Mason Walker | Pew Research Center November 20, 2019
Americans continue to be more likely to get news through mobile devices than through desktop or laptop computers. Roughly six-in-ten U.S. adults (57%) often get news this way, compared with 30% who often do so on a desktop or laptop computer, according to a Pew Research Center survey.
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Marc Tracy | New York Times November 20, 2019
The deal to create the largest newspaper company in the nation — which became official at 4:10 p.m. on Tuesday — came about with remarkable speed for a merger that will reshape the media landscape.
In August, Gannett, the parent company of USA Today and more than 100 other dailies, and New Media Investment Group, the owner of the newspaper chain GateHouse Media, announced their intention to join forces.
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Neil Mara | Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute | November 18, 2019
After President Donald Trump released a partial transcript of the much-disputed call with Ukraine, Washington Post readers were treated to a story about an almost exact parallel from 45 years ago.
“That time Nixon released doctored transcripts during Watergate,” teased the headline on a Sept. 25 article by Gillian Brockell.
In it, she explored Richard Nixon’s problems when he gave Congress only transcript excerpts of the infamous Oval Office tapes and claimed they exonerated him. Later release of the full tapes showed the opposite, similar to recent testimony by administration officials that seems to upend Trump’s claim that his call transcript shows no quid pro quo in pushing Ukraine to investigate an opponent.
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Statisticians disagree on the number of commercial messages we are exposed to each day. Some say 1,000. Some say as many as 3,000. And others claim the number is closer to 20,000.
With estimates all over the map, all I can say for sure is that we live in an over-communicated world which has a short attention span. There is no way that anyone can notice and digest every single message.
This presents a challenge. How can we break through the clutter when we’re creating ads? How can we gain – and hold – favorable attention?
1. The first step is to simplify the essential message. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, “In all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.” Apple’s first marketing brochure in 1977 quoted Leonardo da Vinci: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Simplicity was more than a slogan to Apple’s Steve Jobs. It was a requirement. Years later, when he was overseeing the design of the iPod, Jobs insisted that each prototype pass a strict test. If he wanted to access a song or a function, he wanted to get there in no more than three clicks.
Smart salespeople know that it is better to communicate a simple concept than a complicated one. And successful advertisers know that simply stated points have more consumer appeal than long explanations.
I remember a radio spot which featured the sound of a car with a dead battery. For 25 seconds, listeners heard the groaning “err errr errrr” of a battery which was fading. The only words were in the voiceover at the end: “This wouldn’t have happened with a DieHard battery.” Additional words would have killed the drama. The message was simple and clear.
2. Next, use your audience’s language. I remember visiting someone in the hospital and hearing a conversation between two doctors on the elevator. Although I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, I couldn’t help but hear what they were saying. It wouldn’t have mattered if it had been confidential, because I didn’t understand a single word of their technical discussion. When the elevator stopped at their floor, I remember saying to myself that they would have to speak in plain language when they met with their patients.
It’s the same in marketing. We must speak in terms that our target audiences can easily understand.
3. Then eliminate unnecessary words. Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” In other words: edit, edit, edit.
The most effective advertising slogans capture the essence of their products in only a few words. “Snap, Crackle, Pop” works better for Rice Krispies than “Our cereal is well known for its distinctive sound.” “Nothing runs like a Deere” is more memorable than “John Deere equipment operates more efficiently than the others.” And Nike’s famous “Just do it” slogan has more impact than “Get into action instead of just thinking about participating in sports.”
Simple messaging should not be limited to national advertisers. Local businesses need it, too.
(c) Copyright 2019 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
By Judy Patrick
The First Amendment isn’t getting the appreciation and respect it deserves. Increasingly battered and misunderstood, it needs all the support it can get as divisive politics and advancing technologies drag us in new directions.
Many Americans don’t even know the basics.
Of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment, 71 percent of Americans can name at least one, according to the 2019 State of The First Amendment poll by the non-profit Freedom Forum Institute.
That’s certainly an improvement over 2018, when a pitiful 60 percent of those polled could name at least one of the five freedoms. But consider this: Of the 1,007 Americans polled for the 2019 survey, just six people correctly named all five freedoms.
In case the pollsters call you next year: The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, the press, religion and the right to petition and the right to assembly.
Better yet: We all need to work harder at being citizens who understand our rights, our responsibilities, how government works and what we value.
