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 […]
Category: From the Newsroom
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 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 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 […]
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, News
SF pioneers journalism ‘crowdfunding’ model
Update on the political ad fact-checking project, a Public Press collaboration with Newsdesk.org: As of Aug. 24 we have raised 89 percent of the $2,500 goal, courtesy of David Cohn’s experimental "crowdfunding" tool, Spot.us. We’re already working with two reporters who have started researching ballot initiatives and candidacies on the Nov. 4 election in San […]
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, News
Consolidation woes
Two interesting postings from journalists, expressing outrage at the destructive effects of corporate consolidation in the newspaper industry: Alan Mutter, media blogger at Reflections of a Newsosaur, describes the slashing of staff, infrastructure, institutional memory and community connection at the San Mateo County Times under the management of Northern California newspaper oligopolist MediaNews. His […]
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, News
The Public Press’ bid for tech-innovation grant goes public
The Public Press is gearing up to compete in the Knight News Challenge this year. The $5 million award from the Knight Foundation goes to a handful of projects deemed by the judges to be innovative uses of technology for the fulfillment of the unmet information needs of society. This year the foundation opened up […]
Posted inFrom the Newsroom, News
S.F. Chronicle refugees needed
We were saddened to learn late last week that the San Francisco Chronicle again is pursuing another round of staff reductions, seeking to eliminate 125 jobs through buyouts. Carl Hall, the eternal curmudgeon (we love you, Carl!) at the Northern California Media Workers Guild, told SF Weekly that "It looks like the end for print […]