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Many of the best examples of investigative journalism throughout history have relied on leaks and whistleblowers as a starting point. I don't think you would argue that Woodward and Bernstein were slackers because they were being fed information by "Deep Throat." You need to realize that Gerard Ryle received the files more than a year ago. It was far from "all the information that was needed to tell this story." Since then, the data has been analyzed and dozens of reporters have been hard at work investigating the stories that were ultimately released this month. You just have to look at CBC's stories on Tony Merchant to see the extent of additional investigation that was required to put the story together. And keep your eye on future investigative stories from the CBC that will spin out of these initial efforts.
Agreed! Oftentimes confusing infographics can be the result of the disconnect between the designer and the journalist, or lack of a designer altogehter. Infographics are complicated and, under pressure, journlaists piece together something that is eyecatching and flashy but that really does not serve as an effective piece of visual data. In the graphics world, they call these "poster graphics," because all they do is show off the data without adding any context or insight into the numbers.
"The Star claims that [Toronto's] mayor has stopped sending them official news releases because of his displeasure with the coverage he's received."
Your wording ("claims") insinuates there's some doubt about this. Either you know something we don't, or you haven't been reading J-Source.
Glad that you noticed! That is the point of doing the kind of research that we do at NADbank for our newspapers. The database provides a rich source of information about readers so the newspapers could look closely at who their readers are. If each paper did not have a unique reader group - a brand - it would be difficult to maintain a position (and therefore a business) in the marketplace.
Most of the infographics I have seen on CBC regional sites, New Brunswick in particular, are so confusing as to be useless. The perceived need to create such visual elements online has more to do with the CBC saying, "Hey, look at us. We know how to use technology. Aren't we great?". They don't, and they aren't. Forget the showing off with poor infographics and spend the time and resources you have to do quality journalism.
I'm sorry but this is not a good example of investigative journalism. Data-mining yes. Storytelling yes. A disc with 2.5 million files was dropped in a reporter's lap with all the information that was needed to tell this story, minus the obligatory clips with "yackademics" and tax experts. Had this groups of journalists decided to 'investigate' the topic from the start as a public service and come up with some great results, then yes, that would be a historic day for investigative journalism. They did not. Let's not pretend otherwise.
Thanks for flagging the error and it's been corrected.
Good article. One correction though: it's the Clinton News Record (not Record News).
Quote:
“My principle responsibility ....."
One would wish that an editor, however senior he may be, would know the difference between "principle" and "principal".
I'm glad you're covering this issue, but I disagree strongly with your take. My hunch is that you've never written any computer code. Underneath every algorithm is a human mind or multiple human minds. Those that write code know that their interests and ideas are indelibly embedded. Technology shapes those ideas, no question. And technology shapes the consumption of those ideas as well. But I think you set up a false opposition between human values and technologies.
It's human values and human ideas that drive algorithms. Same in statistics. Same in science. Same in Python, Ruby, PHP or Javascript.
Put another way, it's not the technology that worries me. The automated data gathering and analysis, and publication, is awesome. What worries me is the values that are making these algorithms. And it also worries me that these processes will probably be proprietary and closed. News outlets are too often commercial enterprises first, and "journalistic" enterprises second. In scientific endevours the methods and the statistical analysis have to be published and peer reviewed. I doubt news outlets will open up their data sets, or their methods.
In my view, this technological development is only a new face to a long time challenge for journalism: what passes as journalism, often isn't.
Margaret Wente might have done some mistakes at one time or the other, but mistakes are tolerable, not the attempt of plagiarism. Plagiarizing is just like cheating or stealing the work done by the other hard working writers. Regards, Turnitin free
Une version préliminaire de cette note de lecture confondait malheureusement la Suède avec la Suisse... Nous avons corrigé cela. Nos excuses encore une fois. CG/MFB
Bonjour! De petites erreurs se sont glissées dans cet article dans lequel je suis citée. Il est faux que «Anne-Marie Parent compte également refuser de signer le nouveau contrat de Transcontinental», puisque je ne collabore même pas aux médias de cet éditeur! À votre question: «Si vous collaboriez, signeriez-vous?» J'avais certes répondu que si j'étais une pigiste de Transcontinental, je ne signerais pas.
Je n'ai pas pu dire non plus ceci, puisque la question ne s'est pas présentée, n'étant pas une collatrice de Transcontinental: «Le problème, c’est que si je ne signe pas avec Transcontinental, je vais aller voir qui? Québecor? Ils font signer le même type de contrat.»
Par ailleurs, on me fait dire deux phrases contradictoires: «Bien qu’elle embrasse la cause, Anne-Marie Parent estime quant à elle qu’il est trop tard pour s’opposer à ce type de contrats.» C'est en contradiction avec ma première citation, où j'ai espoir que cette fois-ci la mobilisation fasse la différence (alors il n'est pas trop tard pour s'opposer à ce type de contrats!): «Même son de cloche pour la journaliste Anne-Marie Parent, qui croit que la mobilisation au Canada anglais pourrait faire la différence cette fois-ci. «Il y a des journalistes partout au Canada qui collabore avec Transcontinental, avance-t-elle. Ils pourraient agir comme levier pour la contestation.»
Enfin, je ne comprends pas pourquoi vous me faites dire ceci: «Elle ajoute qu’il est difficile pour les journalistes indépendants de développer une solidarité puisqu’ils n’ont aucune façon de se regrouper.» On a une façon de se regrouper, c'est en devenant membre de l'Association des journalistes indépendants du Québec (AJIQ)!