These powerful First Amendment freedoms, for example, give us all the courage to be independent thinkers and to live our lives how we want to. They allow us to challenge authority in ways unheard of in so many other parts of the world. It enables the press to act independently, hold government accountable and tilt at the occasional windmill.
Gene Policinski, president of the Freedom Forum Institute, said these freedoms help define who we are as Americans. For him, the First Amendment is the “blue collar amendment” – because it’s such a workhorse, going to work every day in a real down-to-earth way.
Yet confusion is increasing. More people in this year’s survey incorrectly thought the First Amendment includes the right to vote (up to 14 percent from 2 percent in 2018) and the right to bear arms (up to 16 percent from 9 percent in 2018).
There is some good news. The poll did not find substantial erosion in trust in journalism with 72 percent of those polled agreeing that it’s important for our democracy that the news media act as a government watchdog, down from 73 percent in 2018. Policinski, however, worries that result may be skewed, reflecting people’s loyalty to their individual “information bubbles.”
The emergence of powerful social media platforms has also muddied the waters; 65 percent of those polled agreed that social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter violate users’ First Amendment rights when they ban people. They don’t. The First Amendment’s protections apply to the government, not private companies.
But the First Amendment presents us with all sorts of emotional and intellectual challenges. It’s easy to support free speech when we agree with what’s being said. It’s far more challenging when we disagree or abhor what is being said, printed, painted, built or sung.
Indeed, the First Amendment has challenged us as a society as we have debated topics such as school prayer, flag burning, printing classified information, curfews, the teaching of evolution, protests at military funerals, blue laws, Christmas displays in public parks and mandatory measles vaccinations.
The rhetoric around such issues can be alienating. An increasing number of us, for example, think the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees (29 percent in 2019, up from 23 percent in 2018 and 2017).
Maybe we just need another Norman Rockwell for an idealistic re-boot.
In the 1940s, as the U.S. headed into what would become World War II, Rockwell’s series of freedom paintings helped Americans understand the freedoms at stake. His four iconic works captured parts of the First Amendment (freedom of speech and religion) and added the freedoms to be free of want and fear.
Despite President Franklin Roosevelt’s oratory, the “four freedoms” he outlined in 1941 speech failed to resonate with the public in a meaningful way. For help, the White House reached out to the nation’s artists and musicians.
“[Rockwell] wanted to interpret them in a way the average American could understand,” said Stephanie Plunkett, chief curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass.
But it was a challenge. “The Four Freedoms are so darned high blown. Somehow I just couldn’t get my mind around it,” Rockwell is quoted as saying.
But by using scenarios from real life in small-town America, did just that. Rockwell’s “Freedom of Speech,” featuring a man standing up and speaking up in a crowded meeting room, was based on an actual town meeting in Arlington, Vt. The man was a farmer unhappy with a school project that would increase his taxes. “He gave his opinion, nodded his head and sat down,” Plunkett said.
Rockwell’s idealistic “Four Freedoms” have remained popular, both providing a sense of what led America to World War II and as underscoring ideals that remain important throughout in the world, Plunkett said.
A special touring exhibit, “Rockwell, Roosevelt & The Four Freedoms: Enduring Ideals,” has been on display in Normandy, France, since May as part of the 75th commemoration of the D-Day invasion.
The exhibit returns to the U.S. from France this fall, making stops in Houston and Denver before returning home next fall. Here are the details: Le Memorial de Caen, Caen, France, through Oct. 27; Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas Dec. 15, 2019 through March 22, 2020; Denver Art Museum, Denver, May 3, 2020 through Aug. 23, 2020; Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Mass., Sept. 12, 2020 through Jan. 17, 2021.
Judy Patrick is the New York Press Association’s Vice president for editorial development. Follow her on Twitter at @JuteNYPA. Patrick wrote this article as one of NYPA’s first Relevance Project initiatives. The Freedom Forum picked it up and posted it. Newspapers across the country are invited to re-print the article and the artwork with attribution if they choose. Visit https://www.freedomforuminstitute.org/2019/10/23/its-time-americans-stepped-up-and-learned-about-the-first-amendment/ to read the article online.
Five deserving lifelong news professionals were honored by the Academy of New England Journalists / New England Society of News Editors at the 59th Annual Yankee Quill Awards dinner – closing out a successful NENPA Fall Conference at the AC Hotel in Worcester, Mass. on the evening of October 10.
