarrassed to have not had the Mes- ber of blacks and fewer number of Marshall, Texas. senger reach out in this way. If I felt whites who are arrested and jailed for such a distancing from the concerns of certain minor offenses. Regularly, for [email protected] a community was required of reporters the past two years, a local African-Ameri- and editors, I would rather drive a can columnist has commented on mat- truck. ters of local interest.

Twelve Questions On Race

1. If you were asked to grade race relations in what would you say? 10.Different races of people encounter each other Marshall, what grade, from 1 to 100, would 6. As ministers you deal with enriching the souls all day long in public schools and on many you give? How might we improve our score? of your church members. Should you and your jobs. At the end of the day they, for the most 2. For the most part, predominantly white congregation be concerned with the economic part, resign themselves to social polarization. churches sat out of the civil rights movement. welfare of those denied earthly riches because What are churches doing, or what should they Black churches were much more heavily in- of racism? be doing, to reduce the social polarization? Or volved. What part do churches now play in the 7. How can churches and their members fight does it matter at all? ongoing work for racial equality? racist hate groups without sinking to the same 11.Children learn to segregate themselves; they 3. What is your favorite Bible verse, story or level? Should we ignore these groups or con- are not born knowing segregation. In Marshall, message concerning racism and/or how to front them? where do they pick this up? If it’s primarily in overcome it? 8. What three things—if you could pick only the home, where else do they see it? What can 4. What should you do if you see a person of your three—could happen in Marshall to improve churches do to combat this learning process? race engaged in racist behavior, such as mak- the racial climate here? 12.Some say racism has not lessened, it has just ing fun of another race? 9. Marshall has a rich, proud history. How do we become more covert. What are the racist subtle- 5. This group is made up of six white and six maintain that pride and accurately depict that ties you see in your race and in another? How black ministers. If each of you could talk history although racial subjugation is a part of do you combat subtleties without becoming a frankly with a member of the other race about it? How do different races in Marshall cel- whiner or nitpicker? How much should a dealing with racism, without fear of offending, ebrate each other’s histories? person be comfortable with? ■ —P.L.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 45 Words & Reflections

Accidents happen in newsrooms, and some even can be expected to happen, according to William F. Woo, a former editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who teaches journalism at Stanford University. Woo connects ideas emerging from Charles Perrow and other scholars of normal accident theory with editorial disasters in newsrooms. Woo begins by asking whether “there is something about news organizations—how they are managed, structured and equipped with technologies—that might offer us an explanation?” In his comprehensive analysis, Woo walks readers through some accidents—both in and out of newsrooms, with particular attention paid to what happened with Jayson Blair at The New York Times—to explore how well various institutions and industries might be able to prevent them. “When we don’t see that newsroom values … can be thought of as operating systems, then we risk finding that our newsrooms have become so complicated that the interaction of everything in them becomes too difficult to track,” Woo writes. “The result: We will not apprehend the next disaster until it is upon us.” In an accompanying box, Woo associates what the Times’s Siegal committee found with what the theories he’s written about tell us, and he observes that “if even a quarter of all the recommendations are put in place, the paper’s complexity will grow and with it the chance not only for things to go wrong but for the problems to spread in unpredictable ways.” In an essay entitled “While the Watchdogs Slept,” Gilbert Cranberg, the former editor of The Des Moines Register’s editorial pages, wonders why the press hasn’t done a better job of investigating the Bush administration’s stated reasons why the United States went to war in Iraq. “Why did it take some four months from the disclosures by [Mohammed] ElBaradei and [Seymour] Hersh for press and politicians to find their voice and ask tough questions …?” Alex S. Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, reflects on the life, times and journalism of Scotty Reston, who was Washington bureau chief for The New York Times during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Jones’s thoughts about the ways in which Reston reported on events of his time compared with how reporters in Washington now work were spurred by publication of John F. Stacks’s book, “Scotty: James R. Reston and the Rise and Fall of American Journalism.” Jones observes that, “Scotty Reston emblemized a moral journalism that could be tough or gentle depending on the situation, and he and his peers felt comfortable making those choices based on their sense of what was best for the nation.” From the apartheid policies of South Africa to the civil unrest that plagued countries in Southern Africa, John Ryan writes about three decades of experience working as a white newspaper reporter covering these stories. Wilson Wanene, a Kenyan-born freelance journalist living in Boston, reviews Ryan’s book, noting the value of “One Man’s Africa” to journalists. “… one gets to see that even under a racially divisive system, there were newspapers and reporters calling things as they were.” Yet there were many stories white journalists couldn’t tell, and Wanene tells us how newspapers “relied on novice black journalists it recruited who in turn performed beyond expectations. Sadly though, they could not be given bylines as this would have endangered them.” ■

46 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Words & Reflections Journalism’s ‘Normal Accidents’ By exploring theories about how organizations fail, a journalist understands better what is happening in newsrooms and why.

By William F. Woo

s The New York Times went that were supposed to oversee it. The tively serve the First Amendment. through its hell last spring, I crash, he concluded, was what organi- What Jayson Blair did at the Times Amarveled, as others must have, zational theorists call “a normal acci- was no accident. It was deliberate. That at the sequence of destructive events dent.” is true with disasters at other news consuming it. Who could have imag- Paradoxical as it may sound, acci- organizations. They are not “accidents,” ined that a very junior reporter could dents in some organizations can be as we commonly understand the word, have conned the paper so outrageously considered normal. Such organizations but the results of transgressions such and for so long? Or that his eventual have complicated and highly interac- as plagiarism, poor judgment, or many firing would lead to the departure of a tive components. Their operating sys- of the other things that journalists do Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, chaos in tems are tightly coupled, providing little that they shouldn’t. the newsroom, resignations of the two room for recovery. But what came to light after Blair top editors, and the mortification of News organizations do not involve was uncovered, and what happened the publisher who, only days before, risky technologies in the way nuclear after he committed his deception, will had declared his faith in his executive power plants, petrochemical factories, be familiar to anyone who has looked editor? or even airliners do. Death and de- at normal accident theory. The same Actually it happens—not every day, struction do not occur when media can be said of problems at other news but frequently enough. Many news or- organizations crash, though the loss of organizations. Normal accident theory ganizations have gone through searing public confidence in the press can be will not explain everything, but it ex- difficulties for which there were ample widespread and damaging to society. plains a good deal. warning signs that were ignored or Not all of the features of normal acci- Back in 1993, Doug Underwood, a misinterpreted. dent theory apply to journalism, but former Gannett journalist, wrote a book Like the Times, other news organi- enough do that the theory can be a way called “When MBAs Rule the News- zations, in times of stress, have had to of looking at what has been happening room.” “On virtually every front,” he deal with unforeseen and seemingly in America’s news organizations. declared, “the newspaper industry’s unrelated events that made a satisfac- In terms of its mission and its pro- approach has been to get its members tory resolution impossible. Though tection under the First Amendment, to adapt the corporate ‘management’ details of these cases differ, they can be journalism is a unique industry. But in and ‘marketing’ solutions to handling analyzed for what they had in common some ways, as we shall see, it shares their difficulties.” In the years follow- before the first obvious sign of trouble, organizational similarities with other ing, the emphasis on management for how the organizations responded industries, some prone to normal acci- throughout the news industry has been to the problems, and for the ways in dents. If journalists cannot recognize unprecedented, and yet the landscape which the troubles spread out of con- this, they won’t be able to understand is littered with disasters. trol. why certain things go wrong again and News organizations large and small I came to this line of analysis a few again. And they will be handicapped have been brought low by plagiarism, years ago after reading a gripping ac- not just in their ability to prevent disas- by theft of information or the sale of it, count by William Langewiesche in The ters, but also in their capacity to effec- by stories that proved to be fiction Atlantic about the crash of an airliner into the Florida Everglades. ValuJet 592 caught fire after oxygen canisters in the Not all of the features of normal accident cargo hold exploded. The real cause of the crash may have been more compli- theory apply to journalism, but enough do that cated. Langewiesche suggested that the the theory can be a way of looking at what has crash was the result of an intricate and been happening in America’s news unpredictable set of events involving a new type of airline spawned by deregu- organizations. lation, the contractors that served ValuJet, and the government agencies

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 47 Words & Reflections

instead of fact, by spectacular breaches periods certainly occur in journalism. ment, including “revenue opportuni- of the firewall between news and busi- Take the case of Patricia Smith, The ties,” was available. Twenty-three pages ness, by postings of sensational but Boston Globe columnist who invented of business text can be flotsam to busy false information on the Web, by em- people and events and had to resign in journalists. barrassing failures to get right such big 1999. Her record was full of warning Though Turner’s work went largely stories as the CNN/Time Tailwind ac- signs about fabrications, some dating unnoticed in America, Perrow’s book count of how nerve gas supposedly more than a dozen years to her work at was quickly recognized for its signifi- was used by the United States in the Chicago Sun-Times. Editors let them cance. Normal accidents, he wrote, Indochina, and the San Jose Mercury slide. occur in organizations characterized News’s “Dark Alliance” series, which Second, Turner saw that relevant by interactive complexity and tight cou- accused the CIA of introducing crack detail often is buried within a mass of pling within their systems. In these cocaine into inner cities. irrelevant information. People don’t situations, he wrote “multiple and un- Is there a connecting thread among go around with their eyes closed but, expected interactions of failures are them? Is there something about news as Turner notes, “A way of seeing is inevitable.” organizations—how they are managed, always also a way of not seeing.” In one Not every nuclear power plant will structured and equipped with new tech- instance, Turner found that memos have a serious accident. But given the nologies—that might offer us an expla- that might have prevented a deadly rail nature of such installations, some- nation? accident went unread because they where, sometime, accidents are inevi- were regarded as “flotsam” in the sys- table. Not every paper will find its re- When the Theory Applies to tem. porters have made stories up or Newsrooms That Jayson Blair’s expense accounts plagiarized or sold information to tab- contained contradictory information loids. But the way newsrooms are orga- As a formal inquiry, normal accident is a significant clue that he never went nized and managed means some disas- theory began in 1984 with a Yale soci- to places where he supposedly did his ters are also inevitable there. ologist named Charles Perrow and his reporting. Expenses that he turned in News organizations today are char- book “Normal Accidents: Living With for a meal in Washington, for example, acterized by interactive complexity. The High-Risk Technologies.” Many char- had with them a receipt from a restau- growing dependence on convergence acteristics of normal accidents, as he rant in Brooklyn. Yet frequently prob- of technologies (print, online, broad- defined them, are common to prob- lems with expense accounts go unno- cast) requires it. Yet even beyond tech- lems news organizations experience. ticed, sometimes for months. And nologies, news organizations have be- Perrow, however, was not the first Blair’s expense accounts were reviewed come complicated places through the scholar to examine accidents in a new not by editors familiar with his assign- developments of newsrooms without way. A better place to start is with the ment but by an administrative assis- walls, the introduction of team report- late British sociologist Barry A. Turner, tant. ing systems, and the dispersal of au- who made a close study of 84 accidents In another example, during the plan- thority that once rested with middle in the United Kingdom. In “Man-Made ning period before the Los Angeles management. Decentralized authority Disasters,” published in 1979, Turner Times devoted its Sunday magazine to can bring perspectives and reporting noted two phenomena that are found the Staples Center in October 1998 power from smaller units into a large in many journalistic train wrecks. under a profit-sharing agreement, edi- journalistic project. But the coordina- Turner observed that man-made di- tors attended meetings where clues to tion requirements are higher and, as sasters don’t happen out of the blue. the deal could easily have been recog- each unit works its piece of the whole, Typically, they have an incubation pe- nized. At one, as recounted by the the likelihood of unnoticed problems riod, a time when unnoticed sets of paper’s media critic, David Shaw, a 23- increases. problems begin accumulating. These page document detailing the arrange- In the 1998 CNN/Time Tailwind story alleging that the United States used nerve gas in Laos, the association be- Yet even beyond technologies, news tween the magazine and the network organizations have become complicated places represented a new interactive complex- through the developments of newsrooms ity in journalism. Time lent its name to the project but was involved very little without walls, the introduction of team in its preparation. CNN was ill- reporting systems, and the dispersal of equipped to handle an investigation of authority that once rested with middle this magnitude. Time’s fact-checking system was suspended after its editors management. were convinced by a CNN summary that the project was sufficiently re- searched. CNN never consulted its own

48 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Words & Reflections military experts. According to the Co- everywhere. tically reduce accidents. This is called lumbia Journalism Review’s story about Put simply, normalization of devi- high reliability theory and aircraft car- this situation, the head of CNN/USA ance occurs when professional stan- rier operations and the handling of read the 156-page briefing book on the dards progressively decline, and the nuclear weapons are cited as evidence program only after it had been broad- boundaries of acceptable practices are of its validity. Unfortunately, journal- cast. stretched. When what can go wrong ism is ill-suited to take advantage of it. goes right seven times or 70, we are Missed Warnings and Other tempted to try it again. But the next Deviance Becomes Normal Newsroom Issues time, the shuttle might blow up or a in Newsrooms billion dollar libel suit land in our laps. In his time at The New York Times, New technologies have coupled The findings of Scott D. Sagan, a Jayson Blair passed through at least newsrooms together more tightly than Stanford political scientist, are relevant four separate units: the internship pro- ever. Photos taken in the field are pro- here. In his book, “The Limits of Safety: gram, the metropolitan desk, the sports cessed through digital editing systems, Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear department, and the national desk. and they may get into the newspaper Weapons,” Sagan writes that to achieve They were interactive, linked with cen- without editors seeing more than a high reliability, organizations need to tral newsroom authorities, but there fleeting image on a computer screen. maintain “a strong organizational cul- were plenty of cracks into which warn- An artful deception, such as the com- ture—in the form of intense socializa- ing signs could fall—such as a memo posite photo from Iraq that cost the tion, strict discipline, and isolation from declaring that Blair must be stopped Los Angeles Times photographer Brian the problems of broader society ….” from writing for the Times. Walski his job, is more likely to go Few newsrooms can function under With hindsight, we find it hard to unchallenged in the digital age than such requirements. Aircraft carrier deck believe such warnings are ignored. Yet had he patched together images in the crews can carry out crash exercises normal accident theory teaches us that darkroom. until every person knows exactly what warnings often receive little attention. Under the pressure to get news on to do. How many newspapers can or As Langewiesche notes: Murphy’s Law its Web site, editors can be rushed into should conduct weekly all-hands pla- is wrong. Perrow has shown that what posting unverified information that giarism drills? can go wrong almost always does go goes instantly to readers. If the mate- Sagan also describes what theorists right. Otherwise, who would ever get rial is false—as it was in the case of call “garbage can” organizations. I into a car, much less ride on an air- postings by The Dallas Morning News would place news organizations among plane? and The Wall Street Journal in the them. In the garbage can model, orga- Nowhere is Perrow’s point made Clinton-Lewinsky scandal—embarrass- nizations frequently lack clear and con- more persuasively than in the work of ing damage is done before an audience sistent objectives. The publisher, the Diane Vaughan, a Boston College soci- of millions. editor, and the assistant metro editor ologist. Her study of the 1986 shuttle The furor that followed the revela- handling a sensitive story might have disaster, “The Challenger Launch Deci- tions about Blair reveals another kind very different ideas about the paper’s sion: Risky Technology, Culture and of close coupling. Even as Times ex- mission or even their own responsibili- Deviance at NASA,” should be read by ecutives were trying to put the incident ties. Garbage can organizations use every editor and publisher. behind them, Internet postings, most “unclear technologies,” whose pro- The shuttle exploded because of the particularly on Jim Romenesko’s Web cesses are not adequately understood failure of the Viton O-rings, which seal site, kept the issue alive, generating by all the members of the group. The joints at the end of the solid rocket still more problems for the paper in the online editor might know exactly what boosters. Before launch there were form of rumors and accusations. Sud- should go on the Web. Journalists do- concerns whether the O-rings would denly the Times was confronted with ing the stories might not. In garbage hold in the cold weather that January challenges to its reporting by Judith can organizations, the decision-mak- in Florida. Despite the misgivings of Miller in Iraq. Messages from Times ing process is fluid: “Participants come engineers, the mission proceeded, and staffers about Executive Editor Howell and go; some pay attention, while oth- the seven astronauts were killed when Raines crackled with indignation about ers do not; key meetings may be domi- the Challenger exploded. But Vaughan the way he managed. By extending and nated by biased, uninformed, or even found that in the previous year, O-ring fanning the controversy, the Internet uninterested personnel.” What jour- problems had been discovered in seven became an important element in the nalist has not worked in a newsroom of the nine shuttle launches. Murphy’s eventual resignations of Raines and like that? Law was wrong. What could go wrong Managing Editor Gerald Boyd. Garbage can organizations are also with the O-rings hadn’t. Vaughan In contrast to normal accident prime candidates for normal accidents. coined a wonderful phrase, “the nor- theory, another theory holds that train- When failures occur, analyses tend to malization of deviance,” and these ing, redundancy of safety systems, and pinpoint culprits or faulty equipment words can be applied to newsrooms a strong organizational culture can dras- and absolve the institution. Instead of

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 49 Words & Reflections

recognizing how organizations might to copyeditors who read them care- clared that he would knock down the have failed, such analyses often con- fully before or between editions. It was firewall between the news and the busi- clude with high-minded reaffirmations a ritual that was socially enforceable. ness sides with “a bazooka, if neces- of institutional values. The bad apple Copyeditors who weren’t going sary.” Despite his colorful language, has been identified, and all will be well through their pile of proofs were obvi- the idea was hardly revolutionary. By again. ously not doing their job. Today, in then, the concept of “total newspaper “The person who did this was Jayson many newsrooms, proofs are gone— management” was already in place in Blair,” said Arthur Sulzburger, Jr., pub- often for budget reasons. Editors try to many organizations. But Willes went at lisher of The New York Times. “Let’s catch the story in the computer system. it with a vengeance. In his report of that not begin to demonize our executives That’s a small degradation of stan- newspaper’s Staples Center disaster, ….” In fact, Sulzburger’s troubles were dards, and usually nothing goes wrong. the Los Angeles Times media critic, just starting. But simple errors that copyeditors miss David Shaw, suggested why it took so Safety measures themselves often have significant consequences. As the long for journalists to recognize that contribute to normal accidents. As 1999 Credibility Project of the Ameri- Staples presented a serious threat to Sagan points out, the problems at can Society of Newspaper Editors the paper’s credibility. Russia’s Chernobyl nuclear power plant (ASNE) reported, “Small errors under- Shaw wrote that “the most impor- began with the testing of a new safety mine public confidence in the press, tant factor in the lag time between first system. In the conflagration at the and the public finds lots of them in the word and big explosion may well have Times, as we shall see later, at least two paper.” been a gradual, insidious change in the significant safety measures failed to For a large degradation, take the climate at the paper; so many in the put out the fire, and both made matters case of the Los Angeles Times. After newsroom had become so inured to worse. Mark Willes came to the paper in 1995 intrusions by business-side consider- Once, clerks passed out galley proofs as its chief executive officer, he de- ations in the editorial process that they

The Siegal Committee Report Examining suggested changes through the lens of normal accident theory.

In its report to the publisher of The improvements for “the newsroom’s Keller, the executive editor, has wisely New York Times, the Siegal Committee methods of communication, collabo- selected a few on which he can deliver, declared that the “practical result” of ration and supervision.” such as the appointment of an om- its recommendations “should be a guar- The Siegal Committee was not the budsman and a masthead-level editor antee that never again can a rogue only body at work on these issues. for upholding standards and another journalist exploit our disconnected- There was also a working group on essentially for personnel matters. ness, or our failure to share warning training and performance management Whether all of the recommendations signs.” “Never again” are extravagant and a communications group divided would improve the Times is problem- words for journalists. But let us as- into three subcommittees. All told, atic. Much is made in the reports of the sume the committee is correct and the these panels produced, by my count, need to modify the culture of the Times. problem of the rogue journalist has well over 100 recommendations. These I would observe that a newspaper is a been solved. Have others been cre- included generic wish items such as product of its culture, and if the cul- ated? Normal accident theory provides brown bag lunches, obvious steps like ture at the Times is changed, the paper an answer. having job applicants interviewed by inevitably will also change and in ways After the disastrous experience with departments where they are likely to that no one now can foresee. Jayson Blair, the paper’s management work, the strengthening of general prin- Moreover, the Times is likely to find realized that its problems were broader ciples, such as making accuracy a that a big obstacle to reform is simple and deeper than those posed by a “higher priority” and narrow, specific inertia. The Siegal Committee noted troubled young man. The mandate of suggestions, such as the Duke Corpo- that the Times relies too heavily on the Siegal Committee, which took its rate Education program. anonymous sources. That, by the way, name from its chair, Assistant Manag- Some of the recommendations from is not a problem that requires a long ing Editor Allan M. Siegal, and included the various committees overlap, but lead-time for fixing. Try, beginning right 21 other staff members and three out- even so, they constitute a bulk that now, declaring that nonconforming side journalists, was to recommend even the Times can scarcely digest. Bill stories don’t get in the paper.

50 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Words & Reflections were desensitized and demoralized.” ery editor will say that accuracy comes a dangerous situation. A few years ago, Bit by bit, the deviant “intrusions” of first. But note what ties together Jayson ASNE published a handbook of jour- business had become the norm. Blair, Patricia Smith, Mike Barnicle, nalism values, asserting “When it comes The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in Janet Cooke, Stephen Glass, and Ruth to accuracy, the ‘right facts’ means … 1998 provides excellent examples of a Shalit, to mention just a few high pro- coverage that ‘rings true” to readers.” vast collective normalization of devi- file miscreants who stole the words of What “rings true” might not be true at ance. Once, it was understood that other writers or faked their stories. all but merely conventional wisdom or professional standards meant that sto- All were valued for their narrative stereotype. ries must be sourced. If information skills, for their “storytelling” ability. In “News Values: Ideas for an Infor- had to be presented anonymously, None was recognized for reporting mation Age,” Jack Fuller, president and there were rules, such as the require- skills. As Barbara Crossette, the former CEO of Tribune Publishing Company, ment for two independent confirma- New York Times’s bureau chief at the writes, “Reporters who do not meet tions. The Committee of Concerned United Nations, wrote recently, “Bright the simple standard of accuracy should Journalists found that in the pivotal writing now brings the most and quick- not be taken seriously ….” Editors at first six days of the story, which set the est rewards inside news organizations.” The New York Times would surely tone for the coverage to follow, only There need be no conflict between agree. Yet, despite the staggering num- one statement in a 100 was based on bright writing and solid reporting. But ber of corrections made to Blair’s sto- two or more named sources, and 40 the pressures upon reporters to in- ries, he was taken very seriously. percent of all reporting based on anony- clude “real people,” provide vivid de- mous sources used but a single source. tail, always show instead of tell, and the Jayson Blair and the Times The most insidious normalization extravagant praise that is heaped upon of deviance involves the decline in the inexperienced journalists for bringing The Blair case exhibits how normal vigilance of editors against errors. Ev- these things to their stories can create accident theory can apply to journal-

The Siegal report was released while tions at risk of normal accidents are teaches that disasters often begin with I was out of the country. The first Times characterized by interactive complex- safety mechanisms. The catastrophe at I read upon returning was published ity. Every newspaper is a complicated Chernobyl started when engineers dis- Saturday, August 9. A front page story organism, and the Times would seem connected automatic shutdown devices on the mysterious trailers found in Iraq more complicated than most. If even a to test the backup power system. Astro- and suspected of being used for bio- quarter of all the recommendations nauts demanded safety devices for their logical weapons contained at least a are put in place, the paper’s complex- Mercury spacecraft, and an escape hatch dozen anonymous statements. (The ity will grow and with it the chance not was added. But it was the accidental only person named, a spokesman for only for things to go wrong but for the blowing of the hatch that set off a an intelligence agency, declined to com- problems to spread in unpredictable complicated system accident that led ment.) Another Page One story on ways. to the loss of the second Mercury cap- Liberia contained nearly as many. The Imagine a family car that has just put sule. As Scott D. Sagan notes, normal notorious October 30, 2002 sniper story its occupants through a terrifying ex- accident theory asserts that redun- by Jayson Blair, given special notice by perience. First the brakes failed, then dancy, added to systems for reliability the Siegal Committee, contained five the steering locked up, and mysteri- and safety, “tends to add to the com- unidentified sources. ously the accelerator jammed. But in- plexity and opaqueness of the system, Business as usual? Rome wasn’t built stead of taking care of these three items, thereby increasing the probability of in a day? Old habits die hard? Pick your the family decides to have the entire hidden interactions ….” cliché, but remember that identifying a car overhauled. The new, improved Many of the committees’ recommen- problem and solving it are very differ- car not only has different brakes, steer- dations make good sense. As a result of ent. In any event, my main purpose ing and accelerator hookup, but it also them, the Times may become an even here is not to analyze the Siegal report has a new and untested fuel system, better paper and a happier place to and the others but to look at their transmission, airbags, windshield wip- work. But complexity has been added recommendations in light of normal ers, headlights, suspension, the often, I suspect, without consideration accident theory. works—everything assembled not with of the system as a whole. As a result, factory components but with parts de- one may wonder whether the possibil- What Normal Accident signed by committees of mechanics of ity of hidden interactions with unhappy Theory Suggests varying qualifications and experience. consequences has now become a prob- Would you feel safer in it? ability. ■ — WFW The first thing to note is that organiza- Secondly, normal accident theory

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 51 Words & Reflections

ism. Earlier I noted how interactive fore, diversity becomes one more piece lengthy report on what he did. An ex- complexity and close coupling, charac- of interactive complexity. traordinary meeting followed at which teristics of organizations that experi- As Blair progressed, he produced Sulzburger, Raines and Boyd addressed ence normal accidents, were present at stories that were not only highly praised the Times’s staff. The idea was to have the Times. I also have acknowledged but also contained many mistakes re- an open exchange, to hear an explana- that normal accident theory does not quiring corrections. By early 2002, his tion of why Blair’s work was tolerated, cover every aspect of the case. performance was raising concerns by and for Raines to acknowledge his grat- Blair, a 22-year-old African Ameri- some within the paper. Jonathan ing management style. can, joined the Times as an intern in Landman, the metropolitan editor, sent But the meeting did not put out the 1998 and the following year became a the warning saying that this error-prone fire. Subsequent Internet exchanges full-time reporter. He had no college reporter had to be stopped from writ- revealed the depth of the divisions on degree, and in the journalism school at ing for the paper. the staff. Another safety fix had failed. the University of Maryland and later as Confronted with his shortcomings, Indeed, it only made things worse by an intern at The Boston Globe, Blair Blair took a short leave. When he re- encouraging and legitimizing angry had been a controversial figure. Edi- turned, the Times had a “tough love” criticism of management. tors at the Times found him bright, regimen for him. Editors noted that his Two weeks after Blair left the Times, personable and seemingly candid. The work became more accurate. The Times the publicity about the news opera- paper apparently assumed that he had believed that a safety measure had suc- tions at the paper and its bogus stories finished college. The check on his back- ceeded. It hadn’t. Instead, the editors’ claimed another journalist. This time it ground appears to have been perfunc- restored confidence gave Blair more was Rick Bragg, the paper’s Pulitzer tory, the warning signals dismissed. opportunities to betray the paper. Blair Prize-winning stylist who had relied on The problem was incubating. was assigned to the sports desk and the reporting of a personal stringer for The internship program at the Times, then, for unclear reasons, sent to Wash- stories he detailed so colorfully and on where Blair began, was intended to ington to work as one of the reporters which only his byline appeared. Bragg, bring minority journalists into the news- on the breaking sniper story. There he too, had risen on the wings of his room, and there is speculation that produced several scoops. Complaints storytelling ability. And again, it was a Blair was later allowed to get away with that these were false were noted but complaint from outside the paper that shoddy practices because of his race. not acted upon. brought a journalist down. Other staff- The Times denies it. In fact, for this When the San Antonio Express-News ers in the newsroom were outraged analysis, his race is not very significant. late in April complained that Blair stole anew, this time by the implication that What is important to observe is that its story about a Texas woman whose son here, at journalism’s gold standard, diversity has moved beyond being a was missing in Iraq, his string finally ran bylines and datelines meant nothing. value to which news organizations com- out. Rousing itself at last, the Times The fire Jayson Blair had lit, that had mit themselves. It has become an oper- confronted the young reporter and be- smoldered for years, was now burning ating system. In some news organiza- gan investigating his work. Not only had out of control. tions, diversity is quantified and he plagiarized, he had been inventing Sulzburger had said the paper’s ex- incorporated into managers’ compen- sources and facts and had gone to elabo- ecutives should not be demonized and sations, and it has become a key ele- rate lengths pretending to report from that he would not accept Raines’s res- ment of news stories, without which cities he had never visited. ignation were it offered. What changed news articles might be judged incom- Jayson Blair was fired, and shortly his mind is hard to tell. Perhaps it was plete. As an operating system, there- thereafter the newspaper published a a meeting with the Washington bureau that convinced him the two top editors had to go. The resentment against the autocratic Raines was too deep, too Organizations prone to normal accidents have intense, to be repaired. Boyd, the man- complicated interactivity among their aging editor, was better liked, but he operating units or systems. So do news was Raines’s handpicked deputy and moreover he, too, was tainted by the organizations. Such organizations are closely Blair affair. That he also resigned was coupled, as increasingly are news not a surprise. organizations, with their dependence on new Two major efforts to contain the fire had failed. It had burned in ways that technologies that are not thoroughly familiar no one could have predicted and had to all who use them. scorched people far from its origin. Now it threatened to consume the en- tire organization. Sulzburger took the

52 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Words & Reflections most drastic step available to him, short nologies that are not thoroughly famil- If we invest in media convergence of his own resignation. In forestry, it is iar to all who use them. without understanding the interactions called a backfire, a blaze lit to stop the I have sought to show that as with of technology and the people who must progress of an even greater fire. organizations where normal accidents make it work, we court dangers that lie On June 5, 2003, just a little more happen, news organizations experience in close coupling of systems. When we than a month after the San Antonio the normalization of deviance. Often don’t see that newsroom values—such paper had blown the whistle on Jayson the beginnings of problems are masked as narrative storytelling, diversity and Blair, Raines and Boyd resigned. As the by incubation periods, and relevant decentralization of decision-making— two top news executives said farewell detail can be buried in a mass of irrel- can be thought of as operating sys- to the newsroom, Sulzburger an- evant information. I have tried also to tems, then we risk finding that our nounced that Raines would be replaced describe news organizations as what newsrooms have become so compli- on an interim basis by Joseph Lelyveld, theorists call garbage can organizations, cated that the interaction of everything who had retired as executive editor in whose processes and technologies are in them becomes too difficult to track. 2001. The paper, Sulzburger said sadly, often not clearly understood. And I The result: We will not apprehend the had seen both good times and bad. have made the point, as do normal next disaster until it is upon us. “We will learn from them, and we accident theorists, that safety measures So let us end where Charles Perrow, will grow from them,” he said. “And we often do more harm than good. the originator of normal accident will return to doing journalism at this Does all this mean that news organi- theory, found his own conclusion: newspaper because that’s what we’re zations are doomed to catastrophes, “These systems are human construc- here for.” such as the Jayson Blair episode? Was tions, whether designed by engineers there nothing the Times could have and corporate presidents or the result Lessons to Be Learned done to prevent this? Is there nothing of unplanned, unwitting, crescive, it can now do to repair the damage? slowly evolving human attempts to Sulzburger’s remarks were meant to Nothing other news organizations can cope. Either way they are very resistant bring closure to the episode. Whether do to prevent something like this from to change. … But they are human con- they will is doubtful. An investigative happening to them? structions, and humans can deconstruct committee directed by a Times editor, The answer is an emphatic no. them or reconstruct them. Allan M. Siegal, and charged with sort- Normal accidents arise out of the “The catastrophes send us warning ing through the troubles to determine ways we construct and manage our signals.” what went wrong in the newsroom and news organizations. If we continue to Think of Jayson Blair and The New why, has produced its report as have tolerate the degradation of standards— York Times as a warning signal for two other working groups. Their find- by allowing, for example, the disci- journalism. ■ ings indicate that the Times has a great pline of verification to yield to the deal of work ahead to undo damage allure of vivid detail and to the speed of William F. Woo, a 1967 Nieman not only caused by the Blair affair but treating every aspect of a story as break- Fellow, teaches journalism at also by accumulated practice. More- ing news—then the normalization of Stanford University and is a former over, though the problem of the “rogue deviance will continue in newsrooms. editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. journalist,” as the Siegal committee Accuracy, the keystone of what we do, refers to Blair, might have been solved, will be further devalued. [email protected] normal accident theory suggests that other difficulties have been created. [See accompanying box on page 50 for more on the Siegal Committee report Normal accidents arise out of the ways we and other findings.] By examining the case of Jayson construct and manage our news organizations. Blair and the Times and by looking If we continue to tolerate the degradation of more briefly at other disasters in the standards—by allowing, for example, the press, I have sought to bring the analy- sis of normal accident theory to jour- discipline of verification to yield to the allure nalism. Organizations prone to normal of vivid detail and to the speed of treating accidents have complicated interactivity every aspect of a story as breaking news—then among their operating units or sys- tems. So do news organizations. Such the normalization of deviance will continue in organizations are closely coupled, as newsrooms. increasingly are news organizations, with their dependence on new tech-

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 53 Words & Reflections

WATCHDOG While the Watchdogs Slept Five months went by before many in the press questioned the administration’s evidence for going to war.

