The Twin Cities Media Alliance is facilitating the 4th Annual Fall Media Forum on “Tools for Democracy, Strategies for Change”. Confirmed presenters include local Fox 9 news anchor Robyne Robinson and Amalia Anderson from the Main Street Project.
The Media and Law Enforcement at the RNC — What Went Wrong, What Went Right?
Monday, September 22 | 7:00 p.m.
Coffman Memorial Union Theater
University of Minnesota East Bank
Journalists who reported from the RNC as well as representatives from law enforcement, city government and media law experts will join together in a discussion moderated by Al Tompkins from The Poynter Institute.
What happened during the RNC that led to so many journalists being arrested? And how can journalists do their jobs in the future without a similar result? More »
Join Twin Cities Daily Planet editor Mary Turck Wednesday, September 24 from noon to 1 p.m. at the East Lake Street Public Library to ask questions about issues that came up for citizen journalists at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
More »
Minnesota Pro Chapter
Society of Professional Journalists
Minneapolis (Aug. 29, 2008) – Police confiscating reporting equipment, prohibiting journalists from covering news events, and hassling photographers are definite warning signs as we head into the Republican National Convention. The Society of Professional Journalists is discouraged to learn of such tactics recently in the name of public safety. We hope these are isolated missteps by local law enforcement officials before the big event arrives and police have more important matters to attend to.
Three out-of-town citizen journalists, here to document events happening outside the Xcel Energy Center, had their belongings–including cameras and notebooks–confiscated by Minneapolis police while in Northeast Minneapolis. Police claim the three were trespassing, but no charges have yet been filed. The three who where detained maintain there was no such trespassing and their interaction with police was an attempt to intimidate them because the group they represent has documented police abuse in the past. More »
You are cordially invited to join us Rebooting the News: Reconsidering an Agenda for American Civic Education Oct. 23-25, 2008 in Philadelphia . It’s a short, strategic convening for journalists, teachers, educational administrators, public-policy researchers and engaged citizens. More »
The Los Angeles Times sparked a debate last month when it reported that Barack Obama was subject to harsher media coverage than John McCain in the first weeks of the general election campaign, according to a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs.
Google may bill itself as an open conduit of information, but media companies have increasingly begun to see it as competition. With Google’s recent launch of Knol, an information source similar to Wikipedia or About.com, some feel the company has moved from simply organizing web content to actively creating it.
Are media companies right to be skeptical of Google’s promise to remain an impartial search engine when it owns sites like YouTube, Blogger, Google Books, and Google News?
To date, the Minnesota News Council has received 34 complaints in 2008. Four complaints were filed by people who had been mentioned by name in the news; the rest of the complaints were of a more general nature (click on images to enlarge).
A sample of public concerns about the media:
“It was an accident.” A woman complained that a story on a fatal drunk-driving incident was unfair to feature comments from the family of the deceased that accused the driver of murder.
“What about the Native American community?” A man from a local reservation complained that the Minnesota media does a poor job of covering the American Indian community.
“I don’t watch the news for cheap-shot comedy.” A man complained that TV-news commentary on Vatican proclamations was offensive to Catholics. The station apologized, “Our newsroom comprises many faiths, and our families even more. We regret any misunderstanding.”
“Audaciously stolen!” A man pointed out that a newspaper columnist borrowed heavily from a student newspaper article without citing the source. The newspaper did not respond.
“She defamed my family’s good name.” A woman complained that a staff editorial falsely implicated her brother in domestic abuse through a lengthy, personal diatribe.
“Can you believe this lead?!” A man complained that the opening paragraph of a newspaper story stereotyped Muslims as terrorists. The article was changed online just a few hours later to remove the reference.
Earlier this year, the Twin Cities media confronted the issue of whether or not to name a suspect before charges had been filed. With reports of the arrest of a 22-year-old man for a fatal shooting in March, local news outlets debated whether to release the suspect’s name before he had been officially charged with a crime.
The media has always preached a healthy skepticism of fads, but don’t underestimate the power of new trends in online journalism. The fact that news of Tim Russert’s death last June broke on Twitter and Wikipedia before NBC lent a new authority to nontraditional forms of internet news.
Some intriguing new projects in online journalism are worth a look.