Election News Hunt Results

"What needs to change so that citizens can participate more effectively in our democracy?"  Our indefatigable hosts Chris Finnie and Mike LaBonte kept that question in mind as they led our Election News Hunt from June 30 through July 14, scouring the internet for journalism on what works and what doesn't in our current election system. They were joined by their fellow NewsTrust hosts and reviewers, as well as new members from our partners at PBS Engage and the documentary series P.O.V.  To find out more about our Election News Hunt, check our press release, blog announcement and last week's update.

Top Stories

Here are some of the top rated stories we found during our Election News Hunt. They were collectively selected by our community from 231 submissions on the 2008 Presidential Election topic, with 117 stories receiving a quality rating from our reviewers.

Top Rated News

• Tax Tally Trickery - FactCheck
• Election Day - P.O.V. / PBS
• Election Protection 2008 Primary Report: Looking Ahead to November - National Campaign for Fair Elections
• Obama and the Black Church - The New York Review of Books
• Barack by the books - Salon
• State Poll Roundup: Zogby's 50 State Polls - 3BlueDudes
• Election Day Reality: no Registration = No Vote (in most states) - The National Voter
• How Chicago shaped Obama - New Yorker
• McCain Plan to Aid States on Health Could Be Costly - New York Times
• President Remains A Skilled Fundraiser - Washington Post

Top Rated Opinion

• The political establishment and telecom immunity -- why it matters - Salon
• The Week That Should Have Ended McCain's Presidential Hopes - Huffington Post
• Just Democracy - The Nation
• Jesse Helms Was No Hero - Wall Street Journal
• McCain Pledges Allegiance to NAFTA - Huffington Post
• Barack Obama and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments - FindLaw
• How the Republicans claimed the "patriotism" mantle in presidential politics - Slate
• The GOP's Carter Moment - Ross Douthat's blog at Atlantic Monthly
• Defending Wes Clark - Huffington Post
• What Patriotism Is - Campaign for America's Future

To see more, take a look at the full listing of stories rated during the Election News Hunt, sorted by rating, or by date.

Election Reform Coverage
We started our investigation with Katy Chevigny's P.O.V. documentary, Election Day, which gave us a glimpse at voters, poll workers and poll watchers from eleven locales on November 2, 2004, from dawn until long past midnight. In an interview on the P.O.V. site, Chevigny explained why she had made her film:

I would love to see more Americans interested in trying to improve the electoral system. If we were to pressure our political leaders to pay some real attention to this, we could see some changes.

Disparities in the quality of the voting experience, a key issue in the film, varied between low-, middle- and high-income neighborhoods. This appeared to still exist in 2006 and may not be resolved for 2008. Some new state laws may further complicate the system. Some argue such laws were passed to disenfranchise voters. In Florida, whose voting irregularities in 2000 became the justification for the passage of the federal Help America Vote Act, the legislature has passed a "no-match, no-vote" law, which Steven Rosenfeld writes of in a highly rated story from AlterNet, "Florida's 2008 Election Landscape Looking More Like 2000":

Allows county officials to reject new voter registration applications if the names on the forms do not match other state databases. Voter advocacy groups sued the state, claiming that database errors can cause applications to be rejected -- through no fault of would-be voters.

Rosenfeld starts with a quote from Leon County election supervisor Ion Sancho talking about the states "It really penalizes voters through no fault of their own...It strikes me as absolutely Kafkaesque."

In her review, Elizabeth Reynolds, who lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, notes that the author had already written a book about problems in Ohio and that his article serves to "get their registration corrected (if necessary) asap."

While Mike LaBonte found flaws in the the Florida Times Union story, "Voter law threatens to cloud elections" by Dierdre Conner, it does cover the suit brought by the Brennan Center for Justice on behalf of the League of Women Voters which maintains that state law serves to discourage voter registration drives.

On a positive note, states are taking the lead on improving voting machines.  The Oakland Tribune noted in "Feinstein wants to reform electronic voting" that the Senator from California has re-introduced federal legislation requiring a paper trail for machines.  While it would be surprising if any major changes take place before elections, voting activist Avi Rubin, a professor of  computer science at Johns Hopkins University, notes that most states have switched to paper records in an interview, "Q&A: E-voting activist more optimistic about voting systems," by Computerworld's  Todd R. Weiss. 

Meanwhile, the state of the U.S. economy, this week's featured topic, may have an effect on voting, as revealed in a story by Robert Vitale in the Columbus Dispatch, "Foreclosed-on voters using old addresses could snag election."

In Columbus, across Ohio and in other key presidential battlegrounds, more people losing their homes means more registered to vote from addresses where they no longer live.

Although federal law ensures that most still will be able to cast a ballot on Nov. 4, Ohio voters with outdated addresses risk pre-election challenges and trips from polling place to polling place. They're also more likely to cast provisional ballots that might not be counted.

And, the problem of the influence of money on campaigns continues. The Wall Street Journal's Elizabeth Williamson reports in "Housing Industry Ramps Up Political Donations" that

The housing industry already has given more money in political contributions this election cycle than in the entire previous cycle, while winning favorable provisions in an emergency housing bill moving through the legislature. 

from consequences. And they are, in unity, spewing rank propaganda to the commoners....

Obama is drawing criticism for abandoning public financing of his campaign. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal's Brody Mullins and T.W. Farnam reported in "McCain Allies Find Finance-Law Holes: Governors' Fund Recruits Big Donors; Bid to Catch Obama" that

Allies of Sen. John McCain have found new loopholes in the campaign-finance law he helped write ...In one method, a Republican Party fund aimed at electing governors has started marketing itself as a home for contributions of unlimited size to help Sen. McCain.

Disturbingly, they report that

the pitch is aimed at individuals, including many top contributors to the controversial Swift Boat group that targeted Sen. Kerry. Texas developer Bob Perry, the largest financial backer of the Swift Boat group, also is the largest individual donor to the governors group, at $250,000. Carl Lindner, a retired insurance executive in Ohio and another top Swift Boat financier, has contributed $100,000 to the governors' fund. The campaign-finance lawyer for the Swift Boat group in 2004 now serves the same role for the governors association. The McCain campaign and the individual contributors all declined to comment on their involvement.

The problem of smears, made famous by the "swift-boating" of John Kerry has raised its head in another form:  an Internet rumor that Barack Obama is a Muslim. In "An Attack That Came Out of the Ether," the Washington Post's Matthew Mosk looks at scholar Danielle Allen's attempts to determine how the rumor started.  He notes,

By the time it reached Allen on Jan. 11, 2008, it had spread with viral efficiency for more than a year.

