By David Fortier
Introduction
This is the heart of the project–a series of workshops for a small group of citizens, who met weekly over 6 to 10 weeks with ethical journalism as their focus. The conversations from those sessions are shaping this online publication. Many of them have yet to be incorporated, and honestly, they are awaiting the completion of my master’s before the get more attention.
Before I go into greater detail about the workshops, here is an example of what I mean by ethics in action.
Ethics deals with gray areas, areas where there is no simple answer and most times an answer evolves practically rather than ideally. In other words, most times answers are less than perfect. The ones who decide this, get it. Having deliberated, studied, and consulted, all in good will, they appreciate and embrace the situation, knowing full well that is it an imperfect one.
For instance, one of the major ethical issues for in the initial group had to do with time. On the one hand, anyone who gets involved in a CDCJ project would have to be concerned about how much time would be involved. On the other, anyone would reads TBE also is concerned with time, with the type of news, whether it is worth the time, how it is delivered. This became an important topic throughout our discussions.
This is how the discussion unfolded:
- To be fair to our volunteers, time is an issue.
- At the same time, TBE would like to provide solid information to our readers. In other words, our readers’ time is valuable, too, so we do not want to waste it.
Further,
- On a personal level, volunteers would like to be able to point to their work with some sense of accomplishment, meaning that they are acting in concert with their own morals and values.
- Then again, they would also like to live up to the ethical codes of journalism.
- And finally, they would like to be part of an organization that practices what it preaches.
What the group decided is that
- valuing our readers means finding out from them what it is they see as important issues,
- valuing our volunteers means creating assignments that are consistent with what they learn from readers AND that the volunteers can manage; oftentimes, the result requires from the reporters an account of their efforts, where they succeeded and why, where they fell short and why, admitting limitations and asking for assistance from readers to try to fill in blanks, and
- valuing our organizational position means scheduling regular evaluations to assess the effectiveness of this solution as to how well it meets our goal promoting citizen-driven community journalism.
Everyone one had a say in this discussion. Rather than becoming a stumbling stone, the discussion created an opportunity for creative responses and a sense of ownership.
Below:
- Two more conclusions of note, click here.
- The workshops, click here.
- A 7-part ethical CDCJ workshop series, click here.
Two more conclusions of note
Several conclusions, not all, that the group are mentioned here, not because they aren’t important but because the emphasis here is on the process. A recommended series of introductory workshops is listed below, for anyone to take a look at what was covered.
The process was what was and is important.
For instance, when the group discussed the five core values of journalism they took issue with impartiality. They appreciated the notion, but that there are many sides to a story, but argued that sometimes the working press forces the issue when it tries to present two sides to a story, for the sake of being fair, not necessarily impartial, and they error because it is obvious that the sides are not equal or do not have equal influence or impact.
As a group, they decided that did not even mind if a report were published with an obvious slant, as long as the position of the writer were disclosed and that the account was a fact-based. They wanted to be able to make up their own minds about the issues, but were not against getting their information, as long as it was fact-based.
On another account, when the organization was discussed, they decided, again as a group, that they wanted someone in charge. It was a great idea to have full participation, but if anything was going to get done, someone had to be in charge. What the guidelines would be, could be sorted out later.
The workshops
A workshop of 7-parts is presented here. It is generally, the one the initial group followed, although, with winter storms and such, they met over 10 weeks.
Some outcomes you might expect from a workshop series follow:
- –Participants should be free to determine what news is for their community.
- –Participants should be able to determine the form that news will be delivered. (Even limiting our discussions to a website, members of this group decided that creating weekly podcasts might be the best way for readers to obtain their TBE reports.
- –Participants should decide their next steps:
- either to take some steps to engage existing media.
- to take steps to start producing their own news reports.
- to step back, with their new appreciation of how works, and integrate this information in their own news habits, including their use of social media.
Here is an index for the workshops along with some resources. Click on the link and you will be taken to the workshop further down the page. The workshops are also available for download as a pdf. Click here.
Below:
- Workshop Session 1: Getting to know each other, click here.
- Workshop Session 2: Personal news habits, click here.
- Workshop Session 3: Ethics, click here.
- Workshop Session 4: Researching the community, click here.
- Workshop Session 5: An editor’s roundtable, click here.
- Workshop Session 6: The story form, click here.
- Workshop Session 7: Evaluation and next steps, click here.
