Campaign 2004: Columbia Journalism Review Launches Media Watchdog Site

[Melinda]

Greetings! You have just logged on to what all of us at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism think is an exciting and important innovation in press criticism. CampaignDesk.org, which you are now visiting, will operate on the Web through the presidential election season, under the auspices of Columbia Journalism Review, the country's premier media monitor.

One of the minor rituals of American presidential politics is the post-election self-examination (or perhaps I should say self-flagellation) by the press. Quadrennially, we regret having pursued some lines of inquiry while ignoring others, or having gotten caught up in momentary feeding frenzies over unimportant things, or having been too susceptible to spin -- and then we resolve to do a better job next time. But now we have a new tool. In 2004, the Web makes it possible to analyze and criticize press coverage in real time, so that suggestions for improved coverage might actually be heeded, and incorporated into campaign coverage, while the campaign is still under way.

-snip-

A few assurances are in order: The Desk will be politically nonpartisan. While it will call attention to journalistic sins, both of omission and commission, it will by no means be exclusively a finger-wagging operation. It will have a lively, engaged tone, not a grim, censorious one. One of the Desk's important functions will be to praise work of high quality, and one of its most useful aspects will be its ability to bring distinguished work in the local press to national attention, instantly and (through links) in full.

The Desk aims to decrease, not enhance, the self-referential and self-enclosed tendencies of the campaign press. It is quite difficult for reporters traveling with a presidential campaign to get information independently; the Desk intends to make this easier, by making available links to briefing materials, accurate information, and other documents from the outside world that will help reporters evaluate what the candidates are saying.

http://campaigndesk.org/

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My fingers are crossed; it would be refreshing to see honest reporting and assessments of the candidates and their issue stance(s) sans media personality (whores) spin.

[zanana]

1. I just checked it out.

Excellent. I'm looking forward to the presidential campaign season now. I've bookmarked it and will be visiting the site often. Thanks!

[Melinda]

2. Kick cause this thread is invaluable and doesn't deserve premature burial

:kick:

[maddezmom]

3. kick

someone posted this link the other night, got it bookmarked. But here is another kick for those that may have missed it. :)