ISSUE

Fall 1999

The Press in Russia

Powerful owners, government officials and politicians work hard to control what journalists write and say. With elections ahead, the press faces critical tests of its independence.

How Journalists Use Sources
A report from the Second Watchdog Journalism Project Conference
Journalists meet to talk about the relationships that reporters have with their sources and to examine the potential consequences posed by changes in how sources are treated by reporters and how sources treat reporters.

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Articles

Watchdog

In Reporting on Whitewater, an Anonymous Source Misinformed the Press

Savvy newspaper readers know to be on guard when information in stories is attributed to anonymous sources. But what if a news organization relies on an unidentified informant and withholds…
Gilbert Cranberg
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

Impact of Investigative Stories

Reporters sometimes devote months, if not years, to working with sources, researching and compiling information to prepare it for publication. Though what their stories reveal can be explosive and damaging…
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

The Roles Editors Play

Reporters often mentioned the roles editors played in how they reported the story or how the story appeared in the paper. At times their input was helpful; other times it…
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

Working With Key Sources

In most reporting assignments—perhaps most often in journalists’ roles as watchdogs—following leads usually results in finding a key source, someone who can help to build the story’s foundation. How reporters…
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

False Sources and Misleading Information

Journalists put the public’s trust in peril when they publish stories in which a source has either given false leads or misleading information. Yet some journalists at the conference worried…
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

Panel Members

Byron V. Acohido: Investigative reporter, The Seattle Times. Since 1998, a specialist in covering the aerospace industry and aviation safety. His five-part series detailing problems with the 737’s rudder system…
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

Introduction: Reporting on Government, National Security, Nonprofits and Business

‘Watchdog journalism is the only function of journalism that justifies the freedom that journalists enjoy in this country.’ —Bill Kovach, Curator, Nieman Foundation
Bill Kovach
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

Reporters Wrestle With How to Use Sources

Name them? Socialize with them? Trust them?
Melissa Ludtke
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

Naming Sources

Increasingly reporters cite anonymous sources rather than provide readers, viewers and listeners with actual names. At this conference, journalists, whose work demonstrates how information was gathered from sources who agreed…
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

Verifying What Sources Say

As helpful or reliable as sources might seem to be, no reporter should accept their version of events without finding documentation to back up what they say. None of the…
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

What Happens When Journalists Envision a Web Site and Techies Try to Build It?

Generations clash. Cultures collide. And promises cannot be kept.
Edward M. Fouhy
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

Stages of Reporting: Finding and Using Sources

Several reporters devoted much of their presentations to describing how they went about finding sources and gathering information from them. In all cases, these reporters did not use anonymous sources…
September 15, 1999
Opinion

Media’s Role in Changing the Face of Poverty

A Scholar Examines the Convergence of Race and Welfare in the Media.
Sharon Green
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

When Reporters are Shut Out By Sources

What happens when reporters are shut out by sources whom they believe are necessary to report a story? Several journalists at the Watchdog conference argued that reporters often do their…
September 15, 1999
International Journalism

Reporting Stories in Russia That No One Will Publish

Those who own and control the media want to secure political influence, not to uncover political corruption.
Yevgenia Albats
September 15, 1999
Opinion

A Woman at Odds With Her Times

Charlotte Curtis is portrayed as a controversial pioneer in journalism.
Maria Henson
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

The Role of Reporters’ Judgment

A question from the audience elicited discussion about whether there can ever be truly “independent sources.” The whole notion of independent sources, this questioner posed to the journalists, “is an…
September 15, 1999
Opinion

The Inestimable Value of Family Ownership

As corporate newspaper ownership increases, independent decision-making is lost.
Alex S. Jones
September 15, 1999
Opinion

Punch Sulzberger’s Pentagon Papers Decision

Excerpt from “The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times,” by Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones, published by Little, Brown and Company, 1999
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

How the Real Story Gets Told in Pictures

For five and a half years, Pete Souza was the official White House photographer during the Reagan Administration. His intimate access to the President provided him with an ability to…
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

Is ‘New Media’ Really New?

