From NW Photojournalism Facebook Event
Next Monthly Meetup – 7 p.m., June 9th at Mulleady’s Irish Pub in Magnolia (3055 21st Ave W.) Mellow session this month – Bring photos/videos on a laptop to share with individuals and small groups
Find NW Photojournalism group on their Facebook Page
The Seattle chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and the Seattle Association of Black Journalists (SABJ) welcome you to the 25th anniversary celebration for the Northwest Journalists of Color scholarship.
Where: KING5, 333 Dexter Ave N, Seattle
When: Tuesday, 6pm doors open; 6:30pm program starts; 8pm end
Cost: FREE
We’ll be serving chicken satay, fresh fruit, red velvet cake and other treats as we honor this year’s students receiving scholarships to pursue their dreams in journalism. Our keynote speaker is multimedia reporter Thanh Tan from The Texas Tribune, a journalism start-up in Austin, and a three-time winner of the scholarship.
We still have some free tickets left, and they can claim them by RSVP’ing at
Many thanks to this year’s event sponsor, KING 5 Television.
Sandy Rowe, former editor of The Oregonian, makes the case for collaboration in local investigative reporting in a new discussion paper for the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. She writes:
Growing evidence suggests that collaborations and partnerships between new and established news organizations, universities and foundations may be the overlooked key for investigative journalism to thrive at the local and state levels. These partnerships, variously and often loosely organized, can share responsibility for content creation, generate wider distribution of stories and spread the substantial cost of accountability journalism.
Rowe calls for collaboration among traditional and emerging digital, print and broadcast news organizations, as well as higher education and interested citizens. If she had her own 30 years as an editor to do over again, she says, she would expand her vision beyond her own newsroom.
“It did not occur to me that I should assume a responsibility broader than my own newsroom for the engagement of the community around questions of public policy integrity and public policy leadership.”
In addition to laying out specific ideas for action, she offers lessons on motivations, organization, funding, and culture and values. And, she adds this overall vision:
In a do-over I would work to change established newsroom culture by building alliances for in- depth and investigative reporting with universities, rivals, citizens and, potentially, philanthropists. I would make this work a major part of my own or a managing editor’s job description. I would focus the work much more on the outcomes of our journalism, which is after all what citizens care about. We would measure success through a clear-eyed assessment of the stories done, the distribution they received, the range of tools and platforms used for that, the engagement of citizens with the work and the impact or actions generated by the work. If we did not create value along those criteria, then we would know we were not fulfilling our mission.
The Seattle area has seen some promising examples of collaborative investigative reporting. Examples include:
• The Times and KUOW teaming up to report on the injuries and disabilities caused combat soldiers carrying to much weight in their packs.
• InvestigateWest and KING 5 TV teaming up on an in-depth look at air safety in the skies over Washington state.
Rowe’s paper makes a powerful argument for building extensively on these foundations.
via John Hamer of the Washington News Council
Craig Silverman gives keynote speech to #ONO2011 meeting in Montreal. John Hamer of WNC (bald spot on left) listens along with Michael Getler, ombudsman of PBS (bald head on right).
Craig Silverman, a regular columnist for Columbia Journalism Review and The Toronto Star, is also author of “Regret the Error – How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech.”
In his talk to the world’s ombudsmen last week, Silverman cited several studies which found that 40 to 60 percent of news stories contained some kind of error! A comprehensive survey of U.S. newspapers found the highest error rate on record.
“We’ve been telling people for literally hundreds of years that when we make a mistake we correct it,” Silverman said. But the U.S. study found a correction rate of only about 2 percent.
“That is pretty outrageous,” Silverman said. “If we’re only correcting 2 percent of errors, we’re not meeting our own standards. It represents a serious failure on the part of news organizations.” Continue reading
We’re pleased to announce that GWOBorg is joining forces with Random Hacks of Kindness again to host the RHoK #3 Global Satellite Hackathon taking place at Microsoft’s Redmond campus near Seattle June 4th and 5th, 2011. This year Seattle is THE (only) mainstage event in the US; with VIP speakers from Google, Microsoft, City of Seattle, GWOB, and Crisis Commons, all kicking off the hackathon with a reception the night of June 3rd. Entertainment includes Maxx Sundquist, Levity acrobats, and much more.
What is RHoK #3?
RHok #3 is global gathering of hackers in many locations around the world, coming together in real time for a marathon weekend of coding around problems relating to disaster risk management and climate change.