During that time, polls show the number of voters who mistakenly believe Obama is a Muslim rose -- from 8 percent to 13 percent between November 2007 and March 2008. And some cited this religious mis-affiliation when explaining their primary votes against him.

Walter Cox notes in his review that he appreciated the article because he had received the emails and notes how it will be of use:

...when I e-mailed those who sent them (well-educated, normally well-informed relatives), informing them that the e-mails were false and requesting that they correct the record, I ran into quite a lot of resistance--one even claiming that "those Snopes people are all under Obama's spell." So the next time I receive one of these e-mails I will also be able to link to this article, which effectively discusses their genesis.

After reading that story, I was happy to discover the work of Michael Cornfield, a political scientist who specializes in the study of the media and American politics and directs research for Pew's Democracy Online Project. He writes a brief analysis of Obama's efforts to counter the rumors in his blog post for the Century Foundation, "The 'MyBarackObama" Experiment." The problem of course, is that an attempt to counter a rumor may actually strengthen it. He proposes that increasing online literacy revealed in the Pew study "The Internet and the 2008 Election" may yield a solution:

using the net to consider, first, the source of a disputed and/or disturbing truth-claim (via Google); second, the prevalent pattern of interpretation (partisan/bipartisan, easily scanned for national news via Memeorandum), and, third, the best available evidence (a matter of recognizing authenticated documents). Truth claims anchored in viewable evidence and attributable to a source acknowledged as credible on a bipartisan basis stand a decent chance of being valid.   

In an interesting turn, Obama's own computer platform, MyObama.com has been used by activists to try to influence his vote to grant immunity to telecom companies which cooperated with the Bush Administration to conduct warrentless domestic eavesdropping. Chris Finnie recommends  Micah L. Sifry at TechPresident who writes in "The FISA Protest and myBO: Can We Talk? Can They Listen?" that

The fact is, we're all entering completely new territory here. There have always been efforts to influence political candidates to take or change positions during a campaign (or afterward), but we've never before had a national campaign create an open platform for mobilizing supporters AND THEN seen a salient chunk of those supporters openly use that platform to challenge the candidate on a policy position. Indeed, while the net is inherently a two-way, many-to-many medium, no politician has yet used it to listen to his supporters as a group. Yes, the Obama campaign has asked its supporters to share their stories about their health care woes, and some of those anecdotes have made it into the campaign's blog or policy papers. But we have no norms for a collective, public discussion--even though we now have the capacity for one.

It has been posited that the 2006 elections marked not an end to disenfranchisement, but its overpowering effects on the election outcome.  And thus, I'll close with two articles in the League of Women Voters magazine, The National Voter.  The first is a 2006 article, New Barriers to Voting, brought to my attention by Project Vote.  The second, "Election Day Reality: no Registration = No Vote (in most states)"  by Shirley Tabata Ponomareff, Jeanette Senecal, points out

registering voters just as important as getting voters to the polls...in the majority of states, "no registration" is equivalent to "no vote."... seven states (Idaho, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming)...allow Election Day (same-day) registration, and... [in] North Dakota...no registration is required. .... In the three previous presidential elections, more than 80 percent of all registered voters went to the polls.

I hadn't realized that such a high number of those registered vote. I'm not sure it follows logically that increased registration will increase those getting to vote  to the extent they say, but it certainly can't hurt.

Thanks to our Partners: P.O.V. and PBS Engage

For this Election News Hunt, the NewsTrust community had the pleasure of collaborating with the documentary series P.O.V. and PBS Engage.

P.O.V. is the longest running showcase for indy film on television and has won numerous awards including three Oscars, 18 Emmys, 36 Cine Golden Eagles and 11 Peabody Awards. NewsTrust is honored to have worked with the folks at P.O.V. who make this excellent series possible. In particular, we would like to thank Theresa Riley, Catherine Jhee, Cathy Fisher, Cynthia Lopez, Jessica Lee, Anne del Castillo and Simon Kilmurry for all the time and resources they dedicated to spreading the word about this News Hunt.

PBS Engage is the Public Broadcasting Service's social media lab. Engage explores how social media can help PBS fulfill their mission of delivering high-quality, non-commercial content "that fosters knowledge, public dialogue and civic engagement." Thanks to Jayme Swain, Christopher Baker, Kevin Dando, Amy Baroch, Laura Hertzfeld, Craig Stoltz, Jonathan Coffman, Kenneth Dykes and Betty Alvarez for their wonderful promotion of the partnership on both PBS Engage and on the PBS homepage.

Join our next News Hunt on the U.S. Economy
This week's featured topic is the U.S. Economy. The Federal bailout of government-sponsored mortgage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is only the latest in a series of troubling events this year for the world's largest economy. Help us find good journalism on this important topic, then review stories on our U.S. Economy topic page.

And if you'd like to help host the topic, write us at editors-at-newstrust-net.

by Beth Wellington, with Kaizar Campwala, Derek Hawkins, Fabrice Florin and the NewsTrust Team

Election News Hunt Update

A week after we started our Election News Hunt with our partners PBS Engage and P.O.V., we have collectively found some great coverage of electoral issues from mainstream and independent media -- even though this was a slow week, due to the 4th of July holiday.

Kudos to our new members and our regular NewsTrust reviewers for this fine start! We particularly wish to thank our News Hunt co-hosts, Mike LaBonte and Chris Finnie for leading the charge. Thanks for being such wonderful hosts!

Top Stories
Here are some of the most interesting stories we've found so far:

News

Election Day
P.O.V. / PBS - By Katy Chevigny - Jul 2, 2008 (Special Report)

Tax Tally Trickery
FactCheck - By Lori Robertson - Jul 3, 2008 (Special Report)

Lack of funds hobbling the 'Republican attack machine'
McClatchy - By Steven Thomma - Jun 30, 2008 (News Report)

Obama and the Black Church
The New York Review of Books - By Darryl Pinckney - Jul 6, 2008 (News Analysis)

Obama Network Organizes and Revolts Over Spying
The Nation - By Ari Melber - Jun 30, 2008 (News Analysis)

Davis: Leveling rich candidates' speech unjustified
First Amendment Center - By Tony Mauro - Jun 30, 2008 (News Analysis)

Q&A: E-voting activist more optimistic about voting systems
Computerworld - By Todd R. Weiss - Jul 7, 2008 (Interview)

Opinion

How the Republicans claimed the "patriotism" mantle in presidential politics
Slate - By David Greenberg - Jul 3, 2008 (Opinion)

Losing the Latino vote
Weekly Standard - By Matthew Continetti - July 9, 2008 (Opinion)

High hopes abroad for a new U.S. president
Christian Science Monitor - July 2, 2008 - (Editorial)

Just Democracy
The Nation - By Katrina vanden Heuvel - Jul 7, 2008 (Opinion)

