The NPF Newsbag

Inspiring a 'Second Generation'

March 31-- Nigerian journalist Sylvia Nzurumike has capitalized – literally – on the NPF fellowship that brought her to South Africa last summer to learn about reporting on HIV/AIDS. One of 55 journalists in our J2J HIV/AIDS Media Training, held in conjunction with the 5th IAS Conference on Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention, Sylvia used her fellowship as the starting point for a journey that would include training dozens of other journalists, and creation of a radio program about prevention and treatment of the virus, which kills 170,000 in Nigeria each year.

Freelance Reporter or Corporate Shill?

MARCH 31 -- POLITICO has an amazing story this morning about a drug company investigating two senior FDA officials to see if they are in cahoots with its rivals. The company can answer for its own actions. So can the silk-suited gumshoes. What amazed me were the actions of "a freelance reporter (paid) to file Freedom of Information Act requests, using her status as a journalist to request (the official's) emails, phone records" and the like.

The article said the journalist acknowledged working for the investigators and that she was entitled to get tips from anybody. Indeed she is. But you can't work for two masters -- a interested profit-maker, or the disinterested concept of "the truth."

In misrepresenting herself, the reporter benefitted from the ethical practices of freelancers, and soiled the waters for all those who will come after.

This is an important issue, because the decrease in available paying outlets for journalism, or the reduction in pay for professional work, is going to give rise to this kind of issue again and again.  I'd welcome hearing from others.

bob meyers

It’s All in the Headline

 
“Pack your URL with power words,” said Mark Silva (audio), the producer of The Swamp, who spoke to the 2009-2010 class of Paul Miller fellows on March 15. The headline should not only clue readers in, but reflect Google Trends for the day.  Update often, don’t let stories get stale, and aim to create a community among your readers by encouraging comments and discussion. Silva is a national correspondent in the Washington Bureau of Tribune Newspapers and the main contributor and editor for the political blog, The Swamp.

"State of the Media" report is Out

Washington -- The 2010 State of the News Media report from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism is out, and as usual it's definitive. .

One-Man Bands Will Be Heard

WASHINGTON -- Or should that be, One-person bands? Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post has a good piece on the budget-driven, technology-sensitive issue of reporters who do everything -- set the camera up, run in front for the discussion, edit on a laptop; or write, edit, move the story.

It's a fact of all of our lives now. NPF is going to start a series of programs for one-man bands, and bureau reporters, on Capitol Hill issues. Our partners are POLITICO and the Center on Congress of Indiana University. The programs will be starting soon. we'll post notice of them in all the usual places, including here, and our website, www.nationalpress.org. Stay tuned.

The Perils of Believing What You Accurately Hear

There's a wonderful OMG story available right now from Kashmir Hill at Above the Law. She gives us a great moment-by-moment breakdown of how a law professor's "joke" in class resulted in wild rumors that Chief Justice was resigning. The professor apparently wanted to make the point that you should check out what you hear -- duh. As Hill reconstructs it, somebody Tweeted or emailed it to somebody else, and the joke was out there, masquerading as fact, before the professor said he was just kidding.

The simple lesson, of course, is that online "publications" that should have known better, didn't. The scary thing is how quickly the unsourced and unchecked statements got out there. When you read her piece, you realize how many people were playing the digital version of "Telephone" -- I whisper to you and you whisper to her and she whispers to him and so on down the line. Pretty soon apple pie turns into lemon pie and a giggly time is had by all.

All kidding aside, this is the kind of thing that sullies a belief in journalism accuracy, even though the whole mess started in a law class. Kashmir used to work here and we're real proud of her. (Bob Meyers)