Archives for July, 2013
Impact study can influence growing nonprofit news world
Posted: July 24, 2013 | Tags: journalism
The Workshop explored how to measure impact in a new report, "The art, science and mystery of nonprofit news assessment." Now the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University weighs in, crediting authors Charles Lewis and Hilary Niles with "advancing a conversation that will hopefully allow newsrooms and foundations to communicate openly and honestly about their expectations and goals. After all, at the core, they share an interest in honoring the reader by providing journalism as a public service."
“Most of the conversation to date has been led by the grantors, but they’re not the ones doing the work,” Lewis ...
First Amendment study shows fear drives public perception
Posted: July 17, 2013 | Tags: First Amendment, Newseum
Photo by Maria Bryk, Newseum
Legal scholars talk about the study's findings that people are willing to give up some freedoms for increased security.
Widespread perception of fear, caused by events such as the Boston Marathon bombings earlier this year, is one of the major threats to the five freedoms protected by the First Amendment. This is one of the key findings of this year’s “State of the First Amendment” report, a study conducted annually by the nonprofit First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.
The results did not come as a surprise. “When you see ...
Momentive update: new contract
Posted: July 10, 2013 | Tags: Momentive
Workers at Momentive, the global chemical manufacturer, have a new contract. The agreement covers employees at two sites, in upstate New York and Ohio. This was the first labor agreement negotiated since a contentious fight over benefits and pay, resolved in 2010 over the objections of some workers at the Waterford, N.Y., plant.
The contract was won by a 9-vote margin, with 357 workers voting for the agreement and 348 against.
The union and Momentive “worked hard during negotiations to find a balance between what is competitive in the marketplace and what meets employee needs,” John Dandolph, president of ...
Wisconsin Watch stays the course
Posted: July 3, 2013 | Tags: Wisconsin Watch
When the Wisconsin legislature voted in early June to separate the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism from its home at the University of Wisconsin, Madison — and to prohibit university employees from working there — it may have done Executive Director Andy Hall a favor. Of sorts.
The action, which was part of a finance committee’s overnight marathon, spawned a national outcry, and “the voices made a big difference,” Hall said in a recent interview.
And last weekend, when the Republican governor vetoed the legislature’s shenaningans, the center, known as Wisconsin Watch, was grateful.
“We thank Gov. Scott Walker for ...
Mayer showcases Workshop’s Koch report
Posted: July 2, 2013 | Tags: campaign finance, Koch
Calling Congress “a hopeless bastion of obstruction," Jane Mayer writes in her blog post for The New Yorker on Monday about the Investigative Reporting Workshop’s two-year study of the Koch political and philanthropic giving, saying the Koch brothers' political influence is one of the reasons the president had to bypass the legislative branch when confronting climate change.
Mayer is an expert on the Koch brothers and their extensive economic empire. She has previously published several articles on the billionaires, including an extensive investigation of the history of the Koch’s family business and Charles and David Koch’s ideological ...
