Humanities Inquiry

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PAST EVENT:
2004 Humanities Inquiry
Breaking News:
The State of Today's Information Media

BIAHC concluded its month-long examination of the role and responsibilities of the news media with an April 2, 2004 community discussion of the issues raised by keynote speaker James Fallows in his February 27, 2004 opening lecture.

Many of the problems facing the media today, and us as media consumers, he remarked, have to do with journalism's change from a special kind of business to a normal kind of business: one driven by the economic forces of the market rather than public interest concerns and traditional journalism values.

What this means is that for the motivated, educated consumer, high quality news and information is more available than ever before. However, the vast, middle part of the populace will be encountering the what Mr. Fallows described as the media equivalent of Wal-Mart, based on the industry's perception that most people will pay attention to the news only if it is made as entertaining as other options available to them.

Why should these changes matter to us on Bainbridge Island? Because, in a democracy, it becomes a major problem if our fellow citizens are ill-informed about decisions we collectively have to make. Therefore, our responsibility as news consumers to seek out and support news information sources that provide an accurate, unbiased picture of what is going on in the world is as important as that of the news media industry to produce that information.

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For further information on these and other topics in the inquiry, go to the humanities inquiry links at the top of this page or in the program listings below. BIAHC plans to show videotapes of several of the programs on Bainbridge Island Broadcasting, Channel 12, towards the end of the summer. Check the BIB schedule at www.bibonline.org.

Suggested Resource Links >>

Breaking News was funded in part by a grant from Humanities Washington and co-presented by the Washington News Council.

BIAHC would also like to thank the following organizations and individuals that helped make Breaking News possible:

CO-SPONSORS & SUPPORTERS

Bainbridge High School
Bainbridge Island Broadcasting
Bainbridge Island Historical Society
Bainbridge Island Park & Recreation District
Bainbridge Public Library
The Bainbridge Review
Hat Factory Studios
Imagine Bainbridge
Island Theatre
Ann Jensen Warman, Brand Unity, Inc
The Principia Club of the Olympic Peninsula
Radio Bainbridge Institute
Roby King Galleries
Rolling Bay Gourmet
Community Sponsors
Jeanette Alexander Graphic Design
Dan and Harriet Alexander
Association of Bainbridge Communities
Bart and Dana Berg
Paul and Debbi Brainerd
Virginia and Tom Brewer
Frank Buxton and Cynthia Sears
Frontier Bank
Ralph and Deborah Cheadle
John and Barbara Ellis
Tom Fehsenfeld and Janet Knox
David and Robin Guterson
David and Cynthia Harrison
Bill and Liz Knobloch
Darlene Kordonowy
Ed and Karen Kushner
Jack and Edna Lewis
Mary Lewis
Andy and Sallie Maron
Jeannie McMacken
Forest and Marilyn Monkman
Tom and Beth Morgan
Barry and Channy Peters
John and Ann Powel
Merrill and Sally Robison
Bob and Jeannie Satterwhite
Shaboom, Inc.
Nan and Norm Wooldridge
Ross and Elina Yeager

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LINKS:

Washington News Council
The WNC is the co-presenter of Breaking News. It is a Seattle-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to help maintain public trust and confidence in the news media by promoting fairness, accuracy and balance, and by creating a forum where the public and the news media can engage each other in examining standards of journalistic fairness.
http://www.wanewscouncil.org

The Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA)
A nonpartisan research and educational organization whose goal is to provide an empirical basis for ongoing debates over media fairness and impact through well-documented, timely, and readable studies of media content.
http://www.cmpa.com

NOW with Bill Moyers
An in-depth examination of the FCC's new media ownership rules.
http://www.pbs.org

Journalism.org
Research, Resources, and Ideas to Improve Journalism. The online home of the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Committee of Concerned Journalists.
http://www.journalism.org

Media Watch
The Online News Hour with Jim Lehrer. PBS.
http://www.pbs.org

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BREAKING NEWS EVENTS

1. Keynote Speaker: James Fallows.

The National Correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly describes how changes in the ownership and structure of the news media are changing its fundamental role in public life.
February 27, 2004. MORE >>

2. The Media and the Law.

Bruce E. H. Johnson, media lawyer from Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP., and John Merton Marrs, Ph.D., journalism instructor, Everett Community College, discuss the constitutional underpinnings of the press, landmark media cases, and current issues in media law.
March 1. MORE >>

3. The Impact of New Technology on the News Media.

Are Internet news sites, C-Span, weblogs, cable networks, satellite TV and other new data sources providing better news coverage, or simply adding to what many people consider the media wasteland? Is the increasing globalization of the media helping or hindering democracy? A panel considers whether the Internet and other newdata sources are providing better news coverage or simply adding to a media wasteland.

