In writing the rebuttal, I used the criteria of the AJC’s PolitiFact column which rates public statements from pants-on-fire lies to fully true. PolitiFact says when a “statement is accurate but leaves out important details. That’s our definition of Half True.”

Half truth, that’s also my definition of this six-figure university salary investigative piece. It is accurate but leaves out important details.

I believe my rebuttal, using numbers, provides more context in helping understand who actually is getting those six-figures and why. Greater context would have enhanced the level of debate among those who think state-financed faculty, administrators and staff are overpaid and those who think they are underpaid. Instead judging from the comments of the politician in the AJC story and one of the students paying tuition, the impression was these six-figures salary are an outrage that needs to be fixed.

Half-truth journalism, because of its lack of depth, sounds much more sensational and quickly gets on the radar of grandstanding policy makers and politicians, which results in bad policy and bad lawmaking that stays in place long after those headlines disappear.

It really pains me to write this critique because Georgia is a state dominated by one party and it has a history of inequalities and many varieties of malfeasance and incompetency. Strong investigative journalism is needed. Indeed, it is essential for the long-term health of our local, state, regional and national democracies.

Many of the AJC’s investigations are spot-on and much needed. However, in its zeal to become known as an investigative, muckraking paper, some of its investigations resemble 6 o’clock TV, inch-deep investigative news rather than investigative reporting worthy of the state’s largest news organization. I am writing this in a hope that the leadership, reporters, editors and investigative units at the AJC take some time for reflection, and, perhaps, have some folks they respect review and critique everything that is pegged as investigative journalism.

I am afraid the crooked, unethical and incompetent folks who have been legitimately investigated will use my words to tar all the AJC investigations. This piece is not aimed at defending their actions nor at defending the bureaucratic systems that fail to serve us well. All of them need to be investigated, but that comes with a responsibility that requires in-depth reporting that goes deep beyond the veneer.

As readers and members of the public, we must demand it.

Leonard Witt is the executive director of the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University. Its mission is to find ways to ensure that high quality, ethically journalism has an enduring place in our democracy.

• Katie Couric on how to conduct a good interview
• Tips from Bob Woodward on Investigative Journalism
• Nicholas Kristof on Covering a Global Crisis – …
• NPR’s Scott Simon: How to Tell a Story

YouTube is also looking for other partners as noted in the full press release below.

Here is a key paragraph from the press release:

“For the first time on YouTube, veteran journalists are making themselves openly available to aspiring  eporters around the world who want to report on the news and events happening around them,” said Steve Grove, head of news and politics at YouTube. “As current events demonstrate on a daily basis, citizen-reporting on YouTube is a critical part of today’s media landscape – and the YouTube Reporters’ Center will help foster an even more productive relationship between professionals and these aspiring reporters.”

Here is the complete YouTube press release:

In partnership with several top news and media organizations, YouTube™ announced today the launch of the YouTube Reporters’ Center, a dedicated channel that features how-to videos on news reporting created by some of the industry’s most respected journalists and media experts. A one-stop-shop for journalism training online, the YouTube Reporters’ Center covers a wide range of topics, from preparing for interviews, to fact-checking, to journalistic ethics.

See below for a complete list of the journalists and media organizations who are partnering with YouTube on the launch of the Reporters’ Center.

“For the first time on YouTube, veteran journalists are making themselves openly available to aspiring  eporters around the world who want to report on the news and events happening around them,” said Steve Grove, head of news and politics at YouTube. “As current events demonstrate on a daily basis, citizen-reporting on YouTube is a critical part of today’s media landscape – and the YouTube eporters’ Center will help foster an even more productive relationship between professionals and these aspiring reporters.”

Visitors to the center can browse through over two dozen how-to videos made by the experts for the  eporters’ Center. Citizens with reporting experiences are invited to share the lessons they’ve learned by adding their own how-to videos for inclusion on the site.

News organizations who are not currently YouTube partners can apply to the YouTube
partner program, through a new outreach program launched today as well – for more
details, please read this blog post.

