nenf

Citizens journalists welcomed to investigative reporting seminar May 1 in Boston

Citizen journalists are being welcomed to a free, all-day conference on investigative reporting and open-records/open-meeting issues on Friday, May 1, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Boston Globe. It's also open to employees of non-profit organizations who monitor government action.

Tom Kearney, editor of The Stowe [Vt.] Reporter says the free workshop is being put on by the New England First Amendment Coalition in collaboration with Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. To register, go to:http://www.neu.edu/firstamendment/ and click on "The Latest News."

Kearney says the day will kick off with a session that examines how strong newsrooms are built around a lasting awareness of FOI issues and how access to public records serves as a driving force behind top-quality reporting.

Next, learn about the public records gold mine that exists in your town or city hall, and how to identify, request and use this valuable information todo enterprise and investigative reporting.

After lunch, Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, will talk about the role of the press in keeping government open, and the threat posed by erosion of local media.

Also in the afternoon, find out about two dozen open-records Web sites that are of value to any newsroom or organization that wants to keep tabs on government, and how to search the Web more effectively.

There is no cost for the training. Box lunches will be offered for $10 to the first 100 registrants. More details will be announced in the coming weeks.

The New England First Amendment Coalition was formed in 2006 by a group of journalists concerned that citizens, to say nothing of reporters, are routinely denied access to the work of government, and that there is a need for a unified, region-wide organization that speaks to the importance of open records in one robust voice across the six states.

Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. is a grass-roots, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting. It's based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Students, journalists, writers academics due at March 20-22 Nieman confab in Boston

Graduate students, midcareer journalists, writers and academics are invited to join more than 50 award-winning broadcasters, filmmakers and online experts at the ttth annual Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. The March 20-22 event is at the Sheraton Boston hotel.

The annual event celebrates the art of storytelling in every format and medium. Participants learn skills, interact with experts, share ideas with peers and expand their horizons.

Keynotes include Gwen Ifill (Washington Week), Jon Lee Anderson (The New Yorker), and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz (The Plain Dealer).

"Our theme, "Telling True Stories in Turbulent Times," reflects the urgency journalists feel to learn new skills and adapt to new technology at a time of dramatic change in the news industry," says Ellen Tuttle, communications director of the Harvard University-based Nieman
Center.

PROGRAM/BIOS/SCHEDULE: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/narrative2009/

DOWNLOAD PDF FLYER: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/assets/pdf/conferences/narrative/ncnj09_flier.pdf

REGISTER: http://www.events.harvard.edu/profile/form/index.cfm?PKformID=0x82855a28

For more information, contact Tuttle at 617-495-2342, or
ellen_tuttle@harvard.edu.

All-day workshop for watchdog reporting Nov. 15 in New Haven -- $40

Professional reporters, editors -- and citizens who want to learn tools for watchdogging government -- are invited to a Nov. 15 workshop in New Haven being staged by the national Investigative Reporters & Editors group.

MORE INFO: http://www.ire.org/training/watchdog/NewHavenCT08.php

TO REGISTER: http://www.ire.org/training/watchdog/WatchdogNewHaven08reg.pdf

Mark Horvit (mhorvit@ire.org ), director of the Columbia, Missouri-based IRE, says IRE will bring its acclaimed journalism Watchdog workshop to New England in an affordable opportunity to sharpen skills. The fee is only $25 for students.

The workshop will be held at Southern Connecticut State University and will cover open-record laws, effective use of the Internet, documents you can't live without, how to build sources and tips to improve your interviewing skills. Speakers include Tisha Thompson, WTTG-Washington D.C.; Maurice Tamman, The Wall
Street Journal; Neil Reisner, Florida International University; Tracie Brown, Attorney with the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission; and IRE training director Doug Haddix.

MIT Communications Forum: The Campaign & the Media on Thursday, Sept. 25, in Cambridge

Thursday, Sept. 25, 5-7 p.m. Bartos Theater, MIT Media Lab 20 Ames St., Cambridge

How have American news media responded to this historic presidential campaign? Is it true, as many have suggested, that the influence of newspapers and television has declined in the digital era? Have the media become more partisan and polarized? Are they more preoccupied with polls and campaign strategy than with substantive issues? Has the coverage by traditional media been qualitatively different from that by online news sources? In this first of two forums on the campaign and the media, our speakers will offer report cards on the current state of American political journalism.

