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| SPJ.org |
| US Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) turned out to be the anti-FOIA culprit. |
Well, that was fast! And I'm not a bit surprised.
Today, AP reports that U.S. Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) admitted that he placed the "secret hold" that prevented a bill to strengthen the Freedom of Information Act from moving forward in the Senate.
As I mentioned earlier this week, the Society of Professional Journalists
and others (including, no doubt, at least some citizen journalists) were
systematically checking with all U.S. Senators' offices to learn which one was anonymously blocking the Open Government Act (S849).
Kyl plans to continue to oppose the Open Government Act. According
to AP, Kyl "says the Justice Department is concerned that it could
force them to reveal sensitive information."
Kyl had more to say, too...
Continue reading "Secret Hold Senator Found (Already!)" »
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| U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (on left) and John Cornyn (on right) sponsored the Open Government Act -- but which of their colleagues secretly stalled it? |
(UPDATE MAY 31: The Secret Hold Senator has been found!...)
Here's a classic case where citizen journalists can join forces with professional journalists to collaborate on an important national investigation.
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) has learned that an as-yet-unknown US Senator has placed a "secret hold" on the Open Government Act -- a bill that would strengthen the federal Freedom of Information Act. (S849, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT; and Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX. More commentary on this bill from SPJ. More about secret holds.)
Why should citizen journalists care about this, and get involved?...
Continue reading "Help Uncover the FOIA Secret-Hold Senator" »
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| I, Reporter co-founders Adam Glenn and Amy Gahran explain how they felt when they heard they'd won a Knight News Challenge grant. (Watch video) |
We've got great news to share – an I, Reporter project last week was awarded one of the prestigious new Knight News Challenge Grants!
The whole citJ community has been abuzz since last year about this unusual news contest, in which the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promised a pot of gold (up to $5 million) to anyone who could come up with the big ideas to use digital news and information to transform real communities.
Not to miss out on the fun, my I, Reporter partner Amy Gahran and I decided to put our already frequent brainstorming to work by pitching a series of proposals for the contest. We figured at least one would have a chance to stick – and it turned out we were right.
Continue reading "Ka-Ching! I, Reporter Wins News Challenge" »
So where are all these citizen journalists? We can help you find them.
One of I,Reporter’s biggest and most exciting projects in recent months has been our ongoing work for the newly launched Knight Citizen News Network website, KCNN.org. The task set for us by Jan Schaffer, executive director of J-Lab at the University of Maryland, was to build a searchable database of hundreds of sites around the country that offer citizen journalism.
Continue reading "Searching for CitMedia – Start Here!" »
NOTE: At I, Reporter, we get asked this question quite often. So I thought I'd take a stab at providing a definition. This represents my view only -- feel free to disagree, question, or elaborate in the comments. I intend this to be the starting point of a discussion, not the last word.
"Citizen Journalism" is a clunky term that manages to be as open to interpretation as it is controversial. I tend to think of it this way:
Any effort by people who are not trained or employed as professional journalists to publish news or information based on original observation, research, inquiry, analysis or investigation.
Here's what that can mean, more specifically...
Continue reading "What Is Citizen Journalism?" »
