"emerging data suggest that, in some circumstances, the media reporting of science is surprisingly accurate and portrays a message created by the scientific community. As such, there are reasons to believe that the hyping of research might be part of a more systemic problem associated with the increasingly commercial nature of the research environment."
Via Online Journalism Review. 4 pages., Case examples include a periodical that investigated unregistered chemicals and found widespread use throughout Japan, even on "organic" farms. Started an online "Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Research Lab" as a virtual think tank to tackle the problem in a way that included the voices of everyday Japanese citizens. "The idea of connecting producers and consumers through civic journalism has become a standard approach to agriculture coverage in the Tohoku farming region."
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: C20222
Notes:
Posted on: <a href="http://www.ruralreality.org/ruralreality/pitts_statement.html">www.ruralreality.org</a>, Comments at a press conference, Willow Street, Pennsylvania
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 148 Document Number: C23814
Notes:
Via Poynteronline. 3 pages, Author argues that "journalism on a smaller scale provides a bigger opportunity to connect with (and answer to) readers and viewers." Cites an experience in which a reporter at a small daily newspaper on the coast of rural North Carolina told her readers that the water was polluted with cancer-causing chemicals and that city leaders had known about the pollutants for many years without doing anything. She received a Pulitzer Gold Medal for Meritorious Public Service, but a hostile reception, locally, by people upset by the uproar she had caused in the community.