John Peterson, Angelo Lynn, Dan Kennedy, Callie Crossley, and Ross Connelly were all in attendance. They were joined by family members, friends, and colleagues as well as the individuals (or designees) who nominated them.
The Yankee Quill is presented annually by the Academy through the auspices of the New England Society of News Editors. The Academy, founded by Sigma Delta Chi in 1960, has annually paid tribute to several extraordinary newspaper men and women for their lifetime of achievement and distinction in New England journalism.
It is considered the highest individual honor awarded by fellow journalists in the region, and selection for the award is based on the broad influence for good that honorees have reflected over the course of a career.
Academy member Robert Ambrogi introduced Dan Kennedy, a journalist, media critic, journalism professor, blogger, book author and First Amendment advocate who has devoted the bulk of his career to improving the profession of journalism and to advocating for the First Amendment rights of journalists and the public.
“When I read the description of a [Yankee Quill honoree], it’s hard for me to think of anybody more deserving of it than Dan Kennedy,” Ambrogi said. “I am somebody who has been dividing my career between law and journalism, and so I have a particular appreciation for the work Dan has done over the years as an advocate for transparency in government.”
Mr. Kennedy was nominated and received the Quill for his role in ensuring that journalists and publications adhere to the standards of the field; calling out politicians and officials who flaunt free speech and open government; training new generations of journalists and studying alternative models for meeting the challenges of journalism in the digital age.
Academy member Richard Lodge introduced Ms. Crossley, a respected journalist and commentator in greater Boston media. She was nominated and honored with one of the five 2019 Quill awards for her multifaceted skills in print, radio and television.
“Callie’s writing and reporting have earned her numerous awards, and earned her the respect of leaders, viewers, and listeners,” Lodge said. “She has never shied away from giving her well-informed opinions in the right context.”
Through her various roles as host, panelist and award-winning commentator, Lodge said Ms. Crossley always set a standard for professionalism, accuracy and fairness. She is a highly regarded, compelling interviewer and role model. And her work was said to be grounded in a devotion to the community and dedicated to ensuring that community members who are often unheard – are given an articulate voice.
Academy member Mike Donoghue took to the microphone to introduce long-time colleague Ross Connolly, who was presented the Quill for his incredibly broad positive influence on journalism in Vermont, throughout New England, and across the nation. During his 36 years in the newspaper industry he served as a journalist, editor, publisher and newspaper owner.
“Even after serving on [various press association boards], he remained front and center on a lot of legislative issues impacting local newspapers, public records, fighting for mandatory fees when records were unlawfully withheld, open meetings, fighting proposed taxes on advertising, even taxes on circulation, and preserving legal notices in newspapers,” Mr. Donoghue said.
Mr. Connolly was the founding chair of the Vermont Coalition for Open Government and president of the board of directors for both Vermont Press Association and New England Press Association. Mr. Donoghue also reminded attendees that Mr. Connolly’s nomination reflected how much he understood early-on the importance and true value of diversity in news coverage, and he was known for pushing hard to make that a priority while serving on those boards.
Terry Williams of the Keene Sentinel introduced Mr. Lynn, who was recognized for his dedication to serving his readers and communities, his success with his dynamic newspaper company and his commitment to the betterment of the industry through his involvement with the Vermont Press Association and New England Newspaper and Press Association.
“When I think about the type of journalists we need these days, or for that matter, the type of owner we desire to sustain our news organizations, I think of someone bold, innovative, and adventurous, who cares for employees and is fiercely interested in the strength of community,” Mr. Williams said, “I think of Angelo Lynn.”
Over the course of his career, Mr. Lynn has been recognized with numerous journalism awards, as well as several awards for being a top business locally and statewide. He is regarded among his peers and associates as a journalist and newspaper owner who is constantly seeking sustainability while remaining fiercely protective of community journalism.
Academy member Lincoln McKie introduced Mr. Peterson. Over his 50-year career at New England newspapers and as a New England-based newspaper consultant Mr. Peterson was lauded for resuscitating several moribund papers into aggressive pursuers of both in-depth reporting and community news.