A 7-part Ethical CDCJ workshop series
Workshop Session 1: Getting to know each other
Preparation: If the leader has experience running workshops, great. If not, it makes sense to consult a meeting guide such at the one that can be found at this link: The Five Fold Path of Productive Meetings. (It’s a pretty good manual to help run meetings, click on the link provided here, scroll down the page until you reach the item, and click download.)
In addition, for the purposes of this inaugural meeting, there are a few items that need to be addressed weeks in advance:
- Finding and Inviting participants: I used a variety of means, including a post on Facebook, my own page, as well as several Facebook pages dedicated to all things Bristol. Of course, I approached individuals whom I thought might be interested. Because of space and time limitations, I set participation at 8. Seven people eventually joined me.
- Finding a location: I was lucky enough to have a local businessperson donate a space in one of his buildings. I recommend approaching the local library to find out about conference rooms they might have available. Most have limitations on how many times a room can be reserved, but I have found on the occasions I have worked with libraries, the people there are understanding and make allowances. An alternative might be to change the meetings from weekly to every other week or even monthly.
It is a good idea to have a script to refer to, not necessarily to read from. Rehearsing the script can help.
You should determine if you are going to video- or audio-record the meetings. This is not necessary, but it does help when reviewing the session and sharing key points with participants, as a reminder of where they started in their thinking and how it evolved.
Materials: For this meeting, there needs to be an agenda (for this meeting and all meetings), copies of surveys for each participant to complete, a notebook for each participant, and pens for each participant.
Of course, any recording devices should be packed and ready to go.
Preparing the location: It is good to visit the location at least once and ask about rules about whether food and drink is available, setup and take down expectations, and anything else you can think of.
Running the meeting: As stated above in the outcomes, it is important to meet the goals of allowing participants room to explore their thinking, as well as maintaining a schedule.
An opening agenda might look like this:
- Coffee And (yes, it is a nice idea to provide a snack and drinks for participants)
- Welcome
- Overview
- Video- or audio-recording agreement
- Session goals
- Survey
- Notebooks
- Homework
- Next Meeting
- Adjournment
An alternative would be to include the time expected for each item on the agenda, but that might be too restrictive, in that there will be times the conversation is so productive, the leader will have to decide to forfeit time for another item.
Plan for the 1st meeting
Outcome for leader: Throughout the workshops the workshop leader must maintain an open and inquiring attitude that allows participants to share their thoughts freely. Outcomes must be arrived at through discourse rather than in a prescribed manner. At the same time, it is important to remind people that there is a schedule and it is important to stay on schedule.
As an alternative to one leader for the entire series, the group might decide that each participant would run one meeting. That alternative might be reserved for a second series of workshops led by the ones who comprised the original one. The idea behind this is that as TBE evolves and gains readership, more people might want to get involved.
Outcome for participants: To feel confident that their voices are welcome, that they can feel confident that their time commitment will be respected, that they will be required to do some work.
Coffee And (from before meeting into meeting 5 minutes or so)
–Yes, it is a nice idea to provide snacks and drinks, if at all possible. The environment needs to be welcoming and appreciative of their contribution. I recommend getting to the site 15 minutes early to setup coffee, if not bringing it, and to greet early arrivers.
Welcome (10 mins)
–Again, there cannot be too many “thank you’s.”
–Reiterate, the meeting will be 1 hour long. If people decide to linger and talk, that’s fine.
–Allow time for introductions.
Overview (5 mins)
–This is the overview of the program, which is to look at the quality of local news coverage, in this instance, of print coverage, and to determine what can be done about it, if anything, by people like the ones sitting in this room.
–The workshop will last seven weeks, with weekly meetings like this one, and there will be homework assignments from one meeting to the next. Take questions.
–If sessions will be recorded, ask participants for permission. Why? At some point, people might want to know what the sessions were like and the recordings might be helpful.
Session goals (10 mins)
–To obtain or confirm contact information, if the information has not been collected.
–To complete a survey that will be used to evaluate whether the workshop reached its goal.
–To explain homework and assign this week’s homework.
Complete survey (15 mins)
–I like the idea of having people complete the surveys in real time. It helps set the tone. An alternative would be to have the participants complete the survey using Google Forms, prior to the first meeting. That would require an altering the sessions proposed here.