Participating journalists and media organizations contributing videos to the YouTube Reporters’ Center:
Participating journalists and news organizations contributing videos to the Reporters’ Center:
• Bill Adair, Editor, Politifact
• Nathalie Applewhite, Associate Director, The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
• Donna Cassata, Editor, Associated Press
• Chris Cillizza, Political Reporter and Author of “The Fix” blog, The Washington Post
• Kate Connolly, Reporter, Newsweek
• Katie Couric, CBS Evening News
• Jim Drinkard, Accountability Editor, Associated Press
• Kwame Dawes, Journalist, The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
• Arianna Huffington, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post
• Michael Isikoff, Investigative Correspondent, Newsweek
• Riz Khan, The Riz Khan Show, Al-Jazeera English
• Nicholas Kristof, Columnist, The New York Times
• Andre Lambertson, Journalist, The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
• Dana Milbank, Political Reporter and Author of the “Washington Sketch” column, The
Washington Post
• Beth Murphy, journalist, The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
• Lizzie O’Leary, Washington Correspondent for Bloomberg TV, Bloomberg
• Adam Pasick, Editor of Reuters.com, Reuters
• Jon Resnick, Planning Editor, Associated Press
• Jon Sawyer, Executive Director, The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
• Scott Simon, Weekend Edition, NPR
• Tavis Smiley, The Tavis Smiley Show, PBS
• Josh Tyrangiel, Managing Editor of Time.com, Time Magazine
• Bob Woodward, journalist, The Washington Post
• Dean Wright, Global Editor, Ethics, Innovation and News Standards, Reuters
• Randi Zuckerberg, Facebook
• The Citizen Media Law Project
• HowCast
• The UpTake
• Witness

I said less complicated, not necessarily less depressing, but maybe in one of those stories or in a reading of them all your Eureka moment will arrive.

…The experience of consuming news on the web today fails to take full advantage of the power of technology. It doesn’t understand what users want in order to give them what they need. When I go to a site like the New York Times or the San Jose Mercury, it should know what I am interested in and what has changed since my last visit. If I read the story on the US stimulus package only six hours ago, then just show me the updates the reporter has filed since then (and the most interesting responses from readers, bloggers, or other sources). If Thomas Friedman has filed a column since I last checked, tell me that on the front page. Beyond that, present to me a front page rich with interesting content selected by smart editors, customized based on my reading habits (tracked with my permission). Browsing a newspaper is rewarding and serendipitous, and doing it online should be even better. This will not by itself solve the newspapers’ business problems, but our heritage suggests that creating a superior user experience is the best place to start.

He adds:

We need to make it easier for the experts, journalists, and editors that we actually trust to publish their work under an authorship model that is authenticated and extensible, and then to monetize in a meaningful way. We need to make it easier for a user who sees one piece by an expert he likes to search through that expert’s entire body of work. Then our users will be able to benefit from the best of both worlds: thoughtful and spontaneous, long form and short, of the ages and in the moment.

Then he speaks of the power of facts:

Putting the power to publish and consume content into the hands of more people in more places enables everyone to start conversations with facts. With facts, negotiations can become less about who yells louder, but about who has the stronger data. They can also be an equalizer that enables better decisions and more civil discourse.

He adds:

Here at Google the words of every colleague, from associates to vice presidents, carry the same weight so long as they are backed by data. (If you don’t think we live up to this standard then please feel free to correct me … but you better have the facts to prove it!!!)

The interview is an excellent way to learn more about the new Center and what our plans for it are.

Moro is chair of the Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).

Ruth Ann and I found each other thanks to the power of the internet in this digital era. Of course, this power is also disrupting how journalism is practiced and is especially changing the old business models.

The Center for Sustainable Journalism will seek new business models so that high quality, ethically sound journalism continues to have a role in our democratic society. I am in the midst of our SoCon09, conference where the gift is being announced. So I must get back to that, but here is the full press release with the details and a link to an excellent profile about Ruth Ann.

$1.5 million gift will establish innovative journalism center at KSU
Harnisch Foundation award advances work of distinguished communication scholar

KENNESAW, Ga. (February 7, 2009) In the midst of an annual conference designed to pinpoint the Southeast’s niche in the digital media revolution, Kennesaw State University announced receipt of a $1.5 million gift from the Harnisch Foundation to establish a center to research and develop innovative ways to produce and distribute news.

