ISSUE

Spring 1998

Watchdog, Attack Dog, or Lapdog?

This issue on Watchdog Journalism originated with a call by Murrey Marder, the retired Washington Post Diplomatic Correspondent, for a return to more aggressive, but responsible, reporting. The package begins with two articles on the media's handling of the accusations that President Clinton had an improper sexual relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky. Excerpts from a seminar by Seymour Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, follow. Then we offer position papers on the status of watchdog journalism in four areas—the economic sector, state and local government, national security and nonprofit organizations.

Articles

Features

Response: Check on Creative Accounting

Americans are the most generous people in the world, donating more to charity each year than the gross national products of many countries—some $120 billion, all told. As George Rodrigue…

Features

For America’s Nonprofit Sector, The Watchdog Seldom Barks

Democratic candidate Bill Yellowtail presented his views as Republican Rick Hill, left, and Natural Law Party candidate Jim Brooks, right, waited their turn in a debate in Great Falls, Montana,…

George Rodrigue

Features

Types of Nonprofits

Features

A Dozen Tips for Stories About Nonprofits

A dozen story suggestions from editors, reporters and nonprofit leaders:Nonproflts that deliver. Gather information on all major nonprofits serving your area, and compare the amount of resources they devote to…

George Rodrigue

Watchdog

Response: Help Is Available

I start with a point from Richard Parker’s discussion of needed improvements in journalism education and apply it more broadly.Parker argues that "fundamental democratic political concerns" should provide the context…

Eileen Shanahan

Watchdog

Is Anything Really Wrong?

Some years ago The New York Times editorial page expressed the complacent notion that "great publications magnify the voice of any single writer." The statement is misleading. The instruments of…

Watchdog

Response: Demystify the Subject

Once upon a time I thought, along with Richard Parker, that "watchdog" journalism equaled "muckraking," which would lead to "making America better." Indeed, when Richard recruited me to help him…

Features

Spring 1998: Nonprofits Introduction

Francis Warm shows copy of records the Nazis kept of their pillaging of art from his great-uncle’s estate in France. Many of the paintings are now in museums. Boston Globe…

Features

Not Black, Not White, It’s American History

Somewhere back there, someone decided that rather than jump off a slave ship and kill themselves, they saw a future. Rather than give up and die and not deal with…

Orlando Bagwell

Features

Response: Avoid Close Relations

The local head of a nationally recognized charity earns nearly $200,000 a year, travels the globe at the nonprofit’s expense and receives a new car of the model of his…

Local News

Response: What’s Often Missing Is Desire

Joyce Purnick speaks for many a metro and state editor when she describes the strain of keeping up with the news while watching for the big stories. At a midsize…

Features

Response: It’s Easier to Be Passive

When I was teaching journalism—communication, as most educators prefer nowadays—the authors of a widely used introductory textbook insisted that part of the media’s mission is the "transference of culture." Meaning,…

Local News

Response: Make Enterprise Reporting An Ongoing Part of Newspapers Mission

Joyce Purnick is right about almost everything, which means that a lot of the rest of us—and maybe even Purnick herself—should be rethinking some of the things that we do.She’s…

Features

Response: Document Activities

When newspapers start believing what they are told, there is no surer way to cheat a reader. Good reporters never take a politician’s word, but verify claims instead. Reporters know…

Journalist’s Trade

The Need for Expert Education Reporters

Harvard President Calls for Better Training—Asks About 'Credentialing' Journalists

Watchdog

Where Are the Stories Behind the Leaks?

Twenty-five years ago when I was a special assistant to Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, one of my daily tasks was to help him figure out the news. Why were…

Journalist’s Trade

The ACLU and the Tobacco Companies

The American Civil Liberties Union has defended the Bill of Rights since its founding in 1920. This proud record does not necessarily mean that the ACLU welcomes an exercise of…

Watchdog

Editors Without Backbone

They Are Responsible for Letting Rumors Run Amuck In Coverage of the Clinton-Lewinsky Story

Journalist’s Trade

Spring 1998: Journalist’s Trade Introduction

Tn the following pages Morton Mintz examines the alliance between the American Civil Liberties Union and tobacco companies that have pro?vided it with financial support.