Distribute notebooks (5-10 mins)
–Pass out notebooks to each participant. Here I like to explain that it is a good practice to use a notebook to capture the high points of what we cover. At the same time, the notebook can be used for them to write questions, for homework, and for review. I tell them that I will also be collecting them because there might be something in them that can be used in future workshops.
Explain and assign homework (5-10 mins)
–First, by way of explanation, homework is necessary because there are concepts that need to be explored and it is better to take time during the week to preview these subjects. Other times, homework is necessary because there will be activities, such as gathering information that will be used in a succeeding meeting. Typically, this homework will not eat up more than an hour or two.
–Second, this week’s homework is to track your own news habit. Literally, to write down where and how often you get your news. This includes sources, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, an online news provider, broadcast or print. Along with the source, write down the time you access the information. Yes, it is going to take some time.
Adjourn
–Confirm time and place of next meeting. Remind people you will send a reminder, along with notes on what happened at this meeting.
Post-meeting (for leader)
Follow-up (for leader)
–Review the sessions for any takeaways that can be shared either through the weekly email or at the beginning of the next meeting.
–During the week, email participants with a reminder about homework and a brief review of what happened at the meeting.
Workshop Session 2: Personal news habits
Preparation:
–View the Ted talk, “Beware online ‘filter bubbles.” Having this understanding of the current impact of social media will help inform the leader going into this workshop. This will help guide the conversation.
–Review Principles of journalism and create a handout for the first session.
–Confirm with location that the session is scheduled. No surprises.
–Plan to arrive early and setup coffee, bring snacks, etc.
Materials:
–Copies of agenda to hand out, along with a handout from Principles of Journalism webpage.
–Leader notes and/or script to refer to
–Recording equipment, if using
–Easel and paper or large paper and tape for recording responses; markers
Plan for Session 2
Outcomes: To define news and begin to evaluate local coverage.
Share session goals (5 mins)
–To review news habits and define news
–In light of the definition of news, to evaluate whether the local newspaper(s) meets this requirement.
Discuss news habits (40-45 mins)
–Where do you get your news?
–What does your news consist of? Does it allow for different perspectives? (The assumption here is that they will on their own come to the conclusion arrived at in “Filter bubbles.”)
–In light of your news habits, how would you define news?
–In light of this definition, what is the role of journalists and the news media?
–In light of your news habits, what do you believe the role of the reader is? Any responsibility for these habits?
–Does this include local news? Why or why not?
–Regarding local news, do you feel you are getting enough news? in the local news that you do receive, how do you feel about its accuracy, thoroughness, impartiality?
–What is journalism supposed to accomplish on the local level? In this community, how is journalism doing?
–Is there something about journalism that is about more than making money?
–How do First Amendment protection play into this? Can organizations abuse this trust?
–What is it that guides journalism and journalists away from abuse and into more of a credible role? (Answer, of course, is ethics.)
–Share the handout created from Principles of Journalism.
Homework (5-10 mins)
–Watch “Filter bubbles.”
–Complete the NewsU course, The Ethics of Journalism.
–Continue to track news habits, especially those involving local news.
Adjourn
–Confirm time and place of next meeting. Remind people you will send a reminder, along with notes on what happened at this meeting.
Post-meeting (for leader)
Follow-up (for leader
–Review the sessions for any takeaways that can be shared either through the weekly email or at the beginning of the next meeting.
–During the week, email participants with a reminder about homework and a brief review of what happened at the meeting.
Workshop Session 3: Ethics
Preparation:
–Complete NewsU Ethics class, The Ethics of Journalism and take notes
–Confirm with location that the session is scheduled. No surprises.
–Plan to arrive early and setup coffee, bring snacks, etc.
Materials:
–Copies of agenda to hand out
–Copies of codes of ethics from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Ethical Journalism Network.
–Leader notes and/or script to refer to
–Recording equipment, if using
–Easel and paper or large paper and tape for recording responses; markers
Plan for Session 3
Outcome(s): To grasp the nature of ethics, primarily using the process outlined in the NewsU “Ethics of Journalism” course.
Share session goals (5 mins)
–To review ethics course.
–To develop tentative ethical guidelines
Discuss ethics course (40-45 mins)
–What were some takeaways from the ethics course? (Most times the group members will discuss the scenarios, so it’s important to have these in your notes.)
–How about the process for distinguishing ethical thinking versus the other two methods—gut reaction and rules-based thinking?
