“The news business in India may be buzzing with life, but a number of recent high-profile, ugly affairs among its supposedly leading lights have shown, once again, that its soul is in crisis,” writes Rahul Bhatia. “Developing a professional Indian Fourth Estate — one with editorial independence, one that adheres to widely accepted ethical and […]

Kiev-based journalist Ivan Verstyuk looks at a long-standing problem in the media business, where fake, paid-for “news” stories are routine. Verstyuk explains the concept of “jeans,” which are media pieces published for an undisclosed payment. “The scale of the protests, and the political changes they could bring, may turn out to be the needed catalyst […]

You might have heard: The Federal Trade Commission will host a workshop Wednesday to examine the practice of sponsored content (Benton Foundation) But did you know: Rick Edmonds previews and teases out some of the issues that may arise in Wednesday’s workshop. The workshop will be more of an arena for different views rather than a consensus maker, […]

Andy Carvin’s News Foo talk on breaking news explores flaws in the vagaries of English language and inexactness in English journalism. He talks about examples like the Makah language, which have precise language for evidentiality, and how we should apply similar concepts to breaking news sourcing. More precision, even at the cost of brevity, is […]

John Kroll responds to the New York Times public editor’s piece about criticism surrounding a photo attached to a report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Margaret Sullivan, public editor, had shared the explanation from the Times’ standards editor: “except to correct factual errors, we very rarely change or delete published content. The stories that remain accessible […]

You might have heard: “60 Minutes” aired a special segment to apologize for its Benghazi report (Mediate) But did you know: Craig Silverman compares the “60 Minutes” Benghazi debacle that led to an on-air apology from correspondent Lara Logan and a story that involved inauthentic documents critical of  President George W. Bush’s service in the Air National Guard […]

John Judis adds his thoughts to the ongoing debate on whether journalists should be objective. He highlights the subtle differences between objectivity and impartiality. Judis adds that opinions should be judged by whether they are normative judgments about what ought to be done, or analytical judgments about what is likely to happen, or about what are viable […]

Over the weekend, The New York Times made corrections on a story about the Navy SEALs raid in Somalia without issuing correction notices. Bryan Murley argues that this represents two larger problems for media outlets: pushing out news that is not verified in a breaking news situation and not correcting online stories in a way […]

Whenever people discuss how journalism is changing, one of the most common questions is: “Who is a journalist today and who isn’t?” It’s the wrong question.

The best thinking about journalism’s future benefits from its being in touch with technology’s potential. But it can get in its own way when it simplifies and repudiates the intelligence of journalism’s past. That is happening, to a degree, in a discussion gaining momentum lately that journalism should now largely move beyond fact gathering and […]