Volume 2: Issue 6

Inside this issue:

I. News Council Upholds Complaints Against KBJR-TV, KSTP-TV

II. “Journalism that Matters” comes to the Twin Cities

III. Featured Article: “The Minnesota News Council: The Story Behind the Creation” by Dr. Louise Williams Hermanson

IV. “From the Development Office”

V. News Council Welcomes Two Summer Assistants

Kate Myers joins us for the summer as a recent graduate of Luther College in Decorah, IA where she majored in English and Political Science. At Luther, Kate was editor of the weekly student-run newspaper in addition to serving as editor for their alternative literary journal. This fall, Kate will attend the Hamline University School of Law, where she will work toward a J.D. and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. For now, Kate will provide assistance around the office and in her off time, train for her fifth triathlon.

Rachel Camann is currently a student at the University of Minnesota, and hopes to gain some experience in nonprofit development this summer. She plans on graduating in December with a degree in Public Relations. Rachel is originally from Wisconsin, but has grown to love it here in the Twin Cities and wants to stay around for a while. Rachel says she’s very excited to be working for the Minnesota News Council and looks forward meeting some of our members, donors and other friends this summer.

June 19, 2008, St. Paul: The Minnesota News Council upheld two complaints against KBJR-TV (Duluth, Minn.) and upheld one complaint against KSTP-TV. More »

By Erika Roland

In addition to the support we receive from media and corporate donors, we receive generous support from individuals — individuals who are passionate about our mission to promote fair, vigorous and trusted journalism.

Most of our individual donors contribute $25-$250 per year, but some of our donors give substantially more than that.

Several years ago, the News Council founded “100 Friends;” we searched for 100 donors who would commit to give $1,000/year for three years. We have yet to hit our goal of finding 100 friends. Unfortunately, the News Council doesn’t fit into the targeted giving areas of many corporations: education, environment, children, arts, and affordable housing. This means we rely increasingly upon donations from individuals.

Please consider a personal gift today of $25, $50, $100, $250, or perhaps even $1,000. You can view a full list of our sponsors and donate online at www.news-council.org.

Development Director Erika Roland can be reached at 612-339-0030.

In 1993, Dr. Louise Williams Hermanson, a University of Minnesota alum and communications professor at the University of South Alabama, published “The Minnesota News Council: The Story Behind the Creation” in the Oral History Review. The article draws on interviews with founding members of the Minnesota News Council to illustrate the twists and turns of creating one of the nation’s most enduring efforts at media accountability.

Excerpt
Phil Duff, editor of the Red Wing Republican Eagle, mused on the initial skepticism he noticed among his peers: “ [In] dealing with newspaper people who are kind of alarmed about the council on a theoretical basis, I respond, ‘Why should we be?’ If the press council does make a finding against you and you publish a story about it in your newspaper, as you are obligated to do, what’s so terrible about that? If you still think you are right, write your editorial and say you are right. It is no worse than having somebody write a critical letter which you publish. You live with that—that’s not the end of the world—and then you go on.

The other thing is that I think the press council really is an educational device. I think it helped me be a little better thinker about the work I do and what is right and what is wrong about the newspaper’s actions. I should think it would help other people think the same way. It can’t help but have that same effect on members of the public to help them get close to a particular issue and to be more understanding of a newspaper’s view and of its fallibility—a kind of inherent and necessary fallibility.”

Read the entire article here (PDF)

“Content is the means. Community is the ends.”

By Kate Myers

The Minnesota News Council was a co-sponsor of the “New Reporters/New Pamphleteers” conference held at the University of Minnesota June 4-5. News Council Executive Director Sarah Bauer and Summer Assistant Kate Myers participated in the conference, and observed a diverse group of placebloggers and citizen journalists — the 21st century’s “new journalists” — as they discussed the integration of “journalism, democracy, place and blogs.”

Headed by The Media Giraffe Project out of Amherst, Mass. and supported by the Journalism That Matters collaborative and the Minnesota Journalism Center, the event emphasized blogging and citizen journalism as a means of building community.

From building readership and reporting community news to building credibility and designing Web sites, many discussions were centered around filling the void left from untold local stories by mainstream media.

Many of the placebloggers felt they could help unify the community they are covering by providing hyperlocal and specialized information to their readers. With that idea in mind, several conference-goers brought issues to the table regarding ethics and standards as they relate to citizen journalists and blogs.

Bauer joined Melissa Cornick-Horyn, a former producer for 60 Minutes and 20/20, in a group that asked, “How can we get at and expose ‘the truth’ and still be ethical?”

“The truth is an important part of ethics, but there is no one truth,” said Cornick-Horyn. “In journalism, the truth comes from many different people speaking from their heart; in blogging, you don’t necessarily do that. You are speaking from yourself.”

Following the statement, an interesting debate ensued as to the biased nature of placeblogging and how citizen journalists often felt they don’t have the same First Amendment protection as other journalists in traditional media outlets.

Throughout the convention, Bauer and Myers observed and spoke with many individuals of influence within the placeblogging community. Joining a discussion group on democracy and accountability, they met an experienced source: Josh Wolf, a blogger and freelance journalist who served 226 days in jail for refusing to hand over material he collected during a demonstration turned violent in San Francisco, Calif.

“People behave differently when there is accountability,” Wolf said. “In certain situations, people need to take responsibility for what they are saying.”

For the Council staff, the conference was a learning experience and a window into the future of online citizen journalism and placeblogging. Additionally, the conference provided an opportunity for Bauer and Myers to better realize the News Council’s greater role in educating citizens to adapt to and filter new forms of “news.”

Conference attendees were inspired to return home and put their many ideas into motion. Many left the conference with hopes to build and implement new Web site features, ideas for new sources of funding and design tips from the pros to make their sites more user-friendly.

“Everyone in the room is central to figuring this out and making ‘this’ work,” said John Nichols of Capital Times as he addressed the group.

Read more about the Minneapolis gathering here.

View photos from the event here.

View video from the conference sessions here.