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19 Oct 09

Walking the walk on transparency

Some notes about a post that the Guardian removed from one of its blogs. An editor stepped over the line in the post, and the site debated whether to explain its removal.

www.niemanlab.org/...lking-the-walk-on-transparency - Preview

transparency Matthew Ingram Nieman Journalism Lab trust objectivity

And by removing something without explaining why, I argued that we were effectively breaching our trust with readers, in however small a way. While an editor slamming his own organization might be damaging to our brand, I argued that the trust of our readers was also a key part of our brand, and that we had to do everything we could to maintain it.
Readers deserve to be told what we are doing and why (within reason), even when doing so makes us uncomfortable.

30 Sep 09

Transparency is the new objectivity

David Weinberger tells us that transparency now carries a lot of the importance that used to be laid on objectivity.

www.hyperorg.com/...parency-is-the-new-objectivity - Preview

objectivity transparency journalism David Weinberger

Outside of the realm of science, objectivity is discredited these days as anything but an aspiration, and even that aspiration is looking pretty sketchy. The problem with objectivity is that it tries to show what the world looks like from no particular point of view, which is like wondering what something looks like in the dark.
What we used to believe because we thought the author was objective we now believe because we can see through the author’s writings to the sources and values that brought her to that position. Transparency gives the reader information by which she can undo some of the unintended effects of the ever-present biases. Transparency brings us to reliability the way objectivity used to.
2 more annotations...
- At the edges of knowledge — in the analysis and contextualization that journalists nowadays tell us is their real value — we want, need, can have, and expect transparency. Transparency puts within the report itself a way for us to see what assumptions and values may have shaped it, and lets us see the arguments that the report resolved one way and not another. Transparency — the embedded ability to see through the published draft — often gives us more reason to believe a report than the claim of objectivity did.
- Objectivity without transparency increasingly will look like arrogance. And then foolishness. Why should we trust what one person — with the best of intentions — insists is true when we instead could have a web of evidence, ideas, and argument?

Further notes on objectivity, transparency, and links

Ryan Sholin offers some thoughts about transparency and objectivity.

ryansholin.com/...ctivity-transparency-and-links - Preview

transparency objectivity Ryan Sholin David Weinberger Dan Gillmor show your work

If transparency is the new objectivity, it has to go deeper than disclosing conflicts of interest. Transparency on the Web is all about disclosing how and where you found the information you’re passing on to the next person, or readers, or audience, or community. It’s at the heart of the blogosphere’s “via” links. It’s at the heart of sourcing the facts of your story.

How social networking is changing journalism

A summary of comments by Richard Sambrook, head of the BBC Global News Division, on the relationship between transparency and objectivity and between journalists and the Internet.

www.guardian.co.uk/...nvention-2009-journalism-blogs - Preview

Richard Sambrook Mercedes Bunz Oxford Social Media Convention Twitter objectivity transparency

Objectivity, he then pointed out, had always been an idea important for the news. For him it was once designed to deliver journalism that people can trust. But in the new media age transparency is what delivers trust. He stressed that news today still has to be accurate and fair, but it is as important for the readers, listeners and viewers to see how the news is produced, where the information comes from, and how it works. The emergence of news is as important, as the delivering of the news itself.
You get a lot of things, when you open up Twitter in the morning, but not journalism. Journalism needs discipline, analysis, explanation and context, he pointed out, and therefore for him it is still a profession. The value that gets added with journalism is judgment, analysis and explanation - and that makes the difference. So journalism will stay - he was optimistic about that. However, journalists must understand one rule: if you believe you are in competition with the internet, find your way out. Collaboration, openness and link culture are rules, you can't deny at the moment, he said.

10 Sep 09

Improving Access to Information is One Way to Make Reporting Cheaper

Amanda Hickman at MediaShift Idea Lab suggests that one way to save money on investigative journalism is to make information easier to access.

www.pbs.org/...make-reporting-cheaper245.html - Preview

accessibility transparency Amanda Hickman MediaShift Idea Lab journalism investigative journalism databases

when it comes to local reporting, improved access to information could make a big dent in the expense of getting a story written
One way to make information cheaper is to step up the data requirements in local transparency laws. New York City is considering legislation that would amend existing public records laws to require that information be made available and that it "be presented and structured in a format that permits automated processing." That is to say, raw data. Just publish it -- don't make us ask.
1 more annotations...
- Romalewski argues that we shouldn't have to ask for data--that most of what city agencies aggregate belongs in the public domain.

24 Dec 08

Capitol Words

This site searches the Congressional Record for any word you specify, creates a word frequency cloud and tells you who said it the most. Other interesting, decontextualizing tools here too.

capitolwords.org - Preview

congress nonprofit transparency cloud frequency decontextualizing government