By Gilbert Cranberg

he press and what passes for the gence official in Washington or Lon- U.S. ambassador to Gabon Joseph Wil- political opposition spent much don.” son described in a July 6th New York Tof July giving the White House a Times op-ed a mission he undertook hard time about a spurious 16-word Journalists Drop the Story for the Central Intelligence Agency in sentence in George Bush’s State of the February 2002 to check out a reported Union message. July? Bush delivered Then, shamefully, the story died. It lost uranium deal between Niger and Iraq. the message on January 28. What hap- its pulse despite a top U.N. expert’s Wilson wrote, “It did not take long pened during all of February, March, declaration, on the record, that doc- to conclude that it was highly doubtful April, May and June? tored evidence figured in the U.S. case that any such transaction had ever taken Well, there was a war and Jessica against Iraq notwithstanding both a place.” He added, “Based on my expe- Lynch to cover. The likelihood that the credible report that the United States rience with the administration in the President had used bogus information may well have trafficked in the fakery months leading up to the war, I have to sell the war he was eager to launch and the inescapable implication that little choice but to conclude that some seemed to be judged by press and the President had broadcast phony of the intelligence related to Iraq’s politicians as not all that consequential claims in his State of the Union ad- nuclear weapons program was twisted despite ample early warning that the dress. to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.” administration had a truth-in-advertis- Phony claims were made not just Wilson’s article triggered a flood of ing problem. about uranium. In the sentence imme- criticism of the Bush administration, After all, Bush had charged in that diately following the reference to ura- but ElBaradei already had shown that January speech that Iraq “recently nium, Bush said, “Our intelligence the administration’s case for war was sought significant quantities of ura- sources tell us that [Saddam Hussein] flimsy and, worse, that phony docu- nium from Africa,” but the claim was has attempted to purchase high ments were part of the picture. Wilson debunked within weeks by Mohammed strength aluminum tubes suitable for added only marginally to what was ElBaradei, director of the International nuclear weapons production.” A few known. Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and head days later, Colin Powell, speaking at So why did it take some four months of the U.N.’s nuclear inspection team the United Nations, dealt at length with from the disclosures by ElBaradei and in Iraq. “Based on thorough analysis,” the aluminum tubes, tying them to an Hersh for press and politicians to find he told the United Nations Security Iraqi uranium enrichment program. their voice and ask tough questions, at Council on March 7, “the IAEA has On March 7, however, after months of least about the uranium portion of concluded … that these documents— studying procurement patterns, look- Bush’s State of the Union message? which formed the basis for the reports ing into the possibility of an Iraqi en- Context may not be everything, but of recent uranium transactions between richment program, inspecting Iraqi it can explain a lot. While the war Iraq and Niger—are in fact not authen- documents and interviewing Iraqi per- against Iraq had begun officially on tic. We have therefore concluded that sonnel, ElBaradei also threw cold wa- March 19, the war drums beat well these specific allegations are un- ter on this scare talk. He declared there before then as troops were deployed founded.” was no evidence “that Iraq intended to and polls registered strong support for Seymour Hersh followed up on this use these 81mm tubes for any project action against Iraq. Given the prevail- news in a New Yorker article that ap- other than the reverse engineering of ing climate, including the verbal at- peared at the end of March. He re- rockets.” tacks being made on France and others ported that the crudely forged ura- So by spring of this year both of the for being soft on Saddam, it was conve- nium documents were initially administration’s efforts to connect Iraq nient and simple to brush aside “old circulated by British intelligence, but to the deadliest of weapons of mass news” questions. Once the war was that they were given to U.N. weapons destruction were pretty much in tat- underway, and the news was domi- inspectors by the U.S. government. ters. Nevertheless, there was no hue nated by the dash for Baghdad and Hersh added that ElBaradei’s disclo- and cry about what looked like admin- scenes of victory, there was even less sure of the forgery “has not been dis- istration deception. That didn’t hap- appetite to question the evidence for puted by any government or intelli- pen until months later, when former war.

54 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Words & Reflections

By the time Wilson’s piece appeared, raised months earlier, but also a more Gilbert Cranberg is former editor of the dominant news from Iraq was of a congenial climate to raise them in. The Des Moines (Iowa) Register’s mounting toll of American casualties, All in all, this leaves us with the editorial pages. and the word “quagmire” began to be uninspiring picture of watchdogs who used. Suddenly, the press and politi- were asleep on the job when they [email protected] cians had not only a peg on which to should have been barking. ■ hang questions that should have been

Reflecting on a Different Era in Political Journalism Scotty Reston ‘and his peers felt comfortable making those choices based on their sense of what was best for the nation.’

Scotty: James B. Reston and the Rise and Fall of American Journalism John F. Stacks Little, Brown and Company. 373 Pages. $29.95. By Alex S. Jones

One particular moment in John F. ing enterprise on the Bobby Baker Stacks’s biography of Scotty Reston viv- story.” The bureau had been in pursuit idly demonstrates the distance Ameri- of the corruption story that would even- can journalism has traveled since tually send Baker, one of LBJ’s close Scotty’s heyday in the 1950’s and friends, to jail. “We all knew what he 1960’s. The book’s title is “Scotty: James meant,” Shanahan told Stacks. “He B. Reston and the Rise and Fall of didn’t have to say the country is in a American Journalism,” and its essen- state of trauma. It would not be the tial argument is that we would all be far patriotic thing to undermine this new better off if the news—particularly po- President who is coming into office in litical news—was covered the way these horrible circumstances.” Scotty did it when he was running the It is difficult to imagine such a jour- Washington bureau of The New York nalistic protective mantle being cast Times. over any President since LBJ, especially It is an argument that has some by The New York Times. The gentle merit. But then one comes to the mo- handling of George W. Bush by many “pessimistic” coverage. It is the same ment on page 227 in which Stacks in the media seems to be prompted Scotty Reston who a few years later describes the immediate aftermath of more by fear of being labeled unpatri- thundered that if the Times would not John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Eileen otic than from Scotty’s Olympian judg- publish the Pentagon Papers, which Shanahan, one of Scotty’s stalwarts in ment that truth should sometimes come was then in doubt, he would do so as the bureau, recounts how late in the second to mercy. owner of The Vineyard Gazette, his evening of the assassination, Scotty as- weekly newspaper in Martha’s Vineyard. sembled the bureau to talk about what Reston’s Moral Journalism And it is the same Scotty Reston to do next. Lyndon B. Johnson was who, at the end of his life, defended his now President, and the bureau dis- Stacks’s interesting and provocative judgment that the Times should not cussed his limitations on foreign policy book presents Reston as unquestion- have published the article announcing and the likelihood that he would make ably Olympian, but with the strong that there was soon to be an invasion of mistakes. Shanahan recalled that al- patriotism of a grateful Scottish immi- the Bay of Pigs. As it was, the article was most every dip and turn of LBJ’s roller grant and the moral code of a strict greatly softened at Scotty’s urging and coaster of an administration was fore- Calvinist. The same Scotty Reston who the role of the CIA removed, but Scotty’s told that night, which testifies to the declined to pursue Bobby Baker had a view was that nothing should have been shrewdness and acumen of the jour- month earlier fiercely resisted JFK’s published at all. nalists present. But at one point, Scotty push to have David Halberstam re- Reston emblemized a moral jour- said to the group, “I am not encourag- moved from Vietnam because of his nalism that could be tough or gentle

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 55 Words & Reflections

depending on the situation, and he talent and resourcefulness made him ably prompted in part by having be- and his peers felt comfortable making the paper’s star. Though Scotty was lieved many of those lies. those choices based on their sense of not an intellectual and had graduated The best of Scotty Reston was that what was best for the nation. Political from a non-Ivy League university, his he loved both journalism and his coun- figures had no choice but to treat the ambition was to attract the best and the try, and he had a solidly anchored most powerful newspaper columnists brightest to journalism. He wanted gyroscope that told him when one took and journalists with respectful atten- college graduates, and especially gradu- precedence over the other. His was not tion, not to say fawning solicitousness. ates from the elite schools, to enter a compass that was influenced by fear, And in return, they were treated with a journalistic ranks. Until the 1950’s, re- but by compassion and maturity. kind of journalistic noblesse oblige that porting was generally viewed as a blue- The fall of journalism since Scotty’s kept personal failings and the sausage- collar job, even at the elite papers. day is not that too many negative and making aspects of government out of He encouraged a new generation of invasive stories are published. It is that the paper. highly educated reporters to enter the so many of them seem to be published His style of journalism was suc- ranks of newspapers. Many of them cut without a sense that an honest and ceeded by the adversarial, aggressive their teeth covering the civil rights responsible person in authority thought and intrusive reporting that has domi- movement, which was another good the matter through and then did what nated the American press—at least until vs. bad story, but with a twist. This had to be done. What has been lost is a September 11. It is ironic that Reston time, the bad guys were often police sense that there is a Scotty calling the was a key instrument in advancing that and public officials, and these new shots. But it is important to remember evolution, a change that he largely de- reporters had the confidence to chal- that if Scotty were calling the shots, spised. Journalistically, he was a prod- lenge authority. The next big story for there are things that we know about uct of World War II, when there was a many was Vietnam, where they arrived politics and politicians that readers clear good side and a clear bad side, with an attitude that was distant from would likely not be told. Knowing less, and the U.S. government was unques- the in-it-together era of Scotty Reston. while sometimes a blessing, is a painful tionably with the angels. His style of Halberstam, for instance, infuriated bargain to strike. ■ political reporting never lost that faith. President Kennedy with his reporting The turning point in his career came that challenged the official version of Alex S. Jones, a 1982 Nieman Fellow, when he caught the attention—and events. And Halberstam and many in is director of the Joan Shorenstein affection—of Arthur Hays Sulzberger, his generation of reporters were Center on the Press, Politics, and the Times’s publisher in the 1940’s and Scotty’s boys, either literally or by in- Public Policy. He coauthored “The ’50’s, and his wife, Iphigene, the daugh- spiration. Scotty himself was less criti- Trust: The Private and Powerful ter of Adolph Ochs. To the Sulzbergers, cal of the war. Indeed, his fury over the Family Behind The New York Times.” Scotty embodied the best in journal- Pentagon Papers’ revelations of sys- ism and in American character, and his tematic governmental lying was prob- [email protected]

Reporting in Southern Africa A prominent white journalist revisits his reporting during apartheid and reflects on the news media’s work today.

One Man’s Africa John Ryan Jonathan Ball Publishers. 346 Pages. 14.99 Pounds.*

By Wilson Wanene

One of the eight well-dressed men, on for the first time as an uncomfortable Trial. The man who toyed with his fists the last day of the seven-month trial, silence settled in. Before anyone real- was Nelson Mandela who, with mem- clenched and unclenched his fists as he ized, it was being announced: life. bers of his African National Congress and his co-accused stood, waiting for The scene was from Pretoria, South and the Communist Party, had been his sentence to be read. The ticking of Africa in 1964. It was the conclusion of accused of treason and attempting to the courtroom clock became audible what came to be known as the Rivonia topple the state through sabotage.

56 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Words & Reflections

The trial turned out to be a seminal police, especially towards female jour- from its bases in Namibia. To assist the event in South Africa’s history. Mandela nalists, such as hanging dead cats on Angolan government in the fighting, would not be released until 1990. By their front doors. Cuba eventually deployed 50,000 then, his image had evolved into an Also, the Police Act made it an of- troops in the country. All of this impov- iconic figure of resistance, as fense for anyone to publish “any un- erished the two countries even more as apartheid’s dismantlement got under- true matter” about the police without whites fled and took their skills with way. Four years later, Mandela emerged being fairly certain the story was true. them. In 1975, Ryan points out, as the country’s president after the first At newspapers, the burden of proof lay Mozambique had 3,000 doctors taking all-race election. with journalists. But they often relied care of 10 million people. Only 300 of In John Ryan’s “One Man’s Africa,” on witnesses who feared for their safety them remained three years later. the trial is just one of the events he and didn’t want to be identified. “Edit- Zimbabwe, on the other hand, be- recounts from his long career as a jour- ing a newspaper in these circum- came the last British colony to be freed nalist, which included stints in South stances,” Ryan recalls, “was like walk- when it won independence in 1980, African newspapers such as the Sunday ing blindfolded through a minefield.” after a guerrilla war, but ethnic ten- Chronicle, Sunday Express, Rand Daily Mozambique and Angola gained sions simmered. And presently the Mail, Eastern Province Herald, and Cape their independence from Portugal in country is in a whole different crisis Argus. Put simply, Ryan’s book after the government allowed its demonstrates how the supporters to invade white- newspaper’s feature story can be owned commercial farms. a witness to history. Until recently, South Africa A South African and 1970 had a strange place in the popu- Nieman Fellow, Ryan’s account lar imagination of black Africans is interesting in several aspects. outside the Southern Africa re- He covers not only his own coun- gion. The country existed, yet it try—from the 1960’s to the end did not. This was due to the of the 1990’s—but also South- diplomatic isolation imposed on ern Africa as well, a region deeply South Africa by black African na- affected by the economic and tions due to its racial policies. As military dominance of South Af- a result, it’s not hard to imagine rica, which was itself a unique how, in the pre-Internet age, the case due to apartheid. reporting of a white South Afri- can journalist would not have Reporting on Resistance likely come to the attention of an Struggles African editor outside the region. His readers would more likely Reporting under apartheid was see reports picked up from West- tricky business. Journalists were ern foreign correspondents or targeted for recruitment as gov- the wire services. ernment agents by South Africa’s In any case, the majority of notorious Bureau of State Secu- Africans get their news from the rity, which later became a part of radio. (The U.N. estimates that the National Intelligence Agency. one of every four Africans owns a Once an agent actually presented radio.) The 1976 Soweto upris- Ryan with a briefcase in his office ing, for instance, in which thou- stuffed with hundred dollar bills, sands of black South African stu- which he declined. Also, there dents demonstrated against were strict limitations placed on being taught in Afrikaans, result- the press, especially during tense peri- 1975 only to plunge into bloody civil ing in over 500 deaths, was major news. ods like in 1985 when marking the wars. Both governments were pro- Africans heard of such events through 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville Mas- Marxist. In each case, South Africa their country’s state run station, the sacre, in which 69 blacks were shot backed the rebel force. In Mozambique BBC, VOA, or similar radio services. dead by police while trying to return it was the brutal Mozambican National their identity books that by law they Resistance or Renamo, its Portugese A White Journalist During had to carry with them. Newspapers acronym, while in Angola it was the Apartheid had to constantly consult with lawyers National Union for the Total Indepen- to determine how to run stories. And dence of Angola or Unita. South Africa “One Man’s Africa” therefore serves an scare tactics were employed by the conducted many strikes into Angola important purpose: it conveniently

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 57 Words & Reflections

compiles, in one volume, the long ca- Mozambicans had perished due to the the geography and basic political ter- reer of an honest journalist who oper- civil war, which finally ended in 1992. rain of Southern Africa. “One Man’s ated under apartheid’s looming Of these, 380,000 were children. (The Africa” could use an index. A map of shadow. For an African based outside country has a population of 18 mil- Southern Africa would not hurt. It could Southern Africa, it’s enlightening. lion.) These deaths, he points out, also contain a short chronology of major Ryan’s method is to present past amounted to 15 times the number of political events of the region. Such stories he filed in their original form Americans killed in Vietnam. In Angola, features would assist readers from out- while adding context and hindsight the civil war pretty much continued side the region. commentary. For the South African from independence until last year, The book is not just about events reader, this may simply be rehashing. when hope for peace became more taking place in this region, but it also But for the outsider, it works quite realistic following the killing of Jonas has a lot to say about the craft of jour- well. Most importantly, one gets to see Savimbi, leader of Unita, the rebel force. nalism in South Africa: the risks or that even under a racially divisive sys- In this strife-torn nation, Ryan had a rewards of leaving one newspaper for tem, there were newspapers and re- haunting interaction in 1989 with nine- another, salary worries, the importance porters calling things as they were. year-old Miguel Isisho Lungi. Two years of having a courageous editor heading This is all the more striking since Ryan before, the boy had stepped out of his the newsroom, and so on. By the time is a white South African. And he makes parents’ hut at night to relieve himself. of Ryan’s retirement in 1999 he is clearly it clear, with pride, that he wasn’t alone. Unfortunately, he walked over a Unita concerned about what he views as cases The book is written in a liberal voice, land mine that blew off his right leg of government interference with the but it’s different in tone—in subtle below the knee. Ryan writes: “‘That press, which smack of the experience ways—from, say, the regular accounts thing wasn’t there in the afternoon,’ during the previous oppressive apart- by an American or British foreign cor- Miguel says reprovingly. ‘Why did they heid era. But now it’s happening in the respondent. Ryan is a white South Afri- put it there? I think it’s bad, what they new, nonracial South Africa. can. This makes him an African but not did.’” He is also worried that affirmative in the usual sort of way, and he puts his There are also many interesting en- action in the newsroom is getting out uniqueness to use. He has a wry humor counters and anecdotes in the book. of hand. Too many blacks and mixed- that hints at his European ancestry. And some of the descriptions are sur- race South Africans, he states, are be- However, there’s also a slight though prising, such as the active bullfighting ing promoted to editorial positions appealing brashness of someone who’s business that once existed in Lourenco that require more experience than they all too familiar with his environment. Marques, or Maputo, as the capital of have, while senior white editors are For example, one gets an interest- Mozambique is now known. Reading being pushed to take early retirement. ing peek into a world that a black about Angola and Mozambique is a But Ryan regards these problems as journalist would find tricky to pen- refreshing departure, since Portuguese temporary setbacks in a nation that for etrate. “As a group, white Rhodesians colonialism isn’t as well known in the so long deprived so many of its people [now Zimbabweans] could be English-speaking world as British and of so much. patronising and even blindly insensi- French colonialism. Lisbon, in dealing This book deserves a wider audi- tive to a degree many white South with its five African colonies—which ence. Hopefully, more such books will Africans would consider bad form,” he also included Guinea-Bissau, Cape come out to shed light to the outside writes. “Many spoke about their do- Verde, Sao Tome and Principe—wasn’t world on how journalists managed to mestic workers in front of them. They overly concerned with stipulating so- carry out their work despite the bur- ignored strange blacks who performed cial relations between blacks and den of apartheid. ■ a service for them—like porters and whites. Instead, the focus was on ex- waiters.” ploiting them as protected markets for Wilson Wanene is a Kenyan-born But being a white journalist also has its goods and their products, such as freelance journalist based in Boston. its disadvantages. During the Soweto Mozambican sugar and cotton, which riots it was very risky for Ryan and his were imported into Portugal at prices [email protected] white colleagues to enter black town- set much below market price. ships where the action was. Instead, *“One Man’s Africa,” approximately his newspaper group relied on novice South Africa’s Press Today $24, is not available in the United States, black journalists it recruited who, in but can be found online at turn, performed beyond expectations. As interesting as the book is, a few www.africabookcentre.com. Sadly, though, they could not be given suggestions could improve later edi- bylines, for to do so would be to en- tions. Its publisher is based in South danger them. Africa. Either by design or not, it has Much of what Ryan reports is gloomy. the general feel of an account prepared By 1989, for instance, 600,000 for an audience already familiar with

58 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Journalist’s Trade

Weblogs and Journalism

At a time when access to the high-speed Internet is getting easier and do-it-yourself publishing software abounds, Weblogs are cyberspace’s quick-moving, multilinked, interactive venues of choice for millions of people wanting to share information and opinions, commentary and news. In launching the Chicago Tribune’s Weblog in August, columnist Eric Zorn—who writes that paper’s daily Weblog Breaking Views—described his new role as “leading the Tribune into this emerging hybrid media form.” In this section of Nieman Reports, bloggers and journalists (some of whom wear both hats) write about the points of convergence and divergence of Weblogs and journalism. What separates these forms of communication? How do they influence each other? Is what’s happening on Weblogs changing how journalists do their jobs and, if so, in what ways? Can news organizations embrace Weblogs and maintain the standards of the craft? Weblogger Rebecca Blood, author of “The Weblog Handbook,” tackles the issue of how Weblogs and journalism are connected. Many bloggers, Blood argues, are a part of what she calls “participatory media,” highlighting and framing news reported by journalists, “a practice potentially as important as—but different from—journalism.” Blood does not expect that bloggers will adhere to the journalistic standards of fairness and accuracy but regards transparency “as the touchstone for ethical blogging.” Paul Andrews, a Seattle Times technology columnist and Weblogger, contends that blogs, acting as catalysts, “are transforming the ways in which journalism is practiced today … [by nudging] print media to richer and more balanced sourcing outside the traditional halls of government and corporations.” Bill Mitchell, editor of Poynter Online, envisions Weblogs as improving journalism by helping news organizations “become more interesting, more credible, even essential.” As he writes, “Especially when big news breaks, it’s tough to beat a Weblog.” Tom Regan, who cowrites two blogs on The Christian Science Monitor’s Web site, gives examples of how bloggers “have forced traditional news organizations to change the way they covered a big story” and examines several areas of threat that some journalists feel from Weblogs. J.D. Lasica, a blogger and senior editor of the Online Journalism Review, observes that blogging communities exist on “grassroots reporting, annotative reporting, commentary and fact-checking, which the mainstream media feed upon, developing them as a pool of tips, sources and story ideas. The relationship is symbiotic.” And he contends, blogging is beneficial to news organizations. Former investigative reporter Paul Grabowicz, who teaches journalism students about Weblogs at the University of California at Berkeley, believes blogging can help journalism “to regain the public trust” by inviting readers to participate instead of seeming impervious to correction. “… this don’t-bother-calling-me attitude—all too common in journalism—is a message that has been taken to heart by the public.” Sheila Lennon, a blogger and features and interactive producer at The Providence Journal’s Web site, explains how bloggers expand the news media’s agenda “by finding and flagging ideas and events until traditional media covers them in more depth.” She shows how her paper’s Weblog gave readers a way to share information about Rhode Island’s deadly

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 59 nightclub fire in February and how that “reporting” helped to shape the paper’s news coverage. Dan Gillmor, technology columnist and blogger for the San Jose Mercury News, uses his newsgathering approach to illustrate how blogging conversations with readers provides ideas and information for his reporting. While he is enthusiastic about this participatory journalism, he recognizes that “Some of this journalism from the edges will make all of us distinctly uncomfortable and raise new questions of trust and veracity.” Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, publishes two Weblogs and thinks that blogging—with its ability to gather information quickly and from everywhere in the world—will have a salutary effect on news coverage. As analysis and punditry replace more expensive news gathering operations, Reynolds says that Big Media would “be well advised to beef up their foreign bureaus and start reporting more actual news.” By raising funds from readers to report via Weblog from the Iraq War, freelance journalist Christopher Allbritton showed how interactive Weblog reporting can be done. While acknowledging that blogs are not likely to “replace The New York Times,” he writes that “blogs should be the seasoning—or maybe the garnish—in a reader’s well-balanced media diet.” Eric Alterman, who writes a Weblog for MSNBC.com, shares with us thoughts from his introductory Altercation blog column in which he ruminates on what blogs are and why he, unlike a lot of other bloggers, likes having an editor for his blog. He says, “Ideally, I think every blogger would benefit from having an editor—and from knowing a little bit about the way journalism is produced (and conceived).” Mark Glaser, a columnist at Online Journalism Review, describes bloggers’ insatiable appetite for being linked and notes that “the attention of bloggers can’t help but make journalists do a better job in their reporting.” Keven Ann Willey, editorial page editor at The Dallas Morning News, writes about the paper’s new Weblog, which lets readers find out more about the thinking that individual editorial board members bring to the process of forming the newspaper’s point of view. “It’s a delicate thing, blogging our opinions in ways we hope will help clarify and enhance—not confuse and degrade—what we do and why we do it,” she says. At the Houston Chronicle, former reporter Steve Olafson was fired after he created a personal Weblog and wrote commentary on it using a pseudonym. “My message to editors is this: Embrace the blog; do not fear it.” Hartford Courant editor Brian Toolan explains why he demanded that a staff editor stop writing opinion pieces on his own Weblog. “This is not an issue of freedom of speech,” he writes. Mike Wendland, who has two Weblogs and is technology columnist at the Detroit Free Press, describes how blogs connect him to new story ideas. “… with blogging, when readers can add commments and suggestions to my posts, my assumptions are routinely challenged, corrected and defended.” Jane E. Kirtley, a professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, writes about the protection Webloggers have (or don’t have) under the First Amendment. But, as she points out, “… once somebody’s published material goes outside our borders—which is inevitable in cyberspace—all bets are off.” Larry Pryor, who directs the Online Program at University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications, shows us how professors use a Weblog as a teaching tool with journalism majors, who produce the blog’s content under close supervison of editors. “I’ve seen how it [working on the blog] helps students to make their writing more concise and focused,” Pryor says. ■

60 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism Weblogs and Journalism: Do They Connect? ‘… the vast majority of Weblogs do not provide original reporting— for me, the heart of all journalism.’