–Pass out codes of ethics from SPJ and EJN. Review them, pointing out their similarities and differences. Have the participants draw the following chart in their notebooks and complete the exercise together.
| Ethical standard: SPJ | Ethical Standard: EJN | Group’s code and why… |
| Seek Truth and Report It | Truth and Accuracy | |
| Minimize Harm | Humanity | |
| Act Independently | Independence | |
| Be Accountable and Transparent | Accountability | |
| Fairness and Impartiality |
Note: For me this exercise resulted in some interesting discussions—first, that the group did not care so much about whether a report (not opinion piece) had a particular slant as long as it was fact-based and the writer was transparent about a particular position. They insisted that they could draw their own conclusions as long as the report was fact-based.
As a follow-up exercise, the group will discuss how to put these ethics into practice.
Homework (5-10 mins)
–Complete the NewsU “NewsSense: The Building Blocks of News” course.
–Continue to track news habits, especially those involving local issues.
Adjourn
–Confirm time and place of next meeting. Remind people you will send a reminder, along with notes on what happened at this meeting.
Post-meeting (for leader)
Follow-up (for leader
–Review the sessions for any takeaways that can be shared either through the weekly email or at the beginning of the next meeting.
–During the week, email participants with a reminder about homework and a brief review of what happened at the meeting.
Workshop Session 4: Researching the community
Preparation:
–Review city meeting schedule or archives for a recent city council meeting for Session 4 homework.
–Complete “News Sense” at NewsU and take notes
–Confirm with location that the session is scheduled. No surprises.
–Plan to arrive early and setup coffee, bring snacks, etc.
Materials:
–Copies of agenda to hand out
–Leader notes and/or script to refer to
–Recording equipment, if using
–Easel and paper or large paper and tape for recording responses; markers
Plan for Session 4
Outcome(s): To begin to envision citizen-driven coverage.
Share session goals (5 mins)
–To review the News Sense course.
–To answer the question, taking into consideration the ethical nature of our discussion, how do ethics apply here? To the choice of stories for instance? To deciding what would be of some importance to the readers (who are the members of the group). How does this translate into transparency, say; or how to provide accountability—if these are on their lists from the previous week.
Discuss news sense (40-45 mins)
–Define news sense, or sensibility.
–Apply this sensibility to the local newspaper.
–Apply this sensibility to a newspaper of their imagining.
–Since news has become untethered from its position as a trusted source, what would a “new” newspaper conduct itself to restore some level of trust?
–How would you approach the local existing publications with this information?
–How would you incorporate it into the news operation of a “new” publication?
Homework (5-10 mins)
–With these ideas, cover a local meeting or view recent archived city meeting online for stories. Note what is significant and what should be included in local coverage. Ask yourself, what should be part of regular reporting?
–Continue to track news habits, especially those involving local news.
Adjourn
–Confirm time and place of next meeting. Remind people you will send a reminder, along with notes on what happened at this meeting.
Post-meeting (for leader)
Follow-up (for leader
–Review the sessions for any takeaways that can be shared either through the weekly email or at the beginning of the next meeting.
–During the week, email participants with a reminder about homework and a brief review of what happened at the meeting.
Workshop Session 5: An editor’s roundtable
Preparation:
–Review codes of ethics and prepare questions to apply to story decisions
–Confirm with location that the session is scheduled. No surprises.
–Plan to arrive early and setup coffee, bring snacks, etc.
Materials:
–Copies of agenda to hand out
–Leader notes and/or script to refer to
–Recording equipment, if using
–Easel and paper or large paper and tape for recording responses; markers
Plan for Session 5
Outcome(s): To expose participants to some of the ethical quandaries that their choices incite.
Share session goals (5 mins)
–To provide participants with an opportunity to discuss and defend their story ideas.
–To have the participants use their tentative ethical code as a final arbiter of what an edition of their publication would look like.
Conduct editor’s roundtable (40-45 mins)
–Discuss what the participants decided would be newsworthy, not only based on the concept of news values but against the backdrop of their tentative ethical code.
–As the discussion continues, keep participant cycling back through the standards by asking questions, such as, “But how would you communicate transparency? be accountable? ensure accuracy? complete the assign in a timely manner? evoke impartiality or balance or both? and on and on…
–Produce a checklist of sorts to guide story selection and a procedure for reporters, including having them consider accountability, impartiality, (disclosure of friendships? or business relationships? Etc.?)
