Introduction

By Melissa Ludtke

In his essay about network news, Marc Kusnetz, a former NBC News producer, leads us through a half century of enormous changes and then discusses the challenges TV news confronts in the digital age. In one passage, he writes, “… television conflates simplification with clarification, and in doing so it refuses to acknowledge a self-evident truth, that complexity and confusion are often intrinsic to the story being told.” Photographer Frank Van Riper speaks to his concern about digital manipulation of images—and provides examples of when news images were tampered with. He writes: “… when the public sees one news photographer manipulating images … the assumption inevitably will be that this dishonest shooter is simply one of many.” And he proposes a way to certify a photograph’s authenticity.

Edward A. Gargan, who reported for Newsday from Iraq, quotes Josh Rushing from his book, “Mission Al Jazeera,” as he repeats the words that ended his career as a Marine (and the Iraq War’s Central Command spokesperson) and led him to become a reporter with Al Jazeera. “In America, war isn’t hell, we don’t see blood, we don’t see suffering …. Al Jazeera shows it all.” In books by two photojournalists, Thomas Dworzak and Ashley Gilbertson, Molly Bingham, whose documentary film “Meeting Resistance” is about the Iraqi insurgency, finds that “The images of the Iraq War build on one another and consequently take on explanatory powers that words alone are ill equipped to handle.”

As she looks back at news coverage of the Duke lacrosse players’ rape case and absorbs the perspective of the authors of “Until Proven Innocent,” Charlotte Observer columnist Mary C. Curtis says that “I searched the articles [written about the case] for balance, for facts—for solid reporting. What I found was prejudgment and stereotypes.” After reading the collection of 15 essays in “-30-: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper,” Robert J. Rosenthal, a former newspaper editor, felt energized by his recognition that in the future—unlike the past—opportunities will be “limitless for the work that journalists do.” He goes on to write, “into the future, with the help of the Web, emerging technologies and new partnerships, the impact, global reach and community engagement with what journalists do will be enormous.”

After reading “What Good Is Journalism?,” columnist and author David Randall finds fault with the book’s organizing concept of extolling the work of good journalists. He raises several questions he believes should be probed, including “What limitations are there on the roles that journalism performs? Does the way journalism is performed impose its own limitations? And what best promotes good journalism?” Brent Walth, a senior reporter at The Oregonian who teaches journalism, discovers in the book of letters William Woo wrote to his journalism students, entitled “Letters from the Editor,” a clear message “that a journalism education must not include simply instructions as to the techniques, mechanics and traditions of the craft.” From “Breaking News,” a recent history compiled by reporters with The Associated Press, Robert H. Phelps, a former editor at several newspapers and Nieman Reports and cub wire service reporter, pulls out some examples of news coverage from which lessons apply today. Among these lessons are the following: “Keep after sources, don’t give up.” “Scream if the editor screws up.” And “[get] the news first without sacrifice of accuracy.”

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