Help Expose Bad Journalism

This week, from Monday February 22 through Sunday February 28, 2010, NewsTrust is hosting a News Hunt for Bad Journalism, to highlight journalism with serious flaws: news reports and opinions that are inaccurate, biased, irresponsible or superficial. Please join our News Hunt, to help expose bad journalism — and fight the spin that is spreading in the news media and on the Internet.

For this special News Hunt, we will be joined by journalism students from Howard Rheingold’s class at Stanford University. Each day this week, we'll feature different examples of bad journalism from a variety of sources, across the political spectrum. We invite you to review these stories and rate them for journalistic quality, so we can identify the worst stories at the end of the week. Here's our schedule this week:

• Monday - News Reports
• Tuesday - Opinions
• Wednesday - Pundits from the Right
• Thursday - Pundits from the Left
• Friday - Media Watchdogs
• Saturday - Fact Checkers

(note that this blog post was updated throughout the week with new stories for review -- see below)

News Literacy Guides
To prepare for this News Hunt for Bad Journalism, we encourage you to read our Quick Review Guide, for helpful tips on how to review a story. Also, please read "Crap Detection 101" by Howard Rheingold (Stanford University), and "Think Like a Journalist" by Michael Bugeja (Iowa State University)

News Comparisons
How do you rate the stories below? Throughout this week, we'll compare questionable stories from these categories.

News Reports

• Obama tops Bush at ducking reporters - Washington Times
• Conservatives mock Al Gore on snowstorms - Politico
• The Internet Will Make You Smarter, Claims Study - Reuters

Opinions 

• The EPA's climate con - New York Post
• N.Y. Times Laments Media Mistreatment of Voodoo, Including 'Voodoo Economics - NewsBusters
  
• Glenn Beck Dodges Incoming Plane at CPAC - The Nation
  

Pundits from the Right

• Obama's ability to dodge reporters' questions is now one for the record books - Fox News
• Obama Unveils Health Care Plan: A Defiant 'Screw You' to Nation - Rush Limbaugh Show
• Thunder on the right - Fox News

Pundits from the Left

• Chris Matthews: Throwback in South Carolina - MSNBC
  
• Uh-Oh...The Teabaggers Are Upset. - RandiRhodes.com
  
• Keith Olbermann: Not Worst Persons - MSNBC
  

Media Watchdogs

• WaPo's Ezra Klein Kisses Up to Keith, Agrees Limbaugh Is a 'Loathsome Racist' - NewsBusters
• 'Ram it through': Media adopt GOP characterization of majority vote - Media Matters
• ABC Pushes Obama's Insurance Demonization; Couric Asserts Summit 'Much-Anticipated' - Media Research Center

Fact-Checkers

• Health Care Summit Squabbles - FactCheck
• Fact-checking Obama's bipartisan health care reform meeting - PolitiFact

Join our News Hunt for Bad Journalism this week,to help us expose more stories that fail to uphold the journalistic standards that citizens rely on. To participate in this project, sign up (or login) and review any story our Bad Journalism page (featuring the Most Recent stories for review). To keep track of our scores throughout the week, check the Least Trusted tab on our Bad Journalism page (listing our lowest-rated stories so far).

And if you come across another example of bad journalism, please post it on our site (be sure to tag it "Bad Journalism" under Topics, so it will be listed in our News Hunt page).

Happy Hunting!

-- by Fabrice Florin, Kaizar Campwala and Derek Hawkins

Photo: Fox News

What I learned from NewsTrust

Hello all,

After more than a year and a half as NewsTrust's Assistant Editor—and regular author on this blog—I'm leaving NewsTrust to work at Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo. I'm sad to go, but you'll continue to see me here, now as a regular member. This being one of my last full days on the job, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on what I've accomplished with this wonderful staff and community.

First, let me flash back. It's May 2008. I've just graduated from journalism school and, unsurprisingly, I'm jobless. Journalism is not a field that's kind to 23-year-olds. As I begin the tiresome process of shaking down connections and scouring the Web for work, I keep myself sane by tapping into an interesting startup news site called NewsTrust.

I take to NewsTrust almost immediately. The community of reviewers seems to pride itself on looking beyond the day's memes at the deeper, more impactful stories that often get lost in the noise. I see a unique value in its mission, its advanced rating system and its push for transparency. NewsTrust seeks to be better than the Hive, and I like that.

Then, one day I get a private mail from an editor about a job opening...

*

I don't think I could have joined the NewsTrust staff at a better time. The site was riding a wave of popularity and buzz following a spectacular News Hunt on John McCain with the Huffington Post's OffTheBus team. The most intense months of the 2008 presidential election were just around the bend. The nature of the war in Afghanistan—still called "the forgotten war" at the time—was beginning to change, with questions about how a new president would handle the United States' presence there. August was marked by the Olympic Games in China, and the conflict in the Caucasus between Georgia, Russia and South Ossetia. The Democratic and Republican conventions followed. And who can forget what happened that fall?

All told, the first few months were as exciting as they could have been. There was a seemingly endless supply of timely and important stories for NewsTrust to scrutinize -- and a dedicated group of news junkies to help do it.

After the landmark election of Barack Obama, however, the news cycle seemed to change dramatically. The 2008 election broke many precedents, including the record for longest presidential election U.S. history. When it ended, things undoubtedly slowed down for news organizations everywhere, and NewsTrust was no exception. It became trickier to engage people in the wake of that huge event, and we saw it in our numbers. But the intensity of those months in 2008 galvanized me (and I think all of us at NewsTrust) for the more difficult work to come.