–Come away from the conversation with a story idea that you will have to write a basic news story for homework.
Homework (5-10 mins)
–Revisit “News Sense,” specifically its the sections on writing stories. Using this information along with the list from Session 5 and using your notes from the city meeting, draft a story. It does not have to be perfect. If information is missing, just list that information as a paragraph in the story.
–Continue to track news habits, especially those involving local issues.
Adjourn
–Confirm time and place of next meeting. Remind people you will send a reminder, along with notes on what happened at this meeting.
Post-meeting (for leader)
Follow-up (for leader
–Review the sessions for any takeaways that can be shared either through the weekly email or at the beginning of the next meeting.
–During the week, email participants with a reminder about homework and a brief review of what happened at the meeting.
Workshop Session 6: The Story form
Preparation:
–Review some of the concerns and standards that the group members have raised as a backdrop to this conversation to develop ideas about what is the best story form for engaging readers.
For instance, in my discussions with the volunteers, they mentioned “time,” “economy,” “honesty” as important considerations not only for anyone volunteering to write for their imaginary publication but important to consider from the perspective of readers.
–Confirm with the location that the session is scheduled. No surprises.
–Plan to arrive early and setup coffee, bring snacks, etc.
Materials:
–Copies of agenda to hand out
–Copies of a handout with some of the concerns from earlier meetings. (Or just use the notes on large paper from earlier meetings taped to the wall.)
–Leader notes and/or script to refer to
–Recording equipment, if using
–Easel and paper or large paper and tape for recording responses; markers
Plan for Session 6
Outcome(s): The goal here is to talk about how the stories would be written, along with how best to provide readers with information they need, even if it means toying with the basic structure.
Outcome for participants:
Share session goals (5 mins)
–When we talk here of story form, we need to consider the best way to engage readers. Does a basic news story accomplish this?
–Can we come up with suggestions that meet our ethical concerns and deliver a story in a way that is respectful of our readers, and at the same time, invites them to assist with a more complete story—the goal being facts-based and not opinion?
Discuss ways to deliver stories that meet criterion established in earlier conversations (40-45 mins)
–Having had experienced what is involved with covering stories, deciding on the ones that matter, and trying your hand at writing one, what are your thoughts about the best way to deliver these stories? For instance, in a basic news story or some other way?
Note: the discussion here naturally turned to some of the guidelines that were talked about in the previous weeks: Well, if we want to respect the reader and his or her time, the stories need to be parsed into separate pieces under catchy headlines—for instance, each story – depending on how involved it is – should begin with a summary, following the summary would be addition information in the tradition inverted pyramid manner, following this section would be information addressing transparency, accountability issues. An ideal situation, the group decided would be to podcast, beginning with a weekly review/preview. (I experimented with a podcast. link here.)
In addition, the members decided that it was important to consider the credibility of any writer, even to the point of developing a following around a writer, in this instance, either a writer or a podcaster.
Homework (5-10 mins)
–To dabble with some of the ideas about story structure that we discussed and bring in the experiments.
Adjourn
–Confirm time and place of next meeting. Remind people you will send a reminder, along with notes on what happened at this meeting.
Post-meeting (for leader)
Follow-up (for leader
–Review the sessions for any takeaways that can be shared either through the weekly email or at the beginning of the next meeting.
–During the week, email participants with a reminder about homework and a brief review of what happened at the meeting.
Workshop Session 7: Evaluation and Next Steps
Preparation:
–Prepare surveys for final assessment
–Confirm with location that the session is scheduled. No surprises.
–Plan to arrive early and setup coffee, bring snacks, etc.
Materials:
–Copies of agenda to hand out
–Leader notes and/or script to refer to
–Recording equipment, if using
–Easel and paper or large paper and tape for recording responses; markers
Plan for Session 7
Outcome(s): To evaluate the workshop and discuss next steps
Share session goals (5 mins)
–To evaluate whether this experience has resulted in a more sophisticated understanding of journalism that you can appreciate.
–To poll members about next steps.
Survey/assessment (15-20 mins)
—Handout out copies.
Final discussion (35 mins
—This discussion must answer some questions that need to be addressed regarding the way things were handled and how they might be in the future, but most important, the discussion must result in the next steps for participants.
Homework (5-10 mins)
–N/A
Adjourn
Post-meeting (for leader)
Follow-up (for leader
–Review the sessions for any takeaways that can be shared either through the final weekly email.