By Rebecca Blood

e are entering a new age of complex stories with links out to nu- written by a journalist does not neces- information access and dis- merous primary sources. Most impor- sarily qualify as journalism for the same Wsemination. Tools that make tantly, the link provides a transparency reason a novel written by a journalist it easy to publish to the Internet have that is impossible with paper. The link does not: It is the practice that defines given millions of people the equivalent allows writers to directly reference any the practitioner, not the other way of a printing press on their desks and, online resource, enabling readers to around. The case of Jayson Blair, re- increasingly, in their pockets. Unless determine for themselves whether the cently fired from The New York Times we understand the difference between writer has accurately represented or for fabricating stories, illustrates that amateur reporting and personal pub- even understood the referenced piece. whatever the journalist’s reputation or lishing—and recognize Weblogs as just Bloggers who reference but do not link affiliation, journalism is characterized one form these activities might take— material that might, in its entirety, un- by strict adherence to accepted prin- we will not be able to fully understand dermine their conclusions, are intel- ciples and standards, not by title or the implications they have for culture, lectually dishonest. professional standing. journalism and society. Some advocates of Weblogs as jour- Let’s start with the Weblog—a fre- Are Weblogs a Form of nalism point to the Weblogs produced quently updated Web site, with posts Journalism? by industry insiders as the future of arranged in reverse chronological or- trade journalism. They argue that, while der, so new entries are always on top. The early claim, “Weblogs are a new reporters tend to rely on only a few Early Webloggers linked to selected form of journalism,” has been gradu- sources even when reporting very com- news articles and Web pages, usually ally revised to “some Weblogs are do- plex stories, Weblogs written by the with a concise description or comment. ing journalism, at least part of the time.” people working in a field will naturally The creation of software that allowed As even the enthusiasts now concede, convey a more complete version of the users to quickly post entries into Weblogs used to record memories, plan news about their profession. But those predesigned templates led to an explo- weddings, or coordinate workgroups with a stake in the public perception of sion of short-form diaries, but the re- can’t be classified as journalism by any an issue—as working professionals in- verse-chronological format has re- definition. So in any discussion about variably have—are those we can rely mained constant. It is this format that Weblogs and journalism, the first ques- upon least for an unbiased perspec- determines whether a Web page is a tion to ask is: Which Weblogs? tive. Their commentary, done with in- Weblog. The four Weblog types most fre- tegrity, can be a great source of accu- Note that the form preceded the quently cited are: rate information and nuanced, software. Easy-to-use software has fu- informed analysis, but it will never eled the fast adoption of the form, but • Those written by journalists; replace the journalist’s mandate to as- Weblogs may be created without it. • Those written by professionals about semble a fair, accurate and complete The Weblog is arguably the first form their industry; story that can be understood by a gen- native to the Web. Its basic unit is the • Those written by individuals at the eral audience. post, not the article or the page. scene of a major event; Personal accounts are more prob- Bloggers write as much or as little as • Those that link primarily to news lematic: Is an eyewitness account jour- they choose on a topic, and although about current events. nalism and, if so, when? Depending on entries are presented together on the the event? Depending on the inability page, each post is given a permalink, so Weblogs maintained for respected of another individual to compile a more that individual entries can be refer- news organizations will certainly qualify complete version of the story? Depend- enced separately. as journalism if they uphold the same ing on the skill or training of the per- Hypertext is fundamental to the prac- standards as the entire organization. son writing the account? The standards tice of Weblogging. When bloggers re- But some argue that independent sites used to determine when a personal fer to material that exists online, they maintained by journalists automatically recollection becomes a journalistic re- invariably link to it. Hypertext allows constitute journalism, simply because port are likely to vary from case to case. writers to summarize and contextualize their authors are journalists. A Weblog This leaves link-driven sites about

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 61 Journalist’s Trade

current events. There are certainly simi- Weblogs as Participatory Perhaps the biggest reason millions larities between the practices behind Media of amateur writers produce Weblogs is these Weblogs and some of the activi- that the easiest-to-use Web publishing ties required to produce a newspaper So when I say Weblogs and journalism tools produce only that format. Blogs or news broadcast. Just as a newspaper are fundamentally different, one thing have become the default choice for editor chooses which wire stories to I mean is that the vast majority of personal Web publishing to such a run, the Weblog editor chooses which Weblogs do not provide original re- degree that the two ideas are conjoined. stories to link. But bloggers are never porting—for me, the heart of all jour- When commentators talk about in a position to determine which events nalism. But Joan Connell, the former Weblogs as the future of journalism, will be reported. And just as opinion executive producer for opinion and they sometimes seem to mean, “per- columnists use news accounts as a communities at MSNBC, has said she sonal publishing is the future of jour- springboard to present their interpre- believes Weblogs are journalism only nalism,” or “amateur reporting is the tation of events, bloggers are usually when they are edited. This will be poorly future of journalism”—but neither of very happy to tell you what they think received by those journalists who have these need manifest in the Weblog form. of what they link. embraced the form for its freedom from Whether personal publishing and But is blogging a new form of jour- professional standards and processes. amateur reporting begin to appear in nalism? Of course, bloggers unaffiliated with different forms will depend on the avail- Frankly, no. I’m not practicing jour- news organizations may state their ability of tools that allow nonprofes- nalism when I link to a news sionals to create and contrib- article reported by someone ute to other kinds of else and state what I think— publications. A Korean Web I’ve been doing something … the vast majority of bloggers site called “OhmyNews” em- similar around the water cooler will continue to have a very ploys more than 26,000 “citi- for years. I’m engaged in re- different mandate from zen reporters” who submit search, not journalism, when I articles on everything from search the Web for supplemen- journalists. birthday celebrations to po- tary information in order to litical events. The publication make a point. Reporters might is credited with helping to do identical research while writing, opinions quite frankly, unworried elect South Korean President Roh Moo- but research alone does not qualify an about placating editors, offending ad- hyun, who granted his first postelection activity as journalism. Bloggers may vertisers, or poisoning relationships interview to the site. This is amateur point to reader comments as sources with sources. reporting, but it is not blogging. of information about the items they When bloggers do report the news, I see the wide adoption of Weblogs post, but these are equivalent to letters the form is usually incidental to the as just the first wave of an age of online to the editor, not reporting. Publishing practice. When policy analyst David personal publishing. As Weblog soft- unsubstantiated (and sometimes Steven decided to document the 2002 ware evolves into content management anonymous) e-mails from readers is World Summit on Sustainable Devel- software, look for a surge of other not journalism, even when it’s done by opment, he set up a Weblog so that he kinds of online publications, many of someone with journalistic credentials. could easily post reports on each day’s which will be updated periodically in- Credible journalists make a point of events. He attended news conferences. stead of continually. If these publica- speaking directly to witnesses and ex- He interviewed conference speakers. tions employ a Weblog, it will be as an perts, an activity so rare among bloggers He summarized the proceedings in the annotated table of contents rather than as to be, for all practical purposes, Daily Summit1. But this was not a tri- as the focus of the site. Amateur report- nonexistent. umph of the Weblog form. It was made ing will become more widespread, par- Instead of inflating the term “jour- possible by the free availability of easy- ticularly with the proliferation of mo- nalism” to include everyone who writes to-use publishing software. That the bile devices that can upload photos anything about current events, I prefer end product was a Weblog was irrel- and text. These devices will be perva- the term “participatory media” for the evant to Steven’s purposes—and to sive, but little of this content will be blogger’s practice of actively highlight- those of his readers. For two weeks, widely seen, partly because there will ing and framing the news that is re- Steven was on the frontline, reporting, be so much to pick through. Such con- ported by journalists, a practice poten- editing and publishing news from the tent will be widely distributed only tially as important as—but different Summit. Journalism? I believe so, when it has the import of the Rodney from—journalism. though Connell might disagree. King video. Weblogs will be used in mainstream journalism, without question. But the vast majority of bloggers will continue 1 Daily Summit http://www.dailysummit.net/ to have a very different mandate from

62 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism journalists. It is unrealistic to apply the cal blogging. As media participants, we Weblog Handbook.” The chapter standards of journalism to bloggers are stronger and more valuable work- about Weblog ethics can be found at who rarely have the time or resources ing outside mainstream media, rather www.rebeccablood.net/handbook/ to actually report the news. In my book, than attempting to mirror the purposes excerpts/weblog_ethics.html. Her “The Weblog Handbook,” I deliber- of the institution we should seek to Weblog, Rebecca’s Pocket, can be ately reject the journalistic standards analyze and supplement. ■ found at www.rebeccablood.net. of fairness and accuracy in favor of transparency as the touchstone for ethi- Rebecca Blood is the author of “The [email protected] Is Blogging Journalism? A blogger and journalist finds no easy answer, but he discovers connections.

By Paul Andrews

re bloggers journalists? Certainly will fade once the even greater conve- Blogging’s Effects on they can be. Several journalists nience of real-time, word processor- Journalism Akeep Weblogs, although only a like editing of any Web site becomes handful of them actually get paid to do the norm. Yet I believe that blogs—in tandem so by their news organizations. The Perhaps a better question to pose with another much-underestimated vast majority of journalists do not blog. would be, “Is blogging journalism?” medium, the e-mail list—are transform- Over the past few years I’ve asked a Does the Australian hip-hop laddie’s ing the ways in which journalism is number of them why they don’t, and categorization of his favorite local bands practiced today and perhaps are giving the most prevalent responses are that qualify on some level as reporting? Is impetus to new journalistic venues that it is not in their job description and the blog posted by a corporate infor- have not yet clarified themselves. Au- doing so would not serve their pur- mation technology manager for inter- thor Elbert Hubbard once said editors pose. They use their best reporting in nal staff consumption serving as a jour- separated the wheat from the chaff— the stories they write. What is left over nalistic venue in some sense? and then printed the chaff. Bloggers for a blog? Though reportorial contributions print, link and comment on the wheat. When I mentioned on a panel once— have been made by the Web genera- In doing so, bloggers often nudge print speaking to a group of veteran journal- tion, it is fair to say the vast majority of media to richer and more balanced ists—that I spend an average of two blogging does not qualify as journal- sourcing outside the traditional halls hours working on my Weblog each ism. If journalism is the imparting of of government and corporations. A day, an audible gasp could be heard verifiable facts to a general audience recent example is the potential for throughout the room. Who could af- through a mass medium, then most touchscreen voting machine fraud— ford to take two hours from their re- blogs fall well short of meeting the an issue that bloggers and e-listers have porting tasks every day? It’s a reason- standard. Many blogs focus on narrow aired for months but that is just begin- able question. I’m a freelancer now, so subject matter of interest to a select but ning to get attention from mainstream I can do this, but I know from 25 years circumscribed niche. And the blogs media. Just as importantly, blogs serve as a full-time reporter that there would that do contain bona fide news are as a corrective mechanism for bad jour- have been no room for blogging in my largely derivative, posting links to other nalism—sloppy or erroneous report- daily workload. blogs and, in many cases, print journal- ing. To the extent that a blogger knows On the flip side, most of the million ism. The top “news” blog, Jim something about a particular topic, he or so bloggers (it’s a tough crowd to Romenesko’s Poynter Online site, is or she can take a news report into a estimate) would not call themselves composed almost exclusively of linked more detailed and illuminating realm. journalists. Many are teenagers, work- references. Consider Google searches: And the personal viewpoint tailored to ing through their own identities and When you search on current news top- Weblogging has always played a vital connecting with other like-minded kids. ics, you get established journalism sites. role in journalism, from standing col- The majority of blogs are simply per- By contrast, searches on abstruse top- umns to the op-ed pages. sonal Web sites, posted because ics are often headed by blog links. So where’s the disconnect? If blogging software automates much of Without the daily work of print jour- bloggers can be journalists and blogs the HTML coding needed for Web pub- nalists, one wonders if even the news- contain aspects of journalism, why lication. This convenience appeal has conscious blogs would contain any real aren’t more journalists bloggers? And led some to predict that the medium news. why isn’t more blogging journalism? As

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 63 Journalist’s Trade

with any human pursuit, there’s a dif- covering the event for a news organiza- with military units, unable to break ference in skill and expertise between tion, I would have gathered more in- free and do independent reporting. In paid and nonpaid practitioners. formation, including the girl’s identity, Baghdad the movements of the few Bloggers, in general, know little about a comment from the police, and sev- foreign reporters who remained there independent verification of informa- eral eyewitness accounts. But even if during the war were closely monitored tion and data. They lack the tools and I’d done such a complete report for my by Iraqi officials, which made street experience for in-depth research. They Weblog, it’s doubtful my account of reporting all but impossible to do. Mass- don’t know how to fact-check. Assigned the incident would have prompted a media coverage of the war that most to do an investigative report on, say, police investigation. Americans saw was so jingoistic and police corruption, a typical blogger Blogs can serve also as catalysts to administration-friendly as to proscribe would not know where to begin. Call- journalism. In the early hours of Sep- any sense of impartiality or balance. In ing a typical blogger a journalist is like tember 11, 2001, blogs became the this context, a pseudonymous blogger’s calling anyone who takes a snapshot a best available source of eyewitness re- reports from Iraq took on more cred- photographer. Could a blogger “cover” porting. And late last year a Weblogger ibility than established media institu- the D.C. sniper or report on Congress? picked up Senate Majority Leader Trent tions. And a Weblog would hardly provide Lott’s comments about Strom The Iraqi’s blog and my experience the appropriate vehicle for full-fledged Thurmond from a C-Span broadcast as a journalist who blogs tell me that investigative journalism. and ignited an online firestorm that, in there is something unique to blogging’s Journalism implies that a disinter- turn, prompted mainstream news or- contributions, but it is discrete and ested third party is reporting facts fairly. ganizations to become involved in re- separate from what we think of as jour- To do that job well requires consider- porting the story. Online information nalism. The Weblog does not lend it- able training and the cooperative work sharing has pressured the Bush admin- self to factual documentation as much of many minds. The process can be istration into several retractions and as to observation, analysis, back- corrupted, as the Jayson Blair imbro- has even led to key resignations, as in ground—the kinds of amplitude that glio confirmed. And in general, blogs the case of Richard Perle’s resignation lend greater interpretations and un- cannot supplant the work that journal- as chairman of the Defense Policy Board derstanding to raw information. And ists do. But there are occasions when and the State of the Union retraction blogs, because they offer instant Weblogs can be ahead of news report- concerning African-supplied uranium interactivity, are much better at engen- ing. to Iraq. In both situations, it should be dering dialogue and exchange. In the In the spring of 2002, when I passed noted, print media provided the initial sense that many minds contribute to by a San Francisco peace demonstra- investigation and reporting. But greater understanding, blogs can take tion at the Golden Gate Bridge, I wit- whether the outcome would have hap- journalism’s who-what-where-when nessed an act of police aggression. pened without the online feedback and how pyramid better into the realm Without any observable provocation cycle is open to debate. By widening of why. an 11-year-old girl was roughly grabbed, the disclosure circle through informa- It might be that mass media of to- thrown to the ground, and handcuffed. tion sharing, Weblogs have contrib- morrow will evolve further toward the I took photos of the incident and posted uted to the truth-finding process. But blogging paradigm and journalism will a written report on my blog. As far as I so have e-mail lists, personal Web sites, expand from a centralized, top-down, know, my reporting was a scoop. I saw community Web sites, and other one-way publication process to the nothing about this incident on TV that Internet mechanisms that no one would many-hands, perpetual feedback loop day or the next morning in the local confuse with journalism. of online communications. For now, newspapers. During the Iraq War, a blog from to the extent that bloggers’ efforts prod But then, video of the incident sur- inside Baghdad got considerable at- journalists to be better at what they do, faced from someone with a camcorder. tention for its street-level portrayal of they are a valuable adjunct to—but not A San Francisco TV station used the daily events. Although the blog initially substitute for—quality journalism. ■ video along with interviews with the was questioned as possibly bogus, even- girl and her parents and testimonials tually reports surfaced that the blogger, Paul Andrews writes a weekly col- from onlookers. An investigation was Salam Pax (not his actual name), was umn on technology for The Seattle launched, and the story was pursued authentic. In any case, his blogged Times and is a technology correspon- for several days. observations from Iraq provided some dent for U.S. News & World Report. My blog was the first to report this of the best eyewitness reporting dur- His Weblog is at story—and what I did was journalism ing the war. www.paulandrews.com. in the sense that I brought forward The Iraqi’s Weblog succeeded largely verifiable facts about an actual event. because U.S. news organizations ei- [email protected] But it required a mass medium to give ther could not or did not tell the “in- the story enough notoriety for an in- side Baghdad” part of the story. Many vestigation. I know, too, that if I’d been American reporters were embedded

64 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism Weblogs: A Road Back to Basics ‘Weblogs will not save journalism as we know it. However, they might end up improving journalism as we know it.’

By Bill Mitchell

hen newsroom leaders brain- remained stuck in notebooks or was They can help news organizations be- storm what’s next for journal- shared in e-mails to friends and col- come more interesting, more credible, Wism these days, the talk runs leagues. even essential in the lives of the people more to the basics of the craft—and the Weblogs are providing journalists they serve. Especially when big news business—than to the horizons of tech- with more edge—helping them show breaks, it’s tough to beat a Weblog3. nology. With many consumers dismiss- more personality, style and immediacy Think Florida Today4 on the day the ing much of the journalism they read, than they might have ever displayed in shuttle exploded or Jim Romenesko5 see and hear as not that interesting, their regular reports. “The surprise, to during the Jayson Blair fiasco. credible or essential, the time doesn’t me, was how I immediately changed Weblogs also help journalists serve seem quite right for discussions of flat- my writing style just because of the different niches within their audience. panel delivery or reusable paper. change of media,” says Carla K. Johnson, A newspaper is necessarily a smorgas- Right now, editors and publishers medical reporter at The Spokesman- bord; readers with intense interest in look to organizations such as the Read- Review in Spokane and author, since one area sometimes go away hungry. A ership Institute for help in reclaiming creating it in May, of the paper’s Health Weblog can provide the added depth the fundamentals. Meanwhile, journal- Beat1 blog. “The style is more intimate, and detail they crave. ists scramble to be more compelling in playful and free. Let’s have some fun Sometimes it’s the readers who pro- their storytelling, more engaging in here.” vide the depth and specialized knowl- their presentation, and transparent in Daniel Weintraub, political colum- edge. Dan Gillmor, technology colum- their ethical decision-making. Amid this nist at The Sacramento Bee, launched nist for the San Jose Mercury News and understandable return to basics, there’s his California Insider2 blog just a month author of the eJournal Weblog6, is writ- at least one technological innovation before Johnson did. He shares her view ing a book about what he describes as that can help. It’s the Weblog, the of the impact of the process on the “We Media … what happens to journal- quirky, inexpensive tool journalists can craft: “The biggest surprise is how it’s ism and society when every reader can use to persuade readers, viewers and helped my writing. I had always heard be a writer (editor, producer, etc.).” As listeners that they ain’t dead yet. that a writer should write every day, Gillmor explained in a recent Colum- Technology makes Weblogs easy to but I was never able to write for no bia Journalism Review article7: “Our create and consume, but it requires audience. … Writing an online journal, readers collectively know more than imagination, enterprise and commit- I’ve discovered that when it comes we do, and they don’t have to settle for ment to make them engaging and use- time to write my column, everything half-baked coverage when they can ful for readers. Newsroom bloggers— flows even easier than before.” come into the kitchen themselves. This mostly columnists and beat is not a threat. It is an opportunity. And reporters—are using Weblogs to con- When Weblogs Work Well the evolution of We Media will oblige nect with the audience between edi- us all to adapt.” [See Gillmor’s article tions (and broadcasts) with news, in- Weblogs will not save journalism as we on page 79.] formation, links, tips, ideas—even fun. know it. However, they might end up Weblogs also enable groups of jour- And they are using material that once improving journalism as we know it. nalists to join forces on a common topic, as Poynter’s Steve Outing and 20 contributors do in their daily briefing8 1 Health Beat http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/healthbeat/blog.asp on new media issues. Says Outing: 2 California Insider http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/insider/ “Some of the best Weblogs aggregate 3 Poynter Online http://www.poynter.org/weblogs the collective intelligence of a group of 4 Florida Today http://www.floridatoday.com/journal/020103landing.htm journalists or an editor-led Weblog 5 Romenesko http://www.poynter.org/RomBlair group that brings in the expertise and 6 eJournal Weblog http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor voices of community members. It’s an 7 CJR http://www.cjr.org/year/03/1/gillmor.asp exciting new form of journalism that’s 8 Outing’s E-Media Tidbits http://www.poynter.org/tidbits just barely been tapped.” Any journalist who has covered state

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 65 Journalist’s Trade

and news judgment, to drowning in news … too much … name a few. makes me anxious … bothered by er- ‘… Weblogs require an By way of refresher, a rors.” Weblogs can help journalists extraordinary combination Weblog is a personal pub- address these concerns, too. of skills not usually lishing platform that en- The most comprehensive list of blogs ables its author to post produced by journalists is maintained demanded of any single news or comments easily by Jonathan Dube, a senior producer journalist in the newsroom— and directly to the Web, at MSNBC.com and the publisher (with reporting, writing (including usually with links to en- the American Press Institute) of tries produced by other CyberJournalist.net12. From there, click headlines), editing and news Webloggers or to the ar- to Weintraub’s California Insider and judgment, to name a few.’ ticles of journalists whose his archives to get a sense of the ways in work has been published which a Weblog can surpass print on a online. But most of what story like the California gubernatorial exists in the blogosphere recall. The Insider provided Weintraub or national politics during the past 15 is not journalism. Some bloggers cre- with a range of storytelling dimensions years should get the Weblog idea pretty ate public versions of personal jour- beyond what he could deliver with his quickly. I recall becoming an instant nals, chronicling and assessing what’s three-times-a-week, in-paper column addict to The Hotline9 when Doug happening in their lives. Other blogs on the Bee’s op-ed page. What follows Bailey and his colleagues pioneered it resemble a makeshift journalism re- are some examples: back in the 1988 presidential campaign. view, but not the sort where the work Now administered by the National Jour- of journalists is critiqued by other jour- • The Weblog lets him publish break- nal, The Hotline addresses the intense nalists. These are more like a free-for- ing news without regard to newspa- need for up-to-date information among all exercise in which anyone with a per deadlines. At 6:30 a.m. on July reporters and politicos by providing a computer and a connection to the 28, for example, Weintraub posted one-stop source of coverage of all state Internet can evaluate the media. Some an item headlined: “Arnold Will Not and national races. Another example of the criticism from the readers’ per- Run.” The 41-word item began: of a Weblog serving both journalists spective is eye opening and interest- “Arnold Schwarzenegger will not run and others is one kept by Worcester ing. Some falls into the rant category, for governor, a very knowledgeable (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette religion produced without much regard for source close to the actor has told writer Kathy Shaw. On her Weblog she spelling or grammar, not to mention me.” After lunch, he updated the has chronicled coverage of the clergy accuracy, fairness or insight. blog with a denial from the sexual abuse story seven days a week So why would a journalist want to Schwarzenegger camp that any de- since March 2002. After Romenesko, venture anywhere near such a neigh- cision had been made. Still, the clergy abuse tracker10 is the most borhood? Clues can be found at the Weintraub was sticking by his story: popular page on Poynter Online. Readership Institute11, that says noth- “I’m still hearing otherwise.” Nine Like most new things, Weblogs carry ing about Weblogs but characterizes days later, Weintraub had to eat his risks. In the hands of an inexperienced various attitudes as typical motivators words with this late afternoon post: journalist, a Weblog can degenerate of readership: “regular part of my day “Arnold Running for Governor.” into a pool of personal opinion even … looks out for my interests … some- •Provides links to published stories less interesting than last night’s meet- thing to talk about … makes me smarter and commentary. On sites where ing of the zoning board of appeals. … touches and inspires me … I con- registration is required, Weintraub Unchecked, it can jeopardize the good nect with the writers … all sides of the even offers readers the use of his name of the paper or the station. story … guides me.” Produced with personal ID and password. Weblogs are not for newsroom begin- those kinds of comments in mind, a •Gives tips to loyal readers about ners. Done right, Weblogs require an Weblog can help journalists build stron- Weintraub’s upcoming appearances extraordinary combination of skills not ger connections to readers. on political talk shows on TV. usually demanded of any single jour- The Institute also lists comments •Does live reports, as in one at 3:32 nalist in the newsroom—reporting, reflecting why readers are drifting away p.m., July 23: “I’m blogging live from writing (including headlines), editing from newspapers: “wasting my time … the Secretary of State’s office, where Kevin Shelley is expected to an- nounce the official Davis recall sig- 9 The Hotline http://nationaljournal.com/about/hotline/ nature count sometime after the 10 Clergy Abuse Tracker http://www.poynter.org/abuse close of business today.” 11 Readership Institute http://www.readership.org 12 CyberJournalist.net http://www.cyberJournalist.net/cyberjournalists.html Some journalists might find more that is worrisome than appealing in

66 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism these reports—such as going with the Schwarzenegger report at dawn, with- A Guide to Various Weblogs out any review by an editor; linking to reports by the competition; promoting your own TV appearances; blogging Weblogging Pioneer Beat Reporters and Critics live, for heaven’s sake. Not to mention The pioneer among blogging col- For examples of the beat reporters the extra work. umnists is Dan Gillmor1 of the San or critics who use Weblogs, click on Jose Mercury News. [See Gillmor’s the collection of Weblogs at spokes- The Appeal of the Blog story on page 79.] He is writing a man-review.com5 and Ben book about what he calls “We Me- Mutzabaugh’s guide to air travel, As practiced by Weintraub and a grow- dia.” If you’re interested in learning the Today in the Sky6 blog on ing cadre of others, Weblogging pushes more about Weblogs—or starting USAToday.com. journalists to do their work on the one up—Gillmor has created a good edge. Gone is the safety net provided primer2 and he links to it from his Tracking an Ongoing Story by prior editorial preview and addi- eJournal. 3 Weblogs can also be useful to track tional time to think and rethink before news about a single news story break- publishing. Weintraub’s incorrect Dave Barry’s Blog4 ing in multiple spots—and publica- Schwarzenegger post underscores the If you are looking for an example of tions—throughout the world. Since main danger of journalism by Weblog— marketing to readers, check out the March 2002, Kathy Shaw, religion accuracy sacrificed in pursuit of imme- way Barry thanks and credits read- writer at the Worcester (Mass.) Tele- diacy. That’s a risk for journalists work- ers who send him some of the raw gram & Gazette, has maintained a ing on any platform, of course, and it (often very raw) material he uses to daily Clergy Abuse Tracker7. highlights the importance of such core produce his print column. journalistic values as precision and transparency. “My language was too vague,” Weintraub said in a follow-up e-mail 1 “We Media” article http://www.cjr.org/year/03/1/gillmor.asp exchange. “Instead of reporting that a 2 Gillmor Blog primer http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/col- source told me Arnold would not run umnists/dan_gillmor/ejournal/2529085.htm for governor, I should have reported 3 Gillmor eJournal http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/ that a source told me an announce- 4 Dave Barry http://www.davebarry.blogspot.com/ ment was being planned to reveal that 5 Spokesman-review.com http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs Arnold was not running for governor. 6 Today in the Sky http://www.usatoday.com/travel/today/sky.htm The source was right. The facts changed 7 Clergy Abuse Tracker http://www.poynter.org/abuse. along the way. And I used less than precise language to communicate those facts.” Weintraub said he wasn’t sure whether he would discuss those de- port, Weintraub’s blog represents a tion becomes available.” tails with readers of his blog. Not to do significant contribution to political re- In an e-mail interview14, Weintraub so, at least in my view, would be a porting. Day after day, often hour by described some of the differences be- mistake. If journalists are going to ex- hour, Weintraub lifts the shade to give tween what he tries to accomplish in pose readers to the risks of real-time readers a view behind the scenes of the his print column and his blog: “In [the] reporting, credibility demands discus- back and forth of political coverage as column I always strive to reach a broad sion and disclosure when the process it unfolds. As he explained when he audience. I see myself as a translator, falls short. introduced his blog13: “Blogs by their breaking down complex policy issues. I can wring my hands as much as the nature are more spontaneous than tra- … The blog is much more shorthand, next 55-year-old editor, I suppose, but ditional commentary. While I will strive chatty, stuff designed for insiders. But I still find a lot more to like than lament as always to keep the facts accurate, the I am guessing even that appeals to a in the Weblogging trend. Despite the opinions I express might be more apt certain segment of the broader audi- problems with his Schwarzenegger re- to evolve over time, as more informa- ence. … Response has been fantastic.” Weintraub and Johnson file directly to the Web, with editors reading be- 13 Weintraub blog hind them simultaneously or later in http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/columns/weintraub/story/6414174p-7366437c.html the day. That’s also how it works with 14 Weintraub Interview http://www.poynter.org/weintraubblog Jim Romenesko’s column on Poynter Online, with Romenesko filing directly

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 67 Journalist’s Trade

to his page and News Editor Julie Moos It also appears to be a relationship- So add Weblogs to the issues news- or I reading after the material is posted. builder—both for Weintraub and the room leaders must address, along with “If I have a question about propriety,” paper: “It’s been a great source builder. the more familiar matters of reader- Weintraub says, “I’ll consult with my People are calling me and e-mailing me ship, credibility and transparency. editor just like on anything I write.” with stuff unsolicited, at a much greater Maybe it’s time the bosses lifted the Romenesko does the same. rate than before …. Now stuff is flying shade, too. Why not follow the lead of In an e-mail interview15, Johnson over the transom.” The two-way di- their more enterprising staffers and said her blog adds no time to her work- mension of Weblogs is crucial. The launch blogs of their own? Boss blogs— week because she uses the blogged image of stuff flying in over the tran- what better way for people in charge to items in her weekly Health Beat col- som should excite newsroom leaders connect with customers and discover umn in the paper. Adds Weintraub: “If as much as it does a columnist like what’s next for journalism? ■ you are a regular reader of both, you Weintraub. Opening up this kind of are essentially seeing me come up with back and forth with readers carries a Bill Mitchell has been editor of an idea, advance it, and draft it on the cost for newsrooms. What arrives will Poynter Online since 1999. He has Web before polishing it up for the print have to be checked out, and that means also worked as director of electronic version. In that sense, it’s a time saver.” additional reporting time. publishing at the San Jose Mercury News and as a reporter and editor at the Detroit Free Press. 15 Johnson Interview http://www.poynter.org/johnsonblog [email protected]

Weblogs Threaten and Inform Traditional Journalism Blogs ‘challenge conventional notions of who is a journalist and what journalism is.’

