Poynter. » Making Sense of News

Disputes over crime maps highlight challenge of outsourcing public data

Adam Hochberg — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:42:28 +0000

Colin Drane is an unlikely warrior in the fight for open government.

An inventor and TV infomercial producer, Drane spent much of his career marketing products like the Trunkanizer for organizing car trunks, a toy called Bendaroos, and Invisi-lift… Read more

Boston explosions a reminder of how breaking news reporting is changing

Jason Fry — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 16:20:10 +0000

Terrible events such as yesterday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon have always meant “all hands on deck” for news organizations, with staffers pulled off their regular beats to contribute.

But the endpoint of the newsgathering and reporting is no longer … Read more

Gosnell story raises questions about when national media should cover local stories

Kelly McBride — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 00:36:51 +0000

The media question of the day is why the Philadelphia trial of Kermit Gosnell is not garnering national media attention.

Gosnell is a Philadelphia doctor on trial for murder for performing late-term abortions that resulted in living babies that he … Read more

Are you really willing to go to jail over your anonymous source?

Kelly McBride — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:36:27 +0000

When reporters want my advice about whether to grant a source anonymity, this is the question I ask them: Is your story significant enough that you’re willing to spend six months in jail?

When they’re working on a substantial story, … Read more

Three lists about BuzzFeed’s serious journalism

Kelly McBride — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:02:51 +0000

A little more than a year ago, BuzzFeed made the leap into the realm of serious journalism. It hired some known journalists and a lot more hungry young writers, expanded its verticals, and announced a plan to create serious content … Read more

Why railing against CNN for the Steubenville coverage is a waste of time

Kelly McBride — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:45:17 +0000

Momentum is building against CNN for clumsy things anchors said about the teenagers convicted of rape in Steubenville, Ohio.

It’s a misplaced anger that will do nothing but further confuse the public about issues of rape and sexual assault, particularly … Read more

Powerful photo essay on domestic violence stirs backlash

Kelly McBride — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:24:47 +0000

A photo essay vividly documenting domestic assault lit up the Internet this week after Time Magazine published it as part of its LightBox series.

Ohio University graduate student Sara Lewkowicz didn’t set out to take pictures of domestic violence. Instead, … Read more

Fake news: Pig rescuing goat is really a dog

Kelly McBride — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:31:03 +0000

Dave Itzkoff of the NYTimes asked me last week to look at a 30-second video of a cute little pig rescuing a cute little bleating goat that was somehow trapped in a pond.

My first reaction was: fake. Yet several … Read more

A tale of two cop-killer hunts shows shifting role of Twitter from Seattle to LA

Kelly McBride — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 13:57:12 +0000

Three and half years ago, the Seattle-Tacoma area was paralyzed as police searched for a cop-killer, much like greater Los Angeles this past week. On a Sunday morning in 2009, a gunman walked into a coffeshop in Parkland, Wa., … Read more

As renegade cop support pages crop up, Facebook, journalists make choices

Kelly McBride — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 22:09:44 +0000

Facebook pages are springing up in support of Christopher Jordan Dorner, the former Los Angeles cop now wanted for three murders and the subject of a massive manhunt in California. They raise interesting challenges as journalists in Southern California … Read more