Voice of San Diego, an online non-profit news source, has an interesting set of reporter guidelines, included in a post by Jay Rosen. Here are a few:
* We’re not someone’s goddamn transcription service.
Focus on big problems […] * It’s easy as a journalist to take a stand against a six-figure salary. It’s easy to take a stand against an expensive meal on an expense report.
* Why do we take stands on those things and why are we afraid to take stands on bigger issues?
Don’t tell me stories about “critics” or “some”
* I don’t have a clue who “critics” or “some” are. But they managed to be the most quoted people on the planet.
* I need to know who they are for that viewpoint to carry any validity.
The whole thing is worth a read. I took a quick look at their site and it does seem quite different than the average daily newspaper. It’s a little early for San Diego commenters, but I wonder if it lives up to its guidelines.
arguingwithsignposts
Part of the problem with our politics is that the entire rule about “unnamed/anonymous sources” is just window-dressing in the halls of power.
wenchacha
It wasn’t enough when The Onion constantly gave us “area man.” Real journos had to give us what “some” say, and also include “critics” and “others” so they could be totally “fair” and “balanced.”
And now my fingers are tired from typing in so many “air quotes.”
shirt
Wow, right here in my own back yard and I didn’t even know about it.
Satanicpanic
Voice of San Diego is great. City Beat, our local alternative weekly also does a great job reporting on local issues and frequently gets interviews with local pols. San Diego is actually pretty blue til you hit the suburbs.
Bnad
News stories would be a hell of a lot more honest if every “some” or “critics” were replaced with “my editor’s bosses.”
JGabriel
@Bnad:
Just a little, picayune criticism. I personally think it would be more accurate to replace some with Ayn Rand’s rancid zombie army, and to replace critics with crack hoes sucking on David Koch’s tit. For example:
Maybe that’s just me, though.
.
Amir Khalid
@Bnad:
From your keyboard to God’s Blackberry screen, my friend.
Gilles de Rais
San Diego checking in here. Been here since 1971 and never heard of these people. I’ll check ’em out.
Wag
When I worked in the ER, I learned that you neded to watch out for These Guys and Some Dude. The three of them caused an immense amount of trauma.
And so it is with our media, except the names have changed. They are known now as Some Say and Critics Suggest.
Culture of Truth
Some say these are good guidelines. Critics however, disagree.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Culture of Truth: Or maybe it’s the other way around.
FlipYrWhig
If you can’t pre-write your story with a paragraph about one side of the issue, followed by another paragraph about the other side of the issue, and then fill in with quotes from groups already represented in your Rolodex, I don’t know what you’ve got, but it sure ain’t journalism.
Comrade Javamanphil
@Wag: Much like Some Dude and These Guys, I believe it is also wise to never have a Drinking Buddy.
jayackroyd
Culture of Truth on David (Fluffyhead) Gregory’s “interview” with Netanyahu.
(Mp3)
http://bit.ly/pVBDbu
Wag
@Comrade Javamanphil:
Yeah, Drinking Buddy is a troublemaker, as well.
Corner Stone
@jayackroyd: Culture of Truth is one busy man! Between doing Bobblehead Translations, Virtually Speaking and his MoviePhone gig, I’m surprised he has time to comment anywhere!
Corner Stone
@Wag: Speaking of trouble, you’ve got to watch out for This Ole Boy, as he gets around pretty well down here in Texas and parts of the South.
“Well, This Ole Boy came in the place and you could tell he was lookin’ fer trouble!”
jayackroyd
@Corner Stone:
Well, he mostly sticks to one liners….
Amir Khalid
Can I hear a shout-out for Industry Expert, A Person Close To and Administration Insider?
FlipYrWhig
@Amir Khalid: Don’t forget disembodied Worries. Those guys are always fucking up the Dow. “Worries over Greece and the debt deal drove stocks lower today…”
Culture of Truth
“Tell the truth”
whoa, whoa …. hold on now…who is this crazy person?
Culture of Truth
GREGORY: I’m saying to you, at this point, there’s not going to be a resumption of talks.
NETANYAHU: Well, I’m not sure…. even though you’re very pessimistic, even though many are very pessimistic, you know, it could happen.
MR. GREGORY: So I’m, I’m not making a judgment, I, I’m simply kind of reading where we are.
That’s perfect, Fluffy, really.
Mary Jane
@FlipYrWhig: Yes.
I’m guessing what makes VoSD different from the average daily newspaper is that it’s non-profit. First bullet point in the last paragraph:
* You don’t do this for the money. So let’s have some fun.
FWIW, I’m in the Los Angeles and the best radio station for music is KPRI out of San Diego. It amazes me that the second largest city’s newspaper reporting and radio programming are appalling.
Villago Delenda Est
Inside the Beltway, this is known as the “highly placed source speaking on the condition of anonymity”, which is pretty much cover for “I’m making this shit up so that my contribution to the discourse conforms with the predetermined Village storyline.”
Stefan
I’d appreciate it if reporters could learn to do away with the amorphouse “Congress blocks disaster aid” and instead write the far more accurate “Republicans block Congress from issuing disaster aid.”
Stefan
@Amir Khalid:
When DC got a pro baseball team again I was crushed that they didn’t name them the Washington Insiders. “Yankees Sweep Insiders in Three-Game Series…”
Villago Delenda Est
@Stefan:
The Ferengi overlords would never go along with being that specific. Which is why you’ll never hear that from the MSM.
BGinCHI
You stay classy, San Diego.
Cacti
I wonder if they’ll ever be able to find out the name of that “anonymous source, close to the Administration”.
“Unnamed sources” have told me that the most likely candidate is Mr. I. Just Madeitup.
Alex
Utterly sanctimonious bullshit. Another reason no one respects the profession.
joes527
@Mary Jane: I live in the San Diego area and have to drive up to Orange County/Los Angeles pretty regularly.
I always dread reaching Dana Point, where the San Diego stations fade out and the LA stations take over. If KCRW isn’t playing music, then it is like driving into a vast wasteland of radio.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Mary Jane:
Only amateurs report the news, it takes a professional to sustain a self serving narrative.
geg6
Well…isn’t that interesting? Seems that this online newspaper has decided to use the same journalistic ethos that my mother used when she was a reporter. And that every other reporter or journalist of any repute and with any ethics used back in the triassic age when she still worked and was still alive. You know, back in the 1970s, 80s, and very early 90s.
Persia
@Mary Jane: I’d think that was business as usual.
Hungry Joe
Voice of San Diego decided, wisely, to keep its focus narrow — mostly city and county government, education, environment, the business end of sports, etc. Not much fluff. They have a small staff but they do good work. Nonprofit may be journalism’s last hope. (And, yeah: KPRI.)
Lex
@Alex: “Profession”? They’re self-described amateurs. Miss the point much?
Mike Furlan
Hopeless quest. They are fighting a fudamental force of the universe.
Parkinson’s Law of Triviality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson's_Law_of_Triviality
Fluff rules, always did, always will.
Mary Jane
@joes527: I’m envious. There’s so much to love about San Diego. Runs center-right in general but that’s also true of the L.A. burbs. Now if KPRI would just quit Pumped Up Kicks…
Martin
@Mary Jane: You’d better run, better run, faster than my bullet.
IlsaLund
“Some”, “others” and “critics”, along with several of the other weasel words and phrases, were included in many stories in the NY Times this morning. This morning and every single damn day! NY Times is one of the worst offenders.
DavidG
Another excellent San Diego on-line newspaper is eastcountymagazine.org. They show people how to have a liberal journalistic presence in a conservative area.