Adrian Holovaty delivered the commencement speech at the University of Missouri School of Journalism last week, and he's posted it on his blog.
He delivers the "plain truth as a friendly kick in the pants as you walk out the door," and warns the J-grads that they're entering a troubled business: "Rarely is an entire industry in a position such that it needs to completely reinvent itself."
AP reports that a Pennsylvania newspaper has fired a reporter for posting anonymously to forums on the newspaper's website.
According to the story, the reporter, Justin Quinn, began posting to "set the record straight" and eventually started adding his own opinions.
Quinn should have known better. But so should his editor, Ray Shaw.
According to BBC/Reuters/Media Center research, the most trusted media brand in the United States is Fox News, and the most trusted in Egypt is Al Jazeera.
This tells us something about "credibility" that I find troubling: A great many people aren't looking for fairness, or balance, or authoritative reporting, or accuracy, or the other values of professional journalism that some of us, at least, hold dear.
I like Vanessa Gezari's Poynter centerpiece, "Casting Off the Parachute," discussing the world of the freelance foreign correspondent.
I grew up in a world where editors could make the rules. "We don't report rumors" was one of them.
Those days are gone now, and reporting on rumors is one of the major shifts for professional journalism. No, we shouldn't repeat them -- at least not unchallenged. We have a responsibility to correct them. It's part of that "guides, not gatekeepers" thing.
Editors Weblog quotes a critique of the Arab press by a Saudi writer:
