ISSUE

Summer 2011

Links that Bind Us

In digital space, journalists are proving to be a powerful force in creating, nurturing and engaging communities. No longer serving only geographic zones, they confront the fragmentation of audience and the need to attract and retain “eyeballs.” Their efforts to embrace and interact with communities are fueled by an instinct to survive. Habits and hobbies, interests and values, political leanings, and sports allegiances are the grist of community formation. Discover the various roles journalists are assuming and how the links we share bind us.

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Articles

Opinion

The Inner Fire of Muckraking Journalists

Steve Weinberg writes about the inner fire that made Jack Anderson love to kick Nixon around, Dan Kennedy looks at a new take on the complicated life of Marshall McLuhan,…
Steve Weinberg
July 8, 2011
Books

Revealing the Underbelly of Turbulent Times

The plot of James O’Shea’s book reads like a fast-paced novel: greedy owners, corporate intrigue, a boorish manager, and a staff revolt. Yet it’s a true story.In “The Deal From…
Jan Gardner
June 27, 2011
Features

Engaging Communities: Content and Conversation

‘Editors ought to require that story pitches and budget lines include an engagement component, reflecting community conversation, collaboration and outreach.’
Joy Mayer
June 27, 2011
Journalist’s Trade

Online Comments: Dialogue or Diatribe?

Among the minority who dominate the online conversation is ‘the digital equivalent of the loudest drunk in the bar.’
Alicia C. Shepard
June 16, 2011
Features

Community: A New Business Model for News

‘… the most powerful emerging business driver in the new economy is community.’
Michael Skoler
June 15, 2011
Journalist’s Trade

Local Reporting Builds a Community’s ‘Social Capital’

‘Community journalism assumes its value in finding ways to connect people—by identifying passions and concerns they share, linking neighbor to neighbor, and motivating people to act.’
David Joyner
June 15, 2011
Nieman Notes

In a Time of Need, a Friend Indeed

‘I imagine [the memorial service for the Rev. Peter J. Gomes] was filled with people like me who needed to thank a man, a minister, who helped them believe again—whether…
Patricia S. Guthrie
June 10, 2011
Technology

Summer 2011: Introduction

In digital space, journalists are proving to be a powerful force in creating, nurturing and engaging communities. No longer serving only geographic zones, they confront the fragmentation of audience and the need to attract and…
Melissa Ludtke
June 10, 2011
Nieman Notes

Summer 2011: Class Notes

1964James H. McCartney, a longtime Washington correspondent and columnist who specialized in foreign affairs and defense policy, died at his home in Florida on May 6th from cancer. He was…
Jan Gardner
June 10, 2011
Diversity Local News

Reporting Pushes Past Language and Ethnic Divides

‘… Alhambra Source has revealed significant lessons about the power of journalism to build community in diverse and underserved areas.’
Daniela Gerson
June 10, 2011
Journalist’s Trade

Everyone’s Welcome at the Newsroom Cafe

‘We’ve torn down the dividing wall and now we can listen closely to the voices once behind it. That’s what our changes are about.’
Emily M. Olson
June 10, 2011
Local News

Advertising as Storytelling—So News Stories Can Be Told

While much attention is focused on how to “fix” journalism, the bigger problem is fixing advertising to pay for the news. For me, Detroit143 is, in part, about reinventing what…
Kirk Cheyfitz
June 10, 2011
Local News Opinion

A Promising Collaboration of Place, Time and Niche

Community members come together to examine Detroit’s financial challenges. Photo by Ellen Jacob.RELATED ARTICLES“Focusing a New Kind of Journalism on a City’s Needs”– Bill Mitchell“A New Partnership to Build a…
Lynette Clemetson
June 10, 2011
Local News

A New Partnership to Build a Common Understanding

Detroit’s challenges hold the attention of those who reside in its 143 square miles. Photo by Ellen Jacob.RELATED ARTICLES“Focusing a New Kind of Journalism on a City’s Needs”– Bill Mitchell“A…
Shirley Stancato
June 10, 2011
Local News Technology

Focusing a New Kind of Journalism on a City’s Needs

‘… residents need to have journalism delivered as they want to consume it and in ways that will encourage them to move beyond absorbing news to acting on it.’
Bill Mitchell
June 10, 2011
Features

A Community Watches a Story Unfold

‘It was risky to reveal parts of the story as it unfolded because in 30 years in this business I have seen projects hit dead ends.’
Ron Sylvester
June 10, 2011
Journalist’s Trade

News Literacy: What Not to Do

RELATED ARTICLES“Connecting Kids With News in Their Community”“Media Literacy: Learning Principles”– Renee HobbsThree instructional practices that are emerging in news literacy deserve closer scrutiny:Dumbing It Down: Some educators and news…
Renee Hobbs
June 9, 2011
Journalist’s Trade

