Support Newsdesk.org in 2007

[nymhm at lists.artsandmedia.net]

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            Newsdesk.org 2006 Fund Drive
            Funds raised so far: $400  //   Goal:  $2,000
            People on list:   1,697    //   Weeks left:  1

            Donate online: http://artsandmedia.net/contributions/

            * Full details on making a tax-deductible
               donation are at the end of this email. *
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Dear Friends of Newsdesk.org;

Thanks to the folks who've donated so far! Newsdesk.org's 2006 fund 
drive enters its final week today.

We are funded entirely by you, the reader, and urgently need your 
support to continue publishing News You Might Have Missed in 2007. 
Please help us preserve and expand this free public service:

      http://artsandmedia.net/contributions/

At the end of this letter you'll find some excerpted comments by two 
news media veterans on a host of woes that afflict journalism and 
democracy in America today.

But first, some good news.

OUR GREAT INSPIRATION
Newsrooms around the country are packed with talent, and regardless 
of whether the idealists or accountants are in the driver's seat, 
good reporting happens.

Sometimes you have to dig. Sometimes good stories never escape their 
regional news markets. But get in the habit of looking, and they'll 
turn up.

Newsdesk.org and News You Might Have Missed exist to support these 
good works, and the journalists, editors and producers who make it 
all possible. Your generous donations will sustain this project in 
2007 as we enter a crucial period of adaptation and growth:

       Newsdesk.org Secure Online Donor Page
       http://artsandmedia.net/contributions/

       Snail Mail (checks payable to Independent Arts & Media)
       PMB 821 * 601 Van Ness Ave., Ste. E * SF, CA 94102

All donations are handled by our sponsor, Independent Arts & Media, a 
nonprofit group that advances public dialogue by increasing access to 
independent voices.

We're grateful for your support!

Sincerely,

Josh, Julia, Scott, Virgil, Michael, David

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-= PERSPECTIVES ON JOURNALISM AND DEMOCRACY =-

I: THE BEARS HAVE IT
Writing in the Wall Street Journal last week, Peter R. Kann, a 
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the chairman of Dow Jones, 
Inc., links the declining practice of journalism with corrosion of 
public trust and democracy itself.

   =- "When political operatives moonlight at moderating news shows,
     when people alternate between being political editors and
     political consultants, when celebrity newspeople pocket
     $20,000 fees speaking at corporate conventions while criticizing
     congressmen for conflicts of interest -- we jumble public
     perceptions of newspeople as well as news."

   =- "Individually, most reporters are decent, dedicated, fair-
     minded people. But the press, en masse, tends to lose its
     common sense and its sense of fairness and independence ...
     We frequently see this phenomenon in political reporting,
     where the faintest whiff of scandal, or even of weakness,
     can send the pack in pursuit. At its worst, the pack, not
     finding a real problem, proclaims the 'perception' of one
     and this perception becomes self-fulfilling."

    =- "[T]he truth, not lost on our public, is that the press
     is a large and powerful institution, too: '60 Minutes' is
     more powerful than almost all of the subjects it exposes ...
     Networks are owned by giant industrial corporations, magazines
     by entertainment conglomerates, and most newspapers by national
     chains. Given these realities, we cannot plausibly pretend to
     be a David out there smiting Goliaths and expect the public
     to believe it."

-- From "The power of the press: The media is in need of some 
mending," by Peter R. Kann, Wall Street Journal, December 13, 2006. 
Full text: http://tinyurl.com/y3ys4v


II: DISCARDED AUDIENCES
Tom Stites, a veteran journalist and a ranking editor of such notable 
dailies as the New York Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer, gave one 
of the keynote speeches at the first Media Giraffe conference (for 
people who "stick their necks out") this past June.

In his speech, Stites -- who has since signed on as a Newsdesk.org 
adviser -- blames the declining fortunes of daily newspapers on their 
deliberate courting of a wealthy readership with greater appeal to 
advertisers. 

The problem, he says, is that by targeting newspapers at the cultural 
and economic elite, lots of people get left out.

    =- "Journalism doesn't serve [millions of Americans] if it is
     written and presented only in ways that appeal to people
     with disposable income to spend on nice furnishings for
     their suburban houses and who worry about how best to get
     a second opinion on a medical diagnosis. In fact, to people
     whose challenge is how best to see just one doctor without
     ending up in the poorhouse, that kind of reporting is an
     affront. So is all the lavish coverage of personal finance.
     And this is the state of our daily newspapers today."

    =- "[A]lmost all metro dailies want only the affluent readers.
     Everybody else is what advertisers call 'waste.' So publishers
     simply ignore the interests of the bowling alley set, or write
     about 'them' only as statistics or as the objects of debates
     among economists and policy analysts. I am absolutely confident
     that it takes these 'waste' readers -- more than half of all
     Americans -- very little time perusing their metro daily to
     see that reading further is a waste of their time."

-- From "Is media performance democracy's critical issue?" by Tom 
Stites, at the First Media Giraffe Conference, June 30, 2006. Full 
text: http://tinyurl.com/z22e5


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HERE'S HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT NEWSDESK.ORG IN 2007

        Newsdesk.org 2006 Fund Drive
        Funds raised so far: $400  //   Goal:  $2,000
        People on List:  1,697           //   Weeks left:  1

        Recommended donations: $25, $50, $100, $500 or more.

        Donate online: http://artsandmedia.net/contributions/

        Snail Mail (checks payable to Independent Arts & Media)
        PMB 821 * 601 Van Ness Ave., Ste. E * SF, CA 94102

        * All donations are tax-deductible. *
        * Thank you for your generous support! *

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