By Tom Regan

n July 16, 2003, a burgundy began to appear on other Web sites, he several reasons for this awakening: Buick LeSabre drove through provided links to fresh coverage. More well-known journalists have Othe Santa Monica Farmer’s Throughout the day, often in a per- started blogs in the past year, and Web Market at 60 miles an hour. The 85- sonal way, Baio described the scene of sites of well-known media brands have year-old driver killed 10 people and carnage outside his office. Almost as created blogs to help cover news, poli- injured scores of other shoppers. affecting (and totally missed by the tics and other issues. But more impor- Within minutes of the accident, report- body-count-driven traditional media) tant to their ascendancy has been the ers from newspapers, radio and TV is his description of how quickly life fact that on at least two noteworthy stations were rushing to the scene. But came back to normal on the following occasions, Weblogs have forced tradi- if they were hoping for a scoop, they day, as vendors quickly set up shop tional news organizations to change were already too late. That’s because a again. And then at the bottom of his the way they covered a big story. blogger named Andy Baio blog, Baio allowed his readers to post Perhaps the best known example is (www.waxy.org) had already blogged comments on what had happened. the untimely political demise of former the entire incident. What they posted added layers to the Republican Senate majority leader Baio’s office, where he manages the coverage of this story; as some people Trent Lott. When Lott first made his Web site staff of a large investment raged against the elderly driver, others now well-known comments about how firm, is located beside the Farmer’s debated at what age should people not the country would have been better off Market, and he saw the event unfold be allowed to drive. if voters had elected then segregation- from his window. Even though Baio ist presidential candidate Senator Strom isn’t a journalist (or is he?), he did what Weblogs Push Journalists Thurmond in 1948, not a single media any good journalist would do. He re- outlet picked up on the significance of ported what he saw. He also took ad- During the past year, Weblogs have the remarks, even though plenty of vantage of his medium and included a risen to near the top of the media’s reporters were there to hear him say it. map of the area and, as photos and film collective consciousness. There are Thus, the job of reporting this story

68 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism was left to bloggers, who kept the story music business. chain), and where the local radio and alive for days until the mainstream Two important lessons can be TV stations have little, if any, variety of media woke up to what had happened. gleaned from what Lewis discovered: programming or opinion, a person can The second example involves the Creativity almost always happens at find dozens of informative blogs by resignation of New York Times’s the edges of society, not in the center, people of every political persuasion. excutive editor Howell Raines. For a and the one thing the Internet does Two or three good blogs can often while, it looked as if Raines might sur- more than anything else is to allow provide a richer and more varied pic- vive the Jayson Blair scandal. But po- small groups or individuals to under- ture of an event than all the TV news litical blogs such as Andrew Sullivan mine elites. In Lewis’s book, he showed outlets, cable and broadcast, put to- and Glenn Reynolds (at several examples of how these quite gether. www.Instapundit.com) again refused powerful institutions found themselves But bloggers have problems that to let the issue die. [See story by on the defensive because “untrained” often undermine their credibility. Too Reynolds on page 81.] While the people outside the traditional circles many are poorly written, and bloggers bloggers’ ongoing postings about of power—and who were often bored often defend this tendency by saying it Raines were not the only factor that led high school or college students—were shows the realism of their work. At a to his dismissal, they played a role. able to duplicate or surpass the ser- recent conference on blogging in Bos- With this kind of track record, vices they offered. ton, Dave Weinberger, one of the real wouldn’t journalists welcome bloggers Weblogs now present a similar threat founders of blogging and author of with open arms? Instead, many jour- to traditional media. This threat—to “The Cluetrain Manifesto,” described nalists tend to regard bloggers as a sort the gatekeeper role that big news orga- it this way: “As rhetoric, I think it’s of mutant breed, viewing them with nizations have played—represents a important that it [a blog] is written skepticism and suspicion. In the eyes more immediate challenge than the badly. It’s daily. You have a sense that of many journalists, blogs are poorly large-scale introduction of the Internet it’s closer to the person’s authentic written, self-absorbed, hyper-opinion- did during the mid-1990’s. Back then, self. By reading a first draft, you tend to ated, and done by amateurs. At the the fear was that the Internet would be ‘forgiven’ by the readers for the same time it’s true that blogs are often take away huge chunks of readers and mistakes you make.” crammed with blunt and sarcastic com- audience from traditional media. (That Nonsense. While forgiveness might ments about what a poor job journal- hasn’t really happened yet, but it will occur the first time a reader visits a ists are doing, with bloggers calling during the next two decades as the blog, the experience wears thin fast. journalists’ work stagnant, hyper-elit- Internet generation ages.) What skill- While most readers will overlook a ist, and arguing that they spend too ful bloggers are demonstrating to tra- typo or two in a piece (many won’t, by much time writing for each other rather ditional media is how they no longer the way), if mistakes repeatedly show than for the public. get to decide on their own what is news up, they undermine the writer’s cred- Who’s right and who’s wrong? They anymore. In the case of Senator Lott, ibility. Bloggers might not want to ad- both are. for example, traditional media seemed mit this, but neatness counts in the Blogs are quickly becoming a very to decide his comments weren’t news- long run. influential media tool, one that can worthy. Without blogs and the Internet, Accuracy counts, too. But bloggers challenge conventional notions of who it is likely that decision would have promise a more immediate experience is a journalist and what journalism is. ended the story. But bloggers didn’t of the news, one in which accuracy But if bloggers are to continue to help share that news judgment and so they isn’t regarded by the blogger as being shape the political, cultural and media kept pounding on his remarks as in- the most important element. Some- arenas, they will need to adopt some of sensitive, if not outright racist. The times this works, especially on a break- journalism’s practices that they now bloggers were right. ing news piece, creating a kind of un- eschew, often because of laziness. Blogs also threaten to expose jour- folding drama, as happened with the nalism at one of its weakest points—its Santa Monica market tragedy. But if Creativity at the Edge lack of personal contact with readers accuracy is sacrificed too often, or if a and audience and the sense that jour- blogger brushes it off as inconsequen- To better understand why journalists nalism and its practitioners are discon- tial, audiences will drift away. People often hide their fear of bloggers behind nected from the communities they are want reliable news sources, even very masks of professional indifference, turn supposed to serve. As young people personal ones, they can trust. to Michael Lewis’s “The Future Just begin to be interested in the news, they Then there is the prickly question of Happened.” Lewis explores how tech- are finding that blogs can be a better editing, viewed by many bloggers as nology, and the Internet in particular, place to keep up with events than their the equivalent of death by Chinese has created dramatic upheavals in three local or national media outlets. And water torture. Editing, they argue, un- worlds that previously existed with rigid unlike so many cities and towns in dermines the experience of the blog codes and were ruled by a kind of America, where there might be one and interrupts the writer’s flow of “priesthood”: Wall Street, law and the newspaper (most likely owned by a thoughts and words. Editing does all

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 69 Journalist’s Trade

these things, but truthfully sometimes overall news package. Each day at the writers’ output and the way that out- it’s not so bad for a writer’s thoughts to Monitor, our Daily Update blog on the put is presented to the public. be interrupted. This posture also ex- war on terrorism and in Iraq is regu- Meanwhile, the rest of us in tradi- poses a basic conceit of bloggers—the larly among the top five most read tional journalism, especially those who belief (or hope) that everybody reads pieces on our Web site. Meanwhile, care deeply about what’s happening to what they’ve posted as soon as they The Dallas Morning News has decided the media, can be thankful that bloggers post it, which, of course, doesn’t hap- to create an editorial blog where edito- exist. At a time when media control is pen. So this means that more than a rial writers can shed light on how they— more concentrated and when present- few bloggers would benefit from tak- as individuals and as a board—arrive at ing “fair and balanced news” can be ing a second look at what they are the opinions they publish. [See story just another way to limit voices and about to post or having a second set of by Keven Ann Willey on page 88.] As disguise a corporate or political agenda, eyes give it a quick read. J.D. Lasica wrote in the Online News bloggers are the dam-busters of the At The Christian Science Monitor, listserv, this accomplishes several media world. Long may they blow open our blogs are edited, often by two or things: It adds transparency to the usu- holes in the gatekeepers’ firewalls so three people, before they are posted. I ally hidden editorial opinion process, that all the voices that are being ig- have no doubt this editing process frees editorial writers to write in a nored or silenced can find ways to be improves the quality of the blog with- more lively and personal fashion, and heard. ■ out sacrificing its freshness. If the feed- lets the public see that the paper’s back we’ve received from our readers editorial board isn’t monolithic. [See Tom Regan, a 1992 Nieman Fellow, is any indication, they believe this as Lasica’s story below.] is associate editor of csmonitor.com, well. Adapting the role of an editor to Other news organizations are ex- the Web site of The Christian Science the blogging situation seems an ex- perimenting with the idea of allowing Monitor. Regan cowrites two Moni- ample of how traditional media and their writers to do blogs as a supple- tor blogs: Daily Update, a blog bloggers can learn from each other. ment to their regular reporting, but it’s about the war on terrorism and in And when they are willing to do this, still a learning process. While editing is Iraq, and SciTechblog, about science then the work of each will be improved. a useful way to improve the quality of and technology. a blog, overediting a blog will kill its The Best of Both Worlds sense of voice and community. Learn- [email protected] ing to let go is going to be very difficult Some media organizations believe that for a lot of editors who are used to an blogs can be an important part of their almost Stalinesque control over their

Blogs and Journalism Need Each Other ‘The transparency of blogging has contributed to news organizations becoming a bit more accessible and interactive ….’

By J.D. Lasica

uggest to an old-school journal- •During the peace demonstrations in •At technology and media confer- ist that Weblogs have anything to February, Lisa Rein took to the streets ences, such as PopTech, South by Sdo with journalism, and you’ll be of San Francisco and Oakland, Cali- Southwest, and Digital Hollywood, met with howls of derision. Amateur fornia, camcorder in hand, and taped bloggers in the audience have re- bloggers typically have no editorial video footage of the marchers and ported conference events in real oversight, no training in the craft, and speakers, such as Representative time, posting photographs, speaker no respect for the news media’s rules Barbara Lee, Harry Belafonte, and transcripts, and summaries and and standards. Does the free-for-all antiwar activist Ron Kovic. She analysis of key points a full day be- renegade publishing form known as posted the video on her Weblog, fore readers could see comparable blogging really have anything to do complete with color commentary, stories in the daily newspaper. with journalism? providing much deeper coverage of •On Super Bowl Sunday, a 22-year- Well, yes it does. the events than a viewer would get old blogger in Los Angeles named Consider: by watching the local news. Jessica Rios braved the freezing cold

70 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism

to attend a televised outdoor con- Mossberg’s description of Weblogs self-interested or unskilled amateurs. cert by the British group Coldplay. as a new kind of journalism might Conversely, many bloggers look upon She came home and blogged it, giv- trouble hidebound journalists. But it is mainstream media as an arrogant, elit- ing her take on the concert and a journalism of a different sort, one not ist club that puts its own version of self- reporting the band’s play list. Like tightly confined by the profession’s tra- interest and economic survival above hundreds of others who watched ditions and values. the societal responsibility of a free press. the show and wanted to learn the Mainstream news operations are Shirky suggests the mainstream names of the songs played, I turned businesses supported by advertising. media fail to understand that despite a to the Internet. I came up empty As hierarchical organizations, they value participant’s lack of skill or journalistic when I visited training, the Internet abc.com and itself acts as an edit- coldplay.com. But Call it participatory journalism, or ing mechanism, with hundreds of us the difference that found them journalism from the edges. Simply put, it “editorial judgment (through Google) refers to individuals playing an active role is applied at the on Rios’s blog. in the process of collecting, reporting, edges … after the fact, not in advance,” Rios probably sorting, analyzing and disseminating news as he wrote on the didn’t know it, but she and information—a task once reserved Networks, Econom- was committing a ran- almost exclusively to the news media. ics and Culture mail- dom act of journalism. ing list in January. And that’s the real Seen in this light, revolution here: In a Weblogs should not world of micro-content delivered to smooth production workflows, profit- be considered in isolation but as part niche audiences, more and more of the ability and rigorous editorial standards. of an emerging new media ecosystem— small tidbits of news that we encounter Weblogs adhere to a different set of a network of ideas. No one should each day are being conveyed through values. Bloggers value informal con- expect a complete, unvarnished en- personal media—chiefly Weblogs. versation, egalitarianism, subjective capsulation of a story or idea at any one Call it participatory journalism or points of view, and colorful writing Weblog. In such a community, bloggers journalism from the edges. Simply put, over profits, central control, objectiv- discuss, dissect and extend the stories it refers to individuals playing an active ity and filtered prose. created by mainstream media. These role in the process of collecting, re- Clay Shirky, an adjunct professor at communities also produce participa- porting, sorting, analyzing and dissemi- New York University who has consulted tory journalism, grassroots reporting, nating news and information—a task on the social and economic effects of annotative reporting, commentary and once reserved almost exclusively to the Internet technologies, sees the differ- fact-checking, which the mainstream news media. ence between traditional media and media feed upon, developing them as Weblogs are the most popular ex- Weblog communities this way: “The a pool of tips, sources and story ideas. pression of this new media form. Blogs order of things in broadcast is ‘filter, The relationship is symbiotic. have exploded in popularity in the past then publish.’ The order in communi- Lisa Rein, who videotaped the peace year, fueled by greater access to band- ties is ‘publish, then filter.’ If you go to marches, borrows television news seg- width and low-cost, often free soft- a dinner party, you don’t submit your ments and retransmits them on her ware. More than a half million people potential comments to the hosts, so Weblog. She regularly records “Meet have taken up the tools of self-publish- that they can tell you which ones are the Press” and presidential candidates’ ing to create personal journals on sub- good enough to air before the group, appearances on C-SPAN, then uploads jects as diverse as politics, microbiol- but this is how broadcast works every the video clips to her blog, a practice ogy and tropical fish. day. Writers submit their stories in ad- she says is permitted under fair use. “Blogs are in some ways a new form vance, to be edited or rejected before She also attends technology and law of journalism, open to anyone who can the public ever sees them. Participants conferences, videotapes the speakers, establish and maintain a Web site, and in a community, by contrast, say what and transfers that footage as well. The they have exploded in the past year,” they have to say, and the good is sorted tools have become so easy to use that Walter Mossberg wrote in his Wall Street from the mediocre after the fact.” Rein—literally, a one-woman personal Journal technology column last March. broadcast network—has attracted an “The good thing about them is that Creating a New Media international following. She now up- they introduce fresh voices into the Ecosystem loads video to her blog several times a national discourse on various topics day. and help build communities of interest Many traditional journalists are dis- “There are just so many interesting through their collections of links.” missive of bloggers, describing them as things happening in our lives that would

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 71 Journalist’s Trade

make great programming,” she told our mix, something valuable, some- Readers Become Part of the me. “The networks aren’t interested thing that couldn’t have existed before News Process unless it will attract millions of dollars the Web. in advertising revenues. Meanwhile, “It should be obvious that Weblogs The emerging relationship between there are people and events all around aren’t competing with the work of the Weblogs and traditional journalism us that are meaningful and that people professional journalism establishment, promises to be fitful and stormy. Ear- would love to watch.” but rather complementing it. If the lier this year The Washington Post’s Managing Editor Scott Rosenberg pros are criticized as being cautious, Leslie Walker suggested that readers wrote in Salon last year: “Weblogs ex- impersonal, corporate and herd-like, will never be able to rely on Weblogs pand the media universe. They are a the bloggers are the opposite in, well, for dependable news and information media life form that is native to the almost every respect: They’re reckless, because bloggers don’t cling to the Web, and they add something new to confessional, funky—and herd-like.” same “established principles of fair-

Benefits Blogging Brings to News Outlets What benefits do Weblogs bring to journalism? Several.

Pushing the envelope. Weblogs are revelations. Weblogs were credited with Repersonalizing journalism. Blogs helping to expand the boundaries of helping to get the mainstream news present a vehicle for expressing experimental forms of transaction jour- media interested in the racially insensi- thoughts and reportage that doesn’t nalism. Freelance journalist Christo- tive remarks by Senator Trent Lott that always fit the contours of a traditional pher Allbritton, a former reporter for led to his resignation as Senate major- news report. Television reviewers have The Associated Press, asked his Weblog ity leader. begun blogging their experiences with readers to finance a trip to Iraq at the network executives and Hollywood outbreak of hostilities there. Some 320 Enhancing reader trust. News orga- stars during the annual summer Tele- people donated more than $14,000 nizations such as MSNBC, The Provi- vision Critics Association press tour in and helped him launch Back-to- dence Journal, The Dallas Morning Los Angeles. Political writers are using Iraq.com. His readers then served as News, and The Christian Science Moni- blogs to bring daily commentary to the his editors during three weeks of dis- tor have embraced the Weblog form in campaign trail. But more important, patches during which Allbritton broke some part of their editorial operations. blogs offer an opportunity for readers news on the fall of Tikrit and high- [See articles by Tom Regan of the Chris- to hear a journalist’s voice and person- lighted the Balkan-style ethnic tensions tian Science Monitor, Sheila Lennon of ality. Newsroom-sanctioned Weblogs among Kurds, Arabs, Turkomen and The Providence Journal, Eric Alterman promise to show journalists as human Assyrians. [See Allbritton’s story on at MSNBC.com, and Keven Ann Willey beings with opinions, emotions and page 82.] Similarly, freelancer David at The Dallas Morning News on pages personal lives—and yes, with warts and Appell, a physics PhD who has written 68, 76, 85, and 88.] These news organi- foibles. Weblogs could usher in a re- for Nature, asked his readers to donate zations realize that Weblogs offer an freshing new openness in newsrooms $20 apiece to fund his investigation of opportunity for newsrooms to become by attaching a face and personality to the politics of the sugar industry. He more transparent, more accessible, and reporters. Blogs could show that news- wrote a report after raising $425. more answerable to their readers. papers aren’t monolithic corporations Independent journalists and pun- but a collaborative team of individuals Influencing at the edges. We see sen- dits such as Andrew Sullivan, Doc with varying viewpoints and who have timents first expressed on Weblogs Searls, and Joshua Marshall have found more in common with their readers bubble up into the mainstream media that publishing a Weblog increases their than they could possibly know from days or weeks after they first surface in authority and credibility in the eyes of reading their print articles alone. the blogosphere. Similarly, all too of- readers. Time magazine media critic ten the mainstream media tend to dis- James Poniewozik described the per- Fostering community. When journal- pose of stories in a fast-paced news ception gap between the audience and ism becomes a process, and not a static cycle, with even important news events the media about trust this way: “Jour- product, audiences discard their tradi- falling off their radar screen after 48 nalists think trust equals accuracy. But tional role as passive consumers of hours. Bloggers say, hold the phone, it’s about much more: passion, genu- news and become empowered part- we’re not done with this yet. Blogs ineness, integrity.” Weblogs and a com- ners with a shared stake in the end keep stories alive by recirculating them mitment to open dialogue instill trust result. Weblogs offer one way to pro- and regurgitating them with new in the relationship between news me- mote that kind of interactivity. ■ —JDL angles, insights and even newsworthy dia and audience.

72 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism ness, accuracy and truth” that tradi- blogs are trustworthy and have some- more accessible and interactive, al- tional journalists do. Bill Thompson, a thing valuable to contribute, people though newsrooms still have a long, visiting lecturer in the journalism will return. long way to go. school at City University, London, wrote I’m constantly astounded at the Old media may have something to in Britain’s The Guardian: “Blogging is breadth of knowledge displayed by offer the young turks of blogspace, too, not journalism. Period.” bloggers on subjects as diverse as wire- in the trust department. Bloggers who Perhaps. But there’s another possi- less networking, copyright infringe- dabble in the journalistic process would bility: that journalists need to move ment, sonnet poetry, and much more, do well to study the ethics rules and away from the notion that journalism is all written with a degree of grace and conflict of interest policies of news a mysterious craft practiced by only a sophistication. Many readers have be- organizations that have formulated a select priesthood—a black art inacces- gun to turn to gifted amateurs or im- set of guidelines derived from decades sible to the masses. We forget the deri- passioned experts with a deep under- of trial and error. The conventions of vation of the word journalist: someone standing of niche subjects, rather than journalism—accuracy, credibility, trust- who keeps an account of day-to-day to journalists who are generalists and worthiness and being straight up with events. cover topics a mile wide but an inch your readers—are guideposts that any Years ago I met Frank McCulloch, a deep. good blogger should engrave on her legendary editor at The Sacramento Now, is all blogging journalism? Not wall. More needs to be done to make Bee and Los Angeles Times and an ex- by a long shot. Nor is it likely that this collaboration a deeper and more Marine who was Saigon bureau chief blogging will supplant traditional me- meaningful phenomenon. for Time during the Vietnam War. An dia or, as some have suggested, that ink-stained member of the old guard, blogging will drive news organizations Transparency of Reporting McCulloch believed that journalism was out of business. When a major news a simple thing. Find the right people. event unfolds, a vast majority of read- “Journalists must invite their audience Ask the right questions. Write it up. ers will turn to traditional media into the process by which they pro- “This ain’t rocket science,” he often sources for their news fix. But the story duce the news,” Bill Kovach and Tom said. doesn’t stop there. On almost any ma- Rosenstiel write in their book “The Exactly. Citizens are discovering how jor story, the Weblog community adds Elements of Journalism.” “This sort of easy it can be to play reporter and depth, analysis, alternative perspec- approach is, in effect, the beginning of publisher. To practice random acts of tives, foreign views, and occasionally a new kind of connection between the journalism, you don’t need a big-league first-person accounts that contravene journalist and the citizen. It is one in publication with a slick Web site be- reports in the mainstream press. which individuals in the audience are hind you. All you need is a computer, We need, then, to stop looking at given a chance to judge the principles an Internet connection, and an ability this as a binary, either-or choice. We by which the journalists do their work. to perform some of the tricks of the need to move beyond the increasingly The first step in that direction has to be trade: Report what you observe, ana- stale debate of whether blogging is or developing a means of letting those lyze events in a meaningful way but, isn’t journalism and celebrate Weblogs’ who make up that market finally see most of all, just be fair and tell the truth place in the media ecosystem. Instead how the sausage is made—how we do as you and your sources see it. of looking at blogging and traditional our work and what informs our deci- Bloggers can do that. Few bloggers journalism as rivals for readers’ eye- sions.” fancy themselves journalists, but many balls, we should recognize that we’re Many journalists who blog are do- acknowledge that their blogs take on entering an era in which they comple- ing just that—exposing the raw mate- some of the trappings of journalism: ment each other, intersect with each rial of their stories-in-progress, asking They take part in the editorial function other, play off one another. The trans- readers for expert input, posting com- of selecting newsworthy and interest- parency of blogging has contributed to plete text of interviews alongside the ing topics, they add analysis, insight news organizations becoming a bit published story, and writing follow-up and commentary, and occasionally they provide a first-person report about an event, a trend, a subject. Over time, We need, then, to stop looking at this as a bloggers build up a publishing track binary, either-or choice. We need to move record, much as any news publication does when it starts out. Reputation beyond the increasingly stale debate of filters—where bloggers gain the re- whether blogging is or isn’t journalism and spect and confidence of readers based celebrate Weblogs’ place in the media on their reputation for accuracy and relevance—and circles of trust in the ecosystem. blogosphere help weed out the charla- tans and the credibility-impaired. If the

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 73 Journalist’s Trade

stories based on outsiders’ tips and tant stories, to report from remote lo- and occasionally Webcasts live news suggestions. As for readers who blog, cations, to provide balance and con- events. giving them a stake in the editorial text to the news. But beside big media All of this portends important process—by letting them provide journalism we are starting to see a changes as journalism expands its tent meaningful feedback or suggesting mixture of commentary and analysis to include citizen participation. Ulti- story leads—increases loyalty and un- from the grass roots as ordinary people mately, bloggers and the phenomenon derstanding and spurs them to share find their voices and contribute to the of grassroots journalism have just as their positive experience with others. media mix. Blogs won’t replace tradi- meaningful a role in the future of news The authors of a research study, tional news media, but they will supple- on the Net as do the professionals. ■ “Interactive Features of Online News- ment them in important ways. papers,” sum it up this way: “Journal- What’s ahead? Certainly a much J.D. Lasica, senior editor of the ists today must choose. As gatekeepers larger role for amateurs in the news Online Journalism Review, publishes they can transfer lots of information, or process. Weblogs are only one part of the Weblog New Media Musings at they can make users a smarter, more the puzzle. For instance, in late June jdlasica.com/blog. He was an editor active and questioning audience for 2003, NHK (the Japan Broadcasting at The Sacramento Bee for 11 years. news events and issues.” Corp.) carried news of a serious high- He edited a white paper on partici- Journalism is undergoing a quiet way accident. The scene was carried patory journalism called “We Me- revolution, whether it knows it or not. live via video from a bystander who was dia,” released by New Directions for Readers will always turn to traditional playing the role of journalist by shoot- News in August 2003. news sites as trusted, reliable sources ing the action with his portable camera of news and information—that won’t phone. Mobloggers—tech-savvy users [email protected] change. But the walls are cracking. The who post photos, video and text to readers want to be a part of the news Weblogs from their mobile devices— process. just held their first convention in To- We will always need a corps of kyo. In Daytona Beach, Florida, a jani- trained journalists to ferret out impor- tor created his own one-man TV station

Weblogs Bring Journalists Into a Larger Community ‘… we need to drop grandiose claims of being aloof, objective observers and be more transparent about how we do our jobs.’

By Paul Grabowicz

ne of the most alarming as- establish credibility with readers and ers in pointing out errors. Even the pects of the Jayson Blair affair viewers. One step would be to em- slightest misstep on a journalist’s Owas how few people men- brace the growing sphere of Weblogs, Weblog is likely to elicit a batch of tioned in his stories complained to The which break down many of the existing quick responses. New York Times about his deceptions. barriers between journalists and the More importantly, a Weblog thrusts This problem is not unique to the public. a journalist into a larger community Times. In the wake of the scandal an where a posting is picked up and passed Associated Press Managing Editors’ What Weblogs Offer Readers from one blogger to the next, each survey found many readers viewed adding comments and expanding the newspapers as so arrogant, uncaring Weblogs are easy-to-create Web pages discussion. As such, Weblogs are far or disingenuous that it was a waste of reporters can use to post short, regu- more animated than the often-stilted time to try to correct errors. A July 2003 larly updated news items or commen- forums at news Web sites. They elicit a Pew Research Center survey similarly tary on issues they are covering, with much broader conversation in which reported that 62 percent of the public links to longer stories and background what people have to say about what’s believed news organizations try to cover information elsewhere on the Web. been written is regarded as being of up mistakes rather than admit to them. Anyone who has authored a Weblog equal importance. Clearly major changes are in order if knows the blogging community doesn’t Reporters can use Weblogs to post news organizations are going to re- share the hesitation of newspaper read- items that expand on their regular news

74 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism stories. This can be similar to the tradi- free-flowing format tional “Reporter’s Notebook,” written of the Weblog. by journalists covering government or That Weblogs and When the concept of objectivity political campaigns. Instead of a highly the Internet chal- came up … none of the students structured narrative, designed as a fin- lenge objectivity is voiced much support for it. ished product for passive consump- only appropriate, tion, the Weblog writing style is more since it was a differ- informal and approachable, inviting ent technology and the reader to participate. media form that fostered it. The advent heart by the public. Weblogs can engage readers in a of the telegraph and wire service in the To be sure, there are many values in dialogue about a story even as it’s be- 19th century allowed distribution of journalism that need to be preserved— ing formulated. San Jose Mercury News stories to many different newspapers honesty, integrity, accuracy, fairness, technology columnist Dan Gillmor, a and favored neutral presentations that inquisitiveness and thoroughness. But pioneer in journalism blogging, uses would offend the fewest and appeal to if we’re going to reconnect with read- his eJournal1 to float story ideas and the most. The evolution of mass media ers, we need to drop grandiose claims get reader input on whether and how in print and broadcast similarly de- of being aloof, objective observers and he might pursue them. Recently he’s manded each news product be tailored be more transparent about how we do invited his Weblog readers to review to the widest possible audience, with our jobs. When the concept of objectiv- his outline for a book on technology objectivity seen by many news manag- ity came up in our Weblog class last fall, and journalism. [See story by Gillmor ers as a means to that end. interestingly none of the students on page 79.] In the era of digital technology and voiced much support for it. Instead we Weblogs also can give readers in- Web publishing, the mass-market settled on more basic principles for sight into the reporting process itself. model of news delivery is being dis- our Weblog—to provide “factual” in- This helps strip away the mystique— placed by one that emphasizes diver- formation that was “thought provok- and misunderstanding—that sur- sity and dialogue. Rather than present- ing” and would invite a “conversation rounds so much of what we do as ing a single, homogenized view, the that will increase understanding.” reporters. An example is the string of e- Web, and the blogosphere in particu- Weblogs also pose some dangers for mail dispatches that producers of the lar, is a wide spectrum of perspectives journalism. They encourage quick post- “In Search of Al Queda” documentary and opinions. It’s a medium where ing of information, while journalism posted to Frontline’s Web site as they people respond better to a more per- has distinguished itself with an edito- did their filming2 . While not formally a sonal writing style, as usability studies rial process that vets stories before Weblog, the producers’ very personal have shown. And this medium is all they are published. In the case of Dan descriptions of how they reported the about communication (e-mail tops ev- Gillmor’s Weblog, the Mercury News story show how a Weblog-like format ery survey as the most favored use of addresses this issue by having an editor can involve the public in a story from the Internet), something the concept check Gillmor’s entries right after he the beginning. of the detached and impersonal jour- posts them. For our journalism school nalist shuts off. Weblog, we decided postings had to be Journalists and Weblogs I once heard an award-winning na- reviewed by another student or profes- tional journalist say she responded to sor before they went public. For Weblogs to become a tool journal- criticisms of her work by telling people Weblog postings also often rely on ists use in their reporting, journalists their argument was not with her but secondhand information, with com- will have to re-examine the concept of with the people she quoted in her mentary and links to what has been objectivity—the idea that we are de- stories. It was as if no human was published elsewhere. But original, in- tached, dispassionate chroniclers of involved in the process of reporting depth reporting is essential to journal- fact. When we did a class at the Univer- and writing the story—just some disin- ism, and reporters’ Weblogs should be sity of California at Berkeley Graduate terested bystander stringing together designed to supplement and not sub- School of Journalism a year ago on what others had to say. So there was no stitute for that. creating a Weblog to report on digital point talking with her. Not surpris- Like other digital media, Weblogs copyright3, one of the main issues we ingly, this don’t-bother-calling-me atti- make it easy to correct errors after the confronted was the clash between jour- tude—all too common in journalism— fact, which can create the impression nalistic objectivity and the informal, is a message that has been taken to that mistakes are just being covered up. In our class we adopted a policy that any significant corrections would be accompanied by a note explaining 1 Gillmor eJournal http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/ what had been changed and why. 2 Frontline http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/search/behind/ Weblogs are no panacea for all of 3 Digital Copyright http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/biplog/ what ails journalism. In the case of

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 75 Journalist’s Trade

Blair, numerous blogs dedicated to and be part of the community if we’re New Media Program director. He co- picking apart the reporting of The New going to regain the public trust that is taught “Creating an Intellectual York Times failed to catch his deceit essential to journalism. ■ Property Weblog” and teaches in a before the Times did. But this also class that is using a Weblog to report highlights the all too common rela- Paul Grabowicz was an investiga- on China’s attempts to control the tionship the press has with Weblogs— tive reporter at newspapers, princi- Internet. He’s also a contributor to the imperious media giant under siege pally The Oakland Tribune. At the E-Media Tidbits, a group Weblog. by hostile outsiders. Journalists need University of California at Berkeley to break out of this us vs. them cycle Graduate School of Journalism, he is [email protected] Blogging Journalists Invite Outsiders’ Reporting In ‘To be interesting, the blog must have a discernible human voice: A blog with just links is a portal.’

