In this issue: James Goodman, longtime D&C reporter, dies at age 73; Buffalo News seeks experienced enterprise beat reporters; Nestor Ramos Named New York Times Metro Editor; Katherine Miller and Quoctrung Bui Join Times Opinion; NYCLU takes State Police to court over discipline records; How States and Congress Can Prepare for a Looming Threat to Freedom of Speech; Radically Rural Summit Announces Community Journalism Sessions; The local news crisis is deepening America's divides; Let’s stop trashing ‘legacy’ media; News Media Alliance and MPA – The Association of Magazine Media Have Merged, Now Known as News/Media Alliance; Poynter and RAND partner to connect journalists and public policy experts; Plus upcoming events and available training webinars. |
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James Goodman, longtime D&C reporter, dies at age 73
From democratandchronicle.com - James Goodman, a longtime Democrat and Chronicle reporter known for his passion for society's underdogs, his Columbo-like questioning in interviews, and his resolute and reliable accuracy, died Saturday at the age of 73.
Unfailingly polite and rarely prone to temper, Mr. Goodman still did not suffer fools gladly. In one telephone interview with a public official whom he found to be vague and obfuscating, Mr. Goodman said, "Have you heard of the word 'disingenuous'? I’ll wait while you look it up.”
Many came to respect Mr. Goodman for getting even the seriously minute details correct, even in the most arcane stories. And his concern for those who were the subjects of his stories — oftentimes people forgotten by the public and by his media brethren — found that he would be unrelenting in his pursuit of justice. More
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The Buffalo News seeks experienced enterprise beat reporters
From buffaloguild.org - Our newsroom is focused on relentless enterprise – original reporting that you won’t find anywhere else. The Buffalo News is an award-winning news organization with a history of breaking the area’s big stories and investing in journalism. We strive to hire talented and dedicated people who reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.
Enterprise beats at our paper include:
- Albany coverage: What happens in the state capitol – from closed-door dealmaking to the inner workings of state agencies – affects the everyday lives of Western New Yorkers.
- Niagara County: With an international tourist destination that attracts millions of visitors a year, there’s no shortage of interesting stories to report in Niagara Falls and the county’s surrounding communities.
- Buffalo Public Schools and K-12 education: Buffalo is a large urban school district with complex challenges and a robust community discussion about its future. Equity, district leadership and school spending are among the big themes on this beat. More
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Nestor Ramos Named New York Times Metro Editor
From New York Times Press Release - We’re delighted to announce a new Metro editor who enthusiastically embraces our mission and inspires Metro reporters and editors. Read more in this note from Joe Kahn, Carolyn Ryan and Marc Lacey.
Even as we expand nationally and internationally, and our storytelling embraces audio and visuals as well as text, New York infuses The New York Times. Our coverage of our home city remains core to our identity and the source of some of our strongest journalism.
Which is why we’re delighted to announce a new Metro editor who enthusiastically embraces that mission, loves the city, and inspires our growing team of Metro reporters and editors. That person is Nestor Ramos. More
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Katherine Miller and Quoctrung Bui Join Times Opinion
From New York Times Press Release - We’re excited to announce two new colleagues in Opinion. Katherine Miller joins Op-Ed, focusing on Opinion’s coverage of the future of democracy, and Quoctrung Bui is moving from The Upshot to Opinion to work on the graphics teams, serving as deputy to Jeremy Ashkenas. More
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NYCLU takes State Police to court over discipline records
From niagara-gazette.com - The New York Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday it has filed a lawsuit against the New York State Police, contending the agency has improperly rejected its request for records alleging misconduct by troopers, including those that had previously been shielded by law from public view.
The legal advocacy group, an offshoot of the American Civil Liberties Union, contends the records are subject to public disclosure as the result of legislation enacted two years ago that repealed a 1976 statute that exempted law enforcement disciplinary records from public disclosure requirements.
“Police transparency is now codified into law, and police departments can no longer argue that they must be trusted to police themselves, immune from public scrutiny,” said Bobby Hodgson, NYCLU supervising attorney.
The documents sought by the NYCLU include records of unsubstantiated and still pending allegations against police officers. More
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How States and Congress Can Prepare for a Looming Threat to Freedom of Speech
By lawfareblog.com - After months of deliberation, last week the Supreme Court declined the most recent chance to revisit New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 case that requires public officials to meet a high bar to succeed in a defamation lawsuit.
Yet the certiorari denial in Coral Ridge Ministries Media v. Southern Poverty Law Center is most safely seen as a temporary reprieve for First Amendment advocates, and not a guarantee that Sullivan is forever written in stone. First Amendment defamation protections are in greater jeopardy today than they have been in decades. State legislatures, state courts, and Congress, however, can codify and supplement these safeguards and others to mitigate the harm of any future reversals of these important precedents.
Why Sullivan Still Matters
Sullivan is the building block for other vital defamation protections. Overturning the precedent could lead to a flood of abusive threats from powerful figures seeking to suppress criticism and investigative journalism. We’ve been here before. Sullivan was a libel case brought by a segregationist Alabama public official who alleged that an advertisement that ran in the Times defamed him. In a trial presided over by a judge who promoted white supremacy, an all-white Alabama jury found against the Times, awarding Sullivan $500,000. (Around $5 million today.) Several other public officials had also sued the Times, and the litigation over the ad became a bet-the-company proposition. More
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Radically Rural Summit Announces Community Journalism Sessions
From Keene Sentinel Press Release - Radically Rural, a partnership between The Keene Sentinel of Keene, N.H., and the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship is staging its fifth summit on Sept. 21-22, featuring a community journalism track aimed at innovative ways to cover justice and divided communities.
