3 Chicago High School Students Win Investigative Journalism Scholarships

Congratulations to Regine Capungan and Jamilah Alsharif from Northside College Preparatory High School, and Leyly Gomez from Foreman High School!

These Chicago-area students were selected to attend the Summer Investigative Journalism Workshop for High School Students. This workshop will be hosted by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting.

The workshop will be held in two sessions from July 11-August 5th. For more information click here.

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OMG: Taking students from digital users to good digital citizens

Technology is giving students the power to do things that other generations couldn’t have ever imagined. But with this new power comes new challenges such as, recognizing spin from fact and knowing how to identify verified news sources.

This summer, the McCormick Foundation Journalism program is partnering with experts at San Francisco-based Common Sense Media (CSM) to develop a Digital Literacy and Citizenship curriculum for Chicago communities.

CSM’s summer activities include helping train educators to teach students how to be safe, respectful and responsible digital citizens. A recent webinar presented to Chicago Public Schools educators offers guidance and lesson plans covering online safety, creating strong passwords, evaluating online information, and searching effectively for news and information.

The webinar and summer prep kit will be available for viewing at this link.

Additional digital literacy and citizenship resources can be found here.

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Reporters: Apply Now for the Covering Islam in the Bible Belt Training

Covering the topic of Islam is becoming an increasingly challenging assignment for journalists. To help those who report on issues involving Muslim communities, the McCormick Foundation, through its Specialized Reporting Institute program, is sponsoring a conference and workshop, featuring veteran reporters and experts in Islamic history and culture.

The Middle Tennessee State Univ. School of Journalism is hosting the event which will take place Aug. 21-23, 2011. Participants, limited to 24 and selected through an application process, will have their travel, lodging, meals and tuition covered. Preference will be given to journalists who work in the South and Chicago-area journalists.

For more information and to apply, please click here

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Director's Notes: This One Astounds Me

The government has become the chief user of the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Office, with 63 percent of the caseload seeking authorization to deny Freedom of Information requests entirely or in part. The Daily Herald’s Jake Griffin said public officials continue to attempt rolling back or watering down the state’s Freedom of Information Act. In the last year, the Public Access Office handled 5,228 cases, of which 3,278 originated from government agencies seeking permission to keep information out of the public’s hands. The state handled 156 news media appeals for public records in 2010.

Turning to the attorney general’s office is just a symptom of the underlying tension between government officials and journalists. More evidence can be found in a recent Chicago Headline Club survey that said obtaining information from many Chicago and Cook County departments is so difficult that many journalists have given up trying. The research, funded by the McCormick Foundation, asked local reporters about typical response times for information requests. The picture is not pretty.

Those who do succeed in getting a meaty story are in constant need of distribution channels. We are pleased that members of the Investigative News Network have crafted a deal to syndicate content via Reuters. INN is a non-profit consortium of news organizations that is funded in part by the McCormick Foundation.

Meanwhile, Facebook is looking for ways to turn the site into a distribution and possible money-making platform for news. The company’s new journalist program initiative is designed to educate reporters, writers and editors on the benefits of using Facebook as a tool for gathering information and distributing news.

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