Why Pay For The Cow?

There's been plenty of debate of late about the wisdom of newspapers giving too much of their product away for free. A forceful May 7 Wall Street Journal commentary by Arkansas Democrat-Gazette publisher Walter E. Hussman Jr. sparked the latest round of soul-searching. Hussman's call for newspapers to reconsider the costs and consequences of free news comes at a time when online ad sales growth is slowing and news aggregators like Yahoo and Google continue to capitalize on content created by the mainstream media. (Read Hussman's full editorial here)

Certainly, many newspapers are satisfied with the progress of their websites and remain committed to a strategy of offering frequently updated news at no cost to readers . But that strategy likely will be tweaked if print advertising revenues continue to nosedive and online sales fail to reach projections.

Whatever the trend, it's time for universal agreement on how and why budget-driven reductions in newsrooms produce a rippling negative impact on all things connected to journalism.

Your thoughts?

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Defining Community Media

While "mainstream" news organizations continue to struggle in the technology-fueled media environment, many nimble niche players have emerged as big winners in the communications revolution. Success stories can be found in the community media category, which has achieved some promising results by combining the passion of citizen journalism with the dedication of grass roots community activism.

The best of the breed in the community media sector seem to parlay innovative thinking, focused strategy and sensitivity to audience appeal. But harnessing more knowledge and research is essential for the community media movement to blossom.

Two MTF grantees are participating in a June 15 Community Media Summit at Columbia College in Chicago that will attempt to better define the role and power of the sector as it attempts to impact debate on such vital issues as immigration reform and community development. MTF grantee Community Media Workshop is joining with the Chicago Community Trust and the Benton Foundation to sponsor the summit. Ethnic media guru Sandy Close of New America Media is among the panelists.

Another interesting wrinkle to the summit is the June 14 stage-setter featuring a joint meeting of the community advisory boards of WTTW and Chicago Public Radio. This will be the first-ever joint meeting between the boards representing public television and radio in the Chicago area. For more information, call 312-344-6400.

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Shield Law Shenanigans

The never-ending drive to protect confidential sources who provide information to reporters hit a suspicious snag in Texas. The Free Flow of Information Act was sent to the scrapheap in late May after a Texas State Senator raised a technical objection to its description in a bill analysis. It seems one passage of the description used a comma when a semicolon was called for. If passed, the Free Flow Act would have protected journalists from being compelled to testify about, disclose or produce confidential information in criminal cases, with certain exemptions.

Suggested reading:

Houston Chronicle, May 22, 2007

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Free Speech vs. Press Responsibility: The Venezuela Situation

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been making worldwide headlines this week with his closure of Radio Caracas Television network (RCTV), the country's oldest television channel, founded in 1953. The move comes as part of a larger effort to "socialize" the country's media with government-backed channels such as TVes, which broadcasts cultural programs. Chavez had earlier accused CNN of comparing him to Osama bin Laden by juxtaposing images of the two during a broadcast. CNN acknowleged the mix-up, but denied comparing Chavez with the al-Qaida leader.

Most international coverage of the station closings is overwhelmingly negative, with several media rights groups calling it a serious blow to free speech. Chavez and his supporters counter that the privately-owned independent stations do not represent the interests of Venezuela's people, and that many of these stations were supporting overthrow attempts and some had even encouraged assassination attempts. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) points out that in 2002, RCTV participated in a short-lived coup that temporarily removed Chavez' democratically-elected government and that once Chavez returned to power, RCTV refused to report on it, forcing the question of a media outlet's responsibility to report relevant news events, and the consequences of abdicating that responsibility.

Student protests against the closings continue, and police have responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. Several students have been injured and one police officer has suffered a broken leg.

Other reading:

Yahoo! News

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

CNN

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Newspapers--A View From The Past

Finley Peter Dunne, a Chicago writer who wrote for the Chicago Times and Chicago Tribune in the late 19th century, gave the world some insightful musings on the purpose of newspapers in his nationally syndicated "Mr. Dooley in Peace and War." Here's a particularly good one, in the character and dialect of its Irish immigrant protagonist:

"Th newspaper does ivrything f'r us. It runs th' polis foorce an' th' banks, commands th' milishy, controls th' ligislachure, baptizes th' young, marries th' foolish, comforts th' afflicted, afflicts th' comfortable, buries th' dead an' roasts thim aftherward"

Interesting words, especially in these days when the role of journalism is questioned so closely.

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You Wrote What about Your Principal?

Oregon is on track to becoming the seventh state to authorize expanded free speech protection for student journalists, provided the state Senate joins its House in passing a new bill, according to the scholastic journalism group J-IDEAS. The Oregon House approved the landmark student press bill earlier this week and it's headed to the state Senate by the end of the month.

The bill protects both high school and college students from administrative (i.e. principal, superintendent, deans etc.) censorship and is the first of its kind that offers protection to both age groups, according to J-IDEAS.

The proposed protections come at a particularly contentious time for student speech - a number of teachers and students nationwide have recently reported a crackdown on student media. In addition, in April the Washington state Senate killed a student press bill as well.

For more information, visit http://www.jideas.org/

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