Dean Wright's Blog

The long-awaited report by Lord Leveson into the unethical and illegal behavior by some of the British press does a good job of diagnosing the problem, but the prescription is dangerous. The report rightly concludes that “there has been a recklessness in prioritising sensational stories,” with little or no regard for the damage such journalism [...]

Another birthday. Another year. Another opportunity to reflect on a career in journalism. At the risk of self-indulgence (OK, this is self-indulgent), some high points and a low point. Let’s get the low point out of the way. Being a working journalist has essentially been one big high for me and regrets are mainly trivial. [...]

At a time when daily newspapers in North America are struggling, the  importance and vitality of community journalism was stunningly clear after the recent arrest at a U.S.-Canada border crossing of a man sought in a triple murder. Travis Baumgartner, accused of killing three Edmonton, Alberta, armored-car co-workers and fleeing with $330,000, was apprehended by [...]

Could the basic unit of journalism be changing? Is the “story,” that basic device that every J-school student is taught to write in Journalism 101,  being supplanted by something less defined–and something less in control of reporters? You could make a strong case that it is after reading a fascinating interview with Mohamed Nanabhay, the [...]

Defending social media is a bit like defending the sunrise. It’s going to happen no matter what and the only way to avoid it is to keep sleeping. Nevertheless, Dorian Benkoil at MediaShift does a fine job of taking on the anti-social media whiners. As he puts it,  ”to rail that social media destroy our social [...]

National Public Radio’s new ethics handbook sets a great example for news organizations trying to find their way in our increasingly polarized culture. It’s written with remarkable, jargon-free clarity  and it’s organized in a logical, straightforward, user-friendly way. But most importantly, it takes on the question of what constitutes “fairness” and comes down squarely on the side of [...]