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From New England News Forum
LINK: Forming the New England News Council & ForumLINK: The role of a state coordinator<
ABOUT THE NEW ENGLAND NEWS FORUM
MISSION
The New England News Forum is a collaboration among news professionals, citizen journalists and the public to promote vigorous, trusted, accountable journalism – and accountable government. It will begin operating in April, 2007. Our main website is now operational at:
http://www.newenglandnews.org/
This is the "wiki" home page.
We examine and promote standards of fairness, seek openness in government and public institutions, and spotlight abridgements of press freedom. We use conversation via the web, articles, forums, seminars, workshops, papers and public talks to advance effective news practices, ethics, standards, innovative news coverage, open records and open government.
We offer journalists and active citizens a place to engage in discussion, to share and resolve disagreements over issues of privacy, coverage, accuracy and emphasis. Our topical, web-based forum is open to regional public-policy issues that touch on matters of journalistic practice.
- How to best use and contribute to the news
- Access to public information
- Principles of open government
- Methods for assisting news organizations to also perform as openly as possible.
We act as an advisory and training resource to both news consumers and creators . . . to the public and to news organizations . . . as they navigate the uncertainties, questions and opportunities posed by the Internet and multimedia technology.
We do not intend to insert the work of the council between news organizations and their users. Rather, we offer an independent resource which can help define, research, advise – and hopefully strengthen and expand – that relationship.
WHY NOW?
Buffeted by changing advertising economics, new expectations from audiences who now have cheap technology for do-it-yourself news, and caught amid lagging regional growth, New England news media are reexamining the role they can afford in civil society. They face uncertainties, questions and opportunities posed by the Internet and multimedia technology. As a a result, they need fresh insight and new tools for remaining connected with and trusted by readers, listeners, viewers and users.
The Internet now provides a means for active, timely exchange over matters of civic importance affected by news coverage. Internet blogs can do a remarkable job of subject-specific commentary, analysis and reporting. There are several web-based media critics in Boston and around New England.
But until now, there has been no common resource which aims to help the public become better citizens though better use -- and support -- of the news media. We hope to fill that void. We are going to start a conversation about the New England media and public policy, primarily through a literate, articulate, moderated web community.
“This project is an experiment to see if there is local support for the idea that a good way to perform media criticism is not through kangaroo courts of commentators but through fair, accurate, contextual pursuit of truth,” says Eric Newton, director of journalism initiatives at Knight Foundation. “A news council or any inquiry that seeks out the real facts behind media complaints is better than a blogger working from opinion alone . . . . ”
WHO ARE WE?
The New England News Forum is a service of the University of Massachusetts Amherst journalism program, with seed funding from the John S. and James A. Knight Foundation. Our first public presentation – and the unveiling of an “alpha” website, is scheduled Nov. 17, at the annual meeting of the New England Newspaper Association in Boston.
Founding members, friends, benefactors, sponsors and key founders form the support for the news council, along with the Knight Foundation grant. An 18- to 24-member advisory board will include one at-large citizen member from each state, four daily newspaper members, three non daily, three broadcast, two web-media, one from key involved academic institutions and up to four at-large members.
Our principal investigator is Prof. Norman Sims of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst journalism program and our executive director is Bill Densmore, director of The Media Giraffe Project at UMass-Amherst.
More about the New England News Forum . . .
WHO IS SUPPORTING THE NEWS FORUM?
There are at least seven types of people supporting the New England News Forum. If you “fit” one of the categories below, you’re part of the Forum's founding user base. Other audience members include:
- Working newspeople in print, broadcast, cable, Internet and mission-driven media.
- Former journalists working in marketing, PR, or unrelated fields who maintain concern for the role of the press in civil society.
- Teachers, especially in grades 7-12, who seek case studies for media-education curricula and ideas for improving high-stakes testing.
- Professionals and individual contributors: Academics, nurses, doctors, lawyers, technologists, entrepreneurs, and investors.
- Leaders of policy non-profits and government agencies whose success depends upon effective collaboration with the media.
- Professors and graduates of journalism programs such as those at Univ. of Maine, UMass, Emerson, Northeastern, Boston University, UNH, and UConn.
- Active citizens, the new equivalent of passionate letter-to-the-editor writers, who use and care about the news – and about the vitality, diversity and responsiveness of regional state and local institutions and government.
WHAT DOES THE NEWS FORUM DO?
As a public service, the New England News Forum serves as a platform for discussion of issues related to the region’s media, including newspapers, radio, television, cable and cable-access stations, and web news associated with traditional and citizen media. It will serve by:
- Addressing issues broader than “complaints.” Seeking initially to resolve controversies by using Jeffersonian devices—debate and open discussion among citizens and journalists alike —not the glare of negative publicity.
- The public discussion can include questions about elites in the news and the news business, new technologies, new ethical issues, the role and performance of ombudspersons in new and traditional media, and the sustainability of media enterprises in a new digital age.
- Bringing professional voices and the ordinary citizen together in the public square. Someone plausibly questions media performance or actions. In response, news professionals as well as citizens from the entire six-state region can share experiences.
- Hosting a moderated forum for civil and productive discussion of issues related to New England media.
- Providing links to web-based news sites throughout New England—traditional and new—thus increasing their traffic.
WHAT SPECIFIC PROJECTS MIGHT WE UNDERTAKE?
The initiatives undertaken by a web-based News Forum might include:
- A consumer guide to working with news organizations, developed in collaboration with regional newspaper, broadcast, and journalism associations. In effect a “standards” document, but written as a readers’ guide to the news and news organizations.
- Promotion of public-accountability standards for news organizations
- Research and dialog on fairness and news judgment
- Attention to open records, open meetings, and open information in collaboration with existing regional news associations.
- Assisting with K-12 media-literacy curriculum efforts.
CONTACTING THE NEW ENGLAND NEWS FORUM
Contact us at:
New England News Forum
Journalism Program
108 Bartlett Hall
University of Massachusetts
Amherst MA 01003
voice: 413-577-4370
email: mail (at) newenglandnews.org