By Sheila Lennon

n February 20, 2003, 100 young (hometown of Great White), and on to get the word out. Readers with ex- men and women who went to the Web site of guitarist Ty Longley, pertise in pyrotechnics, insulation or OThe Station nightclub in West who died in the fire. I also scanned firefighting contributed information Warwick, Rhode Island never came newsgroups for messages by survivors and speculation. I passed these and the home. The band began to play, spar- and friends of the fans and bands. other pieces of this story gathered klers flashed, and the soundproofing By constantly updating this blog and through the blog onto the newspaper’s foam on the walls caught fire. Flames publishing information live, we con- editors leading the fire coverage. spread, the music stopped, and the veyed to readers that any news they Still today one can revisit the chro- dying began. sent would be acted on and published nology of this “reporting” process as it There was no way to know the names immediately. A link at the top of our unfolded by reading from the bottom of everyone who was at the Great White Weblog asked, “Seen something this of Week One of The Station Fire blog. concert that night. Identifying some of blog should point to? E-mail Sheila,” There’s no equivalent for this experi- the dead and badly burned took days. and it gave my address. ence in print. Rhode Islanders banged on local news Readers responded. Amid the con- Web sites looking for the latest bit of fusion, people were trying to sort out A Blogging Journalist information. The Providence Journal what had happened and looking for Web site1 published news nearly around more information. Journalists, govern- The Station Fire Weblog was an ad hoc the clock, not waiting for the ment officials, firefighters, medical pro- blog created to handle the huge flow of newspaper’s next day’s press run. fessionals, witnesses, survivors and information created by a breaking news Initially, we created The Station Fire friends pooled their knowledge, and I story. I maintained this in addition to Weblog2 to collect links to news cover- blogged it all. Friends and relatives of my daily blog, Subterranean Homepage age of the fire elsewhere on the Web. I victims e-mailed the URL’s of pages News5 on www.projo.com. searched with Google’s help and found friends had made to track the condi- Day-to-day I am a newsroom blogger fresh information in victims’ home- tion of victims4 and solicit donations on the mainstream news site of The town papers, on roadie.net3, on for their medical and living expenses. Providence Journal, which is the major Internet “heavy metal” sites, and net Survivors had started discussions at metropolitan daily in the capital of radio station KNAC.com in Los Angeles the Yahoo Groups site, and they wanted Rhode Island. I’ve been online since January 1990, when I assigned a story about local computer bulletin boards 1 The Providence Journal http://www.projo.com and then wrote a column about my 2 The Station Fire Weblog http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/include.pl/blogs/stationfire/ adventures in connecting to them. Af- week1.htm ter 14 years as a features editor at the 3 roadie.net http://www.teslatheband.com/news/jeffrader.htm newspaper, I moved to projo.com four 4 Fire victims update http://www.ornatesky.org/updates.htm years ago. As our Web site’s features 5 Subterranean Homepage News http://www.projo.com/blogs/shenews/ producer, I sit among reporters and editors in the paper’s newsroom. As its

76 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism blogger, I often discover that I’m about 23 other Belo sites including The Dal- stories have that kind of energy; they three days and a world of information las Morning News. They seem to con- behave on the Web as though they are ahead of my print colleagues. As I sit in sider the blog cutting-edge online jour- alive, ready and eager to spread. If the thick of story changes and news- nalism and encourage enough bloggers find something im- room buzz, my brain is always partially experimentation. I have never been portant and blog it, expressing opin- on the Web. reproached for anything I have writ- ions and linking to others’ opinions, Being a Web-savvy reader, I often ten. I do run potentially controversial then the idea rapidly multiplies. Very found myself bored by much of the items past my boss. The only time I quickly, the story has legs and often news. I wanted more than the tradi- have been told not to run something will enter into the mainstream media tional fare of politics, government, cops was when I attempted to link to the and bubble out to readers, listeners and courts, relieved occasionally by union Web site (that I also maintain) and viewers. Perhaps some kind of chirpy features. In no time at all, my during a byline strike. I was told that action will result because of this news. browser’s bookmarks filled up with the lack of an equivalent company site But one thing is certain: More blogging links to Web sites I liked and trusted— was the reason. They promote my blog about it will occur. sites that tracked stories about our by name on the cover of projo.com I assume my readers are getting daily digital future, niche magazines, the best every day I publish and seem pleased top stories elsewhere, so I don’t usu- of somebody’s smart daily finds. by the recognition it has garnered in ally blog those. I want to find what Early blogs gave me a sense of who serious online news and Weblog circles. other news is percolating out on the was pulling these links together and As a senior editor, trusted to observe Web. It’s from obscure fringes of the what they cared about. It was news the ethics and principles of journalism, Web that my blog’s news springs. their authors considered important to I have enormous freedom to explore To understand better the Web’s par- their lives. I found I agreed. The art and the possibilities of blogging as a new ticipatory journalism, listen as David music news I cared about was not the way to gather and report news and Weinberger, the coauthor of “The celebrity doings of The Associated Press information of interest to online read- Cluetrain Manifesto,” 6 explains why he entertainment wire. Blogging artists ers. volunteered for presidential candidate and musicians show us what they like, My default blogger hat reads “Wire Howard Dean7: “They understand that what’s happening. They spread their editor for the Web.” I write in my own it’s about giving voice to the ‘ends’ of culture to anyone who seeks it out. I voice, not my official “journalist” one, the Net (aka us), that it means they lose came to understand what I think of as and create “blog items” from pieces some control of their message, that the giant brain on the Web, a vast available. To be interesting, the blog they need to enable groups to self- aggregation of human knowledge dis- must have a discernible human voice: organize, that it’s about listening and tributed among millions of computers. A blog with just links is a portal. At conversations more than about center- Thanks to the Web, the world seems times, I might link without comment out broadcasting.” Web-savvy news exponentially better reported than it just to help a good site or story rise to organizations understand this, too. was a dozen years ago. Good bloggers, greater attention. Even when bloggers When only news organizations could like good journalists, like to gather don’t editorialize much, their interests afford publishing technology, all jour- interesting information and share the and bias will be evident in what they nalism was “top down”: We publish, desire to pass it along. We serve our choose to point to. On my blog, my you read (or view or listen). But the readers. This message has been news judgment operates in the infor- Web offers everyone low-cost access to drummed into me during my 18 years mation-rich environment of the Web; I a vast readership. as a newspaper editor. write for a more informed reader than Last September, David Gallagher When I started Subterranean the newspaper does. interviewed me for a New York Times Homepage News, my daily blog, in story on journalist bloggers8. Only one March 2002, I wanted to show readers Moving Past the Gatekeepers sentence of our e-mail interview was in the news and ideas I was finding under his final story, so I published the entire the radar of traditional media outlets. If the news media’s power is in setting exchange on my blog for those who Although the Web site and my blog are the nation’s agenda, bloggers enlarge might find it interesting9. I was prob- considered part of the Journal, the that agenda by finding and flogging ably not the first blogger to do this, but staffs are separate. My Web-savvy man- ideas and events until traditional me- the involvement of two high-profile agers syndicate my blog, offering it to dia covers them in more depth. Good Web journalists bumped the story up and caused quite a stir in news circles and was widely linked. Subsequently, a 6 The Cluetrain Manifesto http://www.cluetrain.com reporter from the American Journal- 7 Howard Dean’s Internet advisor http://www.hyperorg.com/blogger/mtarchive/001843.html ism Review interviewed me for a story 8 Gallagher’s story http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/CPC/archive/blogs/23BLOG.html about the incident and its implications; 9 Lennon’s interview http://lennon2.com/indexnyt.htm that reporter published the entire in- terview as a sidebar.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 77 Journalist’s Trade

Some journalists were troubled by excerpts from both Kerr’s column and this “bottom-up” approach—the no- Journalists: the 1984 report of the mayor’s court tion of the source, not the journalist, appearance at which he admitted, un- deciding what to publish. It exposes Want to blog? der oath, to the charges as part of a plea the reporter’s selection process, pro- agreement. The evidence that the mayor vides context for quotes selected for Take advantage of the newness of was lying was buried in our paid ar- publication, and could be used as a blogging to newsrooms and become a chives. Our attempt to correct the bad “gotcha” by disgruntled interviewees. blogger before the publisher turns the journalism done by “60 Minutes” is (Gallagher, who is also a blogger, wasn’t assignment over to his/her favorite col- headlined, “To 60 Minutes: Here’s fazed by my parallel publishing.) The umnist. Just blog. Make a prototype. Buddy Cianci’s 1984 admission of important point is that widely avail- Show it to your boss. Push for getting it guilt.” 10 I hope soon every newspaper’s able, inexpensive Web publishing lets out on the Web. Put it where readers archives will be freely available on the anyone get out his or her story and can find it. Use blogging software or open Web. There is a constant need for perspective. Bloggers then link to it the html editor that’s part of your public access to these records. and thereby spread the word. News browser. If you’re a freelancer without After a Rhode Island State Police organizations are no longer the a Web host, free Web space probably is raid last month on a tax-free smoke gatekeepers on stories—the Web has included in your account with an shop opened by the Narragansett Indi- flung the gates wide open. But some- Internet Service Provider. If you want ans, Indian activist Sheila Spencer Sto- times only the Web journalist has both your own domain name, inexpensive ver of Bunn, North Carolina, whose access to the full story and the means to basic hosting can be had from about six Indian name is Firehair Shining Spirit, publish it widely. dollars per month and up. ■ —S.L. wrote an e-mail to the governor of Newsroom bloggers, who have un- Rhode Island, to the secretary of state, limited free access to the newspaper’s and to me, the projo.com blogger. She archives, can also allow a story’s build- learning DeLeo and Cianci’s wife were wrote in support of the tribe’s claim ing blocks to remain visible. Closed, having an affair. They will hear Cianci that it’s a sovereign nation, subject paid archives at many news organiza- say he and DeLeo ‘had a fight.’ They only to federal warrants. tion sites lock up the journalistic record. will hear Cianci say that the cigarette Firehair wrote: “Remember after Two days before Providence’s former involved ‘wasn’t even lit.’ They will Hurricane Bob, then Tribal Chairman mayor, Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, Jr. en- hear Cianci say that he ‘lost a happy John Brown was asked if he was going tered federal prison to serve a 64-month home’ because of the confrontation. to be helped by the state of Rhode racketeering-conspiracy sentence, “What viewers will not hear is that Island? He replied, ‘We are a sovereign Morley Safer, on the CBS television DeLeo was unable to fight back because nation, we do business with the federal news magazine “60 Minutes,” let him of the presence of an armed Providence government’—this article may still be whitewash his history, unchallenged. police officer and a group of Cianci archived with your paper.” She used Safer’s story suggested that Cianci was friends. They will not hear that the this incident to argue that the tribe had a colorful victim of overzealous federal corner of DeLeo’s left eye was burned established a precedent for sovereignty prosecution. Many Rhode Islanders, by the cigarette. They will not hear that by getting federal aid directly from who had decades of experience with the Cianci’s marriage was already over FEMA after the 1991 hurricane. Back both the quick-witted mayor and his at the time, that they had been to court then, as she reminded me, smiling state sordid past, were shocked. to start divorce proceedings.” officials beamed with pride at the Situations like this contribute to a Kerr’s words were behind the regis- groundbreaking move. growing credibility gap between what tration wall of the news site and thus I dug the 1991 “Tribe to get $12,000 the media report and the public be- made no sound. Access to news on for hurricane damage” story out of The lieve. Providence Journal columnist projo.com is available only to readers Providence Journal’s archives and pub- Bob Kerr published a powerful col- who will answer demographic ques- lished it11 along with her e-mail. Later, umn about the shabby journalism done tions about themselves. Bloggers, I asked Firehair why she had written to on “60 Minutes:” search engines, and even many report- me. “I went hunting on Google for e- “Viewers will hear Cianci discuss the ers often will not link to stories that mail for the ProvJournal, and for what- infamous night in 1983 when he in- require registration to read. At Subter- ever reason, the link to your page is vited Raymond DeLeo, a onetime ranean Homepage News, which can be what hit me in the eye. There are no friend, to his house in Providence after read without registration, I blogged coincidences—it got to the right place, now, didn’t it?” she replied. Indeed, it did. 10 “60 Minutes” article http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/include.pl/technology/shenews/ Rhode Islanders were having a hard archives/weekthirty-seven.htm#60min time understanding the tribe’s claim to 11 ProJo http://www.projo.com/cgi-bin/include.pl/blogs/shenews/archives/ be exempt from state law. While the weeksixtyfour.htm#firehair tribe’s views were mentioned as part of

78 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism longer news reports on the incident, become the norm in the future: Invit- nal. Her Weblog, Subterranean only the most attentive readers were ing informed readers to participate in Homepage News, can be found at able to wade through the legal claims stories can only bolster our credibility www.projo.com/blogs/shenews/ and and counterclaims. Firehair pointed and trust. Excluding their reports will her after-hours Weblog, The Reader, readers to this clear precedent, as re- lead to rogue publishing that challenges can be found at www.lennon2.com. ported years earlier in The Providence the truth of our reporting and our Journal. And, as a blogger with an un- relevance. ■ [email protected] limited news hole, I could offer space for her sidebar and resurrect the 1991 Sheila Lennon is features and inter- story so Rhode Islanders could read it. active producer at www.projo.com, Participatory journalism is likely to the Web site of The Providence Jour- Moving Toward Participatory Journalism ‘If contemporary American journalism is a lecture, what it is evolving into is something that incorporates a conversation and seminar.’

By Dan Gillmor

n March 2002, at the annual PC pable of annoying this crowd all by wrong. Over the years, they have made (Platforms for Communication) Fo- himself. But the real-time nature of this me realize something that is now one Irum conference in suburban Phoe- process was important and instructive, of my guiding principles: My readers nix, a telecommunications chief ex- if not entirely novel in today’s commu- know more than I do, sometimes indi- ecutive found himself on the receiving nications-infused world. The essential vidually on specific topics, but always end of acerbic commentary from a pair element was the partnership with read- collectively. This is similar for all jour- of Weblog writers who weren’t im- ers—a feedback loop that started in a nalists, no matter what their beat is. pressed by his on-stage comments. Joe suburban Phoenix conference session, And having readers’ feedback and par- Nacchio, then the head of Qwest Com- zipped to Orlando, headed back to ticipation presents a great opportu- munications, was complaining about Arizona, and ultimately went global. nity and not a threat, because when we the travails of running his monopoly. ask our readers for help and knowl- As he was speaking, Doc Searls, a maga- A Passive Audience Becomes edge they are willing to share it—and, zine writer, and I were posting on our Active through that sharing, we all benefit. blogs via the wireless conference net- If contemporary American journal- work and a lawyer and software devel- This exchange—and its consequence— ism is a lecture, what it is evolving into oper, Buzz Bruggeman, was “watch- reflects the power of blogs that is cen- is something that incorporates a con- ing” the proceedings from his office in tral to the participatory journalism of versation and seminar. This is about Florida. At one point, Bruggeman e- tomorrow. We’re learning new tech- decentralization. Centralized news- mailed each of us a note directing us to niques, and the “we” needs to be un- gathering and distribution is being a Web page showing this CEO’s enor- derstood in its largest sense, because augmented (and some cases will be mous cash-in of Qwest stock while the enormous new power is devolving into replaced) by what’s happening at the share price was heading downhill. We the hands of what has been a mostly edges of increasingly ubiquitous and noted this information in our blogs passive audience. I’ve been lucky interwoven networks. People are com- and offered virtual tips of the hat to enough to be an early participant in bining powerful technological tools and Bruggeman. this form of participatory journalism, innovative ideas that are fundamen- Many people at the conference were having been urged almost four years tally altering the nature of journalism also online, and some were amusing ago by one of the Weblog software in this new century. themselves by reading our comments. pioneers to start my blog. It was a There are exciting possibilities for As these exchanges were posted, the natural fit: I was writing about technol- everyone in this transition—for jour- audience’s mood toward Nacchio ogy for a newspaper in Silicon Valley, nalists and active “consumers” of news chilled. Were we responsible for turn- where my readers were both highly who aren’t satisfied with today’s prod- ing the audience against him? Perhaps knowledgeable and likely to be online. uct and for newsmakers. One of the our blogging played a small role, though My audience is never shy about let- most exciting examples of a I’m fairly sure he was more than ca- ting me know when I get something newsmaker’s understanding of the

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 79 Journalist’s Trade

possibilities has been the presidential formation and perspectives could con- kinds of online journalists emerge, campaign of Howard Dean, the first tribute much to improving and broad- governments and newsmaking organi- serious blogger-candidate, who has ening the coverage. But editors can zations are making rules that effec- embraced decentralization to the mas- still invite audience members to be tively decide who is a journalist via the sive benefit of his nomination drive. part of the conversation in a much credentialing process; this isn’t new, Meanwhile, “amateur journalists” are more genuine way. but as more and more people declare busy creating their own brands, and The most worthwhile part of themselves to be journalists, the issue the political beat seems to be where blogging is the conversation and the will arise more often. the most interesting action is found. listening. I have regular readers who In a worst-case scenario, blogs and drop by my blog. Many get the head- other participatory journalism could Meshing a Newspaper lines via RSS syndication feeds and someday require the permission of Big Column With a Blog offer suggestions or comments. (RSS is Media and Big Government. Consider, an XML data format that lets program- for example, U.S. policies that are en- For the journalist who starts a blog, the mers create so-called “newsreaders” to couraging concentration of media or- challenges are different. Blogs usually parse and display RSS data, bypassing ganizations even as the number of reflect an individual voice. In my case, the browser entirely for more conve- Internet Service Providers (ISP) shrinks. this made perfect sense since I was nient access to the blog.) Sometimes I In a few years, it is possible the only already a columnist at the San Jose indicate what I’m working on and in- viable ISP’s will be phone and cable Mercury News and therefore expected vite readers to tell me what they know giants; they’ll be able to decide what to share my voice and opinions in print. about the topic. Naturally, if I think I gets delivered at what speed to online So when I began my blog, I dropped have a story alone, I don’t tell my com- customers. That even Microsoft has mini-essays onto it without worrying petition. But getting additional angles joined a coalition demanding rules to about compromising the objectivity that and ideas about a topic is never a bad prevent such conduct indicates how beat journalists at traditional news or- idea. I generally learn more from people far this budding duopoly’s power could ganizations try to maintain. Yet I’m who disagree with me than from those reach. That would be an outrage and a convinced that almost any reporter who think I’m right. In an era when the disaster for self-government. could successfully do a blog, even if its public has a pervasive distrust of jour- I’m optimistic, however, largely be- nalists, listening cause the technology will be difficult to strikes me as a good control and because people like to tell In an era when the public has a way to improve our stories. With this transition to partici- pervasive distrust of journalists, relationship with patory journalism, the news audience the audience. will be fragmented beyond anything listening strikes me as a good A disruptive we’ve seen, but news will be more way to improve our relationship trend? Sure. Some relevant than ever. We’ll all need better with the audience. of this journalism tools to gather it collectively and then from the edges will make sense of what’s been gathered. make all of us dis- In the end, this emerging media tinctly uncomfort- universe is not about the journalists. purpose was only to keep readers in- able and raise new questions of trust It’s about people’s ability to become formed about some of the little stuff and veracity. Collectively, we will need more fully engaged as customers, fami- that wouldn’t otherwise make the pa- to develop new hierarchies of trust and lies, neighbors and citizens. Blogs are per or broadcast. Think of the blog as verification, using formal and informal only one of the tools of tomorrow’s an ongoing “Reporter’s Notebook.” gauges of reputation. Of course, law- multidirectional news media—a pow- Team blogs—covering larger topic ar- yers will make some of these new rules. erful early indicator of where we’re eas—can also work well. They always have, always will. headed. It will be bumpy ride, but a Based on my experience as newspa- I also worry about the way today’s worthwhile journey. ■ per columnist and blogger I’d urge dominant media organizations—led by newspapers and other media organiza- Hollywood and the recording indus- Dan Gillmor is technology columnist tions to offer readers the opportunity try—are abusing copyright laws to gain for the San Jose Mercury News. He is to do blogs, such as Salon’s experi- absolute control over digitally stored writing a book, “Making the News,” ment, in which the online magazine material. They want to shut down some about the intersection of journalism worked with a blogging software ven- of the most useful knowledge-spread- and technology and is using his blog dor to let readers create Salon-branded ing tools in this new era, such as peer- to get ideas and feedback from blogs at a low price (about $40 a year). to-peer technology. Meanwhile, they readers. His blog can be accessed at Not even a well-staffed big-city news- are increasingly in league with govern- www.dangillmor.com. paper can hope to cover every aspect of ments that want to shield their activi- civic life, but it has readers whose in- ties from public scrutiny. As different [email protected]

80 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism Weblogs and Journalism: Back to the Future? A blogger predicts that Weblogs might push Big Media back to better news reporting.

By Glenn Harlan Reynolds

he growth of Weblogs as a new blogs to generate interest in its “Raging link from my own site or from other form of journalism has gotten a Cow,” a “milk-based soft drink with an high-traffic bloggers often drives books Tmixed response. On the one attitude.” The failure of this project, up into the upper reaches of the Ama- hand, many people, including many however, may have had something to zon rankings. Some musicians, like journalists, are intrigued by the notion do with the unappealing nature of the punk-rocker Dr. Frank, have done well of a self-publishing platform that al- product itself.) Some journalists are using blogs to market their music. And lows writers to work without the bother making money from Weblogs: My Democratic presidential candidate of editors, publishers and accounting InstaPundit site, despite a near com- Howard Dean has used blogs as a departments. Having been interviewed plete failure on my part to exploit it as fundraising tool with considerable suc- by quite a few journalists over the last a source of revenue, generates a few cess. couple of years, I have noticed that thousand dollars a year. Andrew most of them get around to asking me Sullivan has tried much harder and, in Blogging Gets Lots of if I think it would be possible for a two “pledge weeks,” he raised well Attention journalist to make a good living as a over $100,000. blogger. Some have even implored me Other freelance journalists, such as On the attention side, however, things to try to maximize the revenues from science writer David Appell, have solic- are far more dramatic. A few decades my own blogging as a means of open- ited money from their readers to allow ago, there weren’t many voices in the ing the door for others. them to cover particular topics. Appell public sphere. There were three na- On the other hand, some people asked his readers to finance an article tional television networks, most towns disdain Weblogs. Matt Drudge has made on the World Health Organization’s had only one newspaper, and the op- very clear that he has no interest in relations with the sugar industry; read- portunities for most Americans to have being called a “blogger.” He regards ers contributed more than he had re- their views heard were limited indeed. himself as a traditional journalist in the quested within a few days. Thin-media Couple that with the generally favor- ink-stained tradition of the prewar years mogul Nick Denton has managed to able attitude toward authority and large (notwithstanding the lack of actual ink). turn a profit with Gizmodo.com, a gad- institutions that prevailed in the post- Other writers have dismissed Weblogs get-blog supported by referral fees from war years, and journalists had the op- as mere personal diaries, as nothing merchants like Amazon, and there are portunity to enjoy monopoly profits in more than a collection of annotated probably similar ventures elsewhere the attention economy. (Will any jour- links to other people’s work, or as that I’ve missed. But so far blogs haven’t nalist enjoy the influence of a Scotty parasites on the body of real journal- really lived up to journalists’ escape Reston or a Joe Alsop again? It’s doubt- ism. fantasies, and for the moment Big Me- ful.) Even after the Vietnam and But Drudge’s misgivings and those dia is in the driver’s seat where money Watergate era brought most big insti- of others notwithstanding, I think that is concerned. With the exception of tutions into disrepute, journalism rode Weblogs are doing pretty well in both Sullivan, almost everyone making real high—and even capitalized on the the money economy and the attention money from blogging is making it from growing “celebrity culture” to turn news economy, though I suspect that their Big Media outlets: Mickey Kaus at Slate, anchors and correspondents into su- impact will be greater in the latter than Eric Alterman and I at MSNBC.com, perstars. in the former. But to understand the and so on. [See Alterman’s article on This situation began to change even influence of Weblogs, it’s probably use- page 85.] That may change in the fu- before the advent of the Internet, as ful to break the subject into two parts. ture, and I expect it to, but we’re not technological advances in low-cost off- there yet. set printing made alternative weekly The Money Side of Blogging Blogs do help to sell books and newspapers a common place. The music. Novelist Claire Berlinski let Washington City Paper may have been On the money side, Weblogs’ impact is bloggers read chapters of her novel, no match for The Washington Post, but trivial, though it’s growing. Some mar- “Loose Lips,” in manuscript; the result- it was at least another voice. Most Ameri- keters have tried to exploit the ing buzz helped get it published, and cans, though, were still shut out. Talk blogosphere in order to generate buzz, it’s now under option to Robert De radio opened things up a bit more, but but with extremely limited success (Dr Niro’s production company as a poten- it was still a matter of the host sharing Pepper, for example, tried to use phony tial film. I’ve noticed that an approving the megaphone for a few minutes out

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 81 Journalist’s Trade

of an hour in between commercials for or write opinion pieces just as well as distinction in the marketplace: Corpo- baldness cures and investment news- famous people is likely to undercut the rations are boring, and so is punditry letters. status of celebrity journalists and pun- that has been run through the strainer But as James Lileks famously re- dits. Tiger Woods is a golf celebrity of a corporate mindset. The other was marked, the Web is a conversation. because he can play golf better than that technology was undermining this Bloggers get lots of e-mail. Some anyone. Most media celebrities, on the strategy. Everybody has an opinion and, (mostly those with lower traffic, be- other hand, became famous because thanks to the Internet, it’s easy to share cause it becomes quite unwieldy past a other people lacked access to the tools them, opening up boring, corporate- certain point) allow readers to post of the trade. That’s changing now. mindset punditry to a vast range of comments. And Web-based tools like more interesting competition. Technorati—which lists all the Weblog Blogs’ Impact on Journalism What this means, however, is that posts connecting to a particular article the most powerful application for 21st or Weblog item—make it very easy to Mass participation in reporting and century media is likely to be hard-news see what people are saying about, well, punditry will have some downsides, gathering, something that news media pretty much anything. What’s more, but for those who actually care about organizations are still better at than blog readers are joining in the conver- the craft of journalism it’s likely to have their atomized competitors on the sation. Readers of my site e-mail me upsides, too. During the wave of con- Internet. If Big Media outfits want to suggested links, and some send first- solidation and corporatization that compete with the blogosphere, they’d person reports (sometimes with pho- swept the media world beginning in be well advised to beef up their foreign tos taken via digital camera or cell the 1980’s, the reporting of actual news bureaus and start reporting more ac- phone) from places as far-flung as Af- got short shrift. Bureaus were cut, cor- tual news. And that, I think, would ghanistan, Iraq, Paris and Caracas. The respondents were laid off, and actual please both bloggers and traditional same holds true for other Weblogs, as newsgathering was often outsourced journalists. ■ well. to stringers and wire services. Analysis Communication of this horizontal and punditry (that, conveniently Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a law nature is likely to have several impacts. enough, were cheaper) were supposed professor at the University of Tennes- First of all, the term “correspondent” is to provide the value-added that would see, where he teaches constitutional reverting to its original meaning of allow media institutions to distinguish law and Internet law. He publishes “one who corresponds,” rather than themselves. two Weblogs, www.instapundit.com, the more recent one of “well-paid mi- There were two problems with this and www.glennreynolds.com at crophone-holder with good hair.” Sec- approach. One was that a strategy of MSNBC.com. ond, the realization that anyone (or corporatization didn’t sit well with a lots of people, anyway) can report news strategy of using opinion to achieve [email protected] Blogging From Iraq With a borrowed laptop, rented satellite phone and reader-generated budget, an independent reporter sends back stories from the war.

By Christopher Allbritton

n late March, I had to make a choice. guys with AK-47’s? reporting, but I was having a hard time I was stuck in Cizre, Turkey, hoping I took the mountainous route, and selling my stories. I was frustrated with Ito get into Iraq to cover the war. readers of Back-to-Iraq.com, the Web editors who seemed to care little about Syria and Iran had closed the borders. site that I started last year, were able to the Kurds who live in this region of Turkey had closed its borders weeks read all this, practically as it happened, Iraq. Or perhaps the market was simply before. Should I try to sneak into a war thanks to a revolution in technology glutted after several stories had been zone by boating across the Tigris near and a lack of sanity on my part. published that spring. the Syrian-Turkish-Iraqi border? Or But perhaps I should back up a bit. Based on my reporting experiences, should I pay $3,000 and take the smug- In the fall of 2002, I started a Web site I started writing stories for my Web glers’ route across the Turkish border, using off-the-shelf blogging software. I site. At about the same time, I came through snow-draped mountains and had returned to New York from north- across SaveKaryn.com, a scheme by Turkish snipers accompanied by three ern Iraq, where I did some freelance erstwhile spendthrift Karyn Bosnak to

82 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism erase her credit card debt by asking strangers for money over the Web. She had become a minor cause célèbre and eventually raised about $13,000.

Blogging From Iraq

I decided to try my hand at “blograising.” Instead of offering warm appreciation to the donors, as Karyn did, what I could offer were first-hand accounts of life in Iraq. And with fund- ing from readers, when war on Iraq was declared, as I presumed it would be, I planned to report on that for the donors using a premium e-mail list to distribute copy and pictures. With this plan, my Weblog, www.Back-to- Iraq.com, was born. By the time the bombs dropped on March 20, I had raised $8,000. Within the next few days, another $2,000 was contributed, and I bought my ticket to On the day Kirkuk fell to the Kurds, hundreds of Iraqi conscripts surrendered. A group Istanbul. I planned to travel to Ankara, of POW’s and their Kurdish guard pose for pictures before being sent to Arbil for pro- meet up with John Courtney, an ex- cessing. Photo by ® 2003 Christopher Allbritton. Marine who had discovered Back-to- Iraq while he was waiting in Turkey, also looking for a way to get into Iraq. posting comments and suggestions. times can bias what gets reported. My Together we would somehow make Instead of having one editor, I had reporting created a connection be- our way into the country. thousands. And they wanted me there. tween the readers and me, and they Using a borrowed laptop and a This was journalism without a net, trusted me to bring them an unfettered rented satellite phone, my plan was to on the Net, and it had never been done view of what I was seeing and hearing. send back stories and pictures. There quite like this before. would be no editors, no advertisers, no But was what I was doing journal- Readers Respond to His strings attached. I’d have to rely on the ism? I had no official press credentials, Reporting training I had from Columbia only my reporting experiences in the University’s Graduate School of Jour- region from the previous year. Nor did When I asked readers why they sup- nalism and the experience from when I have any major media outlet behind ported B2I, Lynn McQueary responded: I’d worked as an international editor me with which to impress either sources “Back-to-Iraq definitely brought sto- and national writer at The Associated or other journalists. And with no editor ries that the mainstream media didn’t. Press and apply this to the blog. But to guide my story selection or to read As an independent journalist, you now I had the freedom to report and my words before they were published didn’t have to work within the confines write what I witnessed and experi- to a worldwide audience, there was no of what would be ‘acceptable’ to print.” enced. It also meant that I had no one to offer me story advice or curb my Trish Lewis liked that I had “the inde- backup should things go wrong. rhetorical excesses. pendence it gave you the reporter. No This brings me back to the decision Yet I believe that B2I is an example agendas except your own, which is I had to make in March. Either I figure of journalism. It was about a guy with perfectly acceptable to me. No one is out how to get into a war zone or go a notebook asking questions and then totally objective. But you were free to home. But going home no longer telling people the answers to his ques- do what you wanted. Also, you gave seemed like an option since I had more tions. It was about bringing the stories more personal perspectives of ‘behind than 320 donors to my Weblog, donors I saw and heard to people interested in the scenes’ of what it takes to do what who would eventually give more than reading them from a corner of the you do, which was terribly fascinating $14,000 to get me to Iraq so that I world (the northern front prior to the to me.” could report on the war as an “inde- fall of Baghdad and Tikrit) that wasn’t Once the idea sunk in that readers pendent journalist.” By then there were widely reported on. And my reporting like these women were my actual edi- also about 25,000 daily readers of B2I, was done without any outside pres- tors, interesting things happened. So as my Weblog came to be called, and sure being applied, the kind that some- that readers would know where I was,

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 83 Journalist’s Trade

prior to beginning the two-day trek across the mountainous border be- tween Turkey and Iraq, I filed from a meadow 10 miles from the Iraqi bor- der. In that story, I sent this cliff-hang- ing close, “We’re leaving in 15 min- utes. When next I write, I should be back in Iraq.” Later, after I referred to my moun- tain journey as being “like a Bataan Death March,” I gave a very public mea culpa. Some of my readers had lost relatives on that much more hellish journey and had complained on the site’s public comment section about my choice of words. Because many readers asked about the Turcoman people who live in Iraqi Kurdistan and Kirkuk, I did a story about them, explaining some of the ethnic politics of the region and how the Turcoman people were attempting to drag Turkey into the powder keg so A father and son flee a burning factory after Kurds—or U.S. attacks—set it on fire. Photo they might get a shot at Kirkuk’s oil by ® 2003 Christopher Allbritton. revenue. I never saw another story about the Turcoman’s role, so I was glad that my readers led me to doing this story. Over time, I started report- ing in a more focused manner, as I Weblogs and Journalism worked to fulfill specific reader requests while still also relying on my own in- None of this should suggest that stinct for news. Weblogs will replace The New York Through it all, I maintained a per- Times. Instead, blogs should be the sonal tone in my writing as I tried to let seasoning—or maybe the garnish—in people know what it felt like to be a reader’s well-balanced media diet. working and surviving during such an Their quirky, scrappy tone, their in- extraordinary event. My antiwar stance your-face opinions, and the personal had been well-known to anyone who scale of the publication are the main had read B2I before I left for Iraq, yet attractions of Weblogs. But none of once I was there I reported what I those matter if the reporting is nonex- witnessed as straight down the middle istent or sloppy. I hope B2I showed as I could. When a crowd of Kurds that the qualities that make blogs shouted how glad they were that the unique and exciting can coexist with war had started, I reported it as they the standards of quality journalism. said it. When they told me how much This is an important goal if U.S. they liked Fox News because “Fox News journalism is to reverse its crisis of is true!,” I reported that, too. credibility. For various reasons, a lot of When I wasn’t able to get a direct Americans say they don’t trust their source on a story, I didn’t write it. And media. Weblogs written by those with I kept my commentary to a minimum some journalism training can renew while I was in Iraq; readers already that trust through the sense of per- knew my opinions, so they didn’t need sonal connection that can be estab- An Arab fighter in Tikrit poses for a to hear them repeatedly. I strongly lished through the interactivity of the picture while a factory burns in the believe that if blogs are ever going to be medium. With this trusting relation- background. Tikrit had mostly fallen to taken seriously as a journalistic me- ship, bloggers can do good journalism. the Americans, but still many armed dium, their authors will have to be as But with the chatty nature of the factions roamed the city. Photo by ® conscientious in their reporting con- blogging medium, this trust and cred- 2003 Christopher Allbritton. duct as any mainstream outlet. ibility can also be damaged. There is,

84 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism however, the corrective power that such as my story about stumbling into really past, and history isn’t something derives from the medium’s interactivity. a village party in Taqtaq the night that happened long ago—it’s very much For example, during the war, when Baghdad fell and being mobbed by alive and kicking. In this ancient place, Sean-Paul Kelley of The Agonist, a well- delirious Kurds so happy to see Ameri- a land of empires, gods, gardens, wars, known and wildly popular blog, was cans in their midst. blood and beauty, at the heart of it, you plagiarizing from Stratfor, a well-re- Truth is elusive but it is always some- will find only stories. I hope I’ve been garded military-intelligence newsletter, thing more than merely a collection of able to bring a few of them home to another blogger caught him and tipped facts. At times, it can be revealed you.” ■ off Wired.com, which eventually did a through a mosaic of coverage that edu- story on the scandal. cates and enlightens readers. In my Christopher Allbritton is a writer in I started B2I not only to cover a war farewell note on B2I, I wrote: “While New York and has written for the and advance my reporting career but truth may be the first casualty in war, I Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, The also because I think complicated news hope I was able to save a small shard of Associated Press, The (New York) stories benefit from having as many it. But it’s hard to say. Many times since Daily News, and various magazines sets of eyes on them as possible. No I’ve been here, listening to the claims and Web sites. He is working on a news organization has a monopoly on of Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Turcoman or book about his experiences in Iraq truth, and independent journalists like Assyrians, I’ve thought that there is no and looking for funding (or an me can pursue stories that mainstream such thing as Truth, only myths that assignment) to cover another con- journalists won’t cover. Because of my people tell their children to get them flict. smaller and more focused audience through to the next generation. His- and their interests, I told stories that tory doesn’t exist here, at least not in [email protected] revealed the humanity of a war zone, the American sense. The past is never

Determining the Value of Blogs ‘Without, say, the imprimatur of The New York Times, a blogger has only his or her reputation to recommend the work ….’

