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Resources and Wire Services | Magazines and Newspapers | Professional Organizations and Journals | Criticism
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Don Hewitt

Over time, most journalists and journalism textbooks have come to define news by a set of criteria for determining newsworthiness. Although other elements could be added to the list, news criteria generally include timeliness, proximity, conflict, prominence, human interest, consequence, usefulness, novelty, and deviance. Most journalist select and develop news stories based on these criteria.

The rules and rituals governing American journalism started shifting in the 1950's with television news. The brevity of a televised report is often compared unfavorably to the length of print news. However, newspaper reviewers and other TV critics seldom discuss the visual language of TV news and the ways in which images may capture events more powerfully than words.

In contemporary America, the shift from a print-dominated culture to an electronic-digital culture requires thoughtful scrutiny. Instead, the complexity of this shift is often reduced to a two-dimensional debate about information vs. entertainment. Yet over the past forty-five years, television news has dramatized America's key events and provided a clearinghouse for shared information -- a function that CNN is now performing on a global level.

The Internet may well be altering the shape of news yet again. What makes news may still hold true, but how it is delivered is dramatically different. The information is there in print, with pictures, and in time it will be available with audio and video as well; we have access to it when we want and from whom we want, it can even take on a global outlook. There is less filtering. Whether that will remain true over time has yet to be seen, but clearly, we have more access to more news now, than ever before. We should remain critical of the state of news today, and of journalists and be aware, not only of what news is being presented to us, but who is delivering it, and how it is being presented.

Resources and Wire Services

News agencies and services provide information to all the news outlets, and many of them are establishing an internet presence as well. This is useful if you have an area or country of interest that is not well covered in your local media sources.

• Reuters
• Associated Press
• Panafrican News Agency
• Air Force News Agency
• Bloomberg Online

Magazines and Newspapers

There are a number of magazines and newspapers who have as part of their compliment of columnists, those critical of the media particularly journalists and journalism. Some of these resources include:

• HotWired, Wired Magazine, Wired News
• Slate MediaBeat
• The Atlantic Monthly
• Mother Jones
• National Review
• Savvy Search

Professional Organizations and Journals

Professional Organizations often sponsor conferences, seminars and articles on issues related to the media and mass communication, particularly the news media.

• Columbia Journalism Review
• National Press Club
• National Association of Broadcasters
• National Academy of TV Journalists
• American Journalism Review
• Public Relations Society of America PRSA
• Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA)
• Society of Professional Journalists
• Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Associated Press Managing Editors
• Journalism Forum, Online Press Club

Criticism

Criticism of the media is nothing new, and those groups who have long been critical of what we see in television programming--particularly the news--have Web sites as well. For additional resources see Media Ethics.

• The FCC For the latest in rulings from the FCC or for comments from the commissioners.

• Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) FAIR is the national media watch group which offers well-documented criticism in an effort to correct bias and imbalance. FAIR publishes the magazine EXTRA!, the radio show CounterSpin, and the syndicated column Media Beat, by Norman Solomon.

• Accuracy in Media (AIM) AIM investigates complaints of media misdeeds and works for higher standards in reporting. The Web site includes articles from their bi-weekly publication.

• Media Alliance A nonprofit organization which works to promote fairness and accuracy in the media. They also offer classes in an array of media diciplines and post job openings.

• Media Watchdog A collection of electronic resources related to media accuracy and censorship.

• Also look for magazines which feature articles critical of the media in general and television in particular. Note that many online columnists have a "feedback" area on their site -- you can give feedback directly to the author or join in a discussion with other readers.
  • MediaCulture Review A compendium of the best features, commentary, and criticism from the alternative press and elsewhere on media, technology, and culture.
  • HotWired MagazineGo to the Synapse section of the site, and bring along the latest browser version you can find. Look especially for Jon Katz on how the media covers Internet news (before Synapse, his column was called "Media Rant").
  • Slate
  • Feed Magazine

• Visit John Labovitz's E-ZINE LIST to browse through intenet e-zines listed in the television and media categories.

Events and Chat areas

Several browsers and online services offer special events or opportunities to enter into a "live" conversation with practitioners in print and broadcast journalism.

Most services and browsers also offer bulletin boards where you can post comments or pose questions on a specific topic or show, and chat areas where you can enter into live conversations with other people from around the world. You may want to enter a chat area to meet with those who share your concerns or are interested in the influence and effects of media or in the creation of political or media agenda. Other chat areas often deal with issues related to democracy, censorship, freedom, etc.