The political establishment and telecom immunity -- why it matters
Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - Jul 5, 2008 (Opinion)
( see also Part II of Greenwald's piece)

What Patriotism Is
OurFuture.org - By Michael Winship - Jul 3, 2008 (Blog Post)

Our Findings

Among the most prominent electoral issues covered in our selections are concerns over how efficiently this year’s election will be carried out. The P.O.V. documentary “Election Day,” which aired July 1 on PBS, laid the groundwork, drawing high ratings for its examination of the complexities and challenges of the election process, as experienced by American voters in 2004. (If you haven’t caught "Election Day" yet, you can watch it on the P.O.V. Web site, where it is running until the end of July.) NewsTrust Reviewer Denise Clendening called it "a great way to teach civics and remind people of the importance of each and every vote by showing different voting experiences across the country. The film inspires and subtly challenges everyone to get involved in the process. "

In a more explicit piece on election reform Katrina Vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, outlines steps she feels need to be taken to reform elections and revive American Democracy, which she says is in “decline.” Vanden Heuvel’s commentary has proved one of the top-rated stories so far, earning praise from several members -- including Jack Dinkmeyer, who said this:

Heavy going, but everything one ever wants to know about what's wrong with our election system and suggestions about repairing it is in this article. . . . What neocons fail to grasp is the depth of America’s outrage about the last eight years, and business as usual isn't going to hack it.

Fred Gatlin, however, disagreed, and offered this critique of Vanden Huevel's proposals:

The key to democracy is a well informed voter. I find nothing in this article that considers voters often vote with little or no information. I also find nothing that discusses the need for more a better easily available information about candidates. Also in my state and I suspect in most if voters vote regularly they do not need to register again unless they move, change their name or change parties. This article fails to discuss any of these important issues.

Harking back to voting irregularities and complications at the polls in the 2000 and 2004 elections, the reliability of different voting methods has been called into question in several articles, op-eds and blog posts. Johns Hopkins professor and activist Aviel Rubin puts the risks and advantages of electronic voting in perspective in a highly-rated interview with Computerworld Magazine. Chris Finnie, co-host of the election News Hunt, found Rubin’s input helpful:

Because this is an interview, it really only presents the point of view of the interviewee. But, because of his credentials, it's still a valuable and interesting viewpoint. I am glad to hear we've made so much progress on the issue and feel heartened by the new information he presents. A must read for anybody interested in the topic.

Independence Day prompted two opinion pieces that examine the role patriotism has played in the 2008 election and in past political campaigns. In a two-part commentary, David Greenberg of Slate looks at American electoral history to analyze how Republican figureheads redefined the concept of “patriotism” and used it to the party’s advantage in nearly every major election since WWII. A similar but separate op-ed from PBS writer Michael Winship asks what “patriotism” really is and who embodies it. Winship’s article struck a chord with Norman Farrell, who dubbed it a thoughtful piece:

In this fine article, Winship explores true patriotism. He refers to Obama's speech about the nature of patriotism but expresses strongest admiration for Air Force Reserve Major David J.R. Frakt, who argued for a tortured young detainee at Guantanamo. That an air force reserve major could speak truth to power, without fear of retribution, is an example of America's true greatness.

The campaigns of both Barack Obama and John McCain have come under intense criticism in the past week -- Obama for what some perceive as his shifts on domestic spying and foreign policy; McCain for failing to differentiate his policies from those of George W. Bush and for what one publication charges as inaccurate attacks on Obama.

Obama came under fire from Salon's Glenn Greenwald, among others, for saying he would back a bill that would expand the federal government's domestic spying powers and provide immunity for telecommunications companies currently accused of allowing such surveillance. Greenwald's piece, "The political establishment and telecom immunity -- why it matters," received more than a dozen reviews and has remained one of the top-rated stories since it appeared July 5.

In another report well-regarded by the NewsTrust community, the nonpartisan Web site FactCheck called the McCain camp's claims that Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes "inflated and misleading," presenting a detailed analysis on why the publication found that charge incorrect. News Hunt co-host Mike LaBonte called it "a typical excellent analysis from FactCheck, and Naomi Isler lamented that the issue hadn't received more attention: "Where's the rebuttal and why isn't this on page one of some newspaper of general circulation, or TV screen during prime time?"

The Election News Hunt will continue through Monday, July 14. Now that the holiday is over, be sure to submit more stories on this important topic! To join the hunt, go to the 2008 presidential election home page and review some of today's stories. For additional tips on how to participate, check our Election News Hunt welcome page. And if you haven't already, please sign up to review stories on NewsTrust.

Derek Hawkins, Assistant Editor -- with the NewsTrust Team

Best Stories on Afghanistan | Election News Hunt Results

Here are early results of our Election News Hunt -- along with some of the best stories from last week's Afghanistan News Hunt. We're also pleased to introduce our new team member, Assistant Editor Derek Hawkins, who wrote this report. Welcome aboard, Derek! -- Fabrice and the NewsTrust Team

Best Stories on Afghanistan

Last week's featured topic on NewsTrust was the war in Afghanistan. Called "America's forgotten war" by some media critics, it is an elusive topic. Even with violence and U.S. troop deaths on the rise in the past month, media coverage of Afghanistan remains low. However, using the NewsTrust review tool, our community unearthed some great journalism on this topic from a variety of American and international news outlets. Here's a sampling of the best stories:

American Media

Al-Qaeda's Growing Online Offensive – Washington Post

Is Al Qa'ida in pieces? – The New Republic

Afghanistan: A War That's Still Not Won – Time

Marines Try to Improve Image in Taliban Stronghold – National Public Radio

In Afghan police training, US aims to curb corruption – Boston Globe

Year of the Taliban – LinkTV

Foreign Media

Crisis in Pakistan-US relations – The News International

Warlord: My encounter with Taliban mastermind – The Independent

Managing Pakistan-U.S. relations – The Hindu

Kabul kids master the flip tricks as skateboarding invades the streets – The Guardian

Afghanistan: Legality Of 'Hot Pursuit' Into Pakistan Debated – Radio Free Europe

After an assault by the Taliban on a prison in Kandahar in mid June, news reports of the insurgent group’s reemergence were among our top rated stories from Afghanistan. LinkTV aired an overview of the Afghan and Pakistani governments’ struggle to contain the Taliban, which drew positive feedback from several reviewers, including Elizabeth Reynolds. She said:

LinkTV and Reporter, Jamal Dajani, have provided a very informative picture of Afghanistan that is unique in the usual media news. This report is sorely needed for U.S. citizens (and others) to understand what is really happening there. I would have liked to have seen/heard more sources and info about their trustworthiness, however. Overall, I highly recommend this report and also LinkTV for its news coverage.

