CCJ Tools

The elements of journalism work both ways, and we citizens have to do our part in the relationship. We have a responsibility to show up, to be engaged, to send e-mails, and letters to the editor, to be part of the public forum and in some cases to initiate it.

We want to include children's voices and thoughts in our newspaper. But talking with children requires particular sensitivity and - sometimes - ought to involve special procedures. In particular, informing parents when we intend to publish material regarding their children is almost always a good idea.

Ten years ago, the Associated Press (AP) was a “collection of different companies.” The online and print teams were independent units, its video team was largely set apart in London, and its international branches all had different logos and cultures. Since then, AP has moved to become a fully digital multimedia platform, following the “one name, one logo, one story” precept. The Editors Weblog interviewed Tom Kent, AP’s deputy managing editor, who insisted on the importance of cultural change and communication for smooth newsroom integration. More than that though, Kent details the strategies put into place, explains the changes in the editorial process, and gives a preview of the future of the integrated newsroom.

From "balance" to "balance/ fairness/wholeness" and from "accuracy" to "accuracy/ authenticity:" In seminars across the country, editors in ASNE's Journalism Values Institute revised the core values of journalism.

The other essentials, the JVI participants affirmed, are leadership, accessibility, credibility and news judgment.

Following those deeper and broader definitions of our principles can certainly improve journalism as we know it today. And it's obvious that in the unlimited newshole of new media, we can practice those values like never before.

The San Francisco Chronicle's "Two Cents Project" is a pool of readers who agree to be accessible to the Chronicle via email to provide commentary on the news of the day and share their expertise and experiences with readers. Several papers and TV stations that have participated in the CCJ Traveling Curriculum Development Program have begun similar efforts. The Chronicle's model is one of the best we've seen.

Each year Medill School of Journalism professor and director of the Medill Innocence Project David Protess and his journalism class go through scores of cases of people on death row. He assigns his students to examine a handful of questionable convictions. All told Protess and his class have saved at least five people wrongly convicted of murder.

Martinsville (IN) Reporter-Times Managing Editor Brian Culp shared the following tool during a February 2007 Traveling Curriculum workshop.

During the workshop, CCJ Traveling Curriculum trainers posed the question: "What obstacles in your newsrooms prevent staff from speaking up when they notice errors, contradictions, or other problematic issues in a colleague's story?"

What do we as citizens have a right to expect from journalists? Based on five years of research conducted from 1997 to 2002--what we believe is the most comprehensive and systematic effort ever by journalists to define the common principles of the profession--the following constitute a consensus about what journalists must offer and what citizens should expect.

Since the first one in 1990, "Nooners" have become a staple of the Detroit Free Press' culture as a teaching newspaper.

Nooners are simply lunchtime enrichment sessions, and they have become an easy way to provide frequent, convenient and inexpensive in-house training. They are only a small part of the training picture, but they are available to all and an ongoing reminder that professional growth is important.