Lots of interesting articles to keep up with these days: On democracy and society: An extremely thoughtful piece on balancing citizen participation with delegating expertise in a democracy, by Mike Ananny, a new media PhD student at Stanford.  Here's another good one, on the rise and fall of GDP as a good way to measure social progress.  I'm also trying to sort out my views on this piec... [More]

On May 25, 2010, the Canadian Journalism Foundation hosted a panel, “Keeping an Eye on Journalism”, about the role of the ombudsman in Canadian journalism.  Jeffrey Dvorkin, former NPR News ombudsman, moderated the panel, which consisted of John Racovali, The National Post’s assistant managing editor, Kathy English, The Toronto Star's The Toronto Star’s public edi... [More]

Thank you to Samara intern Grant Burns for writing the summary on the inspiring and fascinating Samara/Massey seminar by Ellen Weiss, VP News for National Public Radio.  Edited videos of the talk will be available soon. ----- Hearing news executives talk about the future of journalism is pretty standard these days. But hearing them talk about why the future’s bright for journalism is ... [More]

Our friends at the Canadian Journalism Foundation are hosting a panel entitled "Keeping an eye on journalism" on Tuesday May 25 in Toronto, and have kindly waived their entrance fee for friends of Samara. From their website: "Wikis, bloggers, media critics...or ombuds? Which is better? Is the watchdog function more effective inside or outside a media organization? The New York Times, the Toront... [More]

These are exciting times. Just over a year ago, The Mark News launched in beta.  The Mark, an online opinion journal, provides a forum for lots of voices to contribute to the public debate.  In the same vein as OpenParliament.ca and Datadotgc.ca it's a great example of how the web has enabled greater citizen engagement in the Canadian democracy. Yesterday saw another example, the launc... [More]

There are some bright lights admist the chaoticly evolving news media these days, and one of them is unquestionably National Public Radio. NPR is one of the only major news organizations to see a growth in audience share in recent years (you can read a short analysis on it, and the other one, here). On May 18th in Toronto, NPR's Vice President for News, Ellen Weiss, will be at the Samara/Massey ... [More]

Two piece this past weekend for those interested in the ways in which politics and journalism intersect in our 2.0 world.  Both have that "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose" air about them. First, from the New York Times magazine, a profile of the author of Politico's agenda-setting Playbook.  This early morning email tipsheet is what "some of America's most influent... [More]

Last week, online news may have officially entered the mainstream when the non-profit investigative newsroom, ProPublica, won a Pulitzer Prize for its piece on the controversial deaths in a New Orleans hospital following Hurrican Katrina. Although ProPublica collaborates with mainstream news organizations to syndicate its work, this marks the first time a news organization that operates solely on... [More]

Many thanks to Samara volunteer Alex Derry, who reported from the recent Samara/Massey seminar.  His first post on the event is available here. ------ Earlier this month, Kathy English posed three key questions about the future of journalism, in light of Pew’s 2010 State of the News Media report: 1. What ethical values about journalism will guide new media? 2. Will legacy media coop... [More]

Many thanks to Samara volunteer Alex Derry, who reported from this week's Samara/Massey seminar. - - - As the most respected barometer of journalism in North America, the goal of the PEJ's 2010 State of the News Media report is “to help both the journalists who produce the news and the citizens who consume it develop a better understanding of the what the press is delivering, how the media... [More]

Our brains are still digesting last night's fabulous talk by the director of the Pew Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, Tom Rosenstiel.  Rosenstiel was in Toronto presenting some of the findings and discussing the implications of Pew's annual State of the News Media report. We'll have video and written summaries available on our website in the coming week or so.  In the mean... [More]

  Kathy English, The Toronto Star's public editor, previews a number of the questions raised in this year's State of the News Media report, that will likely come up for discussion in tomorrow's Samara/Massey journalism seminar. For more information, please contact us.

It'll be a journalism-filled long weekend of reading: 1. In advance of next week's Samara-Massey journalism seminar, the 2010 State of the News Media report. 2. A piece on Iceland's attempt, supported by its Parliament, to tranform itself into a free press haven, complete with protection for journalists who aspire to do investigations free from threats from politicians or lawyers. 3. Some recen... [More]

Samara, in partnership with Massey College, is hosting Tom Rosensteil, the director of the Pew Centre's Project for Excellence in Journalism in Toronto on Tuesday April 6th.  This is the seventh year that Mr. Rosensteil and the PEJ have released the State of the News Media report, which chronicles and analyzes the "revolution occuring in how Americans get information." Mr. Rosensteil will pr... [More]

Edited tapes of Paul Steiger's recent talk on the creation of the foundation-funded investigative newsroom ProPublica are now available. His remarks have been edited down into five parts: 1. Introduction to ProPublica. 2. Assesment of how they overcame their initial set of challenges. 3. The challenges looking forward. 4 & 5. Audience questions, including how ProPublica collaborates with ... [More]

In addition to the good upcoming public policy chit-chat this week, we add two notes which will be of particular interest to the journalistically-inclined. First, on Tuesday March 16 the Canadian Journalism Foundation is hosting a roundtable discussion with four journalists who covered the immediate aftermath of the hurricane in Haiti -a heartbreaking story that was no doubt extremely dif... [More]

Joseph Brean caught up with ProPublica's Paul Stieger during his visit to Toronto last week for the Samara-Massey journalism seminars, and Brean's interview featured as the National Post's Saturday interview. Of particular interest are Steiger's descriptions of how his non-profit, foundation-funded investigative newsroom so successfully collaborates with mainstream news publications, bot... [More]

Through our journalism seminars we've come to know the wonderful people at Massey College. Among its activities, Massey offers an annual journalism fellowship that enables practicing journalists to spend the year at the University of Toronto. Applications for their 2010 fellows are due on March 1, and are available here.