Ce qui est difficile, c'est plutôt que n'importe qui peut devenir journaliste, puisque le métier n'est pas réservé ni sanctionné par un ordre professionnel, alors tout le monde peut proposer des textes aux médias. Pour se monter un portfolio, les débutants acceptent de collaborer à des tarifs dérisoires, voire bénévolement, ce qui fait que les éditeurs trouveront toujours des pigistes acceptant des conditions peu reluisantes.
Mai oui, il faut se regrouper en devenant membre de l'AJIQ: plus nous sommes nombreux, plus nous avons du poids, face aux éditeurs-Goliath! Il faut que le plus grand nombre de pigistes possible se rencontre à l'Assemblée générale annuelle 2013 de l'AJIQ, qui se tiendra le 19 mars prochain au local A-2730 du pavillon Hubert-Aquin de l'UQÀM, à compter de 18 h 30. www.ajiq.qc.ca
Solidairement vôtre,
Anne Marie Parent (sans trait d'union!)
En effet, nos excuses... CG/MFB
J'ai pris note de la réaction de M. Trudel. Toutefois, la note de lecture reflète intégralement l'état de choses au moment de sa rédaction. Ce matin encore, Media Research (http://www.mediaresearch.ca/about/) se présente comme «The Canadian Media Research Consortium promotes economic, social and cultural research in Canadian media and communications ». Il cite les universités et le CEM comme partenaires. De même, au moment de la rédaction de la note, le site Internet (http://www.cmrcccrm.ca) nous renvoyait à celui de Media Research (ce lien semble inactif ce matin). Tant mieux si le Consortium a été alerté de la situation, mais la conclusion de M. Trudel est bien mal avisée en l'occurrence. Vérification a été faite sur le site du Consortium alors actif... Les faits parlent d'eux-mêmes et il est très étonnant qu'une telle situation n'ait pas été détectée avant la rédaction de notre note, par ceux qui sont responsables du Consortium ou y sont associés. Bien entendu, cet élément nouveau modifie notre analyse du texte de Edge eu égard au «nouveau» mandat du Consortium. Reste la critique de Edge.
Marc-François Bernier (Ph. D.)Titulaire, Chaire de recherche sur la francophonie canadienne en communication, spécialisée en éthique du journalisme (CREJ)(www.crej.ca)Professeur titulaireDépartement de communicationUniversité d'OttawaPavillon Desmarais55, av. Laurier Est, pièce 11146 K1N 6N5(613) 562-5800 (3828)mbernier@uottawa.ca(http://www.communication.uottawa.ca/fra/profs/bernier.html)
Bonjour
il y a une erreur assez grave de traduction : cet article concerne la Suède ( Sweden en anglais) et pas la Suisse (Switzerland)....
Coridalement
Pierre Ganz
Bonjour
L'article est très intéressant mais je me demande si vous ne confondez pas la Suisse et la Suède. Les informations correspondant aux partis politiques ne jouent pas pour la Suisse. Par ailleurs, le titre de l'étude de Von Krogh parle bien de "Sweden", jusqu'à nouvel ordre la Suède. Merci de corriger, c'est une erreur commise souvent outre-Atlantique.
Cordialement,
Christian Campiche
"...Pagemasters currently employs about 20 journalists—eight of which..."
Maybe "eight of whom"?
Revenue "challenges"? Seriously?
For crying out loud, call a spade a spade!
I'm looking forward for this every year I'm really thankful for the opportunity that they have given us freelancers to share our talents.
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Regardless of what the police can do with your phone, leaving it unlocked these days is pure foolishness! Smartphones are logged into email, social media, and banking information. Forget the cops, think about what a theif can do with it!
This has been a topic we have been focusing heavily on in my studies in the DJD program at USF St. Pete in Florida. My fellow students come from all different backgrounds and some have a decidely different opinion about twitter, and the 24/7 news cycle, than others. Some of the ideas that we have discussed amongst ourselves have been centered around the source of the piece of information you are reporting on, their motives, and their past releasing of information. It seems we have decided that a lot of the problems with the false information being released is based around the notion of being first to report on a topic, and meeting deadlines that are unrealistic based on the time it takes to verify said information. I am of the opinion that a lot of false information comes from people who are reporting on topics that are "out of their reach" so to speak. If you can't get anyone to a scene, and you don't have valuable contributers that have a history of reporting on topics like the one you are about to attempt to report on, than maybe that topic would be best to left alone untill you can gather and verify more information, and yes this means you may not be first to release ground breaking information, but you can gather resources during this process, so that you might have a shot at being first on the next one, but you would be doing it with confidence that you are reporting on factual information that will better inform your readers, and raise your credibility.
With apologies to UCI President Pat McQuaid who recently villified another lying, cheating miscreant - "Jonah Lehrer has no place in journalism, and he deserves to be forgotten in journalism."
Lehrer should 1. donate the $20,000 to a journalism charity, or set up a scholarship somewhere for journalism ethics, but he probably won't; and he should find another profession, although he gives every indication of wanting to continue in journalism.
Welcome, Thomas! And thanks, Dean, for your years of work as the founding law editor. - Ivor.
Le ton du Journal de Montréal est-il conservateur ou à droite ? Je ne sais pas. Pour le savoir il faudrait réaliser une étude rigoureuse sur les contenus du Journal. Ce qui n’a pas été fait. Je ne peux donc pas affirmer ce qu’apparemment j’affirme dans cet article. De la même façon et pour la même raison, je ne dis pas que les intérêts des journalistes ou les intérêts du propriétaire du Journal de Montréal se reflètent dans le contenu du Journal.
Chantal Francoeur, professeure de journalisme à l'école des médias de l'UQAM et membre du comité éditorial de ProjetJ.