Those are, or should be, journalistic principles that "collectively go beyond objectivity," says Dan Gillmor in a speech at Columbia University. (Bonus: I've added some links to New York Times Q&A sessions after the quotes from Dan... I'd call them a step toward the "pulling back the curtains" he mentions.)
Excerpts:
- "Transparency at Big Media can take the form of pulling back the
curtains a bit, helping readers or viewers understand how news stories,
and decisions about stories, get made... there[base ']s nothing wrong with acknowledging our biases, whether
personal and institutional, and letting readers make up their own minds
about whether to trust what we then report..."
- "With bloggers and other conversational media, biases tend to be
up-front, though the blogosphere is hardly free of sleazy manipulation..."
- "Transparency can boost authority. At a time when saying 'Trust me'
without evidence is an invitation to mistrust and ridicule, we[base ']ll gain
more than we lose with transparency..."
Speaking of transparency, here are two recent New York Times attemps to lift the curtain: Q& A session with the executive editor, Bill Keller, including these topics and more: - Choosing Articles for Page A1
- Colorful Leads
- Counting Anonymous Sources
- Coverage of Labor Issues
- Covering News Reported by Other Journalists
- Diversity in the Newsroom
- Favorite Article
- The Future of Newsprint
- Judy Miller's Reporting
- Jumping Articles to Inside Sections
- Keeping Opinions Out of News Articles
Q&A with the deputy managing editor for Web journalism, Jon Landman - Charging for Online Access to Columnists
- Comparisons With Other News Web Sites
- Coverage of Breaking News
- Front Pages: The Times vs. The Journal
- International Coverage on the Web
- Times Blogs
- The New Multiplatform Journalist
- Reader Critiques of Syntax and Grammar
- Reading in Print vs. Reading Online
- The Redesign of NYTimes.com
- Reporting Based on Online Information
- Roles of the Top Editors
- Sending E-mail to Reporters
- Studying for Web Journalism
(I looked for some "transparent" way to preserve a link to that second discussion without luck. Landman's session links to an archival address for the earlier one with Keller. If the link to Landman no longer finds his "Talk to the Newsroom" Q&A, it may have migrated to a dated address similar to the one for Keller, but that link doesn't work yet with April 28, 29 or 30 as the date.)
1:14:35 PM 
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