Reports on the terrorist organization al Qaeda, which has its roots in Afghanistan, took a back seat to coverage of the Taliban. But a New Republic feature on the declining influence of al Qaeda’s central leadership proved an eye-opening read. Tom Maertens gave this assessment of the story:

These are reputable anti-terrorist writers who seem to have the story right: al-Qaeda's willingness to kill civilians, particularly Muslim civilians, is undermining their support around the world. The question is whether AQ has morphed into a Leaderless Jihad, as Marc Sagemen contends, or remains a centralized organization as Bruce Hoffman believes. The two have contended in public on the subject and the answer is not clear who is right. This article tends to downplay the future threat; its central thesis, that AQ has alienated moderate Muslims, may well be true in much of the Muslim world, but doesn't seem to hold in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Early Results from the Election News Hunt

For the next two weeks, NewsTrust is joining forces with our partners PBS Engage and the documentary series P.O.V. to find great journalism on the presidential election in our two-week 2008 Election News Hunt.

Earlier this week, P.O.V. aired its new documentary “Election Day,” which hones in on the street-level experiences of American voters who took part in the 2004 election. Shot from the perspective of 11 groups of people -- from first time voters to election officials -- the 74-minute documentary combines the stories of Americans throughout the country into one narrative. If you didn’t get a chance to see it on your local PBS station, check it out on the P.O.V. “Election Day” website, where it is running through the month of July.

Mike LaBonte, who’s co-hosting the News Hunt with Chris Finnie, reflected on his own work as an election official in his review of "Election Day." He said:

As an election official I find this to be very cool. Journalistically this has lots of evidence, sources and viewpoints. In some scenes the meaning of what is happening may not be clear to all. This isn't surprising, since elections can be confusing to everyone involved. For balance it might have been good to also follow a Democratic field manager. The true value of this is seeing things that we usually only read about.

Other early highlights from the News Hunt included an op-ed from FindLaw on Barack Obama’s vague position on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) law and warantless wiretapping. Elizabeth White-Nadler had this to say about the op-ed, which was written by former Richard Nixon counsel John Dean:

This piece is remarkable, intriguing, even astonishing. I assume that John Dean is accurate in his legal scholarship; and he certainly should be familiar with the legal precedents to immunity and criminal prosecution of government officials. If Obama really intends to pursue criminal prosecutions if elected, that would explain his seemingly inexplicable reversal on the FISA expansion. I don't understand why this has not received more coverage.

News and commentary on John McCain’s family’s wealth has also garnered attention, as has his trip to Colombia and Mexico, which began yesterday. A blog post from Politico compared investigations into the personal wealth of McCain’s wife, Cindy McCain, to similar inquiries made in 2004 of the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. Chris Finnie, co-host of the presidential election News Hunt, held it in high regard. “Comprehensive and well-researched,” she wrote, “this piece lays out a fuller view of the McCain family finances than I've seen in any other single article.”

The Election News Hunt will continue through July 14. To get started, check out our Election topic page. There you'll find a wide range of news stories and opinion pieces on the 2008 election. Try out the NewsTrust review tool to rate these stories -- and be sure to focus on the quality of the journalism, rather than whether you agree or disagree with the viewpoints expressed in each story.

For additional tips on how to participate, check our Election News Hunt welcome page. And if you haven't already, please sign up to review stories on NewsTrust.

Happy Fourth of July!

Derek Hawkins, Assistant Editor -- with the NewsTrust Team

Join our Election News Hunt with PBS and P.O.V.

Join our News Hunt for good journalism on the 2008 Presidential Election, in partnership with PBS Engage and the documentary series P.O.V. For two weeks, starting starting today and continuing through July 14th, PBS and P.O.V. viewers will join forces with the NewTrust community to find the best online news coverage of the 2008 elections, from the perspective of everyday Americans. Using the NewsTrust review tools, we'll find great reporting on this topic, from campaign advertising and town hall meetings to the voting booth.

To begin your exploration, go to our Election topic page. There you'll find a wide range of news stories and opinion pieces on the 2008 election. Try out the NewsTrust review tool to rate these stories, keeping in mind to focus on the quality of the journalism, rather than whether you agree or disagree with the viewpoints expressed in each story.

On Tuesday July 1st, you might like to watch P.O.V.'s new documentary, "Election Day," which focuses on the street-level experience of voters in America. You will be able to watch it online at the P.O.V. website, or see it on your local PBS station (check here for local listings).

As we watch these citizens from all walks of life take democracy into their own hands, let's ask ourselves what works and what doesn't in our current election process -- and what needs to change so that citizens can participate more effectively. We'll then join forces to find great journalism that investigates practical solutions to these issues, including election reform.

If you haven't already, please sign up to review stories on NewsTrust.

For additional tips on how to participate, check our Election News Hunt welcome page.

Media and Politics News Hunt Results

Last week, we organized a News Hunt on Media and Politics, in partnership with the Poynter Institute and PolitiFact. Here are some of the top stories we found together on this topic:

Mainstream Media

• One Angry Man - New Yorker
• Lost in Translation: Alhurra--America's Troubled Effort to Win Middle East Hearts and Minds - ProPublica / CBS News
• The Internet and the 2008 Election - Pew Research
• Barack Obama's Media Agenda - Broadcasting & Cable
• Reporters Say Networks Put Wars on Back Burner - New York Times

Independent Media

• McClatchy Washington bureau shines as bright example for online journalism - Online Journalism Review
• Obama's support for the FISA "compromise" - Salon
• Rating confusion: Is Obama a liberal? - PolitiFact
• Barack Makes More News Than McCain, But It's Not All Good - Journalism.org
• What Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Fred Hiatt mean by "bipartisanship" - Salon

These stories look at the relationship between media and politics from various angles, mostly focusing on where media coverage has been irresponsible, or even absent. But positive work was highlighted as well. The Online Journalism Review praised McClatchy for so often getting the story right in their piece "McClatchy Washington bureau shines as bright example for online journalism". NewsTrust host Jim Lang explained that the "interview presents the views of a McClatchy Washington bureau editor regarding the importance of a web site, the problems with polarization of the audience (seeking only news and views that they agree with), the interplay between a national bureau and individual papers and the value of 'grass roots' reporting."

The effects of the Internet on the media, and the political implications of a shifting media landscape, was a common thread through many of the top rated stories. Reviewer Paul Mena found much value in an analysis of the Pew survey on The Internet and the 2008 Election. Paul writes:

This is a good account about a very useful survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Report that shows the impact of Internet in the current presidential campaign. The results of the report deserve attention of journalists, media, scholars and politics. Especially interesting is the importance of political videos and social networking. I would have like for this news story to include more information from the survey about the use that the Obama and McCain's campaigns have given to the online world.