Media Literacy: Learning Principles

Teachers in the Powerful Voices for Kids program helped students evaluate and create messages in a variety of media. Photo by Renee Hobbs.RELATED ARTICLES“Connecting Kids With News in Their Community”“…
Renee Hobbs
June 9, 2011
Nieman Notes

Feeling the Embrace of Her Nieman Family

D. Parvaz, freed in May after 19 days of captivity in Syria and then Iran, wrote a postscript to the accompanying essay, which she had written before her detention.RELATED ARTICLE“Landing…
D. Parvaz
June 9, 2011
Nieman Notes

Landing in Al Jazeera’s Vibrant Newsroom

‘… people show up on days off, come in early and leave late often without being asked, because not being in the newsroom when major stories break seems inconceivable.’
D. Parvaz
June 9, 2011
From the Curator

Living the Legacy of the Nieman Foundation

‘Helping to free Dorothy [Parvaz] and bring Hollman [Morris] to Harvard demonstrate the effective use of the Nieman bully pulpit.’
Bob Giles
June 9, 2011
Opinion

Steve Weinberg: Connections and Disclosures

RELATED ARTICLE“The Inner Fire of Muckraking Journalists”-Steve WeinbergIn 1989, Little, Brown and Company published my biography of industrialist Armand Hammer, and then Hammer sued me for defamation, as we knew…
Steve Weinberg
June 9, 2011
Opinion

A Failing Newsroom—Described With a Novelist’s Touch

Tom Rachman ‘is telling this story at a perfect time as newspapers shed staff and costs and, in some cases, shut down their presses altogether.’
Christina Kim
June 9, 2011
Opinion

Deciphering the Life of a Complicated Thinker

A novelist turned biographer places ‘[Marshall] McLuhan’s maddeningly difficult ideas in a recognizably human context.’
Dan Kennedy
June 9, 2011
Journalist’s Trade

Connecting Kids With News in Their Community

Youngsters made video games, and educators found that ‘hands-on activity helped kids to process news reporting. It also gave them ways to tell this story by integrating their perspectives as…
Renee Hobbs
June 9, 2011
Journalist’s Trade

Words and Visuals Intersect to Create Community

Interactive sites like Intersect ‘trace the contours of a story’s growth through the flow of time and place and offer viewers the chance to embed their stories into those being…
Peter Rinearson
June 9, 2011
Journalist’s Trade

Health Draws a Community Together Online

‘A new mindset emerged as the site’s gates swung open to community involvement. Now, community members are part of what we do every step along the way—and we are progressing…
Jane Ellen Stevens
June 9, 2011
Journalist’s Trade

What Football Pep Talks Taught Hyperlocal Reporters

‘Inestimable value comes out of making a human connection visible through something as ordinary as a half-time pep talk by a coach to his players.’
Bob Calo
June 9, 2011
Journalist’s Trade

Writing About People You Know

‘In community journalism, there is no place to hide, and if you want to hide, then you have no business in this business anyway.’
Al Cross
June 9, 2011
Local News

What We Learn Informs What We Do

A bilingual sign in a local farmers’ market. Photo by Daniela Gerson.RELATED ARTICLE“Reporting Pushes Past Language and Ethnic Divides”– Daniela GersonThe Alhambra Source was born out of…
Nancy Chen
June 9, 2011
Features

Finding Information Pathways to Community Inclusion

‘I yearned for grass-roots assessments of every community’s information ecology and widespread advocacy for stronger, more democratic media.’
Peter M. Shane
June 8, 2011
Local News

Journalism of Value = Context for Communities

The approach the Chicago News Cooperative is ‘trying to use journalism to create communities organized around an interest in the news.’
James O’Shea
June 8, 2011
Features

When Machines Decide What We ‘Think’

The Internet helps like-minded citizens find each other, but does it foster democracy? A while back Eli Pariser, board president and former executive director of the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org,…
Jan Gardner
June 8, 2011
Features

Curation, Community and the Future of News

‘People are clearly overwhelmed by the growing volume and weight of digital content and messaging that they feel compelled to process.’
Steven Rosenbaum
June 8, 2011
Features

When Community and Journalism Converge

‘… I am bypassing the predictable, often sensational headlines to explore the profound ways that digital storytelling can be a force for political mediation.’
Katerina Cizek
June 8, 2011
Features

Start Spreading the News

‘Word of link’s power is like nothing we’ve experienced before. It’s about how we pass along information, share ideas, and expand business in our digital times.’
Mark Briggs
June 8, 2011