For news agency reporters, technology changes but not how the job is done.
Kevin Noblet
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

Nursing Stories Journalists Fail to Cover

A nurse raises vital questions that reporters should be asking.
Jean Chaisson
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

Can Anybody Find News Here?

In Hyannis Port, nobody could. But ‘news’ was delivered, anyway.
Melissa Ludtke
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

The Missing Voices in Coverage of Health

Nurses’ experience and research is vital to, but absent from, these stories.
Bernice Buresh
September 15, 1999
Watchdog

Reporters’ Relationships With Sources

No topic consumed as much of the conversation at the Watchdog conference as that of reporters’ relationships with sources. How are these relationships established? How can and should they be…
September 15, 1999
International Journalism

Fall 1999: International Journalism Introduction

Powerful owners, government officials and politicians work hard to control what journalists write and say. With elections ahead, the press faces critical tests of its independence. How Journalists Use Sources…
Melissa Ludtke
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

Women Sportswriters Confront New Issues

No longer focused on locker room access, work and family challenges prevail.
Claire Smith
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

Restricting a Photojournalist’s Access

The Red Sox tried to stop pictures of Fenway Park from being published.
Stan Grossfeld
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

Who Were You, Joe DiMaggio?

He was an ‘icon of icons’ about whom little was known.
David Halberstam
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

Muhammad Ali Was a Rebel. Michael Jordan Is a Brand Name.

In celebrating Jordan as a hero, are we merely worshipping capitalism?
Michael Crowley
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

In Sports Reporting, When Does the Personal Become News?

Boundaries seem much harder to find and a lot easier to cross.
Tom Witosky
September 15, 1999
International Journalism

Spanish Journalists Adore the Euro

Wonder why? The roots of this love affair go back a century.
Dale Fuchs
September 15, 1999
Opinion

Fall 1999: Words & Reflections Introduction

“What difference does it make that a family newspaper stays in the family?” This is the question posed by Alex S. Jones, author (along with Susan E. Tifft) of the…
Melissa Ludtke
September 15, 1999
Journalist’s Trade

Fall 1999: Journalist’s Trade Introduction

“Today it is difficult to pick up a sports section or watch a sporting event on TV without finding some athlete’s privacy being invaded.” This observation rests at the center…
Melissa Ludtke
September 15, 1999
International Journalism

In China, a New and Profitable Journalism Emerges

With profit comes change and questions about future direction.
Webster K. Nolan
September 15, 1999
International Journalism

Russian Regional Media

The nation’s financial crisis threatens journalists’ independence.
Virginie Coulloudon
September 15, 1999
International Journalism

Russian Television News: Owners and the Public

Owners jockey for political advantage. The public spots bias.
Ellen Mickiewicz
September 15, 1999
Nieman Notes

An Urban Eye Looks at Rural Life

Photographs that ‘beguile without fantasizing.’
Frank Van Riper
September 15, 1999
Nieman Notes

At Unity ’99 the Topic Was Journalism

The conference offered a glimpse of what newsrooms could be.
Sam Fulwood III
September 15, 1999
Opinion

Reporting on Reproductive and Genetic Technologies

An author describes her experiences—good and bad—with the media.
Lori B. Andrews
September 15, 1999
Opinion

Reporting on Child Welfare and Adoption Policies

An author and advocate contends that journalists are missing the story.
Elizabeth Bartholet
September 15, 1999
Opinion

A Journalist Reveals Himself in Letters

Irreverent, churlish, boastful and, sometimes, larger than life.
Elizabeth Leland
September 15, 1999
Opinion

The Cold War Generation of Patriotic Journalists

What happens when journalism becomes government propaganda?
Michael J. Kirkhorn
September 15, 1999

Masthead

Publisher
Bill Kovach
Editor
Melissa Ludtke
Assistant Editor
Adam Reilly
Design Editor
Deborah Smiley
Business Manager
Gina Camara
Cover Story
By Alexander Zemlianichenko, used by permission of the Associated Press, won a 1997 Pulitzer Prize.