Kennesaw State President Daniel S. Papp announced the award and the creation of The Center for Sustainable Journalism Feb. 7 at the SoCon09 “Unconference” attended by more than 300 business, non-profit and media professionals, bloggers and digital media enthusiasts.

The center will be overseen by Leonard Witt, Kennesaw State’s Robert D. Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication, eminent scholar and associate professor, who organized the SoCon09 conference. Witt is a pioneer in developing community-supported journalism models and exploring the potential of online social networks to disseminate news.

Witt’s work caught the attention of Ruth Ann Harnisch, president of the Harnisch Foundation, which supports and funds projects and programs that promote sustainable social change in philanthropy, coaching and journalism. The Foundation initially provided more than $60,000 to support Witt’s launch of a Minnesota-based community-supported journalism project.

“The continuing support we are receiving from the Harnisch Foundation enables KSU to further support the important nationally recognized research being conducted by Leonard Witt,” said KSU President Daniel S. Papp. “This major gift will go a long way in establishing KSU’s prominence in the emerging field of news dissemination through social networks.”

The current award, which will be spread over five years, will help underwrite applied research‚ build collaborations and advance innovative journalism projects regionally and around the country. The center will research and test a continuing stream of innovative journalism projects and nurture the best of them into self-sustaining entities.

“We are living in an era when old journalism models are failing, newspapers are faltering
and experienced journalists are losing their jobs,” Witt said. “This solution-oriented funding comes at a critical time, and with it, we can start to build new models that will ensure journalism continues to play its vital role in our democracy.”

Witt has been sharing his ideas about journalism innovation on his blog (PJNet.org) for six years.

“Technology has changed everything for everyone in every way,” said Ruth Ann Harnisch. “Len Witt understands how that affects the flow of information. I am investing in his leadership in the field because he’s willing to engage in bold experiments that could help shape the future of journalism.”

Witt said the Harnisch’s gift addresses a mutual concern for the future of traditional journalism.

“This gift is a tribute to the belief that Kennesaw State is at the forefront of helping reinvent journalism in this era when old business models are crumbling and new ones need to be tested and advanced,” he said. “It is also a tribute to Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch, who understand the need to act now to ensure that we have high quality journalism in the future.”

For more information on the Harnich Foundation award to KSU and learn more about Ruth Ann Harnisch, scroll down on this newsletter.

As mass journalism markets un-bundle and become niche markets, news operations – if they are to survive – will have to join the niche movement rather than fight it…

News on the recent Oregon Public Broadcasting and Representative Journalism connection:

I have been banging on PBS’s doors for a long time looking for someone to see the merit in what I am saying. Steven M. Bass, president and CEO of Oregon Public Radio, likes the idea and we are going to see if it works in three rural parts of Oregon.

The towns get very little coverage. If it works there, watch out: everyone will be banging down the Representative Journalism door.

More on the recent $250,000 Kennesaw State University grant from the Harnisch Foundation:

That’s actually ongoing funding: Ruth Ann Harnisch, the foundation’s president, has been an advocate and an inspirational force for the Rep J concept…

The latest installment will be used to advance research aimed at discovering innovative ways to produce financially sustainable, high quality and ethically sound journalism.

It will allow us to help underwrite more applied research, build collaborations and advance innovative projects around the USA and maybe the world to test the viability of citizen-funded journalism.

Will people pay for news?

…as more and more newspapers sink, there will be less and less journalism. If you want it, you will have to pay for it. If you don’t want to pay for it, fine, but I don’t think it will be much fun living in a free society without high quality, ethically sound journalism.

Here it is:

Kennesaw State awarded $250,000 grant to advance community-based journalism
New business model envisioned to combat erosion of traditional news media

KENNESAW, Ga. (December 19, 2008) – Kennesaw State University and the KSU Foundation received a $250,000 grant from the Harnisch Foundation as part of an ongoing relationship to advance research aimed at discovering innovative ways to produce financially sustainable, high quality and ethically sound journalism.

“The continuing support from the Harnisch Foundation enables KSU to do important work in preserving journalism in our democracy,” said KSU President Daniel S. Papp.

