COMM 337: Truth & Project for Excellence in Journalism

The Project for Excellence in Journalism defines itself as "a research organization that specializes in using empirical methods to evaluate and study the performance of the press." Originally affiliated with the Columbia School of Journalism, one of the nation's best, is is now part of the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C.

Focusing especially on content analysis, the PEJ maintains a website with daily updates on the state of the media. It also posts a Statement of Shared Purpose listing nine principles developed by research project that included 40 forums with working journalists over a four-year period. Among them are several that relate to this question of truth ... including the first principle:

Journalism's first obligation is to the truth
Democracy depends on citizens having reliable, accurate facts put in a meaningful context. Journalism does not pursue truth in an absolute or philosophical sense, but it can--and must--pursue it in a practical sense. This "journalistic truth" is a process that begins with the professional discipline of assembling and verifying facts. Then journalists try to convey a fair and reliable account of their meaning, valid for now, subject to further investigation. Journalists should be as transparent as possible about sources and methods so audiences can make their own assessment of the information. Even in a world of expanding voices, accuracy is the foundation upon which everything else is built--context, interpretation, comment, criticism, analysis and debate. The truth, over time, emerges from this forum. As citizens encounter an ever greater flow of data, they have more need--not less--for identifiable sources dedicated to verifying that information and putting it in context.

Notice how the journalists at PEJ's forums think of truth as a process -- if you do it right, in so many words, you'll get it right.

All nine of the principles are important. Of special interest to us in COMM 337, perhaps, is the seventh:

It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant
Journalism is storytelling with a purpose. It should do more than gather an audience or catalogue the important. For its own survival, it must balance what readers know they want with what they cannot anticipate but need. In short, it must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant. The effectiveness of a piece of journalism is measured both by how much a work engages its audience and enlightens it. This means journalists must continually ask what information has most value to citizens and in what form. While journalism should reach beyond such topics as government and public safety, a journalism overwhelmed by trivia and false significance ultimately engenders a trivial society.

You will have an opportunity to write about these issues on your final exam. How do the reporting and writing techniques in Donald Murray's "Writing to Deadline" empower us as journalists to tell the truth and get it right.