By Eric Alterman

hen I began blogging for knows God! I wish someone had got- in Salon.com that ‘the editorial pro- MSNBC.com in May of 2002, ten to the naming committee before cess of the blogs takes place between WI wrote what I considered to this whole movement got rolling. I and among bloggers, in public, in real be a reasonable-length introductory hate the word ‘blog,’ but I like the time, with fully annotated cross-links.’ column. But as I was unused to the format, particularly as a writer. (What’s “Well maybe then Altercation ain’t a format, I did not realize that I was not to like?) blog. I have an editor. This is in part beginning with a faux pas, failing to “Even if I could somehow get used because I want one and in part, I imag- adapt to my new medium. One gener- to the word, one problem with blogs ine, because the good folks at ally friendly blogger liked what I had to remains definitional. It’s hard to know MSNBC.com do not entirely trust me say, but thought it went on at such exactly what qualifies. Is Matt Drudge a without one. Editors are a pain, but inexcusable length he compared it to blogger? Is Jim Romenesko? Are the they have saved me from approximately Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past.” mysterious folks at a million embarrassing mistakes. I’m Looking back on it today, I’m rather Mediawhoresonline.com? I dunno. sure I will make a bunch even having glad I did it. After all, how often do you Does it matter? John Hiler of one, but I’m happy to admit that hear the words “Marcel Proust” and Microcontent News asks, ‘If all bloggers www.Altercation.msnbc.com will be “Eric Alterman” in the same sentence followed a journalism code of ethics, edited by those folks whose initials these days? Not often enough, I say. their blogs would be objective and appear in the middle of the address. Anyway, here is a portion of what I had edited … but would they still be blogs?’ “To tell the truth, as someone who to say back then: In his proposed Code of Ethics for has benefited from editors’ suggestions “Blog. Blogorrhea. Blogosphere. Amateur Journalism, he argues, for more than 20 years, I don’t even get Blogistan. Blogdex. Blogrolling. ‘Weblogs are inherently biased and the contrary argument. The biggest Warblogging. Where it will all end, unedited.’ Scott Rosenberg proposed problem great writers face is when

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 85 Journalist’s Trade

they think they get to be too big to be out, say, the imprimatur of The New an amazing job of finding documents edited. Have you read the last book by York Times, a blogger has only his or from Lott’s past that continued to keep David Halberstam?1 I didn’t think so. her reputation to recommend the work, the story alive as they simultaneously Have you seen the new Star Wars? and the very nature of the beast seems broadened our understanding of its Here’s what Stephen Hunter wrote in to encourage carelessly conceived state- larger implications. I’m sure a number The Washington Post, I think quite ments and baseless charges. Now that of such examples can be found in the accurately. ‘Memo to George Lucas: blogging appears here to stay, it is even blogosphere’s short history. The prob- Hire an editor, bud. You’re a great harder and harder for amateurs to sift lem, per usual, is sifting the wheat from man. So what? You still need an editor. through the morass of information the dross. Everybody needs an editor, and no- available to them each day and decide Ideally, I think every blogger would body needed an editor more than the what to believe. Matt Drudge brags that benefit from having an editor—and writer-director of this film.’ Well, if he is 80 percent accurate. Well, that 20 from knowing a little bit about the way George needs one, who am I …?” percent can do an awful lot of damage. journalism is produced (and con- But the value of blogs is the flipside ceived). As that seems awfully unlikely, Evaluating Blogs of their downside. In the world of jour- we will have to settle for everyone— nalism, an awful lot of what is both true journalists included—learning a little The issue to which I tried to address and important is overlooked for a vari- bit more about blogging. I know my myself that day is the same one that ety of reasons, many trivial, a few not. own work, both as a journalist and a preoccupies me now. What is the role The concentration of media owner- historian, is a great deal richer for it. At of “truth” and “evidence” in our con- ship and increasing conservatism of so least that’s what my editors tell me. ■ temporary political and cultural de- many journalistic institutions open up bate and discourse, and do blogs help a crying need for alternative sources of Eric Alterman writes the “Stop the or hurt its case? On the one hand, information and opinion that cannot Presses” column for The Nation and Weblogs are quite obviously a net nega- find a home elsewhere in the media. the Altercation Weblog tive. Just as bad money forces out good, When inventive blogging is combined (www.altercation.msnbc.com) for so too does bad information. Because with the self-discipline of journalism— MSNBC.com. An adjunct professor of blogging requires no credentials what- as, say, in Josh Marshall’s Talking Points journalism at Columbia University ever—not even the judgment of an Memo, it can significantly advance our and a senior fellow of the World editor or personnel resources person— knowledge and put pressure on jour- Policy Institute, he is the author, absolutely anybody with access to a nalists to do a better job with their own most recently, of “What Liberal computer can do it. That means a vast reporting and evidence. Media? The Truth About Bias and the increase in the net amount of crap But it is not only the journalists. News” (Basic Books, 2003). swirling around out there, unedited, During the Trent Lott brouhaha, the unchecked and largely untrue. With- anonymous liberal blogger Atrios did [email protected]

1 At the time I wrote this, I was referring to “War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton and Generals.” The Infectious Desire to Be Linked in the Blogosphere ‘Weblogs offer journalists tangible ways to achieve that Number One feeling.’

By Mark Glaser

riting a Number One pop ber of major newspapers that pick up of Southern California Annenberg single has been a dream of their stories or how often their articles School’s Online Journalism Review Wmine, stored in the vault of make the front page or are talked about (www.ojr.org) as well as a regular news- my overambitions near “topping The by TV pundits. Or they might make letter for the Online Publishers Asso- New York Times Bestseller List” and radio or TV show appearances. There’s ciation (www.online-publishers.org). “inventing the greatest thing since always the Google option, with a name After I wrote columns about bloggers sliced bread.” Unlike the music busi- search bringing a downpour of links to and described how they raised the level ness, which I once covered, for print stories online. of public and media scrutiny of Sena- journalists, there are few Top 40 charts Weblogs offer journalists tangible tor Trent Lott when he made his now- to climb. ways to achieve that Number One feel- infamous birthday comments about the Print journalists can chart the num- ing. I write a column for the University late Senator Strom Thurmond and how

86 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism they covered the war in Iraq, I noticed charts, lodging itself up there in a Pandagon said the graph was “beyond the incestuous, snowballing sensation Beatlesque way, awaiting my next bril- pointless.” Another named Atrios says of getting linked in the blogosphere. liant blog analysis? Sure, there were he got “no respect” for being left off the considerations of fairness, accuracy and chart. The most consistent quibble was The Chain of Weblog Links artistic beauty. But could this chart that I put blogger/journalist James shoot straight to the top? Lileks on the left side of the graph, Here’s how it goes: Interview a top My editors at OJR were willing to put when he really is a right-winger. (This blogger such as Glenn “InstaPundit” Reynolds or Josh “Talking Points Memo” Marshall, and they will likely When print journalists start to write blogs, link to your final article. Those links lead to links from their blogging “chil- they begin to look at issues on a daily, possibly dren,” those other bloggers who lap up hourly basis, creating a news cycle that’s more their every word online. Then, they tell like cable TV news. two friends, who tell two friends, and so on. The end result is placement for your story on Weblog charts such as the Daypop Top 40 or MIT’s Blogdex (the resources behind it, and an illustrator being online journalism, we were “Weblog Diffusion Index”) or Popdex helped get the graph in working order. quickly able to update the chart with (“the Web site popularity index”). When After I struggled with the graph for a him on the right.) I started covering Weblogs, I only used few days and nights—and got great But with all this back and forth, my these charts to see what bloggers were input from top bloggers such as An- column about the chart was listed on squawking about. I never thought I’d drew Sullivan and Jeff Jarvis—the beast the Daypop 40 in the 20’s and on be on the chart myself. Keep in mind was ready to be unleashed onto the Blogdex in a similar spot. Did this story that making the chart doesn’t necessar- blogosphere. But there was one final have the juice to make it to the top? I ily mean bloggers love you; it only touch. When I asked the Big Bloggers obsessively read each blog link to my means your words are linked to a lot of to list their Top 10 most influential story, whether it was a simple link or a other Weblogs. The authors of these blogs, I allowed them to list them- senior thesis on the subject. Many other Weblogs could just as easily be selves. Sure enough, almost all of them bloggers had similar reactions, calling tearing you apart as praising your work. did; Sullivan listed himself at Number the chart “egos on parade” or a “circle But it doesn’t really matter. After One. jerk” for its elitist, self-referential na- getting a few links in the blogosphere The column and graph went live on ture. And Andrew Sullivan and others for OJR columns that quoted top OJR’s Web site on June 19, and I sent who ranked themselves highly took a bloggers and contained “blog” in the out a brief promotional e-mail to some fair amount of criticism, as expected. headline, I had a little brainstorm. What colleagues. At 9:09 p.m., Glenn Others feigned being upset at being if I created a graph charting the most Reynolds posted a quickie link to the left off the graph. Still others made influential bloggers on the media? What column. “Hmm,” he wrote. “I’m not their own Top 10 lists and changed the if I included Top 10’s from various top sure that this chart is an accurate reflec- topic to their favorite blogs or they bloggers? The idea was to create some- tion, but you can decide for yourself.” made their own categories for blogs. thing original, perhaps controversial, A little later, Jarvis weighed in: “Debate This was the whole point of my exer- but worthy of the attention of journal- starts … now!” And it did, with an cise, in its artistic sense—to get the ball ists and bloggers alike. avalanche of links over the next few rolling, get people thinking, stir things Nudging this plan forward was one days. up, and hear what people had to say. driving ambition: Could I pen a col- Sure enough, some people weren’t umn that would hit the top of the blog happy with the chart. A blogger called Journalism in an Echo Chamber

When they allow comments on their blogs, This is where the blogging phenom- enon really changes journalism. In part, they are opening up an important public because of Weblogs, journalists are be- dialogue with readers, creating a forum for ing brought down from their ivory tow- their work that invites feedback for each story ers. Many journalists would like to think their reporting on a war or an election or blog entry they write. or a baseball game is the final word. But when reporters’ e-mail addresses were first published at the end of print

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 87 Journalist’s Trade

stories, the dynamic started to change. formally comment on the matter. Blogdex showing my story at Number Then, online forums and feedback Whether it’s a scathing attack on a Two. Later, I found out that I also hit loops gave readers more input and led story or heartening praise, the atten- Number Two on the Daypop Top 40. to greater interaction. tion of bloggers can’t help but make OK, it wasn’t Number One, but even The Weblog format provides an even journalists do a better job in their re- hitting that lofty runner-up position bigger voice for nonjournalist readers porting. With bloggers breathing down brought me a weird, unbridled pride by giving them ways to attack, counter- their necks, only the most insulated knowing that somewhere, somehow, a attack and fact-check stories in ways media personality could ignore the blogger was humming my tune. ■ that did not exist before. The echo avalanche of criticism (or praise) that chamber aspect of the blogosphere comes from the blogosphere. When Mark Glaser writes a column for the means that unknown Joe or Jane print journalists start to write blogs, University of Southern California’s Blogger can post a thought, which is they begin to look at issues on a daily, Annenberg School for Communi- then picked up by one blogger after possibly hourly basis, creating a news cation’s Online Journalism Review another until a reporter at a major cycle that’s more like cable TV news. (www.ojr.org), as well as a regular news organization responds. One When they allow comments on their newsletter for the Online Publishers blogger, for example, picked up on a blogs, they are opening up an impor- Association (www.online- truncated quote of President Bush used tant public dialogue with readers, cre- publishers.org) and a weekly soft- by New York Times’s columnist ating a forum for their work that invites ware feature for TechWeb Maureen Dowd, finding that she was feedback for each story or blog entry (www.techweb.com). He writes twisting his meaning. Newpapers that they write. occasional features for The New had picked up Dowd’s column ran After my minor obsession with track- York Times’s Circuits section. corrections; one paper even dropped ing my column died down a bit, I her column. But the Times has yet to stumbled onto a cached copy of the [email protected]

Readers Glimpse an Editorial Board’s Thinking Creating a Weblog offers ‘a way for us to demystify what we do and how we do it.’

By Keven Ann Willey

ome of the most common ques- overwhelmingly favorable. Traffic num- board members—with the comments tions readers ask about newspa- bers topped 5,000 the first day, and we often hyperlinked to the online news Sper editorial boards are: have every expectation of increasing stories or commentary that sparked those numbers in the weeks and the blogger’s comment. The ensuing •How does the editorial board of your months ahead. E-mails poured in rav- discussions, debates, or “roundtables” newspaper—of any newspaper, for ing about what fun it was for readers to become a sort of rolling dialogue, view- that matter—determine what the essentially look behind the curtain of able by readers at any time from any paper’s position is on a particular Oz. Editorial writers at competing pub- computer. issue? lications worried about whether they’d •Who are the people who sit on the lose out to the cutting aspect of this The Transparency of board, and how do they think? particular edge. A journalism profes- Decision-Making •Do they think? sor wrote to us in praise of the teaching value of the blog to journalism stu- Our purpose for launching an editorial It was largely with these questions dents: “Students are already tuned onto board blog at The Dallas Morning News in mind that the editorial board of The blogs; your site will turn them onto the was two-fold. First, it’s a way to involve Dallas Morning News launched its new journalism.” readers more in what we do, how we Weblog in July and alerted readers to Blog, for the technologically uniniti- think, what actions we call for. The its existence. Called DMN daily ated, is short for “Weblog,” and it’s the format opens us up to greater connec- (DallasNews.com/opinion/blog), this most rapidly growing form of journal- tions with readers, enabling us to bet- blog is believed to be the only Weblog ism going. Blogging generally takes the ter reflect our community. Second, it’s of its kind in the nation. form of online journal entries written a way for us to demystify what we do Reader reaction was immediate and by individuals—in this case, editorial and how we do it. We demand trans-

88 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism parency from many organizations and debate in staff meetings before arriving materialize before their eyes. The best businesses we cover, so it is reasonable at an editorial point of view. This de- blogs are joys to read—quick, informa- to hold ourselves similarly account- bate enlightens and informs our rec- tive, provocative, witty and, of course, able. Blogging also helps us to let read- ommendations on the editorial page, addictive. ers know more about who we are and and it stands to reason that opening a That’s what we’re striving to pro- that we don’t live in an ivory tower and window through which readers can vide with DMNDaily. On our blog, edi- use the editorial page to formalize some observe that process, and even partici- torial writers have commented back high-and-mighty group-think. Nor do pate in it via e-mail to individual board and forth about political labels, what we meet in some dark, dank, smoke- members if they wish, will further en- should happen next in the Middle East, filled chamber and await orders from hance the quality of our work. whether the Bush administration was on high about what to say and when to There are thousands of blogs, many right to flash those photos of Saddam’s say it. Rather, we are a group of smart, of them little more than self-absorbed dead sons, whether to call for the local responsible, diverse, well-motivated, meanderings of would-be diarists. But police chief’s resignation, and the mer- sometimes conflicted, fallible people some blogs are known for their insight- its of the “slow food” movement. We’ve striving to recommend actions and ful, spontaneous commentary and explained to readers how we debate policies that we think are best for our analysis. Readers can either chime in issues, arrive at conclusions, recom- community and the world. with their own thoughts or simply draw mend candidates, and decide which We think carefully about what we voyeuristic delight from observing the letters to the editor and op-ed columns say and do, often engaging in robust engaging real-time conversations that to publish.

Excerpts From the DMN Daily Weblog

Since The Dallas Morning News’s edi- way of the facts. But let’s not make a On IBM’s secret plans to torial board Weblog began on July 20, virtue of a failure to think deeply and move tech jobs overseas: editorial writers have been sharing systematically about first principles. The their views and, in some cases, argu- position a thoughtful writer and com- “This is the kind of story that makes this ing amongst themselves for the wired mentator takes on particular issues will conservative madder than hell. … It’s world to see. Many of their comments necessarily reflect certain principles the not news that multinational corpora- draw reader responses, which edito- writer has decided, consciously or not, tions feel no loyalty to this country and rial writers then post on the blog to are true.”—Rod Dreher its people. But when so many are out of elicit additional responses and dis- work and feeling a lot of economic cussion. And so on. Some of the postings “I don’t like the balls and strikes pain, the planned export of good tech by editorial board members appear analogy. Don’t we tend to praise people jobs out of America ought to outrage below. who have ‘principles?’ And by prin- us. IBM is aware that politicians might ciples, don’t we mean that they are get angry. Will they? Only if the people On political labels: consistent in their thinking? And by do.”—Rod Dreher consistent in their thinking, don’t we “I’m less concerned about the fact that mean that we can slap a label on them? On the Kobe Bryant rape there are labels out there like ‘liberal’ It’s harder to pinpoint people’s most case: and ‘conservative’ than I am about the important values or principles than to fact that far too many columnists and guide their opinions. But that’s what “I propose ‘Kobe’s Law.’ Let’s just cut politicians whose every thought falls we should aim to do.”—Michael to the chase and make it a matter of law into one category or another. What we Landauer that any professional athlete (any ce- need are more folks who just call balls lebrity, really) who is able to charm a and strikes, without worrying whether On economic news: woman enough that she will be alone what they believe or propose falls in with him in a hotel room therefore and line with one orthodoxy or another.”— “So the recession ended way back in heretowith has every legal right to have Ruben Navarrette 2001? I guess all those folks laid off sex with her, whether she is willing or since then will have to blame their not. See how stupid that sounds? But “Ruben, on the balls-and-strikes, call- woes on the recovery. Is there clearer by default, that is what people are ’em-like-you-see-’em point, I can agree evidence, though, that the economic proposing when they say it is not worth with you in a limited way, if by that you reporting mechanism is out of touch a trial because they were alone to- mean that a thinking person should with the forces that drive the U.S. gether.”—Michael Landauer not let his or her ideology get in the economy?”—Jim Mitchell continued on next page

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 89 Journalist’s Trade

There aren’t many—if any—edito- rocket in an era of corporate Are you certain you’re journalists?” ■ rial boards in the country blogging yet. downsizing. But think about it: What It’s a delicate thing, blogging our opin- could be more fundamental to an edi- Keven Ann Willey has been vice- ions in ways we hope will help clarify torial board’s job than sharing our president and editorial page editor and enhance—not confuse and de- opinions, explaining their foundation, at The Dallas Morning News since grade—what we do and why we do it. and soliciting feedback from readers? November 2002. Prior to that, she The entries on the blog represent the It’s our mission. Blogging isn’t so much was editorial page editor at The individual views of board members, more work, as different work. It’s a Arizona Republic and under her not necessarily the board’s collabora- new communication platform across direction those editorial pages were tive view. But it’s those individual views which we do what we do. finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for that are so important to shaping the And it’s a platform worth pursuing. commentary published in 2000 and collaborative view that is published on Wrote one reader just days into our big 2002. the editorial page of the newspaper blog experiment: “I’ve been reading each day. the blog for a few days now, and I am [email protected] It’s a challenge because it adds a perplexed. Most newspapers’ (and their new task to the workday. That’s no sites’) so-called reporting is grotesque small concern to journalists who have and, frankly, unfit for human consump- seen the demands on their time sky- tion. Yet you folks actually make sense.

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“Will we ever get to a point where On media hypocrisy: and Liz Taylor. It reminds me that no there is no stigma attached to being a matter how weird and depressing life rape victim so that there’d be no need “Liberals get away with murder when it gets, it could always be worse.”—Rod to shield the accuser’s name from the comes to any of the causes advanced by Dreher public?”—Keven Ann Willey any of their constituents. Witness the media uproar over Trent Lott’s On the Catholic sex abuse On the photos of Uday and boneheaded comments about Strom crisis: Qusay Hussein: Thurmond, who—as you recall when he was running for president in 1948— “Many Catholics hypothesize that Rome “Saddam’s power has become so mythi- promised a white sheet in every closet. is reluctant to move against bad priests cal that it is impossible to prove that he And then witness the quiet (‘chirp, because the ranks are so thin it can’t or his kin have been killed without chirp’) over Democratic Senator Rob- afford to lose a single one. But I believe solid evidence. The situation in Iraq ert Byrd (who once did wear a sheet) the opposite: If Rome were to move forces us to do this. And frankly, after using the ‘n-word’ during an interview against bad priests, it would improve reading the laundry list of atrocities on Fox News. What a double stan- the culture of the priesthood, which in these two sons performed on their dard!”—Ruben Navarrette turn would attract more good and holy own people, I don’t see how anyone men. Rather than thin the ranks, ac- could say they deserved any better.”— On California’s governor: countability would fatten them.”—Tim Henry Tatum O’Leary “Do any Democrats worry that their On Arab hypocrisy: party is taking precisely the wrong ap- On Texas politics: proach to Governor Gray Davis’s recall “According to Reuters, ‘many Arabs’ in California? Dismissing those advo- “The good ole boys are trying to strip are offended by the ‘un-Islamic’ dis- cating the governor’s recall as ‘a little Grandma Strayhorn of some of her play of Uday and Qusay’s corpses. Oh, band of right-wing nuts’ strikes me as power. Looks as if the lieutenant gov- give me a break. When Muslim extrem- unfair, untrue—and possibly—strate- ernor and governor fear she’ll run ists murder Israelis or Westerners for gically foolish.”—Keven Ann Willey against one of them in 2006 and they the greater glory of Allah, it’s hallelujah want to cut her off at the knees. They time. Besides which, where were these On life’s little consolations: don’t like it that as comptroller she’s whiners when Uday and Qusay and had the cojones (that the word Ruben?) their father were torturing and mass- “I’m sitting here at my desk at home, to buck them during the session.”— murdering their Muslim brethren?”— looking at a wedding picture of David Carolyn Barta ■ Rod Dreher Gest, Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson,

90 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism A Reporter Is Fired for Writing a Weblog He wonders whether there is ‘a place for Weblogs in the Fourth Estate firmament.’

By Steve Olafson

emo to all professional jour- see things quite the way I did. The Front Page” days of Hildy Johnson are nalists: Don’t write a Weblog reaction, uttered by the paper’s editor over. I knew that before I launched the Mwithout permission from your in our only phone conversation, was “I blog—hence, the use of my pen name. bosses. It could get you fired. am appalled.” Naturally, I was embarrassed, espe- I knew that. That’s why I chose the The unmasking of Banjo Jones oc- cially when my termination received nom de plume of Banjo Jones to write curred when the managing editor of some media attention, including a story a Weblog called The Brazosport News the newspaper in Clute, a target of and picture in The New York Times. while employed by the Houston occasional media criticism in Mr. But the reaction among nonmedia Chronicle. Jones’s Weblog, called the Chronicle people I know generally ran along the It was fun while it lasted. I opined, I to tattle. The local paper, a small daily, lines of, “What about freedom of the poked fun. I waxed eloquent, I spun published a story reporting they were press?” When I tried to explain how family yarns. I satirized, needled, dead- approached by an unnamed reporters aren’t supposed to express panned, criticized, japed. I adopted a “newsmaker” about the Weblog and opinions, they would respond, “Well, tone and an identity, all under the the true identity of its writer. Evidently, what about all those reporters on TV?” guise of a fictitious person. Readers a column Banjo wrote about the death That’s a little different, I’d tell them. wrote fan mail. I gave away some Astros of his father was compared with the Why is that, they wondered? I was tickets. Some readers in Brazoria nonbylined, paid obituary that I’d writ- tempted to invoke the A.J. Liebling County, Texas, where I was posted in a ten and placed in the Chronicle and my quote, that freedom of the press be- “suburban bureau” (in my house), hometown paper, The Baytown Sun. longs to those that have one, but that’s speculated about the real identity of That’s the story I got from the reporter not true anymore in the world of Mr. Jones. But I kept quiet, silently who “outed” me. Weblogging. Everybody’s got a press— enjoying what I considered a harmless I confessed to the Chronicle editor sort of. creative outlet. and said I was sorry. He told me to take For a daily newspaper reporter of 26 down the Web site. I did. Then the Blogging and Newspapers years, it was exhilarating. In managing editor fired me a week later. weblogging, there are no rules. You’re The managing editor said he decided I I am not aware that the blogging phe- not required to write about city coun- had compromised my ability to be a nomenon has caused the newspaper cil meetings, fatal car accidents, or the Houston Chronicle reporter. industry any tangible economic dis- weather. Forget the inverted pyramid, I do appreciate the uncomfortable— tress, but with many dailies losing read- forget space constraints, and forget the and apparently unprecedented—posi- ership, perhaps it’s time for editorial five W’s and the H. All the pomposity, tion in which I had put the newspaper. reflection. My message to editors is hot air, and ridiculousness you see and Still, I don’t believe I had irretrievably this: “Embrace the blog; do not fear it.” hear are fair game in a Weblog, but not compromised my ability to be one of its Is there a place for Weblogs in the necessarily in a daily newspaper. reporters. One public official who had Fourth Estate firmament? Could So by day I was a news reporter for been chided in the blog even wrote a Weblogs, somehow, win back paying the Chronicle in its one-man Brazoria letter to the Chronicle on my behalf. customers, especially all those adver- County bureau, located an hour’s drive Maybe, I thought, management would tiser-coveted, disposable-income- south of Houston, in an area marked by view the blog as something done more spending young people who everyday one of the world’s largest chemical for self-amusement than as a serious sit gazing at a computer screen? plants and six units of the Texas peni- ethical lapse. Maybe they would just Some newspapers seem to be awak- tentiary system. By night I was Banjo. It suspend me, I thought. My wife thought ening to this possibility. It makes sense. was more fun being Banjo, though I I’d be awarded a column after the With some ground rules and a bit of was certain I could separate the two smoke cleared and the Chronicle bosses thought, the right sort of blogs could when necessary. realized how witty I could be. make the daily newspaper become at If this had occurred in a more color- least of passing interest to a younger The Newspaper’s Reaction ful bygone newspaper era, perhaps that generation that right now doesn’t seem would have been the outcome. But it to care much for newspapers. The Once the management at the Chronicle didn’t work out that way in today’s self- ground rules would prohibit outright learned of my dual identity, they didn’t conscious newspaper culture. “The political partisanship, undue profan-

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 91 Journalist’s Trade

ity, and whatever else might keep an might figure out new ways to make the and then by giving a personality to the editor awake at night. business of government interesting. byline. There are plenty of journalists Weblogging, much like the rare good If ground rules could be agreed to, who could write them without com- column writing you see in the tradi- might it not be interesting for the read- promising their ability to be newspa- tional press, can open a dialogue with ers to listen in on the background per reporters, and they wouldn’t have readers that newspapers could find stories reporters trade in coffee shops to use a pseudonym. ■ useful. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if and bars? Or to learn why they got into the reporter on the cop beat or at city the business? Or maybe just a brick-by- Steve Olafson is now based in Santa hall or the state house could give read- brick explanation of how a story was Barbara, California, where he is ers another side of the news via a built? That’s the sort of things Weblogs pursuing other interests, including Weblog, a place where they can speak could do. freelance journalism. to readers in a bit more casual way. Having Weblogs as part of a news Perhaps the police reporter could share organizations reporting might even [email protected] what it’s like to work a crime scene. Or prompt some nonsubscribers to spend the state house or city hall reporter a few quarters on a daily paper now An Editor Acts to Limit a Staffer’s Weblog ‘This is not an issue of freedom of speech.’