Opinion

And on Whitewater…

An article in the winter 1997 issue of Nieman Reports, “Getting It Wrong on Whitewater,” refuted the widely reported belief that a portion of an illegal 1986 loan to Susan…

Opinion

Alternate Forms of Transportation

BOSTON To the Editor: As a journalist and author (of “Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back”), I was pleased to see…

Opinion

When Is More Less?

NEW YORKTo the Editor:I’m delighted that my letter of some months ago asking [Tom Regan, Nieman Reports technology columnist] to explain the differences between reporting for the conventional media and…

Watchdog

Spring 1998: Watchdog Introduction

This issue on Watchdog Journalism originated with a call by Murrey Marder, the retired Washington Post Diplomatic Correspondent, for a return to more aggressive, but responsible, reporting. The package begins…

Opinion

Inspecting Road Sites

LOUISVILLETo the Editor:No country in the world can match the United States for extravagant use and waste of its resources. And nothing reveals waste more than our pell-mell pursuit of…

Local News

For State and Local Government, The Key Is Sufficient Resources

My assignment: examine the state of “aggressive journalism” in state and local government—whether we do enough of it, whether we are hard-nosed enough, whether we do what we do well…

Local News

TV Journalists Should Take Responsibility

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Local News

Misappropriation of Public Resource

Most of the seasoned journalists, that is, people who began in the 80’s or were studying in the 80’s.. .feel very uncomfortable about what’s happening. And they do not speak…

Local News

Spring 1998: State & Local Governments Introduction

The second paper on watchdog journalism concerns state and local governments. As Washington has reduced its control of important functions, such as welfare, state and local governments have increased their…

Watchdog

Response: What About Corporate Crime?

Richard Parker’s paper is an insightful, scholarly and valuable overview. But his analysis of contemporary watchdog economics journalism and his recommendations trouble this long-time reporter.Consider these quotes: “It seems malign”…

Journalist’s Trade

Response: Narratives and Analysis

As I sit down to write this the United States is considering new military strikes against Iraq, Pope John Paul II is calling for freedom in Cuba, and the country…

Carla Anne Robbins

Journalist’s Trade

Spring 1998: National Security Introduction

Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney responds to questions front the media while taking part in a press conference held by U.S. and Saudi Arabian officials during Operation Desert Storm. Official…

Journalist’s Trade

On National Security, Five Ways to Respond to Restraints

My first reaction to the assignment of writing about the lingering effects of Cold War self-censorship is to redefine the subject. If self-censorship means restraint, self-imposed or accepted by an…

Journalist’s Trade

Response: an ‘Unbridgeable Divide’

My departure point for any discussion of national security reporting is an evening in the early 1980’s, when I was a Washington correspondent for The New York Times. Several days…

Technology

On the Web, Speed Instead of Accuracy

It was, yet again,another "defining" moment for on-line media. Most of the early details of the alleged affair between President Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky had emerged on…

Journalist’s Trade

He Saw Folly of Racism Through Prism of Humor

Harry S. Ashmore 1916-1998In April 1960, The New York Herald Tribune published 12 articles by Harry S. Ashmore, who had just left The Arkansas Gazette where he had served for…

Journalist’s Trade

Falling Into the Fault Line Chasm

He was young, but he knew it was the kind of story that could change lives and win prizes so he didn’t hesitate when his editors asked him to spend…

Dori J. Maynard

Watchdog

Spring 1998: The Economic Sector Introduction

The first paper on four areas of watchdog journalism concerns the economic sector. As these cartoons show, some issues that disturb the country have not changed in the last century—fear…

Journalist’s Trade

The Fred Friendly Impact

It was a coin toss as to which provoked more contempt in my youth, authority or celebrity.Fred Friendly combined them both, though his celebrity was of the professional, behind-the-scenes sort.…

Eileen McNamara

Watchdog

Two Stories Seymour Hersh Never Wrote

Seymour M. Hersh has won more than a dozen major journalism prizes as an investigative reporter, including the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his disclosure of the My…

Seymour M. Hersh

Local News

Response: Eye Always on Bureaucracies

The late Peter Kihss was one of the greatest American reporters of the 20th Century. Year after year, on a huge variety of subjects, he produced spot news and investigative…