In a changing media landscape, the decisions made by the FCC, the agency charged with regulating telecommunications in the US, will have a major impact on what news Americans will have access to in the future. The trade magazine Broadcasting & Cable interviewed Presidential candidate Barack Obama on his ideas about FCC regulations. Reviewer Elizabeth White-Nadler rated this interview highly. She explains:

This is an informative interview about an extremely important subject. Since the public's perception about, literally, everything happening in the world is shaped by the media which provides (or fails to provide) their information, few policies are more important for a nominee to clarify. Eggerton did an excellent job in selecting questions for Obama and for the most part Obama answered them clearly. There were a couple of places where Eggerton should have prevented Obama from being intentionally vague; but on the whole, Obama's positions sound like a move in the right direction.

Our Partners - PolitiFact and Poynter
NewsTrust was honored to collaborate in this News Hunt with PolitiFact and the Poynter Institute. PolitiFact, a joint collaboration between The St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly, is a site dedicated to helping American voters cut through campaign rhetoric and spin. Their staff fact-checks the accuracy of speeches, TV ads, interviews and other campaign communications having to do with the 2008 U.S. election, and NewsTrust reviewers believe they do an excellent job. PolitiFact has a 3.9 preliminary NT source rating, making it one of the highest rated sources on NewsTrust.

The PolitiFact analysis piece, "Rating confusion: Is Obama a liberal?" is a prime example of the excellent journalism coming out of this organization. Long-time NewsTrust host Dale Penn had this insight about that story:

Here is a good reference article for anyone inclined to take as gospel any statistical analysis presented as news. The statistics can be skewed, the analysis can be skewed and therefore the story can be skewed. This is very good journalism as it may cause reviewers and readers to reconsider how much weight the put on evidence provided via polls or statistics.

Thanks to Bill Adair at PolitiFact for driving the News Hunt on their end. We look forward to featuring more great content from this site as the general election battle heats up. A big thanks also goes out to Ellyn Angelotti at the Ponyter Institute. Ellyn helped make this partnership happen and went beyond the call of duty to promote the News Hunt to the journalists and students at the Poynter Institute. We're very grateful to her for being such a wonderful partner, and to her colleague Bill Mitchell for helping guide our course as a NewsTrust Advisor.

NewsTrust and Poynter: David Cohn, Fabrice Florin, Ellyn Angelotti, Kaizar Campwala

Final Notes on the John McCain News Hunt | Early Findings on the Media and Politics News Hunt

Here are our final observations on our June 2-9 News Hunt on John McCain, as well as some first highlights on this week’s News Hunt on Media and Politics.

McCain News Hunt Final Results
For our McCain News Hunt we partnered with Huffington Post’s OffTheBus project (see first results). A big thanks goes out to everyone there, especially Amanda Michel, who led the charge on their end and to Arianna Huffington, whose invitation to join us yielded so many participants.

OffTheBus founder Jay Rosen, blogged about our collaboration, noting: "One of the interesting things about the NewsTrust initiative is that is has both emergent and conservative ideas built into it. The news judgment of newsroom priests is dethroned. The people formerly known as the audience take over the "gate," as it were. But the virtues upheld--accuracy, fairness, evidence, proportion, decency, respect for our intelligence--are the old sturdy ones."

Since Jay did such a good job of discussing the highest and lowest rated stories we found on John McCain, based on their journalistic quality, I thought we might look at the stories from another angle.  To do so, I kept in mind an observation by Kelly Garrett, our advisor at the Ohio State University School of Communications, who emailed us a while back that some stories appeal to people with viewpoints on the right but not to those on the left (or vice versa), but that if both sides find merit, "that suggests that the story provided deep coverage of at least two sides of the debate."

Here then, are just five stories on Senator McCain from center-right sources which appealed to our new members from Off the Bus, along with a few of their comments. (As noted in our first results, 78% of new members who completed their profile identified with viewpoints on the left, while 17% identified with the center of the political spectrum.  All of the folks I've cited identified themselves as being on the left, unless I noted otherwise.)

1.  "Clearing the Field" by National Review's Michael Barone.

Social worker Deborah Plummer gave the story a 3.2 average rating and wrote:

This lie will not die, "Hillary Clinton carried the popular vote." Every time I see/read it, I'm thankful for the "Internet" for news and information. Otherwise, this article was well-written and [had] enough general information...about the general election to sustain the rating of "somewhat important" because of the following profound statement, which summarizes the article: '.... this looks like a presidential race unlike any other.

Steven Meyer, who "taught courses on the Presidency, Congress, Supreme Court, and Elections for ten years at the U.S. Air Force Academy while on active duty", said:

Barone argues persuasively this election will hinge on different combinations of key states that those familiar from 2000 and 2004. Both sides intend to lengthen the playing field, seriously competing in opposing color states and forcing the opposition to expend resources in supposedly safe states. He also illustrates the possible negation of the 'old rule' that hard economic conditions favor the Democrats, an observation backed by polling data and in a way I had not seen a national reporter advance as such before.

2. "The Unhappy Warrior" by Politico's Jonathan Martin

Kristin Gorski (no political viewpoint listed) wrote:

[I] recommend this story for two reasons: (1) it is a critique of mainstream media (and its coverage of McCain) by alternative media, which is a huge theme underpinning this election season (e.g., bloggers breaking big stories first), and (2) it attempts to look at McCain's temper, which could become his biggest campaign issue, from a balanced perspective. The article quotes many in McCain's camp, and their quotations are fascinating, as they seem to state pretty clearly that they know their candidate has to keep his cool or he'll lose the election. At the same time, it quotes a McCain "friend" (anonymous source) who provides insight into McCain's state of mind. I am so skeptical of anonymous "friend" sources -- it seems too tabloid, and this article, already quite compelling, would have been stronger if this anon. source had been omitted.

3. "Why Does the Michelle Obama Tape Rumor Match a 2006 Novel?" by the National Review's Jim Geraghty

Tom Maertens (who hasn't filled his profile yet) rates this blog post 3.5 and comments:

It is surprising that a conservative publication and a conservative blogger would be criticizing a Clinton supporter who has apparently fabricated a story about a videotape that could be devastating, if true, to Michelle Obama. But that is what this story is about.

4.  "Lead Senator" by the National Review's Andrew C. McCarthy

Michael Evelyn (hasn't filled his profile yet) wrote about this story is on McCain and warrantless wiretapping:

Revealing article. Want to know how Sen. McCain sets (flip-flops) his policy? He succumbs to pointed questions, pleas, and cajoling. This op-ed was a call for McCain to show his conservative bona-fides.