By Brian Toolan

or several months this spring, the change and soon after it was made he Weblog. He did, and placed a notice on good citizens of cyberspace were unfurled denishorgan.com. the site that the columns were ended Fcontacting The Hartford Cou- on the order of the editor of the Cou- rant—and me in particular—with sen- Removing Opinions From a rant. Horgan also advised that he would timents such as this one: “toolan’s mis- Weblog be seeking counsel to determine how guided abuse of employee freedoms of the action regards his rights. expression could HARDLY BE MORE The principal components of Horgan’s Considerable controversy ensued, DISGUSTING … arrogant editors are Weblog were opinion columns he wrote mostly online, though a few readers of the bane of civilized discourse … suf- on a variety of topics, including the the newspaper sent letters of protest. fice it to say that i will be telling every- performance of Connecticut’s gover- Horgan’s supporters, many of them one that will listen to object in the nor, the decision to go to war with Iraq, bloggers, decried the Courant’s deci- strongest terms the illegal and dishon- President Bush’s tough talk toward sion as a staggeringly ironic infringe- orable methods of toolan and his ilk … Syria, legislation on same-sex mar- ment of Horgan’s right to free speech. he is no NEWSPAPERMAN … HE IS A riages, and the delicious misery that is One critic claimed it was the equivalent FOOL AND A LOUT ….” being a fan of the Red Sox. of silencing Thomas Paine. This e-mailer, who seems to be a When the existence of Horgan’s Denishorgan.com received numerous Californian (and is alarmingly accurate Weblog became known, I talked about posts that lambasted the decision and as it regards his closing remark), was it with him two times. In each discus- cheered Horgan’s consideration of le- angry—as were the others—because sion, I told him about my concerns, gal recourse. Some argued that stop- the Courant had directed one of its and he politely and patiently explained ping journalists from blogging was an journalists to stop writing opinion that he believed he had a right to do unnatural act and would be proven pieces on a Weblog1 he’d created . The this, and he didn’t see the conflicts I futile, too. site was created by Denis Horgan, who saw. He emphasized that his Weblog J.D. Lasica, who writes about jour- has worked at the newspaper for 22 made clear that it was tended on his nalism online, concluded: “Those of years. For 17 of those years, Horgan own time and had no association with us who love newspapers wonder why wrote a news column, a stretch that his duties at the Courant. After a month fewer people trust the news media ended in January when he was reas- of considering Horgan’s position and these days. We express puzzlement at signed as editor of the Travel section. weighing my concerns, I asked him to why more and more talented journal- Horgan was not pleased with this stop writing opinion columns on his ists are leaving the profession. Some of the answers can be gleaned from this single episode of big media hypocrisy.” 1 Denis Horgan’s Weblog http://www.denishorgan.com [See Lasica’s article on page 70.]

92 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism

Frankly, I’m an agnostic about me believe that many readers of Horgan didn’t have any discussion Weblogs. I know they’re out there, but denishorgan.com would not differen- with editors at the newspaper before I have no strong feelings about blogging tiate the Weblog’s Horgan from the he launched denishorgan.com. But if generally. I don’t read them, but that’s one who once wrote columns for and he had proposed a Weblog in which he because I’m reading a whole lot of still works for the Courant. Part of the would write about more benign topics, other things I find interesting, lots of it appeal Horgan and his site held for like fishing or gardening or day-trip- ink-on-paper, but lots of it online. So online readers was directly attribut- ping in New England, it probably would blog away. able to his role at the Courant, yet the have been approved. That isn’t what newspaper had no control over his happened. Deciding to Act comments and opinions. For example, While the decision to prohibit opin- if Horgan wrote a column about the ion writing on denishorgan.com was I do have strong beliefs about the re- unfitness of John Rowland to be not difficult, disappointing Denis sponsibilities of journalists and the Connecticut’s governor, some Horgan once more was. Horgan hap- obligations that come with editing a people—including the governor, pens to be a terrific person, a kind and newspaper. It is tempting to suggest surely—could imagine that mindset thoughtful man. Nor is this about loy- this was an agonizingly alty. Horgan has devoted difficult decision that I much of his professional made regarding Journalists should operate in ways life to serving the Courant. denishorgan.com, but it He has supported the news- wasn’t. It was easy. Let that don’t display bias or paper and its people in me explain why I made predisposition. These are ethical countless ways. In the midst the decision I did. considerations, not legal ones, but of the debate about his Behaving in a man- Weblog, Horgan, as he has ner that safeguards the they are central to the conduct of done for nine years with- integrity of a news insti- journalism and must be zealously out compensation, di- tution and avoids real or maintained. rected Hartford’s National perceived conflicts of Writers’ Workshop, an interest is central to the event that attracted 800 compact between a jour- people for a weekend of nalist and his employer. Journalists prevails in the Courant’s newsroom. conversation about writing and jour- should operate in ways that don’t dis- That strikes at the credibility of the nalism, done under the banner of The play bias or predisposition. These are newspaper. It doesn’t work. Hartford Courant. And he’s doing a ethical considerations, not legal ones, This is not an issue of freedom of fine job running the Travel section. To but they are central to the conduct of speech. It is about professional expec- date, no legal challenge has arisen. journalism and must be zealously main- tations and, when they are ignored, as As far as Weblogs and their future tained. in this case, the newspaper’s standards with daily newspapers, I can certainly Denis Horgan’s public profile is a and public responsibilities are com- accommodate the notion of Weblogs product of his long-standing relation- promised. Like most newspapers, the being part of a newspaper’s online ship with the Courant. Horgan and the Courant has an ethics code. It has lan- portfolio. In fact, the Courant has had Courant are forged by tenure and highly guage that directs that “an individual’s devices like that in the past. But is a visible roles. After his opinion column interests outside the paper should not Weblog truly a Weblog if it is super- in the Courant was ended, Horgan come into conflict with—or create the vised editorially? If the answer is no created a new journalistic platform for appearance of conflict with—the staff and that anything but complete free- himself and began opining on issues, member’s professional duties at the dom is a perversion of the genre, then institutions and public officials that Courant.” Horgan, and others, argued I think editors must ask themselves if reporters and columnists at the news- that since he now edits the Travel sec- they are comfortable having their news paper must cover. Even though he was tion, his public views on public matters organization represented in that man- no longer writing his column, Horgan don’t interfere with the newspaper’s ner. I wouldn’t be. ■ could not separate himself from the coverage of those same issues. Courant by simply declaring that I don’t accept that logic. I know Brian Toolan is editor of The Hart- denishorgan.com has nothing to do some readers, who depend on the pa- ford Courant in Connecticut. with the paper, particularly while he is per, would not accept it either, and I at the paper in the role of an editor. recognize how readers’ perceptions can [email protected] Nor could he disconnect himself—in hurt the Courant. Lasica is right about the public’s mind—from his long-time one thing: Fewer people trust the news position as a Courant columnist. media these days. So why would an These realities combined to make editor spit into that wind?

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 93 Journalist’s Trade Blogging Connects a Columnist to New Story Ideas ‘… I have always suspected that many of my readers know more than I do.’

By Mike Wendland

ne of the biggest frustrations cal happening, or share a new Web site 25,000 people read my blogs. My daily for a beat journalist is not be- as fast as I can type the information and record, set during the Iraq War, was Oing able to get news into print hit “post.” Think of a diary. A news more than 88,000 unique accesses. or on the air in a timely manner. Bud- bulletin. A newsletter. A “hey-did-you- I do all of this at my own cost and on get crunches, dwindling news holes, hear-this?” phone call. Or an “I-am-SO- my own time, separate from my duties and commercial-shortened news fed-up-with …” Instant Message rant. as a Detroit Free Press technology col- broadcasts make it increasingly diffi- Call it “Zero Second News.” That’s what umnist and NBC-TV News Channel cult to get anything but the most ur- my friend Larry Larsen, the multimedia Internet correspondent. Why? Because gent material out there as fast as we’d gizmo guy from The Poynter Institute it provides me contact with readers like. We do just fine with the big, break- for Media Studies, calls the news and and viewers that is more immediate, ing stories. Competition always makes information blogging makes possible. personal and satisfying than any other sure they get in. But it’s the more News that’s happening now, almost in form of communication I have experi- mundane, day-to-day developments real time—not filtered, edited or de- enced in 30 years of journalism. that often get put on editorial lay-delivered, as with traditional me- I am astounded daily by what I learn backburners. And yet, for readers who dia. It’s a personal publishing system in the blogging community. As a jour- are intensely interested in that beat, it that allows anyone—in minutes—to nalist, I have always suspected that is often those less urgent stories that have access to a worldwide audience. many of my readers know more than I they’re looking for. Blogging is huge. Though estimated do. I love technology and do my best to Working as technology columnist to be more than a million in number, stay on top of the issues and stories for the Detroit Free Press, readers it’s only a guess at how many bloggers surrounding the beat. But with would e-mail me all the time to find out exist. And there is no accurate way to blogging, when readers can add com- why the latest news on this beat hadn’t count them or to know who they are. ments and suggestions to my posts, my been printed yet. I shared their frustra- Students, housewives, CEO’s, senior assumptions are routinely challenged, tion. Then I discovered blogging and citizens, government bureaucrats, corrected and defended. Hardly a day immediately realized that I’d stumbled music fans, religious groups, ordinary goes by when readers don’t tell me upon one of the most significant devel- and not-so-ordinary people, as well as something I don’t know or I don’t find opments in the dissemination of infor- lots of journalists are blogging addicts. a new angle to a story. mation since the printing press. It’s the For me, blogging is now a several- When I posted on my blog a short Internet, of course, that makes it pos- times-a-day activity. I started blogging item about a high-tech device that lets sible, and the always-on mentality that in late 2001 and have three blogs I car dealers “turn off” a car if the owner is part of our wired world. update several times a day. Mike’s E- fails to make a payment, two hours Journal3 is a general interest technol- later a reader posted the name of a Connecting With Readers ogy Weblog. Mac-Mike4 chronicles my local dealer using it. When I commented switch from a PC system to a Macintosh on the Recording Industry Association With powerful, simple-to-use applica- system, and a blog called Ride5, which of America and its legal attacks on music tions like Movable Type1 and Blogger2, I started just for fun, deals with long file swappers on the Internet, a reader I can now instantly update a story on distance bicycle rides and training, a posted a link to all the subpoenas that my Weblog, comment on a technologi- personal hobby. had been issued against individuals Lately, I’ve also been experimenting around the country. with something called MOBlogging By using reader comments, I’ve been (mobile blogging). Using a small hand- able to write about new trends in fight- held communication device called the ing spam, an all but secret information 1 Movable Type http://www.movabletype.org Sidekick6, I snap pictures and instantly monitoring and data collection pro- 2 Blogger http://www.blogger.com send them to my Weblog with short gram run by the federal government, 3 Mike’s E-Journal http://www.mikesejournal.com descriptive messages to create a sort of and dozens of innovative new prod- 4 Mac-Mike http://www.mac-mike.com online documentary of my wireless life. ucts, services and Web sites. All of this 5 Ride http://www.mikesejournal.com/ride On any given day, depending on what would likely have happened below my 6 Sidekick http://www.danger.com I’m blogging about, from 8,000 to radar screen if readers hadn’t posted

94 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism story tips as comments to my posts. On made access to news and information Mike Wendland is the technology my MOBlog, I uploaded a picture of my universal. That means that what jour- columnist for the Detroit Free Press vegetable garden and noted how some- nalists report and write is put out there and the Internet correspondent for thing had eaten the leaves of my green in the midst of unprecedented amounts the 215 stations on the NBC-TV News bean plants. A reader identified the of related information. This lets Web- Channel network. He is also a fellow culprit as a muskrat. savvy news consumers analyze, com- at The Poynter Institute for Media But besides my blogs, I find myself pare and fact-check the information Studies in St. Petersburg, Florida. reading more and more blogs, a few of we, as journalists, provide. In the long which are written by journalists. Some run, blogging is likely to lead to better [email protected] argue that blogs represent the democ- journalism as sloppy journalists are ratization of journalism with the rise of put on notice by a public that can use the “citizen reporter.” Not surprisingly, technology to promote accuracy and many journalists cringe at such good reporting. For now, I intend to thoughts. Not me. The Internet has keep on blogging. ■ Bloggers and Their First Amendment Protection Web writing is a protected right, but more limits exist outside the United States.

By Jane E. Kirtley

he freewheeling world of the encouraging free speech on the Internet are presumed unconstitutional, for blogosphere seems like the last and protecting other competing inter- example. Libel suits are subject to Tbastion of truly free speech. To ests, such as copyright, national secu- myriad constitutional safeguards, in- publish in it doesn’t require a lot of rity, and the right to reputation. But in cluding requiring proof of some kind money, an expensive printing press, or its landmark 1997 ruling in Reno v. of fault on the part of the publisher a transmitter tower. Anybody with ac- ACLU, the United States Supreme Court before a plaintiff can recover, even if he cess to a computer, a modem, and a declared that the First Amendment can show that the statement was false. little software can share their thoughts applies to communications on the Most invasion of privacy suits will be with the world through a Weblog. And World Wide Web, protecting them to rejected if the publisher can demon- many of the intensely personal and the same extent that they would be if strate that the subject of the story was highly opinionated Weblogs prolifer- published in a print medium, such as a “newsworthy.” Violations of copyright ating on the Internet inhabit a world newspaper. The high court found that may be excused if the publication con- apart from the sometimes-dreary realm cyberspace, unlike the broadcast me- stitutes “fair use.” of meticulously sourced and fact- dia, is neither a “scarce expressive com- And a person doesn’t even have to checked traditional journalism. modity” nor an invasive one that enters be recognized as a “journalist” in order Bloggers are a law unto themselves. “an individual’s home or appears on to invoke these protections. As far back Or are they? one’s computer screen unbidden,” the as 1972, in Branzburg v. Hayes, the From the early days of popular use historical justifications for government Supreme Court said that “liberty of the of the Internet, the rallying cry of licensing and control. “The interest in press is the right of the lonely pam- netizens was that cyberspace was the encouraging freedom of expression in phleteer … as much as of the large new frontier, subject to no laws. But a democratic society outweighs any metropolitan publisher.” The question governments around the world, shaken theoretical but unproven benefit of of whether or not a blogger “qualifies” by the implications of the new commu- censorship,” Justice John Paul Stevens as a journalist for these purposes is nication technology, quickly tried to wrote for the majority. largely a matter of semantics, not con- figure out how to harness and control This is as good as it gets in First stitutional law. use of the Internet. Amendment jurisprudence. It means So bloggers are entitled to claim all that those who choose to communi- the benefits of the First Amendment. Securing Bloggers’ First cate on the Internet receive the highest And they may be able to invoke statu- Amendment Rights level of constitutional protection for tory protection as well. Existing state their speech. And it means that they laws protecting reporters’ confidential In the United States, Congress, state will benefit from the 70-odd years of sources might or might not apply to a legislatures and the courts have court opinions defining the scope of blogger, depending on the language of struggled to strike a balance between the First Amendment. Prior restraints the statute. Although some statutes limit

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 95 Journalist’s Trade

their coverage to full-time employees Granted, libel suits, at least in the corporations who claim that they have of for-profit traditional news media, United States, can only be based on been the subject of inaccurate reports. many are expansive in scope, ensuring false statements of fact. No one can be The Council of Europe, in late June, that they will cover anyone who en- sued for pure statements of opinion published a proposed recommenda- gages in gathering information and dis- that can neither be proven true nor tion to extend these “rights of reply” to seminating it to a wide audience. false. But many blogs are a robust mix- media publishing in the online world, And in June, the U.S. Ninth Circuit ture of idiosyncratic opinion and un- including any “service available to the Court of Appeals ruled that Section supported allegations—a volatile and public containing frequently updated 230 of the Communications Decency potentially lethal combination that can and edited information of public inter- Act, which grants providers of “interac- undermine invocation of the opinion est.” That sounds like your typical tive computer services” immunity from privilege, which depends on showing Weblog to me. defamation claims arising from con- that the underlying factual statements Some bloggers would point out that tent provided by third parties, extends on which the opinion is based are true. many of them already do this sort of to those who operate Web sites and And once somebody’s published thing voluntarily. They update their listservs, even if they exercise some material goes outside our borders— blogs, often printing retractions or editorial control over that material. It which is inevitable in cyberspace—all modifications to erroneous postings, is logical to assume that the same analy- bets are off. A blogger can brandish the and freely publishing responses from sis would apply to Weblogs. (This is First Amendment and Section 230 all disgruntled readers. They don’t need only one Circuit Court’s opinion, of she wants, but a foreign court has no laws to make them act responsibly. But course, and it might be appealed. obligation to pay any attention to them. there’s a big difference between mak- Whether the ruling would be sufficient Those courts will, for the most part, ing an editorial choice because you to reassure news organizations who apply their own, often Draconian, laws believe it enhances your credibility and shy away from endorsing their report- to libel suits brought before them. Al- doing so under compulsion of law. It’s ers’ Weblogs, or who choose to pro- though this is old news to traditional the difference between operating in hibit them because of fears that they journalists, who have long faced the the land where the First Amendment will be held liable for whatever the prospect of fending off lawsuits and rules and where it doesn’t. blogger publishes, remains to be seen.) even criminal prosecutions brought What about those other bloggers, against them in other countries where who play by their own rules and who Interpreting These Freedoms their work product is distributed, it believe that doing elementary things Worldwide might surprise those who publish on like fact-checking would somehow the Internet to learn that they are vul- compromise the spontaneity of their So does that mean that bloggers are nerable to suit anywhere their blog is medium? All I can say to them is, “Good free to upload whatever they want, read. luck, keep your head down, and think without worrying about being sued for That is what the Australian High twice about traveling abroad if you it? Absolutely not. Court ruled in December, when it de- don’t want to get hauled into a foreign Whatever immunity might exist for cided that “Diamond Joe” Gutnick, an court.” links to third party sites or to postings Australian national who claimed he When it comes to the law, let the submitted by readers, an individual was defamed by an article published by blogger beware. ■ who publishes a Weblog can still be Barron’s, could file his libel suit in his sued for any material he writes himself. hometown of Melbourne, Victoria, once Jane E. Kirtley is the Silha Professor Assuming the subject of a story claims he was able to show that a handful of of Media Ethics and Law at the that it is both false and defamatory, that readers downloaded it there. As the School of Journalism and Mass means that during the course of litiga- chief justice wrote in his opinion, “… Communication at the University of tion the blogger could face a protracted those who post information on the Minnesota. Prior to that appoint- examination of his newsgathering tech- World Wide Web do so knowing that ment in August 1999, she was execu- niques. For example, did he attempt to [it] is available to all and sundry with- tive director of The Reporters Com- verify the accuracy of the story, or did out any geographic restriction.” mittee for Freedom of the Press for he simply repeat an unsubstantiated Libel lawsuits are not the only thing 14 years. She became director of the rumor, as Matt Drudge admitted to bloggers need to worry about. Many Silha Center for the Study of Media doing in his report that Clinton staffer countries have statutes that make it an Ethics and Law in May 2000. She Sidney Blumenthal “had a spousal offense, or even a crime, to “insult” or speaks frequently on First Amend- abuse past”? Did he rely on anonymous “offend the dignity” of someone, even ment and freedom of information sources? Did he, in other words, act if the criticism is absolutely true. And issues, both in the United States and negligently or with reckless disregard many countries enforce mandatory abroad. for the truth? If a court finds that he “rights of reply,” which compel publi- did, he might lose the suit. cation of responses by individuals and [email protected]

96 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Weblogs and Journalism A Weblog Sharpens Journalism Students’ Skills ‘Students—the writers and editors—publish a respectable, if not professional, product every day on the World Wide Web.’

By Larry Pryor

or a long time schools of journal- ism have looked for ways to work Fwith the novices who arrive each Beyond internship and part-time job programs, September. Educators know the value various training tools have been developed, of reporting experiences for students including in-house, neighborhood or even city- outside the classroom, but for perhaps two semesters, until lessons take hold, wide school publications, student news accuracy and libel hazards are real. services and state house bureaus—all Beyond internship and part-time job conducted under close faculty scrutiny. Many programs, various training tools have been developed, including in-house, of these efforts have been costly, hard to neighborhood or even city-wide school administer, and disruptive to students’ publications, student news services and academic work. New media technology offers a state house bureaus—all conducted under close faculty scrutiny. Many of solution in the form of Weblogs. these efforts have been costly, hard to administer, and disruptive to students’ academic work. New media technol- Working on the Weblog publication is used by journalists, news- ogy offers a solution in the form of paper and broadcast executives, as well Weblogs. It is mostly freshman and sophomore as government officials involved in At the University of Southern journalism majors, working closely with media policy issues. In June, the Web California’s Annenberg School for Com- editors, who write on the Weblog. They site got about 30,000 page views. The munication, we began using a Weblog are expected to produce at least two content also goes out in a daily e-mail as a teaching tool in 1999. It predates news briefs a week as part of a lab newsletter to about 2,100 subscribers. Weblog technology and the recent requirement in the school’s introduc- One of the benefits of OJC might be flourishing of Weblogs as unedited tory Core Curriculum. (We expose in- that it is put together by younger expressions of an immediate and per- coming students to print, broadcast people. A lawyer with the Federal Trade sonal nature. During our last semester, and online writing, both as undergradu- Commission e-mailed us that he liked more than 75 students were involved ates and graduate students.) The edi- OJC’s “quirky selection of relevant news as part-time writers and editors with tors are paid graduate students who items.” our site, which we call OJC1. have completed a course in Each news brief is between 60 to From the start, OJC had the Weblog copyediting. Core students can also 200 words long with a headline of five characteristics of discrete, dated en- work for the campus newspaper, The to 10 words. It is linked to the original tries dealing with latest developments Daily Trojan, or at Annenberg Televi- source for the story and to related Web in a topic—in our case, online journal- sion News, which produces an evening content. The students prowl the Web ism—of interest to a niche audience. news report distributed on cable TV. at all hours of the day and night, and But we have not encouraged quirky, Many students decide to work for they can do this from computers at individualized voices. Our Weblog is the OJC Weblog because of its numer- home or at school libraries or during more like a chorus with a distinctive ous advantages, the greatest of which is the day from our Online Newsroom. As sound. The multiple authors all work wide, daily exposure. Students—the reporters, they look worldwide for sto- with their editors with the common writers and editors—publish a respect- ries related in some way to online pub- goal of finding and publishing useful able, if not professional, product every lishing. Examples of such stories in- information on a focused topic. day on the World Wide Web. And this clude: “TV execs use Internet to get new ad revenue,” “Asian publishers 1 OJC http://www.onlinejournalism.com catch on the news SMS,” “Corbis hits Amazon with copyright suit,” and “Aus-

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 97 Journalist’s Trade

tralian journalist plagiarizes via Milios and the five “shift editors” dents to find and translate stories from Internet.” earn between eight and 10 dollars an other languages and cultures. “I have hour for five to 10 hours of work per learned different perceptions of what What Students Learn week. “I learned a lot in terms of man- journalism should be in the United aging a large team [of reporters] and States and Japan,” said Sayo Haruki, a The students are taught to paraphrase balancing that with a very heavy aca- communications graduate student who the original story, selecting key facts demic load,” Milios says. “I learned gravitated to OJC because of its global and good quotes. The original story is how to work with writers of all ability scope. “Understanding what would then prominently attributed, and the levels to put out a professional publi- make a newsworthy story from differ- link that appears at the end of each cation. I ended up doing quite a lot of ent points of view has opened up new news brief makes clear again where the writer training and my editing skills horizons for me as an international content came from. Writers are en- definitely improved.” Another editor, student.” couraged to add style, personality and Heather Somers, who got an editing In my work as an instructor in the perspective to their pieces. But, in the internship at the Los Angeles Times Core Curriculum, I’ve seen how it helps words of supervising students to make staff member Joshua their writing more Fouts, “We find, in gen- ‘Because of the inexperience of many of concise and focused eral, that only the most our undergrad writers … it was imperative when they work for experienced students for us to triple-check not only their OJC. And we receive will actually do so.” reports from the edi- Faculty members grammar, but the names and facts in their tors on the students’ prod the editors and briefs. We discovered—through performance, and we writers to do more origi- checking—that they frequently got stuff use those reports in nal writing, but they determining a also urge caution in wrong.’ student’s final grade. doing so. “We don’t “The Weblog rein- want them to just re- forces the Core gurgitate the original classes,” said Dana text,” said Michelle Nicolosi, an in- this summer, said she found OJC to be Chinn, a lecturer who coordinates the structor who works closely with the “great practice.” As she observed, “Be- Core Curriculum. “They are exposed editors. “Where do you draw the line cause of the inexperience of many of to work process issues they don’t get in between a straight report and opinion? our undergrad writers … it was im- class, like taking direction and meeting … If the items don’t directly state a perative for us to triple-check not only deadlines. They get the idea of how a relationship with journalism, the writ- their grammar, but the names and facts news organization actually works.” ■ ers can give that context. If an item says in their briefs. We discovered—through ‘broadband access up in Japan,’ the checking—that they frequently got stuff Larry Pryor is a professor at the student then explains that this is im- wrong.” And, she said, “Let’s just say University of Southern California’s portant to online journalism in Japan Jayson Blair is not alone. This is one Annenberg School for Communica- because it means there will be a bigger reason why the editor position is so tion. He worked as a writer and audience for online news. They do not critical.” editor at The (Louisville) Courier- add opinion, only context.” We also indicate to students work- Journal and the Los Angeles Times. There are many benefits for stu- ing on the Weblog that Internet From 1982-1986, Pryor was the news dents who work on the Weblog. “Moti- searches are not a substitute for using editor of Times Mirror’s pioneering vated students get much-needed writ- shoe leather and digging into file cabi- videotex project, Gateway, and in ing experience,” Fouts said. “They also nets. Some students, no doubt, will see 1996 became the editor of the Los get clips, which the [computer] system the computer as a reporter’s shortcut. Angeles Times’s Web site, gathers and assigns to a page dedicated But subsequent reporting classes latimes.com, joining the journalism exclusively to the writer.” This also should make it clear to them what it faculty at USC a year later. He is offers them opportunities to gain ex- takes to find facts. director of the school’s Online Pro- posure to potential employers. In the The young writers gain not only gram and is on a sabbatical in 2003 words of our managing editor this year, from working in such a concise format, to do research on the use of Melissa Milios: “I think the managing but they also like “learning the skill of “immersive” 3-D technology to tell editor title is a good thing for the hunting down good materials for the news stories. resumé and having my name in more digest,” said Keiko Mori who, like many than 2,000 people’s inbox every day of our students, is multilingual. When [email protected] doesn’t hurt, either.” possible, faculty members urge stu-

98 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Nieman Notes Compiled by Lois Fiore

‘Sister in the Band of Brothers’ A reporter accompanies the 101st Airborne during the Iraq War and turns the experience into a book.

By Katherine M. Skiba

y book was conceived in the Division, writing stories and shooting to my husband just after President days leading up to Christmas photographs for my paper, the Mil- George W. Bush’s ultimatum to Hussein M2002 at Fort Benning, the vast waukee Journal Sentinel, and phoning and his sons: “Marry someone nice,” I Army installation in west central Geor- my reports to its affiliated television urged my husband. “Fish a lot. And gia, just across the Chattahoochee River and radio stations. After 45 days in the forgive me for doing this.” from Alabama. U.S. military officials field, I returned home and launched These days, I still ask my husband consider Benning the world’s premier into a book, the provisionally titled forgiveness since I’ve been spending training ground for infantrymen, but “Sister in the Band of Brothers: Bring- hour after hour alone in my den with there I was, with 59 other journalists, ing the War in Iraq Home to America.” maps, photographs and my sand-coated huffing and puffing my way through As this was the first war to feature a notebooks, writing a memoir. Tom “media boot camp,” a Pentagon pro- large number of embedded journalists Vanden Brook, a reporter for USA To- gram designed to make reporters, pho- as well as popular use of the Internet, day, has proven to be an astonishingly tographers and broadcasters combat- my stories were read coast to coast. understanding spouse. My editor, Marty ready. When I left for the war late in Febru- Kaiser, was supportive of my request There were 10 women in my class of ary, I had no idea whether I’d see any for a book leave, agreeing that a story 60, and we had what was regarded as a action—or so much bang-bang that I like this might never come my way mark of distinction or pain in the rear: wouldn’t make it home alive as, sor- again. It would have been easier on a documentary crew representing an rowfully, was the fate of 17 of our many levels to take a long, post-war Academy Award-winning documentar- professional brothers and sisters. I vacation and move on to the next story, ian was trailing our every move. ended up having a war that was chiefly but what I experienced left an indelible It puzzled me that they found women three things: challenging, frightening impression. correspondents training for war so out and exhilarating. Writing the story of my war, from the of the ordinary; I didn’t think I was I accompanied the 101st Airborne’s “keyhole view” of the conflict I had special. I’d been to some hot spots 159th Aviation Brigade, comprised of side-by-side with about 1,700 soldiers, around the world, but so had many Black Hawk and Chinook helicopter has meant discarding some of the car- people in the class. The focus on the pilots who ferried troops and supplies dinal rules of journalism that, after 25 women trainees made me feel sorry for to the frontlines. Seven hours into the years with metropolitan dailies, are the men in the class, since they were war, the unit, then in Kuwait near its nothing if not second nature. I’m no being slighted, just as all of us were borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia, longer objective. I’m not taking pains being pushed and prodded. had the distinction of being the first to to keep myself out of the story—since But after enduring the camera, the be targeted by an Iraqi Ababil-100 mis- I’m the narrator. Plus, I weave in my lights, and the microphone for five sile, the crown jewel in Saddam husband Tom’s experience living alone days, I had one overarching thought: If Hussein’s arsenal. Traveling faster than back in the States, getting an overview this is so interesting, I’ll tell my own the speed of sound, the weapon was of the war while working on his paper’s story. It’s estimated that only roughly destroyed nine miles from our camp by rewrite desk and wincing at the crea- one in 10 of the 700-plus embedded a U.S. Patriot guided missile. I lived out ture who came home speaking “Army,” journalists were women. a nervous hour in a foxhole during the which is to say, stringing together nouns During the war in Iraq, I was as- attack, mouthing the Act of Contrition and verbs laced with derivations of the signed to the Army’s 101st Airborne and remembering the letter I’d penned F-word.