John Carroll is a professor of mass communication at Boston University and senior media analyst for WBUR-FM.

Ellen Goodman is a syndicated columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group whose work appears regularly in the Boston Globe.

Tom Rosenstiel is director of the Washington-based Project for Excellence in Journalism where he is the editor and principal author of its "Annual Report on the State of the News Media."

Moderator: Ellen Hume is the research director for the MIT Center for Future Civic Media.

Co-sponsors: MIT Center for Future Civic Media and Technology and Culture Forum at MIT

All forums are free and open to the public.

More information: http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum

Supplied by: =========================== Brad Seawell, Program Coordinator MIT Communications Forum 14N-430 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 02139 voice 617-253-3521 fax 617-253-6105

Jon Greenberg posts analysis of Kilkenny Palin email

Jon Greenberg, executive editor at New Hampshire Public Radio, has written a post about the Kilkenny-Palin email which Persephone Miel posted on her blog at the Berkman Center. He says it validates some of the lessons Jon has learned form his "Primary Places Online" project -- about the best qualities of citizen observers. Here's the link, and Jon's contact info.

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediarepublic/2008/09/09/anne-kilkenny-citizen-journalism-heroine/

Jon Greenberg, Executive Editor New Hampshire Public Radio 207 N. Main St. Concord, NH 03301 603.223.2435 cell: 603.724.5749

Jon Greenberg posts analysis of Kilkenny Palin email

Jon Greenberg, editor at New Hampshire Public Radio, has written a post
about the Kilkenny-Palin email which Persephone Miel posted on her blog at
the Berkman Center. He says it validates some of the lessons Jon has
learned form his "Primary Places Online" project -- about the best
qualities of citizen observers. Here's the link, and Jon's contact info.

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediarepublic/2008/09/09/anne-kilkenny-citizen-journalism-heroine/

Jon Greenberg, Executive Editor New Hampshire Public Radio 207 N. Main St. Concord, NH 03301 603.223.2435 cell: 603.724.5749

Sept. 16 event: "When Checks and Balances Fail" -- Boston Public Library

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has announced the program, "When Checks and Balances Fail: The Media and Civil LIberties in the 2008 Election," a free, public panel discussion on Sept. 16, at the Boston Public Library from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., in Rabb Lecture Hall, 700 Boylston Street.

Panelists will be Eric Alterman, columnist for The Nation; Ellen Hume, research director of the MIT Center for Future Civic Media; CAllie Crossley, program manager for the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University; with veteran TV journalist Barry Nolan and moderator.

ACLUM's announcement of the event says among the questions the panel will consider:

- WHO is demanding real answers about civil liberties in this election year?
- WHAT can we hope for from investigative reporting given the increasing risks faced by whistleblowers?
- WHEN will the Fourth Estate assume the role of “last line of defense” for democracy when Congress fails to exercise a check against the executive’s power grab?
- WHERE can we find the best media coverage of key constitutional issues?
- WHY does the “war on terror” framework continue to affect an independent media’s willingness to take risks seven years after 9/11?
- HOW do we take advantage of opportunities offered by new media to keep the government responsive to the people?

To RSVP, go to: http://www.aclum.org/events/index.php

MassINC finds both optimism and concern among Bay State young adults

Ann Middle of MassINC is blogging about the non-profit's latest report, "Great Expectations: A Survey of Young Adults in Massachusetts."

The non-partisan group interviewed 810 young adults in the first such state survey -- and perhaps nationally.

"The choices of young adults about where to live and work are critical to our state's economic future," says Middle. "At the same time, as more and more regions across the country seek to build their knowledge economies, the competition for young skilled workers is growing fierce."

Despite the importance of young adults, there has been little work that investigates their views and priorities. This research fills that gap, Middle says. MassInc interviewed adults between the ages of 25 and 39 who live in Massachusetts.

Oerall, young adults strongly believe in the American Dream, MassINC says. They see a bright future for themselves and also for future generations. Only 4 percent think that their incomes will go down over the next five years, and only 7 percent of parents think that their children will be worse off than they are financially.

Their optimism about their own lives, however, does not carry over to their views about government. Instead, the majority of young adults lack confidence in government’s effectiveness. In fact, only 4 percent are very confident that state and local government can improve the policy area that they believe should be government’s highest priority. We uncover the connection between their views on taxes and their confidence in government.