5. "In Energy Policy, McCain, Obama Differ on Role of Government" by the Wall Street Journal's Stephen Power

Harv Roth, a retired business owner, gave the story a 4.7 rating and commented:

In a factual article, the reporter compares John McCain and Barak Obama's plans for a new Energy Policy. The Republican view is to not use the governments power to legislate or command industry to do anything. Even though he professes that change is needed little is done to cause that change. Obama's plan would use the government to control more of the Energy scene. Nuclear energy, energy credits, ethanol tax incentives, coal transference to liquid form. All of these are discussed with alternate views by the candidates.

Media and Politics News Hunt

This week, we're conducting a News Hunt on Media and Politics, in partnership with the Poynter Institute and PolitiFact (a joint project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quaterly.) We're looking for good journalism on how the news media are covering the presidential campaign -- and how this coverage shapes American attitudes towards candidates and issues.

For our first highlight from that News Hunt, I'd like to point to one PolitiFact story which is getting high ratings from all points along the political spectrum. In "Rating confusion: Is Obama a liberal?" PolitiFact's Bill Adair writes,

The political magazine National Journal rated Obama the most liberal senator for 2007, while Congressional Quarterly calculated that Obama voted with Bush 40 to 50 percent over the past two years. … McCain's seemingly contradictory claims illustrate the limitations of congressional ratings. Although they can provide a quick snapshot of someone's voting record, the ratings have many shortcomings...

Our long-time member, Roland Hirsch (who did not fill his profile, but writes that he considers President Bush "a moderate") rates the story 3.9 and comments:

This news analysis has considerable journalistic merit. It distinguishes between ratings based upon party affiliation and those based on philosophical positions, such as liberal or conservative (however the authors ignore the fact that these are not opposites but orthogonal to each, measuring different things).

Meanwhile, Off the Bus member Denise Clendening, an environmental scientist affiliated with the Democratic Party and MoveOn.org, writes:

Another informative story from PolitiFact, full of facts and great links on what ratings mean and how they are calculated. This page will be very helpful in responding to talking points and interpreting what the ratings mean. It was interesting to read how many votes Obama missed last year (33 out of 99) due to campaigning and McCain missed so many that the magazine that gave Obama the liberal rating could not give McCain an overall rating. Great resource.

And Off the Bus member Jeff Clark, who lists no political viewpoint, finds the article excellent and informative and raises this interesting question about media and politics:

"How is it that an allegedly nonpartisan 'news source' National Journal, branded Kerry and Obama as more 'liberal' than Feingold, Kennedy, Boxer, and the socialist Sanders? Such labeling tells us little about the Senators and much more about the Journal's perceived need to stay in the shmoozy Washington media game by providing 'news' that can be fodder for attacks.

A big thanks to all of you, whether on the left, in the center or on the right, who want NewsTrust to remain true to its mission to find quality journalism across the political spectrum. The best way for us to do this is to submit stories from a variety of sources, invite new members from across party lines and to strive to be civil and constructive by

• putting our own politics aside and writing reviews based on jounalist values; and
• rating other members based on the helpfulness of the reviews, not whether they agree with our own points of view.

We're glad that so many of the new members from Off the Bus have stayed with us following the June 9 wrapup of our News Hunt on John McCain. We hope many of our members, old and new, will continue to join us in this week's news hunt on Media and Politics.

Beth Wellington, NewsTrust Community Developer

Join our News Hunt on Media and Politics

This week on NewsTrust, our featured topic is Media and Politics, in partnership with the Poynter Institute and PolitiFact.

All week, from Monday, June 16th through Sunday, June 22nd, we will collectively review a wide range of news articles and opinions for this News Hunt about the intersection of Media and Politics, using the NewsTrust review tools. Think of this 'news hunt' as a scavenger hunt for good journalism on how the news media are covering the presidential campaign -- and how this coverage shapes American attitudes towards candidates and issues.

Together, we will rate the news based on quality, not just popularity -- by evaluating each article's fairness, sourcing, context and other core principles of good journalism. This focus on quality information and news literacy can help us all make more informed decisions as citizens, as well as re-build the trust that has been lost between the news media and the public.

Get involved
Help us find the best journalism on this important topic, by joining forces with NewsTrust, the Poynter Institute, and PolitiFact, to review and submit stories about Media and Politics.

If you haven't already, please sign up to review some of the recommended stories on our site. To quickly submit new stories on this topic, be sure to get our bookmarklet. For more tips on how to join our news hunt, check our welcome page for new members.

Thanks to our partners at Poynter and PolitiFact
NewsTrust has had a long relationship the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, based in St. Petersburg Florida. Bill Mitchell, Poynter's director of publishing, serves on the NewsTrust advisory board and has been an important voice in guiding the future of the site. A big thank you goes out to Ellyn Angelotti, Interactivity Editor at Poynter Institute, who made this partnership happen. The work done at Poynter in fostering good journalism is vital to a healthy media ecology, and NewsTrust is honored to be partnering with them. 

PolitiFact (a joint project of the St. Petersburg Times and CQ Politics) is also a partner in this NewsHunt. PolitiFact is a relatively new site that helps voters cut through political spin and find the facts about the candidates. As explained on their website:

The St. Petersburg Times of Florida and Congressional Quarterly of Washington, D.C. – two of America’s most trusted, independent newsrooms – have created the site to help voters separate fact from falsehood in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Journalists and researchers from the Times and CQ will fact-check the accuracy of speeches, TV ads, interviews and other campaign communications. We’ll publish new findings every day on PolitiFact.com, and list our sources for all to see.

PolitiFact's mission aligns strongly with NewsTrust's, and we're excited to welcome PolitiFact readers to NewsTrust.

NewsTrust and Poynter: David Cohn, Fabrice Florin, Ellyn Angelotti, Kaizar Campwala

Introducing our new Widget Partner - Skewz
We're also glad to introduce the NewsTrust community to Skewz, our new widget partner. Skewz is a political news aggregator that focuses on exposing media bias using some innovative, crowd-sourced tools. We encourage NewsTrust readers to check out their site, and if you come across stories that exemplify good journalism, submit the story to NewsTrust by clicking on the NewsTrust button under the 'Share' option.

Check this blog for the results of the News Hunt. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us by email or post your feedback on our Suggestions page. See you online!

UPDATE: New findings about our John McCain News Hunt
OffTheBus founder Jay Rosen has written a great article about last week's John McCain News Hunt, with insightful observations that shed new light on our initiative:

One of interesting things about the NewsTrust initiative is that is has both emergent and conservative ideas built into it. The news judgment of newsroom priests is dethroned. The people formerly known as the audience take over the “gate,” as it were. But the virtues upheld—accuracy, fairness, evidence, proportion, decency, respect for our intelligence—are the old sturdy ones.
Jay Rosen, associate professor of journalism New York University, founder of NewAssignment.Net, author, Pressthink.org

Jay makes a fascinating point, and says it beautifully: the image of the 'people formerly known as the audience taking over the gate with old virtues' is illuminating ...
(in truly recursive fashion, you can review Jay's article right here on NewsTrust.)

