For years, I have wondered how outsiders like myself could improve our news organizations. And I think that I have finally thought of a tactic that might work.
What I have found over the years is that journalists will generally ignore criticism from the outside. For example, if you send a polite email to a journalist asking them to make a correction, they will usually ignore you, unless it is something trivial, such as a misspelled name. This is true even if you send them references that allow them to check the point in dispute.
A few weeks ago, thinking over this problem, I remembered the unlearned lesson of the Jayson Blair scandal; the New York Times mostly ignored the criticism of his stories from outsiders, but responded to criticism from other journalists. Ironically, Blair was finally stopped, not because of a false story he had written — though he had written many — but because of a true story he had plagiarized. (For readers, plagiarism by journalists is not a large problem, as long as journalists are stealing true stories from each other, but it is a large problem for journalists.)
That suggests to me that I might be able to shame some of our local journalists into making corrections by sharing my critiques with, not just readers, but with other journalists.
So I have decided to build up a mailing list of journalists, starting with local journalists. And when I spot an error, I plan to share that error with those journalists, as well as with the readers of this site, and my own site.
And that's where I would like your help. Some names obviously belong on the list, for example, the publishers and the managing editors of the Seattle PI and the Seattle Times, along with everyone on their editorial boards. And, of course, some of the editors at the industry publication, Editor and Publisher. But who else do you think should be on that list? I'd be especially interested in names of reporters at our local TV stations, since I ordinarily I pay little attention.
You can make it easier for me by giving me their email addresses, whether privately, or in comments, if you happen to know them.
Posted by Jim Miller at November 19, 2008 01:08 PM | Email This"Beat reporters" seem to often say things that would indicate they're just here for the one leading bite. But the leading questions, or dismissive tone is never part of the segment that actually airs.
To actually get anywhere would require filming the actual reporters. (Preferably while wearing a shirt or something that provides fair warning and avoids eavesdropping laws.)
Posted by: Al on November 19, 2008 01:31 PMFor instance, here is a response recently from a reporter after I questioned the failure of a political news story to identify the party of a Democrat caught in a controversy until it was done indirectly and as background well down in the story in the 6th paragraph, and perhaps after many readers would have already moved onto the next story.
"This is an interesting take, and I'll think about how I handle party affiliations more carefully in the future. I usually think of it as information I need to get in the story somewhere, in the same way I'm always looking for a place to squeeze in where the district is, etc."
I believe that this reporter believes she is being fair, but wonder whether the news-worthiness of party affiliation varies whether a Republican or Democrat is involved and what perception reporters want to advance.
Anyone who looks will see throughout media coverage of scandal and controversy that Republicans are always identified, while connections between Democrats and their party is treated almost as an afterthought, if not intentionally blurred.
Nearly any on-line article identifies the author and generally an email address is easy to find. Write the reporters when they demonstrate bias. Let them hear from that shrinking portion of readers out there who are conservative, but still read liberal papers and don't appreciate the bias.
Posted by: MJC on November 19, 2008 02:00 PMI think you should email all of the journalists EXCEPT the one to whom you're trying to make the point! Then all of the other journalists will forward it to the one you mentioned in the correction but didn't email, asking "Why did this guy send me this email about your mistake?"
But clearly, your new concept is genius! The only thing that could improve it is if you get the email address of the offender's spouse or significant other and email it to THEM. Heh.
Posted by: Cryptometaphor on November 19, 2008 07:44 PMThe InTrade bettors are, as I write, giving McCain a 47 percent chance to win the election. I would give him slightly better odds than that, right now."
I guess Jimmy boy was a bit off in his predictions? McCain lost in a landslide - Obama had over twice the electoral votes. Care to apologize now for your mistakes Jim?
Also, it would cost alot more than $30 billion to end world hunger. Why? Because world hungry is not caused by too little food or even poverty. It is caused by ruthless men who engage in warfare to gain power. Often they will deliberately use food supplies as leverage in their war efforts.
So infact the cheapest way to end world poverty would be to quadruple the defense budget and then conquer Africa and impose order.
Oh- did I mention this will cost us lives as well as money- plus everybody will denounce us as evil American Imperialists? Maybe it isn't so cheap after all.
Posted by: Cicero on November 20, 2008 03:34 PMA great example is the moronic CNN reporter's statements about President Bush being snubbed by other world leaders at the summit that President Bush hosted on Financial Markets and the World Economy. Rick Sanchez at CNN took a few seconds out of a video to build his story on, but the idiot didn't do his research, it took someone with better investigative skills - Jeanne Moos who isn't even a reporter but a humorist to set the record straight.
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/11/21/cnn-moron-and-left-wing-blogs-perpetuate-bush-snub-that-wasnt/
It is this kind of hack job reporting that needs to be brought out into the open.
Posted by: Eagleclaw on November 21, 2008 03:36 PM