Of those adults who have a lot or some confidence in state government, 52 percent think that taxes are either about right or too low. Conversely, among those who have either not too much or no confidence in government, only 21 percent believe that taxes are about right or too low.

In sharp contrast to their views about the public sector, young adults are overwhelmingly positive about their jobs and current employers. A substantial majority of the employed reports being satisfied with their jobs. In addition, the importance of working for a socially responsible employer is a clear priority, perhaps in the same way in which job stability might have defined earlier generations.

Nearly three-quarters of young adults believe that it is very important to work for an employer who is respectful of ethical values, people, communities, and the environment. Remarkably, nearly 90 percent think that their current employers meet that test.

Finances are the biggest problem facing young adults and their families, with 30 percent saying that personal finances, paying bills, not having enough money, and making ends meet is their biggest problem. Another 20 percent call the high cost of living and housing their biggest problem.

Most young adults say they have experienced financial strain in the past five years with 32 percent admitting to taking on more debt than they can handle. Four in 10 (41%) young adults report that they have $10,000 or more in total debt, including all debt from credit cards, loans, and medical bills but not including a mortgage.

The survey identifies three specific subgroups of young adults: those who moved to Massachusetts as adults (Imports); those who grew up in Massachusetts (Homegrowns); and those who grew up in Massachusetts and lived outside the state as adults for at least a year and returned (Boomerangs).

There are key demographic differences between these subgroups. For instance, 60 percent of Imports have a college degree compared with 32 percent of Homegrowns. Jobs, education and skills are more of a concern for Homegrowns. Among Imports who are concentrated in Greater Boston, housing and cost of living are key issues.

MassINC, the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, is based in Boston. It said funding for the survey came in part from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts with MassHousing and State Street Foundation. For the full report, visit www.massinc.org. A hard copy can be purchased for $20 plus S&H at www.massinc.org or by calling 617.224.1645.

VIDEO: Today's NENF event in Lowell streamed live

WATCH LIVE VIDEO STREAM FROM 9:30 A.M.

VIEW DETAILED PROGRAM AND REGISTER / On Saturday, June 28, 2008, the New England News Forum and the law firm of Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye, LLP present a unique, one-day workshop, "Sharing the News: Fresh Approaches to Reaching Students and Training Citizens." Designed for New England college journalism educators, high-school newspaper advisors and journalism teachers, citizen journalists and bloggers, the session will bring in four experts to bring us up to date.

AUDIO: Online news pioneer acquires competing Maine newspapers

When Richard Anderson came to mid-coast Maine in the mid-1990s, he became the interloper . . . the disruptor. Now that he's mainstream, will he continue to innovate?

Proving that local online news can be a valuable business weapon against legacy media, the owner of Maine's VillageSoup.com is acquiring six weekly newspapers he has been battling competitively for more than 10 years.

Anderson's Village NetMedia Inc. -- two award-winning local community news websites and two weekly tabloid papers -- is acquiring the six other weeklies, four of them direct competitors, from Crescent Publishing Co. LLC, of Greenville, S.C., headed by William deB. (Bern) Mebane, a former Gannett Co. Inc. executive.

In Media Giraffe Project interview,  (PODCAST) Richard Anderson predicts his business victory is a harbinger of things to come -- an indication that once-dominant local media interests must cease thinking of themselves as primarily print businesses or face effective, even overpowering, competition.

Even the seller agrees. "We have adopted the VillageSoup model for our remaining newspapers in Alabama," says Mebane. "We competed with Richard up here . . . and he realized that he was the real deal . . . this is a marriage between the traditional titles and trademarks and franchises of print with the recognition that it isn't just print any longer. It's the three-legged stool of learn, share and shop. News doesn't come down on high."

Anderson said about 26 positions will be lost in the merger and consolidation, in which three flags will be shuttered, leaving a total of five publications in five Maine locations, two existing VillageSoup web communities, and 92 employees. Anderson said the company will launch two new websites to lead and support the print publications it is acquiring.

"With the declining revenue of traditional newspapers -- both in circulation and advertising, the 10-year VillageSoup experiment is finally being recognized in the industry," Anderson said in a statement. "Our approach helps transition traditional community newsppaer companies into community host companies, and that's the future of the industry."

Liste to a 17-minute interview with Anderson by clicking on the left carat of the bar below, or downloading an audio podcast (4MB) for offline listening. A four-page news release about the transaction may be downloaded as a PDF (source: Village NetMedia Inc.)