The San Francisco Bay Guardian printed an interesting piece this week on the need to encourage more independent local voices. The article, which cites The Public Press as a hopeful example of media innovation, points to the source of the crisis in journalism: economic sustainability. While there’s no shortage of good coverage ideas, there are […]
Author Archives: Michael Stoll
Michael Stoll is senior editor and co-founder of the San Francisco Public Press. Formerly executive director, he has also been a reporter and freelance writer for local and national outlets, including the San Francisco Examiner and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has taught journalism at two Bay Area universities, and researched media ethics at Stanford.
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, News
Finding, and funding, a way forward for local media
Written version of comments delivered at the Dec. 4 Public Press/Newsdesk.org fundraiser-friendraiser party in San Francisco I want to thank you all for coming. I think your presence here is a testament to the passionate belief of journalists and supporters of good journalism that a vibrant and independent press is essential to keeping our democratic […]
Posted inElections, Fact Check, From the Newsroom, News
The Truthiness Report: Fact-checking SF election ads
In the weeks leading up to Election Day 2008, The Public Press joined with Newsdesk.org in a unique noncommercial news collaboration to fact-check the dizzying array of voter propositions on the San Francisco ballot.
The project, which was co-published on Newsdesk.org and Public-Press.org, with segments broadcast on Crosscurrents Radio on KALW-FM, took to task the spinmeisters who flooded San Francisco neighborhoods with fliers containing truths, half-truths, and “truthiness.”
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, News
Thanks for a successful Public Press/Newsdesk fundraiser!
The fundraiser for The Public Press and Newsdesk.org was truly a teamwork effort, and that came across loud and clear for the new people who crossed the transom into the unknown world of journalism entrepreneurialism Thursday night. I heard a few stories of people who had spent their whole journalism careers plugging away at their […]
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, News
This week’s buzz on nonprofit local news
I got about a dozen e-mails within hours of the publication of a great story on the front page of The New York Times on Tuesday, "Web Sites That Dig for News Rise as Watchdogs." Reporter Richard Pérez Peña highlighted our friends at Voice of San Diego, and examined other projects in Minneapolis, Seattle, St. […]
Posted inElections, Fact Check, News
SF Election 2008 Proposition Fliers Decoded
View a sampling of dozens of fliers distributed in San Francisco to sway voters for and against propositions at our Flickr site — and mouse over the graphics to read our reporters’ commentary.
Posted inElections, Fact Check, News
Prop. D: Consensus on Pier 70?
By Bernice Yeung, Newsdesk.org/The Public Press Although development is a perennially hot-button topic in San Francisco due to concerns about gentrification, Proposition D, which would facilitate Pier 70 revitalization, is a seemingly controversy-free measure that has garnered wide support from neighborhood groups, environmentalists, city officials and developers. Pier 70 is a 65-acre site along the […]
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, News
The ‘truthiness’ is out there; many assume bias in media
The "Truthiness" election-ad fact-check project we’ve been publishing along with Newsdesk.org and Spot.Us is almost done, but suspicion from the public that anyone can remain dispassionate when it comes to politics definitely remains. That sets a high hurdle for a startup journalism project trying to break into coverage of San Francisco in a significant way. […]
Posted inElections, Fact Check, News
Prop. A: The Specter of a City Without a Lifeline
By Matthew Hirsch, Newsdesk.org/The Public Press View our annotated Flickr collection to see how pro-Propositon A activists are spinning the issue in campaign fliers. The proponents of Proposition A want voters to believe that the Nov. 4 election is a matter of life or death for San Francisco’s main public hospital. The measure […]
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, News
Ad slump batters papers, again
Our colleague Tom Murphy, over at RedwoodAge.com, picked up an AP story the other day: "Soft economy speeds newspaper decline, job cuts." McClatchy, owner of the Bees in California, is among the chains leading the cutbacks, with the Sacramento Bee offering buyouts to a majority of its full-time employees. While it’s true that, as the […]