Vince Stehle, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

Philanthropy New York recently convened a debate and discussion about the future of journalism and the vital role of news and information in healthy communities. Columbia J School professor Michael Schudson, co-author with Leonard Downie of the The Reconstruction of American Journalism, elaborated on the controversial report’s call for increased government support for news gathering activities, pointing out that there has long been public support of publishing activities through postal subsidies and many other streams of support. Besides which, he argued, many liberal democracies – United Kingdom, Sweden and France among them – have shown that robust public media can flourish without political pressure and influence.

Ford Foundation Program Officer Calvin Sims acknowledged some appropriate roles for government support of media, but cautioned against rash reactions. Sims, a longtime reporter with The New York Times, with significant experience in multimedia production, agreed that journalism is a field in transition, but did not concede that we have reached a crisis point demanding dramatic federal intervention. Despite some differences in emphasis, Schudson and Sims agreed that there is a role for some government support of media.

Although the Downie-Schudson report has gained most notoriety for its recommendations regarding government support for journalism, the report also calls on philanthropy to increase its support for news organizations and accountability reporting. In addition, it urges academic institutions and public broadcasters to step up their local news reporting activities. And perhaps its least controversial suggestion is that journalists, nonprofit organizations and governments should all do more to increase the accessibility and usefulness of government information – a recommendation that echoes in large measure the findings of the Knight Commission report, Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age.

J-Lab’s Jan Schaeffer gave a speech Wednesday night at USC Annenberg on the role of new media makers.  Here’s a piece of  her comprehensive look at start-ups:

Many of these clues suggest that while news consumers certainly need watchdogs, they also need guide dogs as well. While they certainly need news, sometimes all they need is good information. And while they want conversation and participation, they also appreciate a level of connection that demonstrates an attachment and some caring about their community – not detached, clinical observations. They want to know about issues, choices and possible solutions. And they’d also like to know where people agree and not just where they are shouting in disagreement.

Some of these clues, I believe, tell us that professional journalists need to reexamine some of their old habits, their journalistic conventions, to meet the genuine information needs of their communities.

To read the rest, follow the link. Knight Foundation funds several J-Lab projects, including the Knight Batten Awards, the Knight Citizen News Network and New Voices.

NPR won big at the White House News Photographers Association’s "Eyes of History" contest, which recognizes achievements in photojournalism. With 15 awards, the list of winners is long but can be found here. Congratulations NPR!

The video below won first place for the best use of photography and audio (without narration).

— Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

This year’s Sunshine Week contest, which will be announced March 14-20, will honor local heroes of open government.

The efforts of these local heroes, whose work has made their communities a better place to live, will be recognized among media organizations and other groups throughout the nation.

Since 2005, Sunshine Week has been held annually to discuss the importance of open government and freedom of information.

The American Society of News Editors will conduct a contest to identify the top three Local Heroes of 2010.

For those interested in nominating a local hero, please fill out a nomination form. The deadline is Feb. 26.

-- Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

How great would it be for web sites to let us know when news stories we’ve been following have been updated or corrected? How about also seeing a box of information explaining the type of sourcing used within the story, as well as a link to the organization’s editorial standards?

According to an article released by the Columbia Journalism Review, hNews is trying to make all of these features possible.

hNews is a microformat for news being developed by the Media Standards Trust and the Web Science Research Initiative. It is also a winner of last year’s Knight News Challenge grant.

For an example of how this would work, take a look at this article. Scroll down to the bottom of the text and place the cursor over the blue box labeled “Value Added.” A small box of text will pop up that lists the article title, author, date, published and the last date the article was updated. This information is automatically generated, thanks to hNews. 

The goal of hNews is to:

Design a way for content creators to add information on their sources to their reports, as a form of “source tagging.” For instance, a reporter could note that an article was based on personal observations, interview with eyewitnesses or specific, original documents. Filters would then use this data – the “story behind the story” – to help find high-quality articles. A reader searching the phrase “Pakistan riots” for example, might find 9,000 articles. But filtering by “eyewitness accounts” would yield a more selective list.

Currently, the Associated Press and AOL are encoding articles using hNews.

hNews is hoping to bring more transparency to news. Its features will provide people with the back story of an article they’re reading.

Visit the CJR Web site to read the complete story on hNews.

-- Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

With an election year coming up, The Texas Tribune is targeting candidates for governor in a new kind of political video series, “Stump Interrupted."

New kind of video? Reporters at the Knight investigative reporting grantee  "mark up" the speech by fact-checking what's being said. You need to see it to understand. Click play.

Stump Interrupted: Bill White

-- Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

After nine months of research, the Center for Public Integrity, a Knight grantee, uncovered problems in higher education’s handling of sexual assault cases. The Center surveyed scores of campus clinics and  interviewed students who filed unsuccessful criminal charges for being sexually assaulted.

According to the investigation, “those who do come forward can encounter mysterious disciplinary proceedings, closed-mouth school administrations, and off-the-record negotiations.”  CPI is launching a series of pieces on how sexual complaint cases are handled on college campuses. It is also trying to raise awareness and draw attention to this dilemma by encouraging student journalists to report on how their school deals with sexual assault allegations.

The Center estimates as many as 15 million Americans have heard about this investigation through its many media partners. The Center provides this guide for students interested in running their own campus investigation.

-- Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

Dante Chinni, project director for the Knight-funded Patchwork Nation, released a report showing which groups got the cash in the government's 'cash for clunkers’ program. Based on federal data, the nearly 700,000 cash-for-clunkers transactions took place in and benefited three community types: “Monied ‘Burbs,” where the educated and wealthy live; “Boom Towns,” the growing and diversifying communities, and “Campus and Careers,” where the young and collegiate people live.

Communities with high populations of African-Americans or with socially conservative counties saw fewer benefits.

This chart shows the total each community type received from the program.

Chart taken from US government data.

-- Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger

From Marly Falcon, Knight Foundation contributing blogger:

The Federal Trade Commission released the agenda and speakers for its Dec. 1-2 workshop, “From Town Criers to Bloggers: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?”

Up for discussion: how news economics are playing out on the Internet and in print; the wide variety of new business and non-profit models for journalism online; behavioral and other targeted online advertising, online news aggregators, and bloggers; and the variety of governmental policies – including antitrust, copyright, and tax policy.

Panelists at the workshop will include leaders from Google, Yahoo!, The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post and News Corp. Eric Newton, VP of Journalism Program at the Knight Foundation, will also join the workshop. For more, visit the FTC  Web site.

A new report takes on the question of the winners and losers in media economics during the dawn of the digital age.

The study, “The News Landscape in 2014: Transformed or Diminished? Formulating a Game Plan for Survival in the Digital Age,” is co-authored by Penelope Muse Abernathy, UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication Knight Chair in Digital Media Economics and Journalism, and Richard Foster, Senior Faculty Fellow with Yale University’s School of Management.

Just one chart from the work, below, calculates total shareholder return, taking into account share price and dividends. Traditional news companies, those falling lowest, are companies like Tribune or The New York Times. Conglomerates would be companies like AOL Time Warner. Niche providers are companies like McGraw Hill.

To sustain itself in the digital age, the report says, companies must 1. Shed legacy costs as quickly as possible; 2. re-create community online in an attempt to regain pricing leverage, and 3. build new online advertising revenue streams to replace the loss of traditional print categories.