Sign Up Now to Attend RHok #3
Attending RHok #3 is free and easy, just sign up on our eventbrite page! For even more information and pre-hackathon mingling, check out our Facebook event page. To find out about RHoK #3 events elsewhere, check out the Random Hacks of Kindness webpage.
Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh is advancing some ideas he broached in a recent appearance in Seattle. In a new blog post, Huh addresses the question, “Why are we still consuming news like it’s 1899?”
Huh’s overall assessment is blunt: the experience of consuming news sucks.
Even though it’s been more than 15 years since the Internet became a news destination, journalists and editors are still trapped in the print and TV world of message delivery.
The traditional methods of news-writing, such as the reverse pyramid, the various “editions” of news pose big limitation on how news is reported and consumed. Unfortunately, internet-based changes such as reverse-chronological blogging of news, inability to archive yesterday’s news, poor commenting quality, live-blogging, and others have made news consumption an even more frustrating experience.
Huh got some push back when he spoke about these concerns to #NewsNext, a collaboration of the Seattle chapters of the Online News Association (ONA) and Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) on May 16. After proclaiming that it was no longer the job of the journalist to tell people what’s true or not, Jacob Caggiano, who covered the event for the Seattle Journalism Commons, reported there was “the inevitable debate about broccoli versus ice cream.”
From Jessica Durkin, co-author of the Seattle Media Landscape report for the New America Foundation
“I will be hosting a Twitter chat on Monday (5/23), 8 pm ET with
Baristanet’s Debra Galant to talk about the recently launched
Authentically Local campaign that aims to reclaim locally-owned and
operated news sites. Authentically Local has so far 30 signers to the
campaign, all hyperlocal or community news publishers from across the
country. The campaign emerges as corporate media companies are
launching local digital sites to compete for advertising dollars.
Twitter Chat: Why local doesn’t scale, with Debra Galant of Baristanet
@mybxb
#mybxb
8 pm ET
Monday 5/23
About Authentically Local: http://authenticallylocal.com/
Blog post about AL: Hyperlocal news publishers defend localism in face
of media chain expansion. http://mybxb.com/52937772
Hope to see you there!
Jessica Durkin
@jessdrkn
Block by Block community manager
New America Foundation Media Policy Initiative fellow”
[CLICK FOR THE LINK TO THE WINNERS FROM THE SPJ REGION 10 BLOG]
“The Northwest Excellence in Journalism contest is held annually by Region 10 of SPJ to honor exceptional journalism in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. The contest is open to SPJ members and nonmembers, and it includes all forms of media (print, online, radio and TV) and media organizations of all sizes.
This year’s contest honors work produced or published in 2010. More than 2,500 entries from dozens of media organizations throughout the region which were then reviewed and rated by out-of-state judges. The awards that appear in the attached document are the results of this year’s contest.”
From Bainbridge Island based Yes! Magazine’s Facebook Event page
The Festival hours are:
Saturday, 10am – 7pm
Sunday, 11am– 6pm
Enjoy more than 125 renowned authors, leaders and educators; great how-to workshops; cutting-edge films; fun activities for kids; organic beer and wine; delicious vegetarian cuisine and diverse live music. Shop in a unique marketplace of more than 350 eco-friendly businesses—everything from all-natural body care products and organic cotton clothing to Fair Trade gifts and beautiful kitchen tiles made from renewable resources.
In addition, see a great lineup of influential leaders including John Perkins, David Korten, Amy Goodman, Alisa Gravitz, Richard Conlin and Sarah van Gelder. See these inspiring speakers at the following times:
John Perkins: Saturday, 1pm
David Korten: Saturday, 12pm
Amy Goodman: Sunday, 12pm
Richard Conlin and Alisa Gravitz: Sunday, 1pm
Sarah van Gelder: Saturday, 2pm
Also, visit us in the Partner area at Booth #232, where you can visit us for special gift offers, YES! merchandise and good conversation!
For more information, visit http://www.greenfestivals.org/sea/updates/
OpenGovWest took place in Portland over the weekend of May 13-15th.
There was a lot of cross pollination amongst the Seattle Journalism scene, as the main organizer of the conference was Sarah Schacht from Knowledge As Power, a Seattle based civic empowerment organization that helps build tools around legislative tracking and other civic needs.
The best way to catch up on what transpired is through the live coverage feed from the event, and keep your eyes on the blog where I imagine they will post archival video footage of the sessions.