Thanks, Jay, Gabe and Amanda, for this thoughtful report -- and to all our new members, thanks as well for your great reviews and suggestions! Some of the insights from our collective quest will find their way into the next version of our website, due out this fall. Stay tuned for more.

John McCain News Hunt Results

Last week, NewsTrust teamed up with the Huffington Post's OffTheBus team to organize a 'News Hunt' for good journalism on John McCain. We jointly invited members of HuffPo and NewsTrust communities to evaluate the quality of news and opinion about Senator McCain, his character, his views, and his track record.

The McCain News Hunt took place over a 7-day period, from Monday, June 2 to Monday, June 9 at 9pm ET. Members were invited by email and on both partner sites to find great journalism on this topic, and review some of the recommended stories on NewsTrust's John McCain topic page.

In the course of the News Hunt, we collected some fascinating data - both about the media's news coverage of John McCain, and about ourselves. Here are some of the first results from that exciting project. In coming days, we will feature other reports providing more in-depth findings and commentary about our News Hunt.

Top Rated Stories
During the News Hunt, we reviewed hundreds of news stories and opinion pieces about Senator McCain, from a variety of mainstream and independent sources. Our search yielded 233 rated stories on this topic, based on 1,713 reviews that week (or an average of 7 reviews per story).

Here are some of the highest rated stories on John McCain last week, broken down between news and opinion.

News

• Adviser Says McCain Backs Bush Wiretaps - New York Times
• Katrina Kerfuffle - FactCheck
• John McCain's Gramm Gamble - Texas Observer
• McCain: I'd Spy on Americans Secretly, Too - Wired
• Soft on Iran - FactCheck

Opinion

• McCain, spying and executive power: A complete reversal in 6 months - Salon
• McCain Emerges as Master Economic Flip-Flopper - Bloomberg
• Make No Mistake: McCain's a Neocon - Consortium News
• One Historic Night, Two Americas - New York Times
• John McCain's Arab-American problem - Salon

To see more, take a look at the full listing of stories rated during the McCain News Hunt, sorted by rating, or by date.

And if you haven't already, be sure to read our initial observations on some of these stories, in our first update and second update about the McCain News Hunt. In a few days, we will publish more observations about these top rated stories, both here and on our HuffPo blog.

Media Analysis
Here's how our McCain stories and reviews break down by content type, media type and publication.

Overall, news stories (news reports, special reports, and news analysis) represented two thirds of the total stories reviewed, as shown here:

News   -  155 stories    (66%)
Opinion  -  79 stories    (34%)

The majority of stories reviewed in our News Hunt were from newspapers and online sites, as shown in the graph below. Radio was the least reviewed medium.



A more detailed breakdown by media type shows that newspaper articles were by far the most reviewed stories in our News Hunt, as shown in this table:



* Due to the small sample size of this News Hunt, average ratings are PRELIMINARY and only apply to this limited investigation. They should not be interpreted as a general indication of content quality for each media type above.

In the course of a week, we reviewed stories from 101 individual publications. Here are the top 20 most reviewed publications (news sources with at least 20 reviews and 3 stories).



* Because of the small sample size of this News Hunt, all publication ratings are PRELIMINARY. These ratings only apply to this particular investigation and should not be viewed as an overall indicator of each publication's general work quality.


Overall Findings
We all learned a lot about John McCain during this News Hunt, and discovered some great articles, as well as added new publications like PolitiFact and Texas Observer to our source database. We found a lot of good journalism in the most unlikely places, whether from mainstream or independent sources. On average, online sites, wire services, newspapers and blogs were given slightly higher quality ratings -- and TV and radio were rated a bit lower than their non-broadcast counterparts. But these differences are minimal, as good information flows like water throughout our new media landscape.

Besides getting better information about this important news topic, perhaps the greatest benefit of this News Hunt is that it helped thousands of us become more discriminating news consumers. We have also developed a deeper appreciation for good journalism, and have become more engaged as citizens.

Here's what some of our new reviewers had to say about this process:

"What this did for me: I started reading stories and posts with an eye to the criteria of good journalism. It has really raised my awareness getting involved and becoming more informed. I thought I couldn't get more informed." -- Harv Roth

"It's been very exciting to be part of something so important. This goes beyond the Web 2.0 experience because most participants are not performing anonymously but quite the opposite. ... It is exciting to be communicating in the open and it inspires a courtesy and decorum, even if challenged. It appears the good ole' days are yet to come." -- Vincent Caminiti

Meet our new reviewers
Thanks to our partners at Huffington Post, this News Hunt drew more new reviewers than any other NewsTrust partnership this spring. Over 780 HuffPo readers signed up as NewsTrust members, and 300 of them became reviewers. Good for you!



Here at NewsTrust, we believe that transparency promotes a civil dialogue and a broader perspective, based on a deeper understanding of our individual backgrounds. With that in mind, our new members from HuffPo were kind enough to tell us quite a bit about themselves on their member profiles.

A majority of new members from HuffPo are over 35 years of age (82%). They are evenly divided by gender (53% male). They show high levels of education, and 80% have college degrees. About 78% self-identify as left-of-center politically, while 17% identify themselves as moderates.

Our new members from HuffPo were quite productive and posted over 1,600 reviews in one week. As a result, our story ratings for this News Hunt were largely driven by these new members, and often reflect their viewpoints. HuffPo members typically have clear views about republican candidate John McCain and how the media is covering him, as you can see in our story reviews.

When new members sign up for NewsTrust, we encourage them to check their ideology at the door and review news and information based on its own journalistic merits (rather than whether or not we agree with its views). As we have all personally found out, this is no easy task, and it takes practice to get good at it. As we all become more experienced reviewers, we expect our ratings to become more nuanced and our comments more impartial.

We welcome a range of political viewpoints at NewsTrus. To broaden our perspective, we are actively looking for partnerships with established publications that are widely read on the right and center of the political spectrum. If you work in such an organization, and can reach a large audience, we would be interested in discussing a collaboration on future News Hunts. Please contact us by email about media partnership opportunities.

Thanks to our partners and members
It's been a true pleasure to work with our wonderful partners at Huffington Post OffTheBus, especially Amanda Michel, Jay Rosen, Arianna Huffington, Betsy Morgan, Mario Ruiz, Marc Cooper, Paul Berry, John Tomasic, Gabriel Beltrone and the rest of the fine HuffPo community. We thank them all for making this project possible, and look forward to doing more together soon ...

