What’s next with Journalism That Matters? A discussion

Journalism That Matters

What’s next with Journalism That Matters? A discussion

Here are Bill Densmore’s notes of a roundtable discussion on Saturday, May 3, 2008, at the Domain Hotel in Sunnyvale, Calif. About 20 people gathered near the close of the NewsTools2008 convening to consider the next projects of the Journalism That Matters collaborative.

Said one commentator: “I don’t know of any other organization that is looking forward about journalism.”

The idea is to stay on the edge — the ecosystem of journalism needs tending. Peggy Holman, a JTM collaborator, says “we can start to see the future of journalism.”

Stephen Silha, co-collaborator, mentions his website http://www.goodnewsgooddeeds.org , which he says carries an essay about the future of journalism which still gets regular traffic. He outlines the start of Journalism That Matters during a meeting at the Wingspread Foundation facility in Racine, Wis.

Silha said right after Chric Peck, editor of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, became one-year president of the Associated Press Managing Editors, he posed the question: “Waht would it take to have a national conversation about the future of journalism.” With Peck’s support, the first JTM gathering took place at APME’s Sept. 15, 2001 gathering in Milwaukee, Wis.

Ellen Angelotti of the Poynter Institute observes that the tech world tends to be collaborative, but the nature of journalism has tended to be competitive. It’s now time for journalism to learn from technologists on that score, she said.

JTM is looking for ways to connect with other groups.

We discussed the relative lack of involvement by network TV folks — CNN, CBS, NBC, FOX — in any of the JTM convenings to date. How do we find “moles or giraffes” within that environment? One person observed: “We need a mole-support system at this point.”

What is a method for exposing people’s hidden talents and expertise?

Melissa Cornick-Horyn — herself a former network TV news producer — part of the problem is the tradition of a sense of control in the network world. “You can’t have them controlling things the way they have,” she observes. “Because it’s a failure, a failure of democracy.” We consider talking to the National Association of Broadcasters, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the Allied Media Conference and the Unity Conference (this year, in Chicago).

Maurreen Skowran asks (I forgot context): How do you synthesize, track or do rigorous analysis?

Discussion about the difference (if any) between citizen journalists and traditional journalism. What about fact checking, multiple editors, transparency, ethics? Do we hold citizen-journalists to the same standards as others (i.e., make up nothing, do not guess, presume or speculate?)

We talked about potential future events invoving “tech for execs,” a database smmit, and involving/collaborating with Georgia Tech, which has an active program in Computational Journalism.

Some participants in this discussion

  • Jonathan Lawson, Reclaim the Media
  • Denis Burgierman
  • Suzanne McBride, Columbia College, Chicago
  • Suzanne Bohan, Bay Area News Group
  • Barry Parr, Coastsider.com
  • Stephan Russ-Mohl
  • Jay Hamilton, public-policy professor, Duke University
  • LA Chung
  • Ellyn Angelotti, The Poynter Institute
  • Melisssa Cornick-Horyn
  • MGreatScott