Terrence L. Williams, president and COO of The Sentinel, said this year’s program also features its annual “Crazy Good” session, which provides helpful tips on using tech, data and other tools to become better journalists.
“We hope each year to help journalists from small news operations manage a bit better the challenging tasks they face,” said Williams. “If there’s been a time when local news is more important, I’m not sure when that was. Our program this year seeks to assist reporters and editors perhaps better handle covering communities that are split over race, COVID, justice, politics and now abortion.”
Session Topics include:
- Covering the Divide: An exploration of how news organizations can better serve communities that are split over politics, voting and more
- Better Judgment: How innovative newsrooms are changing their coverage of cops, courts, climate and other intersections of justice to provide fairer, more equitable news reporting.
- Crazy Good – 50 ideas to make you a better journalist
For more information on the Radically Rural summit and to purchase tickets, visit the event’s website at
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The local news crisis is deepening America's divides
From axios.com - Around two newspapers in the U.S. are closing every week, according to a new report, suggesting the local news crisis spurred by the pandemic will worsen in coming years.
Why it matters: Hyperlocal communities are being disproportionately impacted by the fall of local newspapers compared to bigger cities, deepening America's economic divide.
- The average poverty rate in a news desert, or a community without a local newspaper, in the U.S. is 16%, compared to the 11% national average, according to the new report from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
- "This is a crisis for our democracy and our society," said Penelope Muse Abernathy, a visiting professor at Medill and primary author of the report, in a statement.
- "[W]hile the economic decline in many communities was occurring prior to the rise of news deserts, the loss of a local news organization will leave local residents without the critical information to begin to address those problems," Abernathy told Axios via email.
- "At a minimum, the loss of local news worsens the political, cultural and economic divisions in this country."
Details: The average median annual income of a home in a news desert is $15,000 less than the average U.S. household. Only 20% of adults living in news deserts have bachelors degrees compared to 38% in the U.S.
- The lack of reliable local news compounds governance issues that make communities less efficient and prosperous. One study suggests government costs increase when local newspapers shutter.
- The report cites access to affordable broadband as one of the barriers blocking smaller, rural communities from gaining access to new digital news alternatives as newspapers decline.
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Let’s stop trashing ‘legacy’ media
From localmedia.org - “Legacy” media. We use the phrase as shorthand for “media that have failed to change with the times.” I get that. Lost, though, is another aspect of the meaning of “legacy”: what you are known for — your reputation earned over time for your work.
A news organization’s legacy matters in three important ways, and they’re the reasons we need to support healthy legacy media now more than ever as we reinvent business models for the future of local news.
But first, a confession: I know a thing or two about being dismissive of so-called legacy media. As a veteran in local broadcast media, I’ve been especially judgmental about the ways traditional publishers missed the early signals and opportunities related to digital, and did not adequately transform in the face of ultimate digital disruption.
It’s absolutely fair to call out media organizations for not adapting to digital disruption as quickly as their audiences and advertisers. In this respect, media is no different than other disrupted fields, from academia to health care. Traditional news outlets need to accelerate their transformation. My LMA colleagues and I work with many community-committed publishers looking to do just that. And we should all be concerned where ownership, hedge fund or not, makes decisions that reduce civic journalism.
Dismissing these existing publishers, however, is a misunderstanding of “legacy.” Their legacy is also their history. More
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News Media Alliance and MPA – The Association of Magazine Media Have Merged, Now Known as News/Media Alliance
From newsmediaalliance.org - The News Media Alliance and MPA – The Association of Magazine Media have officially merged. The new combined association is now known as the News/Media Alliance and will focus on building a powerful future for quality journalism. The two organizations announced their plan to merge in May.
The News/Media Alliance is the leading voice for the news and magazine media industries, fighting for the future of publishing. News publishers and magazines are creators of valuable, compelling original journalism, together over $40 billion in annual revenue. News/Media Alliance members represent many of the biggest and most renowned brands in the news publishing and magazine industries. More
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Poynter and RAND partner to connect journalists and public policy experts
From poynter.org - Fact-checkers and political reporters will learn how researchers determine the validity of data to better inform audiences.
As a global nonprofit working to strengthen journalism in service to democracy, the Poynter Institute has announced a new partnership with the nonprofit RAND Corporation that will connect emerging journalists to experts on critical public policy issues. The partnership is part of RAND’s NextGen Initiative, an effort to strengthen younger generations’ understanding of policy.
“Straight, honest reporting helps each of us fully participate in civic life,” said Neil Brown, president of Poynter. “This partnership with RAND will help journalists embrace the complexity of some of our most important public policy issues, and then be able to share that knowledge with their audiences. This work sits comfortably at the intersection of journalism and democracy.” More
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UPCOMING WEBINARS AND EVENTS:
Pre-Recorded/On Demand:
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In a New York Minute is the weekly electronic newsletter of NYNPA, providing you with member news, money-saving and money-generating ideas, and upcoming events. If you would like to contribute to this newsletter please reply to this e-mail or contact mmiller@nynpa.com. For more on NYNPA please visit us on the web at www.nynpa.com.
Mary Miller
Education Services Director
New York News Publishers Association
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