“I met my good friend John Peterson more than 20 years ago at a New England Press Association convention,” McKie said. “I joined in nominating John because he is a friend, but more than that, his co-nominators and I put his name forward because of the tremendous respect and admiration we have for his character, for his superior journalism, and his penchant for deftly handling adversity, his gift for digging out award-winning stories and dismantling roadblocks to bring them to readers.”
Mr. Peterson has won countless awards, both individually and for the excellence of the newspapers he led. As a consultant, he lends his vast experience and expertise to improving newspapers throughout the country. And he was also very active serving on a variety of business and charitable boards – and has been honored locally for his many years of community service.
Following the Quill ceremonies, NENPA President Phil Camp remarked “how nice it was to see a couple of Vermonters represented among all the very worthy recipients this year.”
“This year’s Yankee Quill recipients also represented Connecticut and Massachusetts, so both Southern and Northern New England were represented,” Camp added. “As in years’ past, the comments from both the nominees and those who nominated them reflect how these individuals have answered their calling to our profession. To do the kind of good you need to do – even with smaller papers – is a testament to all of their accomplishments.”
2019 Yankee Quill Awards Photo Gallery
By John Voket eBulletin Contributor
John Voket is an Associate Editor at The Newtown Bee in Connecticut, Director of Public Affairs for Connecticut’s Connoisseur Media radio stations, and 2018-19 President of NENPA.
Communities across New England – and the large and small news organizations serving them – are increasingly benefiting from targeted grant-funded partnerships that are helping expand public service and enterprise reporting, oftentimes covering the cost (and benefits) associated with bringing in new talent to produce that important work.
That was the message conveyed by panelists participating in the NENPA Fall Conference afternoon break-out session presented by the New England Society of News Editors entitled: “Possibilities and Pitfalls of Alternative Funding: Grants, Projects and Ethical Considerations.”
The session moderator was Charles St. Amand, practitioner-in-residence, communication & journalism department, Suffolk University; and panelists included Charlie Sennott, founder, The Ground Truth Project / Report for America; Heidi Flood, strategic lead, partners & outreach, Boston Globe Media; Mike Cote, deputy managing editor, business, New Hampshire Union Leader; and Tim Rasmussen, chief content officer, Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network.
Each spent time discussing the reasoning behind and implications of utilizing “alternative funding” for projects.
They examined how the practice of tapping grantors and other government, quasi-government, and even select private sector partners to fund specific reporting, and staff to handle it, has become more common in some newsrooms.
In his introductory remarks following the event’s awards luncheon, St. Amand reflected, “Where you see great work being done by newspapers of all sizes – events like this remind us all that journalism is worth fighting for.”
Opening up the panel, Cote immediately referenced work done at the Union Leader by Shawne Wickham, who just minutes before won the AP Sevellon Brown NE Journalist of the Year honor for her reporting as part of a series that examined issues related to mental health.
Wickham’s award-winning “Beyond The Stigma” segments were funded by combined grants from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, NAMI New Hampshire and private individuals.
“This is the kind of ground-breaking enterprise work newspapers have been doing for years, but we’re having a harder time doing now,” he said.
In another grant-funded series, Cote said the nonprofit Endowment for Health worked with the Union Leader on solutions journalism, Cote said.
“We get the funding and the reporters do the work,” he said, adding that the funder was hands off. “They pretty much gave it to us and let us run with it, which was great. So really what it bought us an enterprise reporter – somebody digging deep into a subject and in this case, one that’s very important in our market.”
In the Union Leader’s case, Cote said reporters become such experts in the areas they are working, like Wickham, they are still brimming with story ideas when the project concluded.
In the end, the Endowment benefited as well because each story was tagged with contact information, funder branding, and a disclaimer that the specific reporting was underwritten.
“We got no complaints from readers,” Cote said, adding that the Union Leader has also conducted some targeted reporting with staff funded by a regional utility.
He said the paper has had additional success packaging multiple funders together.
“We look for enough funding to cover one salary and benefit package for one year.” Even with smaller pockets of money, Cote said Union Leader reporters fanning out to cover more work.
Now the paper is working on sustainability and weighing whether they temporarily keep grant funded journalists on the payroll while seeking new projects or funders.
The Globe & Public Broadcasting
Flood, a former community foundation and investment firm staffer, now researches, develops and drives opportunities for the Globe to work in partnership with nonprofits, foundations and other organizations to support public service journalism initiatives.
