Misdirected

Disclosure: I was a reporter for a while. Mostly free-lance. Not very successful. Not a career, more of a "make money now" kind of thing. I'd not call myself a journalist, and I never did, even before "journalism" had a better rep than "used car salesman" or "personal injury lawyer".

And one of the more nagging jobs, as I recall, was trying to get information out of government.

So - duly noted, it's a tough job.

With that out of the way, Kate Parry, the PR Flak "Readers' Representative" for the Strib, fluffs the training staff:

Because few citizens have the time or know-how to exert pressure on government to open up, this is a major responsibility of journalists, and it's getting harder all the time.

That's why on Tuesday dozens of Star Tribune journalists will put down their phones and notebooks for a while to attend training on freedom of information issues. The goal is to be ready to do battle on your behalf to get to information that is supposed to be public anyway.

In a year that's seen the NYTimes (probably) illegally leak details of US intelligence operations, while ignoring details about what's going on in Iraq that can't be easily reported from Green Zone hotels, that's an interesting statement. A paper that has tiptoed very lightly around the Burkett Memo scandal, and ignored the Eason Jordan scandal (indeed, provided a smokescreen against the story) should have its commitment to "informing the public" questioned.

Freedom of information is so important to all of us -- citizen and journalist alike -- that it's the first topic being addressed in a massive training program the Star Tribune is launching this year. Although we've had training here from time to time before, this is the first time journalists will be required to attend several training events during the year, choosing from a sizable menu of course offerings. That's good news -- both for journalists who will have access to top-notch speakers and seminars, and for readers who will enjoy the results in the quality of writing, reporting, photography, design and editing that go into the Star Tribune.

Better news would be the likes of Kate Parry addressing the endless, corrosive influence of ideological hacks like Jim Boyd on the product the paper puts out.

An influence whose very existence Parry poo-poohs.

Posted by Mitch at February 8, 2006 06:10 AM | TrackBack