Many thanks as well to our new Off the Bus 10+ reviewers, including our most active contributors:
Paul Peete, Harv Roth, Cat Bemis, Andrew Spencer, Ardent Hollingsworth, Andrew Urban, Randy Morrow, Pamela Rogers, Sandy Stone, Denise Clendening, Jennifer Hageman, Michael Evelyn, Lee Beckom, Max Blum, Richard Riehl, John Bracken, Angie M. Santiago, Tom Maertens, Elaine Meyer, Mark Siet, and Randi Swindel, Jeff Clark, Kyrston Banks, Jan Scott, Peter McManus, Deborah Plummer, Sharon McIntosh and Larry Miller. Kudos to you all for your fine work!

And we're very grateful as well to regular NewsTrust stalwarts Chris Finnie, Patricia L'Herrou, Connie Deady, Jack Dinkmeyer,  Dale Penn, Stephen Pizzo,  Dwight Rousu, Ann Wilmer, Barry Grossheim, Joel Kulenkamp, Douglas Hord and Derek Hawkins, just to name a few.  Once again, you guys rose to the occasion and helped make this News Hunt our best ever -- thank you all!

Last but not least, a big thank you to our world-class NewsTrust team for leading the charge on this project: Beth Wellington, Kaizar Campwala, David Cohn, David Fox and the rest of the gang. We appreciate your going the extra mile to help this project happen.

Check this blog (or our NewsTrust blog on HuffPo) for more findings and commentary about this News Hunt. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us by email or post your feedback on our Suggestions page.

Fabrice Florin, with Kaizar Campwala, Beth Wellington and the NewsTrust Team

________________________________________________________________
UPDATE 2 (6/16): New findings about our John McCain News Hunt
OffTheBus founder Jay Rosen has written a great article about this News Hunt, with insightful observations that shed new light on our initiative:

One of interesting things about the NewsTrust initiative is that is has both emergent and conservative ideas built into it. The news judgment of newsroom priests is dethroned. The people formerly known as the audience take over the “gate,” as it were. But the virtues upheld—accuracy, fairness, evidence, proportion, decency, respect for our intelligence—are the old sturdy ones.
Jay Rosen, associate professor of journalism New York University, founder of NewAssignment.Net, author, Pressthink.org

Jay makes a fascinating point, and says it beautifully: the image of the 'people formerly known as the audience taking over the gate with old virtues' is illuminating ...
(in truly recursive fashion, you can review Jay's article right here on NewsTrust.)

Thanks, Jay, Gabe and Amanda, for this thoughtful report -- and to all our new members, thanks as well for your great reviews and suggestions! Some of the insights from our collective quest will find their way into the next version of our website, due out this fall. Stay tuned for more.

________________________________________________________________ UPDATE 1 (6/15/08) Thanks to Jay Rosen for pointing out a couple discrepancies in the top 10 list above. As a result, we made these changes:

* 'Katrina Kerfuffle' is now the updated title for the FactCheck story formerly known as 'McCain claims he "supported every investigation" into the government's role regarding the hurricane'

* 'Soft on Iran' is now the updated title for 'McCain Distorts Obama's Iran Views' - and its original publication is FactCheck (not Newsweek, which was merely republishing original work from FactCheck).

We regret these errors -- and applaud FactCheck.org for getting two entries in the top 10, a noteworthy accomplishment!

John McCain, McCain, Elections, NewsTrust

Featured Topic: The Internet and Society - Join our News Hunt

This week, our featured topic is The Internet and Society, with a focus on how the net is changing the way we work, play and communicate with each other. For this 'news hunt,' we're collaborating with Frontline and journalism students at Stanford University. For an in-depth perspective, we invite you to watch today's featured story: Growing up Online, Frontline's public TV documentary about the cultural impact of the web on 'digital natives.'

Here's an excerpt from the Frontline intro page (to view the documentary, click 'Watch Online'):

 

In Growing Up Online, Frontline takes viewers inside the very public private worlds that kids are creating online, raising important questions about how the Internet is transforming childhood. "The Internet and the digital world was something that belonged to adults, and now it's something that really is the province of teenagers, " says C.J. Pascoe, a postdoctoral scholar with the University of California, Berkeley's Digital Youth Research project.

 

"They're able to have a private space, even while they're still at home. They're able to communicate with their friends and have an entire social life outside of the purview of their parents, without actually having to leave the house." (link)

Once you've watched this Frontline documentary, we urge you to read and review other news and opinions about this fascinating and important topic on our Internet topic page.

 

NewsTrust at the Googleplex

Want to find out more about NewsTrust? Check out this video from our Google Tech Talk. A couple weeks ago, our executive director, Fabrice Florin, gave a presentation to Google employees about NewsTrust. This is a great way to get a full overview of what's going on behind the scenes in our social news network.

This Google Tech Talk was called 'How to Find Good Journalism Online' and took place Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 2:00 pm PT on the Google campus in Mountain View. NewsTrust executive director Fabrice Florin presented an overview of our nonprofit social news site devoted to quality journalism. This 45 minute presentation is followed by a Q&A and discussion of best practices in this new field. (we also held a salon on good journalism, but that is not included in this video)

This presentation shows how NewsTrust aggregates its live feeds of quality news and opinions on a wide range of topics (e.g.: Elections, Environment), based on reviews by experienced journalists and citizen reviewers - with ratings weighted by expertise. We also demonstrate our unique approach to helping people tell good journalism apart from misinformation. Our news literacy service helps people rate the news based on quality, not just popularity - by evaluating fairness, evidence, sourcing, context and other core principles of journalism. The project’s mission is to enable citizens to make more informed decisions. For more information, check out the Powerpoint presentation.

We would like to express our deepest thanks to the Google employees who helped put this event together, in particular David 'Pablo' Cohn, Mike Dixon and Akash Parikh, to name but a few -- as well as and Robert Healy and his team, who put this video together. Many of them are pictured in the group shot below. We're very grateful to them all for their generous support of our cause -- as well as to Google, Inc., who made a generous grant to support NewsTrust with online advertising, to raise awareness for our public service.

(Pictured from left to right: David Fox, Richard Gingras, Andre Rohe, Mike Dixon, Fabrice Florin, David 'Pablo' Cohn, Akash Parikh, Kaizar Campwala and Stephanie Savell - click on photo to enlarge)

Lastly, if you use Google, we encourage you to add our NewsTrust Gadget on Google's personalized page service: iGoogle. It's a great way to get our feeds of top-rated news and opinions on the world's most popular search site. Give it a try -- and add the NewsTrust Gadget to your own iGoogle page.