She said while pulling reporters off their beat to shift to uniquely-funded projects was challenging, The Globe ended up creating a public education unit with three reporters – two of whom were already education specialists.
Each special project article in the education series included a selection of FAQs that Flood said deepened conversation around the topic covered. She said the reporting has generated “positive change,” and one set of features entitled “Valedictorian” focusing on 113 high school graduates attracted interest from Gates Foundation and others looking for ways to engage.
“Presenting a unifying message around improving student outcomes was important,” Flood said. She added that the education unit’s work provided an opportunity to share that message and “get into new communities – even if they’re not Globe communities.
“The goal is to provide a civic service,” she explained. “Now we’re looking to work with other funders – to align on certain mission topics and engage the community in ways impossible for the foundations to do without our partnership.”
St. Amand asked Flood if she could offer any advice to help smaller papers initiate non-traditional funding relationships. She replied that representatives tasked with recruiting funders must “be aggressive and shameless in our asking.”
“It’s not hard with a great editorial product,” she said. Regardless of the media outlet’s size or reach, Flood said if they can show alignment over funders’ missions and goals through your reporting, it “opens the door” to possible partnerships.
Rasmussen oversees all content produced and distributed by Connecticut Public Broadcasting including Connecticut Public Radio, three television channels, as well as digital and online platforms.
He said today, six of 10 reporters working for him are grant funded, and $6 million of his $22 million budget is from member donors so it’s unrestricted. He’s been tasked with the goal of doubling his organization’s audience in five years.
Rasmussen said another $1 million of his budget is from grants and foundations – and some of that underwriting comes “some with restrictions or limitations.”
Among myriad subjects tied to grantor designations are health, ‘Guns in America,’ showcasing diverse voices, promoting environmental initiatives, and supporting the network’s regional New England News Collaborative.
Rasmussen said he recently completed writing a grant he will submit for $300,000 “to help us build a new CMS and marketplace for local news to give away to other public agencies,” and he is currently meeting with funders to create ‘The Accountability Project’ investigative reporting team in Connecticut.
“The goal is to raise $2 million for five years, and to build a three-person team to start,” he said. So stay tuned!
Report For America
Sennott entered the conversation affirming that in his assessment, “Nonprofits are going to play a critical role in the future of journalism.”
Sennott started GroundTruth in 2014 and in 2017 launched the non-profit organization’s new, local reporting initiative, Report for America. The Columbia University School of Journalism graduate and Harvard Nieman Fellow is also the co-founder of GlobalPost, an acclaimed international news website.
He advised organizations looking for alternative funding partners would do well to be sure they share “the same standards.”
Within a year of launching Report For America, the initiative has seen 60 journalists go to work for 50 news organizations across 27 states and Puerto Rico. Each is focused on a critical coverage gap within their host community.
Their newsrooms range from Pulitzer Prize-winning daily papers and alternative weeklies to digital-only non-profits, cable news and public radio stations.
Sennott said each of the Report For America hosts “define news deserts in their community,” and they must exhibit a standard for successfully mentoring young reporters.
He said it was thrilling to be able to tell a new generation of journalists to go out and do local reporting. And reminding those new reporters what they do helps communities to have civil debate.
Sennott said he always hopes the greater outcome “has everything to do with re-establishing civil dialog in our society.”
In closing, Sennott said it is heartening to see GroundTruth program applications from so many newsrooms, explaining that the organization underwrites 50 percent of the salary / benefits package. “Then we ask the paper to cover 25 percent, and we help the papers raise the other 25 percent.
He said communities involved in the program additionally benefit because “we also ask that the reporter does community volunteerism.”
Those at this session also had a chance to pick up a recent publication offered to members and conference attendees by NENPA, compiled with the help of Board member Terry Williams and Paul Cuno-Booth, both of the Keene Sentinel. It included a preliminary listing of grantors currently offering more than 90 underwriting opportunities in partnership with various media organizations.
NENPA is in the process of assembling a comprehensive database of media grants and grantors that will be available for members. Look for further information in a future NENPA e-mail message and here in the Bulletin.
Following the session, NENPA President Phil Camp told The eBulletin it was good to see grantors stepping up to help underwrite reporting projects at newspapers of all sizes.
Camp said even though many of those grant funded initiatives have target subjects that drive the reporting, the resulting content often provides collateral benefits to the participating news outlet’s entire community.