Leonard Witt, Kennesaw State’s Robert D. Fowler Distinguished Chair in Communication and an eminent scholar, has been sharing his ideas about journalism innovation on his blog (PJNet.org) for two years. The grant from the Harnisch Foundation will help Witt expand innovative ways for communities to fund online news media.

“We are living in an era when old journalism models are failing, newspapers are faltering and experienced journalists are losing their jobs,” Witt said.

Earlier this year, The Harnisch Foundation provided more than $60,000 to launch a test run of “representative journalism,” a new concept developed by Witt. It allows communities, individuals and groups to underwrite their own journalists to deliver Web-based local and topical news. The pilot project is a collaboration between KSU and a Minnesota-based online news community. With the new funding, Witt aims to expand this and other concepts nationally.

“Professor Witt is a nationally recognized leader in exploring new ideas for creating and distributing important, ethically gathered, responsibly presented journalism that helps people make informed decisions,” Harnisch said. “Our foundation is pleased to increase its investment in his cutting-edge work.”

Witt’s test project was launched in Northfield, Minn., on “Locally Grown,” an interactive Weblog and podcast with a large participatory following of area residents and community leaders. In July, Bonnie Obremski, a former general assignment reporter for the North Adams (Mass.) Transcript, was hired to file in-depth local and topical stories on the citizen-run blog.

The new funding will help underwrite more applied research, build collaborations and advance innovative projects around the country to test the viability of citizen-funded journalism. “The days of advertising paying the lion’s share of the news and information delivered to a community are waning,” Witt said.

“Ruth Ann Harnisch has provided inspirational, intellectual and financial support for representative journalism from the beginning,” Witt said. “This gift is a tribute to the belief that Kennesaw State is at the forefront of helping reinvent journalism in this era when old business models are crumbling and new ones need to be tested and advanced.”

Watch PJNet.org for continuing updates on the progress made on innovative journalism funding models.

###

A member of the 35-unit University System of Georgia, Kennesaw State University is a comprehensive‚ residential institution with a growing student population of more than 20‚000 from 132 countries. The third-largest university in Georgia‚ Kennesaw State offers more than 60 graduate and undergraduate degrees‚ including a new doctorate in education.

Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch awarded the check in New York this morning. The university will be putting out a formal press release, but I don’t want to get scooped. So you will read it here first, unless you follow Ruth Ann on Twitter, she sent a Tweet as the check was giving granted.

The Harnisch Foundation has supported the Representative Journalism concept from the very beginning. In fact, without Ruth Ann Harnisch’s inspirational, intellectual and financial support, Representative Journalism would probably just be an idea rather than a concept that is now being tested at Locally Grown in Northfield, Minnesota.

The funding will open the possibility of seeding more Representative Journalism projects, and I have always said this concept will work best when there are dozens of Rep Js across the country. In fact, I am in the beginning stages of a trial project with a public broadcasting station, but more about that later. First a gigantic thank you to Bill and Ruth Ann Harnisch for their visionary support for the future of journalism.

University of Minnesota researcher Christine Greenhow and Seattle-based news aggregator News Cloud will test new ways to engage youth in news and information by launching two social media publications on the popular social networking site Facebook. The project is being made possible by a $249,529 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

University researchers, led by Greenhow, will investigate how online social network sites like Facebook can engage youth in world events, build community and generate real world impact. Greenhow’s previous work investigated the learning benefits of online social networking sites (MySpace , Facebook) for teenagers.

Here is more:

The study, which will be published next year, will seek to discover which strategies work best to engage 16 to 25 year-olds in current events and how the Internet can be used to deliver educational materials in innovative and effective ways.

Facebook was chosen because it has 120 million active members and is the most-trafficked social media site in the world. More than 85 percent of four-year U.S. university students use Facebook, making it an ideal space in which to gather this data.

The first Facebook publication, which will be produced in partnership with online environmental magazine Grist.org, is focused on climate change. The second publication will provide news sharing and community features for Minnesota students.

The impetus for the study:

According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, the proportion of young people getting no news on a typical day has increased from 25 to 34 percent since 1998.