If you're reading this you probably have a good idea of the effort it takes to make this site work. Like a lot of sites in our league, it's an ongoing experiment, and NewsTrust is attempting to tackle a massive set of problems: How do we create a trust filter for the abundance of news on the Web? How can we help people become more critical news consumers? In a news cycle where everyone's trying to "win the day," how can we slow down the process and get the best information?

Beyond that first phase on the job, I sum up my experience at NewsTrust as a daily attempt to help my team and the community here find solutions to those problems. It hasn't been easy, and we've all had moments of frustration. But through it all, I've never lost sight of that initial drive I had when I joined, and still share with our community.

It was there last January when we teamed up with Link TV to focus on the war in Gaza. In June, when a fraudulent election led to social upheaval in Iran, we followed daily developments vigorously. Since last summer, it seems hardly a major health care story has slipped under our radar. I'm proud to say our community rejected Sarah Palin's "death panel" accusations and other rumors right off the bat—and when the debate was still raging in October, we persisted with another stellar health care News Hunt with our partners at the Huffington Post. Another key moment came with the launch of the new version of our site in September—the culmination of months of work that brought vast improvements to NewsTrust.

Those are just a few of the great projects I've taken part in during my relatively short time here. To me, they add up to a bold statement: NewsTrust is different. I can think of few other sites whose aim is to help people become better citizens by harnessing the power of the community, and I don't think any does it as elegantly as NewsTrust. I take off next week to make my way into national reporting for another site I admire equally, and in due time you just might be reviewing my stories on NewsTrust. My greatest hope upon leaving is that you'll be around to do it.

*

My most sincere gratitude goes to the NewsTrust team: Fabrice, Kaizar, Subbu, David, Adam, Joey, Beth, Caleb and the many partners, friends and advisors I've been fortunate to meet. You've been amazing mentors, brilliant colleagues, and good friends. I've never worked with such a talented, dedicated and selfless group of people. Many thanks also go to the community members I've interacted with since I got here. There are dozens of you, so I won't name everyone, but please take my thanks as genuine. See y'all online!

-- Derek Hawkins

Member Awards – January

We're pleased to announce the Member Award winners for January 2010!

Our monthly award program, which we announced last fall, spotlights members of our community who make outstanding contributions to our cause.

Award Winners
Here are our six award winners for January '10:

• Top Rated Reviewer - Jonathan Isaac Mitchell
Jonathan received high ratings from other members for his January reviews of stories from the Washington Post, New York Times and more. A newcomer to NewsTrust, Jonathan has already made great contributions to our community. Looking forward to working with you more, Jonathan!

• Most Thorough Reviewer - Kristin Gorski
Kristin, a NewsTrust stalwart, was our most thorough reviewer last month. As a long-time NewsTrust editor, host and co-author of our Teacher Guides, this recognition is long overdue. Kristin, we're immensely grateful for your outstanding participation and enthusiasm for our site.

• Most Active Reviewer - Randy Morrow
Randy reviewed 63 stories in January, bringing quality journalism from a wide range of publications to our attention. Thanks, Randy, much appreciated!

• Trusted Member of the Month - Emma Asomba
Emma, a policy analyst and researcher, joined NewsTrust last July and hosted our Pakistan News Hunt. He continues to bring fair criticisms and broad-minded perspectives on the day's news. Well done, Emma!

• Editor of the Month - Jim Lang
From time to time, we give special awards to NewsTrust community editors or hosts who make exceptional contributions to our cause. This month, we honor Jim for the fairness and objectivity he's consistently demonstrated in his reviews since he joined NewsTrust more than three years ago. Bravo, Jim!

• Teacher of the Month - Sally Lehrman
This month, we're happy to introduce a new award to honor educators who use NewsTrust in the classroom. Sally Lehrman is a journalism professor at Santa Clara University who, along with her students, has taken part in several NewsTrust projects in the past year, including our Bad Journalism News Hunt last October. This semester, she is asking her students to review more stories on NewsTrust, for her class on Race, Gender and Public Health in the News. We look forward to working with Sally and her students again this year, to help them learn the difference between good and bad journalism. 

As a small token of our appreciation, we're sending all award winners this NewsTrust mug:

Win a Member Award

If you are a regular NewsTrust reviewer, you too could win one of our monthly awards (see our October, November and December winners.

Here are some of the ways you can qualify for a member award and increase your own member level:

• Review often
Our top rated reviewers review and post stories regularly and thoroughly. Try to review at least a couple times per week and answer as many questions as you can. To review stories on our site, click 'Review' next to any story title; a good place to start is our home page.

• Focus on the journalism 
Here at NewsTrust, we try to rate stories based on the quality of the journalism, not whether we agree with the views presented in these stories. For tips on how to review on our site, check our review guide. 

• Fill your profile 
Take a moment to update your member profile, so other members can get to know you. The more you share about yourself, the higher your member level, and the more your ratings count. Be sure to add a picture if you can. 


How Member Awards Work

At the end of each month, NewsTrust staff editors tally the results for each award and announce the winners in a blog post and email newsletter. Winners can only win one award per year. If they qualify for two awards in the same month, they're only awarded one prize. 

NewsTrust staff editors and directors cannot not qualify for these awards. We will announce our February winners the week of March 1st.

We'd love to hear what you think of this community program, which we are extending for three months, through March 2010. Drop a comment here on the blog -- or email us directly at editors-at-newstrust-dot-net.

Support our Work
If you find our service useful, consider making a personal donation to NewsTrust. Your contribution will fund site improvements, new tools, community outreach, news literacy programs and much more. To see what we've accomplished together in 2009, check our Progress Report.   

 Please donate today, so we can continue to promote good journalism and bring you quality news and information. Our continued growth depends on you.  

-- by Derek Hawkins, Kaizar Campwala and Fabrice Florin