“We need to focus more on helping our NENPA members learn about and connect, when appropriate, to these grant programs,” Camp said, vowing to begin discussing ways the association could help facilitate grantor/newspaper relationship when he met with the NENPA board of directors the following day.
Camp also reminded Fall Conference attendees to remember to complete NENPA event surveys that are being circulated, so staff and leadership could better understand and craft conference programming that will be of the greatest benefit to members.
Those at this session also had a chance to pick up a recent publication offered to members and conference attendees by NENPA, compiled with the help of Board member Terry Williams and Paul Cuno-Booth both of the Keene Sentinel. It included a preliminary listing of grantors currently offering underwriting opportunities in partnership with various media organizations.
NENPA is in the process of assembling a comprehensive database of media grants and grantors that will be available for members. Look for further information in a future NENPA eBulletin’s.
By John Voket eBulletin Contributor
John Voket is an Associate Editor at The Newtown Bee in Connecticut, Director of Public Affairs for Connecticut’s Connoisseur Media radio stations, and 2018-19 President of NENPA.
No apology needed for good journalism – even when you don’t like it
The First Amendment battlefront lately has been found more often than not at colleges and universities, with the most recent conflicts involving a full-on assault on traditional standards of a free press.
Harvard’s student government voted Sunday to support a petition condemning the student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, for the factual reporting of protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) some weeks ago. Among the newspaper’s “sins”: Contacting ICE officials for comment about the protest.
The petition demands that the newspaper “apologize for the harm they inflicted on the undocumented community” by reporting on the protest, refrain from again calling ICE officials for comment on immigration stories and declare a “commitment to protecting undocumented students on campus.”
The school’s Undergraduate Council said by reporting on the protest and asking ICE officials for reaction, the newspaper sparked “fear and feelings of unsafety” among students on campus. A student government statement included its view that “it is imperative for The Harvard Crimson to commit to journalistic practices that do not put students at risk.”
In response, Crimson editors said “fundamental journalistic values” demand that the newspaper seek comment from a variety of persons and organizations on any given story, as one means of ensuring “a fair and unbiased story.”
If the Crimson controversy over being exposed to “other” views were an isolated incident, it might be dismissed as a singular disconnect between a few student leaders and the very purpose of a free press — but it wasn’t.
Northwestern University’s student newspaper last week apologized for its reporting of an appearance and speech on campus by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, for staff members posting photos on social media of some student protesters and for using a student directory to contact students to interview them about the protests.
The editors wrote that “any information The Daily (Northwestern) provides about the protest can be used against the participating students (and) while some universities grant amnesty to student protesters, Northwestern does not. We did not want to play a role in any disciplinary action that could be taken…” The editors also said the photos and interview requests were, in retrospect, “retraumatizing and invasive.”
The First Amendment protects a free press for the very reasons all of these college journalists faced criticism — and Harvard’s news operation, if not Northwestern’s, pushed back. Documenting the facts and circumstances of public events and issues is a core duty of a news operation so that a collective readership can make informed decisions about the issues raised by the story’s subject.
In fact, there are journalist codes that call on a free press to seek “truth and report it” and to “minimize harm.” The emphasis on the former is accuracy, context and seeking full responses by all involved. As to the latter, the possibility of any harm occurring is to be minimized or avoided, but not to the extent that other valid principles are abandoned.
Moreover, every journalist eventually has to come to grips with the plain fact that some news will bring pain to some people, from stories exposing corrupt politicians or giving voice to vulgar or hateful participants at public events to accounts of tragedy and injury that may cause those involved to relive terrifying moments.
Asking journalists to file less than full reports of events inevitably will lead to the perception — and, in some cases, the reality — that those reporting the events are shaping “the news” for larger purposes, worthy or sinister. In an era when vastly reduced resources combined with political opportunism give rise to less reporting and more critics of “fake news,” a free press ought not to buy into self-censorship and news judgments based on non-news goals.
Accurate reporting of public events in matters of public interest empowers all of us to shape opinions, make informed decisions and at times cast votes, whether we like that information or not. Informed discussion, debate and decisions are not aided by less information.
Journalism that falls short of the full truth will not eliminate the potential for harm or help society explore solutions for larger issues; rather, it is an abandonment — or a betrayal — of the intellectual exchange and conflict in the “marketplace of ideas” that is fundamental to the First Amendment and democracy.