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 99 Nieman Notes

Speaking of language, I can swear in that I am not the precision grammarian staccato.” Rather than blurt out my my book. I can use foreign words. I can I had fancied myself. Meantime, I’ve best stuff to grab the reader at the use fancy words verboten in most news- ditched my Journal Sentinel stylebook beginning, I’ve learned to slow down, papers. I can even invent words. All of and, for the first time since college, lead the reader by the hand, reveal that is delicious fun after one too many picked up The Chicago Manual of Style. things one at a time, hint, foreshadow, by-the-book copyeditors. But I now At midcareer, I’ve finally come to terms even tease—all while moving the nar- stand before copyeditors with en- with a fetish—for dictionaries. rative forward. Meanwhile, urged by hanced respect—and belated grati- I’ve had to modify the style and my agent to “dig deeper,” I’ve learned tude—since, as Joni Mitchell counseled, pacing of my writing, since my early a lot about myself, my motivations, and “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til drafts of chapters—rife with short, my past. I’ve made discoveries about it’s gone.” My book has demonstrated choppy paragraphs—were judged “too my own marriage, too, and can assure everyone that after the book is done, I won’t be interviewing my husband again for some time. In June, two months after I’d returned from the war, Tom pointed out that he and I had never actually sat down and discussed whether I should go; it seemed to him a foregone conclusion on the part of the cyclone he had wed nine years earlier. That stung. I regard authors differently now, never before appreciating the disci- pline, strength, staying power, and solitude needed for a 250-page book. Sure, I’ve done magazine pieces and multi-part series, but writing to this length is a new undertaking. I feel at times like I’m sewing a quilt, which is an odd metaphor since I’m not handy with a needle and thread. But I’ve held onto that image, since once the synop- sis and chapter summaries were fin- ished—a very good road map of the story—each subsequent chapter seemed no more intimidating than one more square of the quilt. Keeping my focus has meant turn- ing down social invitations left and right, and these, of course, multiplied when I came home safe and sound and the people who prayed for my safety wanted to see me in the flesh—and hear all about it. I apologize profusely when I turn down friends, fearing that they regard me as an arriviste, but I’m the same ink-stained scribe I always was, only trying to find an audience— Reporter Katherine M. Skiba found herself on the other side of the lens when something else I’d taken for granted all a missile alert sent soldiers from the 101st Airborne to a foxhole. A gas mask, these years—and finish my story. ■ helmet, bullet-resistant vest and canteen were standard equipment for embed- ded journalists. The photo was taken on the first day of the war in Iraq at Katherine M. Skiba, a 1991 Nieman Camp Thunder, a U.S. installation in Kuwait near the borders of Iraq and Fellow, is a Washington correspon- Saudi Arabia. It was the temporary home of the helicopter unit she accompa- dent for the Milwaukee Journal nied, the 159th Brigade, part of the 101st Airborne Division. The brigade Sentinel. was the first U.S. military unit threatened by an enemy missile when the war began. Photo by Capt. Jeff Beierlein, 101st Airborne Division. [email protected]

100 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Nieman Notes

—1947— Weller began writing for The New its Penguin Classics series for publica- York Times a few years after graduating tion August this year. Jay Geddes Odell, Jr., former man- from Harvard College in 1929 and aging editor of The New York Star, died moved to the Chicago Daily News —1958— on January 11, 2000 in Venice, Florida. around 1939. He was 88. Weller received a Pulitzer Prize for Peter John Kumpa, former foreign Odell began his journalistic career reporting in 1943 for his account of correspondent and Washington bureau as an unpaid cub reporter for the how a Navy pharmacist’s mate followed chief for The (Baltimore) Sun, died Marshalltown, Iowa Times-Republican. a medical manual to perform an ap- from cancer on February 23 in Balti- In 1937, he relocated to Pennsylvania pendectomy to save the life of a sailor more, Maryland. He was 76. to work as an editor at The Philadel- aboard the submarine Seadragon in During his 40 years at the Sun pa- phia Inquirer, until his work was inter- enemy waters. He also received a 1954 pers, Kumpa had many assignments, rupted by World War II. Odell volun- George Polk Award for foreign report- including news editor, White House teered for the Naval Reserve and saw ing while with the Chicago Daily News correspondent, and diplomatic corre- active duty throughout the Pacific. He syndicate. spondent. As Washington bureau chief, was awarded the Silver Star for the he directed coverage of the 1972 presi- Marine assault on Tarawa. After the —1949— dential campaign, the Watergate inves- war, Odell returned to the Inquirer. tigations, and the end of Richard In his eulogy for his father, Jay Scott Grady Clay’s fifth book, a collec- Nixon’s presidency. Odell says: “It has been enlightening to tion of his commentaries from “Cross- Kumpa also served eight years as a read through my father’s papers and ing the American Grain,” will be pub- press assistant to the Maryland state discover how cautious and precise he lished this fall by Butler Books. The senate historian and was a member of was in training his men to carry out commentaries are broadcast each week the board of governors of the National their missions. … on public radio WFPL’s “Morning Edi- Press Club. “The same qualities were integral to tion.” Clay, a longtime resident of Lou- He is survived by his wife, the former his work as a newspaper reporter and isville, Kentucky, was for many years Margaret Balch; four daughters; three editor, and he many times warned me urban affairs editor of The Courier Jour- sisters, and five grandchildren. (as he had earlier admonished report- nal and, for 25 years, editor of Land- ers working under him) against the scape Architecture. —1966— dangers of, in his words, ‘great gallop- ing assumptions.’ He wanted to know —1952— Wayne Woodlief, chief political the facts, wrote pages of notes in a tiny columnist at the Boston Herald, is the barely decipherable shorthand all his William “Bill” F. Freehoff, Jr. died recipient of the 2003 John Gardner own, and only then, perhaps, enter- on June 17, 2003 in Johnson City, Ten- Public Service Award. Prior to his 10- tained the luxury of speculation.…” nessee. He was 84. year tenure as a columnist at the Her- After his Nieman year, Odell became Born in 1918 in St. Louis, Missouri, ald, Woodlief was the paper’s chief managing editor of the Star and later while his father was fighting with the political reporter for 15 years. editor and information officer for the Third U.S. Division in France, Freehoff At the award ceremony, Woodlief New York and Washington-based Com- graduated from the University of Mis- was introduced in this way: mittee for Economic Development. In souri with a journalism degree. After “[Woodlief’s] writing covers a wide 1956, he moved to Venice, Florida with having served in World War II, Freehoff variety of subjects, but his most fre- his wife, the late Adalberta LaVoie worked at the old Kingsport News quent subject is Massachusetts poli- Odell. In Venice, Odell was active in where he would go on to become the tics, and his perspective is that of a real estate development along the Keys paper’s editor. Following his Nieman reformer. … The citizens of Massachu- and in a number of civic activities, such year, he worked at WKPT radio and setts have benefited tremendously from as the founding of the first public li- television as editorial director. his writing as has the cause of open, brary in the city and the coast guard He is survived by his wife, Jane Lewis accountable, honest government.” auxiliary, search and rescue activities. Freehoff, two daughters, and two The award was established by the He is survived by his son, three grand- grandsons. Common Cause of Massachusetts to children, and four great grandchildren. recognize “individuals whose work has —1955— significantly advanced the cause of —1948— open, responsive and accountable gov- Ian Cross, from New Zealand, ad- ernment.” George Anthony Weller, former vises that his novel, “The God Boy,” war correspondent, died on Decem- started in Theodore Morrison’s English —1970— ber 19, 2002 in his seaside villa near class and published worldwide, is be- Rome, Italy. He was 95. ing entered by UK Penguin Books into Wallace Terry, one of the first black

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 101 Nieman Notes

war correspondents in mainstream story in the world at the time,” a re- the U.S. Air Force in Europe, was an media, died on May 29, 2003 in Fairfax, porter wrote in Terry’s obituary in the ordained minister in the Disciples of Virginia, from Wegener’s granuloma- Post. As controversy developed over Christ Church, taught at Howard Uni- tosis. He was 65. the degree to which news coverage versity, and was on Brown’s board of Terry began his journalism career at might have affected the war’s outcome, trustees. He was also a CBS radio and Brown University, where he became Terry said he felt it his “sacred respon- TV commentator and wrote for USA the first black editor of an Ivy League sibility” to be fair and to tell the truth. Today. newspaper. His bold interview of Gov- According to his wife, Janice Terry, He is survived by his wife, Janice; ernor Orval Faubus about the integra- one of Terry’s observations during his two sons; a daughter; a sister, and two tion of Little Rock High School not only tenure as the Time’s deputy bureau grandchildren. helped him become editor in chief of chief in Saigon was of the “formation of the Brown Daily Herald, the university’s bonds in combat between blacks and Henri-François Van Aal died in newspaper, but also led to a job offer to whites that endured thereafter.” Terry Alicante, Spain on August 19, 2001. He write for The Washington Post in 1958. went on to write a book detailing the was 68. A fellow Belgian Nieman Fel- First at the Post, and later with Time, experiences of 20 black soldiers, called low from the class of 1982, Claude Van Terry covered the growing civil rights “Bloods: An Oral History of the Viet- Engeland, writes: movement and increasing urban pro- nam War by Black Veterans” (Random “Henri-François was part of a tiny tests. House, 1984). In 1986, it became a PBS group of Belgian journalists who in He was offered the assignment to documentary. 1956 developed the concept of a Bel- report in Vietnam in 1967 and accepted Terry served as a race relations con- gian television news bulletin. By that the position “because it was the biggest sultant to the commanding general of time Belgian viewers could only watch a French news program prepared in Paris. Van Aal and his friend came up with a concept: United Press and Visnews would provide footage of in- 2003 Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism ternational events, and a handful of cameramen would cover local news. Co-sponsored by The Poynter Institute, The Boston Globe, and They brought the thing to life, and it The Oregonian was an immense success. In 1960 [Van Aal] became the main presenter. He Friday, December 5-Sunday, December 7, 2003 later on pioneered the concept of a Hyatt Regency, Cambridge, Massachusetts Belgian weekly television news maga- zine. He was a Nieman Fellow in 1970, The Nieman Conference on Narra- els and solo talks. They’ll focus on and upon his return he took a very tive Journalism will convene in ethics, attribution and sourcing, on active part in the development of Bel- Cambridge the first weekend in using narrative to sharpen and fo- gian television. December. For the past few years, cus election-year coverage, on find- “In 1971 he switched to politics; he we’ve sold out every available seat— ing the right story in the sea of first rejuvenated the image of the Chris- a quarter of them to editors and all reported fact and, of course, on the tian Democrat party and then ran a to working journalists and writers. step-by-step, start-to-finish intrica- successful campaign for a seat in the Most major dailies send staff, as do cies of building fine narrative work, Parliament. He then became deputy many news organizations from from topic selection through field- minister of foreign affairs and in 1974 abroad. Narrative enriches cover- work, note processing, drafting, became minister of culture. age, attracts audience, and mobi- editing, building publication teams “In 1979 [Van Aal] decided to aban- lizes the full talents of reporters and narrative-friendly newsrooms. don his political career and rejoined and editors. You’ll find speaker bios, sample the Belgian state television amidst a This year David Halberstam, Ken articles, and registration forms at very nasty dispute; many journalists Burns, Nick Lemann, and Susan www.nieman.harvard.edu/narra- claimed it was unethical to reintegrate Orlean will deliver keynote talks, tive. A special rate is available for a politician in[to] [the] newsroom. and a diverse group of more than Nieman Fellow alumni/ae. Register “[Van Aal] never fully recovered from 30 acclaimed journalists, authors early, as we’re likely to sell out this dispute. He anchored various pro- and storytellers will cover the nuts- again. E-mail questions to us at grams. He remained an excellent pre- and-bolts of writing, reporting and [email protected]. ■ senter and interviewer. But his main editing narrative in nearly 60 pan- —Mark Kramer problem was the ever-increasing pace of television programs. [Van Aal] didn’t like the concept of the ‘sound bite’ and

102 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Nieman Notes always insisted that in order to lead a “This fall my 18th book is being until then no desire to [enter]. I even good interview you need a few minutes published: ‘The Spider’s Web,’ a no- seriously thought of standing for a seat to warm up your guest. He also found vella and seven related short stories set in Parliament in the 1999 general elec- it hard to cope with new technologies in central Alabama in the 50’s and early tion. That, in the end, I decided not to like videotapes; he preferred to work 60’s. In the summer of 2003 I wrote the [do]. on film support. screenplay of my last novel, ‘The Long “My two sons are in their 30’s––one “In 1993 he decided to retire in his Journey,’ set in north Alabama in 1919. a television journalist, the other a law- hometown of Alicante in Spain. He Since then, I’ve been working with a yer. My wife, [P.C. Jayasree], and I still wrote two books: one about his expe- NY-LA producer to polish the story for live at the flat we have lived in for three rience in politics and a novel. …” the screen.” decades.…”

—1972— —1976— —1979—

Robert Deitz, former executive Guenter Haaf, in July 2003, was John C. Huff, Jr., managing editor business editor/columnist at the Dallas promoted to the newly created job of of The (Charleston) Post and Courier Times Herald, is retired. Following his an editorial director at Wort & Bild since January 2001, is the new execu- years at the Times Herald, he became Verlag, Baierbrunn near Munich, Ger- tive editor of the paper. “The goal is to the editor in chief of Texas Business many. One of his new tasks is to im- serve readers,” Huff said in the paper’s Magazine and the author of four books: prove the quality of the editorial con- announcement, “by attracting their at- “Other People’s Money: The Inside tent of the six magazines (with a tention, winning their trust, and con- Story of the S&L Mess;” “Presumed monthly circulation in Germany of 13 sistently providing them news and in- Guilty: The Tragedy of the Rodney King million) published by Wort & Bild. He formation of value. I think the way to Affair;” “Willful Injustice: A Post-O.J. will keep the editorship of Gesundheit do that is through creative, well-crafted Look at American Justice, Rodney King, (“Health”), one of the six magazines, a and relevant storytelling, produced by and Trial by Race,” and “Crisis in the position that he has held since Decem- committed, professional reporters, Oil Patch: How America’s Energy In- ber 1998. photographers, artists, designers and dustry Is Being Destroyed and What editors.” Might Be Done to Save It.” —1977— Huff spent 14 years at the Orlando Deitz is now a grandfather of three Sentinel in such positions as national/ and doing volunteer work at the Dallas Melvin Goo, former chief news edi- foreign editor and deputy managing Public Library. tor at The Nikkei Weekly in Tokyo, editor before joining The Post and spent two years, 1999-2001, in Taipei Courier. At the Sentinel, Huff was the R. Gregory Nokes recently retired editing the Taiwan News. He is now leader and force behind the from 16 years as an editor, national traveling in Asia. newsroom’s technological moderniza- correspondent, and staff writer for The tion. Oregonian. He also worked at The As- M.G.G. Pillai writes: “I [recently] sociated Press for 25 years. He is cur- had a bout of ill health––of what doc- —1980— rently working on a book of historical tors diagnosed as ‘unstable angina’ for fiction dealing with the history of the which I spent a week in [a] hospital…. Daniel Passent, a columnist for Chinese in America. “I am otherwise well and tilting at Polityka, Zycie Warszawy, and Wirtualna windmills as usual, and active, both as Polska (one of the largest Internet pro- —1973— a journalist and as an activist, though viders in Poland), returned to Poland less as the former and more as the last year after serving five years as am- Wayne Greenhaw writes, “At the latter, have my own Web site— bassador to Chile. He wrote his 10th end of 2002 Sally [Greenhaw’s wife] www.mggpillai.com––where you can book, “Diplomatic Disease,” about his retired from the bench after 20 years as catch my frequent rantings. Although I diplomatic experience. The book has judge. We rented a house in San Miguel hobble around with a cane, my mind I become a bestseller, selling more than de Allende, Mexico, and immediately hope is still active. This activist part of 20,000 copies. Passent also teaches at a fell in love with the place and its lazy my life came in 1998 when the former private school for media and commu- laidback lifestyle. Sally went back to deputy prime minister, Dato Seri Anwar nication studies. take Spanish lessons in April, I joined Ibrahim, was sacked, arrested, and her for a week, and we bought a house beaten by the country’s police chief, —1981— down there. We will be dividing our convicted in a kangaroo court for sod- year between San Miguel and Mont- omy and corruption. If it could happen Gerald Boyd resigned in May from gomery, Alabama, where we have lived to him, could it not to me? And I stepped The New York Times following the since leaving Harvard. into the political arena, which I had controversy over the work of reporter

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 103 Nieman Notes

Jayson Blair. Boyd became the Times’s column for Peru21 daily newspaper managing editor in 2001 after 20 years News for Nieman Notes and continues his investigative report- at the Times as a correspondent and ing through several other venues. Nieman Fellows who would like to editor. In 1993, he directed a team’s have an item appear in Nieman coverage of the 1993 World Trade Cen- —1988— Notes—a job change, the publica- ter bombing when an improvised de- tion of a book, an unusual adven- vice exploded on the second level of Emily O’Reilly, former political ture—please e-mail the information the center’s basement parking area. columnist with The Sunday Times in to Lois Fiore at [email protected]. This coverage received a 1994 Pulitzer Ireland, has been appointed by the Prize for spot news reporting. In 2001, Irish government as the national om- as editor of the newspaper’s series budsman and Freedom of Information “How Race is Lived in America,” Boyd Oney, who for many years was a commissioner. and his team of reporters won the writer at The Atlanta Journal-Constitu- Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. tion Magazine, adds that “And the Dead Rigoberto Tiglao, the presidential On September 6, Boyd was inducted Shall Rise” also has much to say on one chief of staff in the Philippines, writes: into the Greater St. Louis (Mo.) Asso- other topic—the press. William “After my Nieman class, I spent over ciation of Black Journalists’ Hall of Randolph Hearst owned a newspaper two years [at] the newspaper, Manila Fame at an awards dinner at Washing- in Atlanta at the time of the murder and Chronicle…. After that I joined the ton University. lynching—the Georgian—and Harold Dow Jones-owned Far Eastern Eco- W. Ross, founder of The New Yorker, nomic Review and left that magazine as David Lamb’s book, “Vietnam, Now: and Herbert Asbury, author of “The Manila bureau chief after nearly 10 A Reporter Returns,” is out in paper- Gangs of New York,” were among the years there. I became then the editor in back from PublicAffairs. Lamb reported reporters covering the story. Moreover, chief of the Internet version of the on the war in Vietnam as a young Adolph Ochs, publisher of The New Philippine Daily Inquirer (the biggest correspondent. “Vietnam Now” is his York Times, used his influence to make newspaper here), while at the same account of his return to the country 30 the case a nationwide cause célèbre, time an opinion columnist at that pa- years after the war’s end to open the raising consciousness in the North and per. first peacetime Indochina bureau for provoking rage in the South. “In 2001 I joined the administration the Los Angeles Times in Hanoi. Lamb Oney now lives in Los Angeles, where of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s said he hoped “to share with others the he has worked as a senior editor at cabinet as presidential spokesperson. discovery of a country, not the rehash California magazine and a senior writer Starting this year, though, I assumed of a misguided war.” at Premiere. He will be on a 10-city the full-time role as presidential chief book tour during the fall and hopes to of staff.” —1982— see many of his fellow fellows along Tiglao can be reached at: the way. [email protected]. Steve Oney is happy to report that his book, “And the Dead Shall Rise,” —1983— —1990— will be published in October by Pan- theon as its lead, nonfiction title. Sev- Nigel Wade, editor in chief of the Mary Jordan and her husband, enteen years in the researching and Chicago Sun-Times from 1996 to 2000, Kevin Sullivan, foreign correspon- writing, the book is a work of social is now enjoying retirement, dividing dents for The Washington Post who history pegged to the enduring myster- his time between homes in England jointly run the Post’s Mexico bureau, ies of the 1913 Atlanta murder of Mary and France. For 27 years Wade worked received the 2002 Sigma Delta Chi Phagan and the 1915 lynching of her for The Daily Telegraph of London— award for foreign correspondence for convicted killer, Leo Frank. The case mainly as a foreign correspondent in their series of articles about the cor- gave birth to both the modern Ku Klux Washington, Beijing and Moscow—and ruption of Mexico’s criminal justice Klan and the Anti-Defamation League. then as an assistant editor and foreign system. The Society of Professional Jour- “‘And the Dead Shall Rise’ is a non- editor for 10 years before going to nalists has recognized and awarded fiction Southern ‘Ragtime,’” says Oney. Chicago. journalistic excellence with the Sigma “It’s scrupulously researched, yet I Delta Chi awards since 1932. wrote it with all the dramatic power I —1986— could bring to bear. It’s about sex, —1991— race, money, politics, religion and the Gustavo Gorriti is journalist in resi- moral choices people make when swept dence at the Instituto de Defensa Legal Kabral Blay-Amihere writes: “Al- up in exceptional events.” (IDL) in Lima, Peru. He also writes a though I am now into diplomacy I still

104 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 Nieman Notes find time for journalism and actually teach two courses—Feature and Edito- rial Writing and Newspaper Manage- Members of the Class of 2000 Reunite in ment and Production at Fourah Bay College. Books on journalism are scarce Washington, D.C. in post-war Sierra Leone, and I would Several members of the class of 2000 Kwangchool Lee, the fellow from be grateful for any books from the gathered for a reunion weekend in South Korea currently based in Nieman family.” June in Washington, D.C. Thrity Washington, hosted a dinner at his Books can be sent to Blay-Amihere Umrigar, visiting assistant profes- favorite Korean restaurant. Survey- at: 13 Walpole Street, Freetown, Sierra sor of creative writing at Case West- ing the [table] Lee, affectionately Leone. ern Reserve University, recalls: known as ‘The Chairman,’ made a “Although the attendees were moving speech about the impor- —1992— mostly those working and living on tance of good friends, which set the or near the East Coast, the weekend tenor for the rest of the weekend. Mark Seibel, former managing edi- festivities [were] a time to catch up “The group gathered for Sunday tor at The Miami Herald, has been with old friends, to marvel at how brunch at the Washington home of appointed managing editor/interna- much the little Nieman kids had Laura Lynch, our fellow from tional of Knight Ridder’s Washington grown, and to argue about the pros- Canada, and discussed the possibil- bureau. Knight Ridder is the parent pects of various Democratic presi- ity of making the gathering an an- company of the Herald. dential candidates and other politi- nual affair. Seibel has been with the Herald for cal issues. “Those attending the mini-re- 19 years in a number of positions, such “On Friday evening, the group union included Bill, Sperry, Jack as foreign editor and director of inter- gathered at the National Press Club and Lucy Krueger, Jim Morrill, national operations. Now he will su- for drinks and free tacos and later Kathy Haight, ‘Chairman’ and Kim pervise national and foreign security migrated to Jerry Zremski’s home Lee, Mike Williams, Jerry Zremski, coverage for the 32 Knight Ridder news- for pizza and more drinks. Laura Lynch, Eustathea Kavorous, papers. He will also direct the report- “On Saturday evening, and Thrity Umrigar.” ■ ers of eight overseas bureaus and re- porters covering the State Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies. Seibel’s direction of the Herald’s U.S.-Iran-Contra coverage won a College in Galesburg, Illinois, where Alfred A. Knopf book is due to come Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in he is majoring in creative writing. … out in mid-November. Bragg is also the 1987, and his directed coverage of the And our daughter, Racheal, just gradu- author of “All Over but the Shoutin’” raid that took Elian Gonzalez from his ated from high school and will be at- and “Ava’s Man.” Miami relatives won another Pulitzer tending Buena Vista University in Storm Prize for breaking news reporting in Lake, Iowa. She will be majoring in Sam Hurst produced a three-hour 2001. athletic training and playing goalkeeper documentary for PBS on modern In- for the women’s soccer team. As you dian life and writes a column for the Tom Witosky, a sports projects can see, we are a very busy family these local newspaper, The Rapid City Jour- writer at The Des Moines Register, days.…” nal. He also runs his own buffalo ranch writes: “I miss Harvard everyday.” 30 miles east of Rapid City, South Da- “We are all doing well here. I have kota on the edge of Badlands National had a very busy nine months of work —1993— Park. including the investigation of former Iowa State basketball coach, Larry Rick Bragg resigned from The New —1995— Eustachy, and his penchant for party- York Times this summer after ques- ing with college students on road trips. tions were raised about the appropri- Lou Ureneck, former deputy man- “My wife, Diane, is also quite busy ate use of freelance writers to assist aging editor at The Philadelphia In- as a freelance editor with the books reporters in coverage of stories. quirer, will be joining the faculty of the division of Meredith Publishing. She is Bragg’s next project is a collabora- College of Communication at Boston working mostly on ‘how-to’ books in tion with the former prisoner of war University as visiting professor of jour- gardening these days. She is having Jessica Lynch on a book about her nalism and director of the Business & great fun.Our son, Adam, has only one capture and rescue, “I Am a Soldier, Economics Journalism Program this fall. term left before graduation from Knox Too: The Jessica Lynch Story.” The Ureneck began his journalism ca-

Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 105 Nieman Notes

reer in 1974 at the Portland (Maine) since the reinstatement of the death Press Herald as a reporter and later penalty in 1976. became editor and vice president. He Alumni/ae Database spent 22 years at the Portland Press Project Results Maria (Consuelo) Saavedra, a TV Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram reporter and anchor for Television before joining the Inquirer in 1997, A number of notes in this Nacional de Chile, will begin the one- where he managed the front page and issue are due to Lisa Gould’s year Mid-Career/Master in Public Ad- played a key role in the reorganization efforts to contact Nieman ministration program at Harvard of the 210-person staff. Fellows for the Nieman University’s John F. Kennedy School of alumni/ae database project. Government this fall. —1996— —2003— Joe Williams has been named assis- tant managing editor for local news at out, “What Every Person Should Know Kevin Cullen, a projects reporter at the Star Tribune in Minnesota. He had About War,” published by the Free The Boston Globe, is on the Globe’s been Living editor at The Boston Globe. Press. In a Times review, Robert Pinsky team of reporters who won the 2002 In his new position, Williams will be in writes, “Neither jingoistic nor pacifist, Sigma Delta Chi award for investigative charge of local and state news cover- the book is about the moral authority reporting for a newspaper/wire service age, overseeing the work of more than of information, as it applies to the with a circulation of 100,000 or greater. 80 reporters and editors in the Minne- present and future nature of war.” The team’s investigation of the sex apolis and St. Paul newsrooms and the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church state capitol. —2000— produced a groundswell of public re- sponse and led to the resignation of —1998— Kwangchool Lee, former deputy Cardinal Bernard F. Law and changes editor and anchorman for Korea Broad- in the way the church handles cases of Howard Berkes, National Public casting System (KBS), was appointed clergy sexual abuse. Radio correspondent, is now NPR’s in April to be the Washington bureau first-ever rural affairs correspondent. chief of KBS. He can be reached at: KBS David Dahl, former deputy metro Berkes will focus on rural issues and Washington Bureau, 1076 National editor at the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, culture for the next three years. It’s the Press Building, Washington, D.C. is now the political editor at The Bos- third time Berkes has pioneered a beat 20045. Lee’s e-mail address is: ton Globe. at NPR. The first came 22 years ago, [email protected]. Dahl writes: “I’ll be in charge of when he became NPR’s first staff re- reporters covering the statehouse, porter in the Rocky Mountain States. —2001— mayor’s office, and immigration. This Berkes more recently developed an is a great opportunity for my wife Kathy Olympic politics beat after breaking a Ken Armstrong, former legal af- and our family. The kids love it here portion of the story exposing allega- fairs writer at the Chicago Tribune and and are thriving in this rich educa- tions of bribery in the bidding for the currently investigative reporter at The tional and cultural environment. 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Seattle Times, was on the Tribune’s “We couldn’t have made this step He and Congressional Correspondent team of reporters that won the 2002 without considerable advice and sup- David Welna (Nieman ’98) have al- Sigma Delta Chi award for public ser- port from my fellow Niemans. Several ready teamed for a pair of stories on vice for a newspaper/wire service with of you gave Kathy and me wise counsel efforts to repopulate dying towns. An- a circulation of 100,000 or greater. The as I weighed the decision to leave the other teaming of Niemans takes place team’s investigation of the Illinois pe- paper where I’ve worked for the last 20 next year when Berkes and NPR Busi- nal system, which began in 1999, re- years. Thank you all very much.…” ness and Sports Editor Uri Berliner sulted in the discovery of 164 prison- (Nieman ’98) will cover the 2004 Olym- ers on death row who were found to be Ronnie Ramos is now editor of The pics in Athens, their third Olympics innocent. Times in Shreveport, Louisiana. He had together. After the Tribune reporters’ investi- been the managing editor at The News- gation, George Ryan, who was elected Press at Fort Myers, Florida. ■ —1999— governor as a supporter of the death penalty, called for a mortorium on Chris Hedges, a reporter for The death sentences. In 2003, hours before New York Times and author of “War Is Governor Ryan left office, he com- a Force That Gives Us Meaning” muted the sentences of 164 death row (PublicAffairs, 2002), has another book prisoners, an unprecedented move

106 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003 End Note A Nieman Visit to Cuba The fellows discovered risk-takers who ‘live with a wink, a fiction, and perhaps a few bribes.’

By David Dahl

s you roll through the streets of the exile community how they view the For several years now, Castro has Havana, past red-scarved school place that remains the primary obses- attempted to calibrate a dicey equa- Achildren, 1950’s era cars, pock- sion for many in south Florida’s politi- tion: Money from tourism and some marked buildings, a blue harbor framed cal community. foreign investment is meant to replace by the Malecon, your mind wanders to That there are no boats in the har- the loss of billions in Soviet aid after this puzzle: What is missing from Cuba? bor, or few planes in the sky, is testa- the fall of the USSR. But the influx of Airplanes, for one thing. The skies ment to Castro’s hold on the country. dollars brings an inevitable inequality, are virtually empty. and with it comes a Boats are all but miss- taste of freedoms ing, too; Cubans that have been de- need a special license nied since the revo- to fish off shore. Cell lution. A few weeks phones; they are before our visit, missing, though not Castro jailed 75 missed by visitors people—many of from the United them journalists— States. And Fidel who were fueling a Castro is missing, nascent democratic too; you rarely see movement. his image, but his Yet the imported presence is always freedoms—and felt. with them, the good A group of and bad of capital- Nieman Fellows and ism—still seep into friends of the pro- the culture. gram traveled to the So it is that inside Communist island in the Capitol, with its late May and found a gold leaf ceilings, country on the verge marble floors, and a of change. Changing 1950’s era car in Trinidad, Cuba. Photo by Christina Andujar. rotunda that is said to what? It is hard to to be the third high- say. And when? est in the world, We’ve been waiting for Cuba to change Look at the people and you see a resig- there is a room that houses a cybercafé. for more than four decades. nation, a sullenness, especially in Ha- Does the café offer a voice for democ- Our visit took us first to Havana for vana, where families are packed into racy, here in the old Capitol where four days and then to Cienfuegos and once-beautiful apartment buildings. democracy ended in 1959? It would Trinidad, two small cities on the south- During the day, many people mill about, seem so, except that Internet access ern side of the island. Beforehand, with little to do; at night, the bars and costs five dollars an hour—out of reach several of us spent two days in Miami, nightclubs that cater to tourists ex- for most people in a country where where we learned from members of plode with Son music. wages can be six dollars each month.

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And for those who can afford to use the Internet, the traffic is monitored by the government. Another contrast emerges when we visit privately run restaurants called paladars. Hidden away in simple homes, they are known by many of the locals, tolerated by the government, but afforded only by tourists with dol- lars. We ate red snapper and lobster and smoked cigars in one unlicensed paladar that was run by a one-time engineer and lawyer. Risk-takers, they live with a wink, a fiction, and perhaps a few bribes. Consider this conversation:

“Aren’t shellfish illegal here in Cuba?,” we asked after eating a deli- School children in Cienfuegos, Cuba. cious lobster meal. “That wasn’t lobster,” came the re- ply. “It was eggs with shells.”

At another stop in Havana, an artist has painted an alley with reds and blues and yellows, and believers have carved Santeria gods into the walls. When we visited, a band entertained a sweaty crowd of a couple hundred people jammed into the alley. When one of us brought out lollypops for children, she was immediately sur- rounded. The people we spoke to at these stops were friendly, yet guarded, and frequently spoke from the same script. They insist they are friends with the Americans. It’s just the U.S. govern- A home in Trinidad, Cuba. ment, and the embargo, they oppose. It is easy to imagine this place when Castro and his brother die and the United States and other industrialized nations stampede in, renovate the buildings that have stood since the 1500’s, bring back the casinos, stick a Starbucks on every corner, and load the airwaves with cell phones and com- mercial TV. Cuba will be cleaner, and wealthier, and its people free, but it will be far less insular than it was when we visited in 2003. ■

David Dahl, a 2003 Nieman Fellow, is political editor of The Boston Globe. An art school in Cienfuegos, Cuba. Photos by Christina Andujar.

108 Nieman Reports / Fall 2003