Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel -- Blur: how to know what's true in the age of information overload
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We are each going to need to learn to be our own editors,
gatekeepers, and aggregators.  Although, we're likely to be able to
find a lot of help.

And first, we should be asking ourselves: Do we even care about
reality anymore?  Of course we do, right?  Maybe.  But, we seem to
listen to and enjoy all sorts of myths and fantasies.  A flagrant
example is the up-coming royal wedding of Prince William and Kate
Middleton in Britain.  So, perhaps the first step I want to take
while trying to follow the advice in this book is to decide, when
faced with any given story or news account, is whether, with respect
to this one, things like reality, truth, accuracy, etc matter to me.

There are actually two sides to this book, both valuable: (1) On the
consumer side, this is a book about how we can become better and
smarter users of the news.  It's about what each of us should to in
the way of fact-checking, evaluating, verifying, and understanding
the news we read and hear.  (2) On the producer side, it's about
what reporters and newspapers (for example), should be doing so as
to produce the news and the stories that we need.

As for the producers, there is a section about what new types of
workers we will need in the news production pipeline.  These include
(1) authenticator (fact checking and evaluating sources), (2) sense
maker (explain the story, raise it above a mere assortment of facts,
fit it into a wider context), (3) investigator (determine what
information is needed, what is significant, find that information
and write it up), (4) witness bearer (being there to watch and
listen reminds news-makers of their responsibilities to the public),
(5) empowerer (help the news consumer to verify, understand, and use
the news), (6) smart aggregator (help us news consumers to find what
we want and what is important to us; also filter it a bit), (7)
forum organizer (help us discuss the news with others who are also
interested; monitor and moderate that discussion), (8) role model
(help us become citizen journalists).

Classifications of content -- Kovach and Rosenstiel seem to place
different classes of content on a continuum with importance of
verification, accuracy, authentication, etc on one end of the scale
and emphasis on ideological fit and on pleasing a select audience
is on the other end.  So, for example, traditional newspaper
reporting *should* be at the accuracy and verification end of the
scale, while partisan political messages and newsletters for special
interest groups would be at the opposite end.

This book suggests that we distinguish journalism from communication
(e.g. blogs, aggregators, Web forums, etc).  For Kovach the
difference seems to be that communication merely passes along
information with no attempt to classify the kind of information, no
attempt to determine the authentication or expertise or reliability
or authority of the source, no attempt at fact checking or
verification of truth, and no analysis or attempt to add to our
deeper understanding of the message or its context.  In contrast,
again, for Kovach, journalism attempts to do at least some and
perhaps all of these.

One caution on the advice given in this book -- No matter how good
the instruction on classifying and checking and evaluating the news
we get, doing so is still going to require effort and hard work.
You're advised to face that up-front.

Commentary and analysis -- We also need the news *explained* to us.
We need it to make sense and we need it to fit into a larger
picture.  For ourselves, we need to explain it to ourselves and to
be able to explain it to others.  If I can't, then it likes does not
make sense to me and is likely not to make sense to someone else,
either.

Critical thinking -- Sure it's a buzzword.  You can look at this
book as a lesson in how to do that critical thinking, especially
with respect to the news and other media.  Some of that advice and
those instructions on how to do critical thinking are a bit
abstract, but much of it is quite practical, too.  There is plenty
of practical information on how to evaluate and make sense of the
news and information we get from the both traditional and the new
Internet-base sources.

A good deal of that practical advice is a variety of suggestions on
how to ask the right questions.  The question we should be asking,
among others are:  (1) What kind of content is it?  (2) Is it
complete?  (3) Who and what are the sources?  Are they reliable and
trustworthy?  (4) What evidence is provided for the claims made?
(5) Are there alternative explanations for these claims?  (6) Am I
learning what I need to know?  (7) Is the author giving me any
assistance to help me check the quality of this information or to
learn more?

Several of the later chapters of the book give rather detailed
instructions, illustrated with examples, on how to evaluate and
verify a news story, how to determine what kind of content it is,
how to evaluate evidence and sources, etc.  It's a worthwhile class
in how to read the news or other articles where truth and accuracy
are important.

In summary, our world is becoming more complex and, in response we
are becoming more highly educated in an attempt to deal with that
complexity.  But, if we are going to be able to use our intelligence
and that education to deal with the information that the news and
what we read and hear, then we need to listen to and follow the
guidance that this book gives us.

04/24/2011

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