Panelists: Cyrus Krohn, publisher of Slate.com and member of the Washington News Council; Alex M. Dunne, managing editor of Blue Ear Daily (BlueEar.com); and Doug Schuler, from the Seattle Community Network Association. Moderator: Stephen Silha.
March 8. MORE >>

4. The History of Political Cartoons.

H. L. Mencken once said, "Give me a good cartoonist, and I can throw out half the editorial staff." This exhibit illustrates the history of American political cartoons from 1754 through 1995. cartoons

Throughout March, Bainbridge Public Library Meeting Room. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist David Horsey does a multimedia presentation of his own work for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
March 15. MORE >>

5. Dear Editor

A Playreading of Letters to The Bainbridge Review. Island Theatre presents a dramatic reading of selections of letters to the Bainbridge Review throughout the Island's history to illustrate the role of a local paper in community life.
March 13. MORE >>

6. Media Matters

A Conversation with Youth and Adults about Living in a Media World. An Open Space forum sponsored by Imagine Bainbridge and Bainbridge Island Broadcasting.
March 20. MORE >>

7. Television News

If It Bleeds, It Leads? This panel discussion focuses on the reasons for the growing dissatisfaction with televised news stories and the rise of "infotainment," such as dramatized news stories and news programs that emphasize crime, celebrities, entertainment, and human melodrama. Panelists: John Arthur Wilson , former KING TV reporter; Enrique Cerna, Executive Producer for Local Production, KCTS 9 Television; Melanie McFarland, TV critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer ; and Bainbridge Islander Peter O'Connell, Executive Producer of Special Projects for KING 5 News.
March 22. MORE >>

8. Washington News Council Mock Hearing

Bainbridge High School students play the role of the Washington News Council in an actual case brought against a news organization by a member of the public or an organization that believes it has been damaged by a news story.

The case under consideration will be the June 2003 complaint against KIRO-TV from the state Beef and Dairy Commissions for a series of stories aired by KIRO-TV in November 2002 that depicted alleged humane handling violations at a meat packing plant.

After considering the news report and listening to testimony on both sides, the students will decide if the story was fair, accurate and balanced. The mock hearing is followed by a discussion on how the real WNC voted and why. March 26. MORE >>

9. Journalistic Ethics, Objectivity, Accuracy and Fairness

John Hamer, Executive Director of the Washington News Council, moderates a panel discussion on the role of the reporter in the changing news media world.

Panelists include Christian Science Monitor reporter Brad Knickerbocker; Seattle P-I Foreign Desk Editor Larry Johnson, who recently returned from assignment in Iraq; Rick Jackson, Instructor of Journalism, Seattle Pacific University, and Philip Dawdy, staff writer for the Seattle Weeky.
March 29. MORE >>

10. The News Media & Society

The final panel presentation in the program is a community forum, led by a panel of experts and moderated by Ross Reynolds, host of The Conversation on KUOW, on the present role of the news media in a democratic society and whether journalism can remain an independent force.

Panelists: Margaret Gordon, Professor and Dean Emeritus of the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington; Mark Trahant, Editorial page editor for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer; Carole Carmichael, Assistant Managing Editor, Features, Seattle Times; Sarah Ruth van Gelder, Executive Editor, YES! magazine and Stephen Silha, Washington News Council member, communications consultant and former newspaper reporter.
April 2. MORE >>

11. Breaking News Film Festival

Breaking News concludes with a four-evening film festival of important films that deal with journalism and the news media business. His Girl Friday (1940), Ace in the Hole (1951), All the Presidents' Men (1976), Absence of Malice (1981).
April 5 - 8. MORE >>

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