Franklin Center - Localized News Coverage From The Iowa Caucus

Need free, localized Iowa Caucus coverage?
 
The Franklin Center, a national nonprofit journalism organization, is here to help. 
 
The Franklin Center is sending a team of talented reporters to Iowa to cover the first GOP Presidential showdown on January 3^rd. Our reporters will be on the ground at various caucus locations, interviewing the local Iowans on their presidential picks and providing breaking news coverage all day and night.
 
You can receive our news coverage by signing up for our free email updates. These clips will be sent directly to your email as soon as the story is broken for you to utilize.
 
All of our news coverage is free of charge and we operate a “steal our stuff” model, which allows you to repost and share our content with your readers. You can also read all of breaking news on Watchdog.org or StatehouseNewsOnline.com.

To sign up for our Iowa Caucus news clips click here.
 

We look forward to sharing all of the news from Iowa with you on January 3^rd. Check back at Watchdog.org and StatehouseNewsOnline.com for more local and national news.

 

Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity promotes social welfare and civil betterment by undertaking programs that promote journalism and the education of the public about corruption, incompetence, fraud, or taxpayer abuse by elected officials at all levels of government. Founded in January of 2009, The Franklin Center is a nonpartisan organization that believes that new technology can advance the cause of transparency in government. The Franklin Center aims to educate, to advise and to train individuals and organizations from all backgrounds to become thorough, unbiased and responsible reporters well versed in new media techniques and journalistic integrity. For more information on the Franklin Center please visit www.FranklinCenterHQ.org.

Franklin Center - Attacking the Fifth Estate: Bloggers legally belittled

Friends,

We wanted to share the below editorial by Franklin Center President Jason Stverak regarding the recent court ruling in Oregon saying that bloggers are not protected by shield laws. Feel free to repost on your site. 

Attacking the Fifth Estate
By Jason Stverak 
Online Journalism Review

Bloggers in Oregon, watch out. That’s because this month an Oregon court ruled that bloggers do not have same protection as the “media.”
 
This ruling emerged when Crystal Cox, a blogger, was accused of defaming Obsidian Finance Group and its co-founder Kevin Padrick on her blog. She posted that Padrick acted criminally in a federal bankruptcy case. Padrick sued and the court found that Cox was not protected under the state’s media shield law.
 
This decision has implications for bloggers around the country.
 
Since there is no legal definition for “the press,” this court ruling is one of the first to explicitly say that bloggers are not the media. This comes only a few short months after a federal court ruled that anyone, including bloggers, may legally record public officials, including police officers. The ruling said:
 
[C]hanges in technology and society have made the lines between private citizen and journalist exceedingly difficult to draw. The proliferation of electronic devices with video-recording capability means that many of our images of current events come from bystanders with a ready cell phone or digital camera rather than a traditional film crew, and news stories are now just as likely to be broken by a blogger at her computer as a reporter at a major newspaper. Such developments make clear why the news-gathering protections of the First Amendment cannot turn on professional credentials or status.
[Page 13 of the Slip Opinion from Glik v. Cuniffe]
 
While the Glik case was a victory for citizen journalism, the Oregon ruling is a failure to recognize the drastic changes occurring in the journalism world. Current technological advancements have made the line between citizen journalists and mainstream media harder to define. This is beneficial not only to anyone who produces news but also news consumers as well.

Read More at Online Journalism Review 

If you would like support the Franklin Center, your tax-deductible contribution can be made online by clicking here or send to our offices at 127 S. Peyton St. Suite 200, Alexandria, VA 22314.

Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity promotes social welfare and civil betterment by undertaking programs that promote journalism and the education of the public about corruption, incompetence, fraud, or taxpayer abuse by elected officials at all levels of government. Founded in January of 2009, The Franklin Center is a nonpartisan organization that believes that new technology can advance the cause of transparency in government. The Franklin Center aims to educate, to advise and to train individuals and organizations from all backgrounds to become thorough, unbiased and responsible reporters well versed in new media techniques and journalistic integrity. For more information on the Franklin Center please visit www.FranklinCenterHQ.org.

Franklin Center - A Victory of Citizen Journalism

A Victory of Citizen Journalism

Franklin Center President Jason Stverak was a featured columnist in Online Journalism Review this month. In his article, he discusses the recent federal court ruling that recording public officials, including police officers, is protected by the First Amendment. This decision, which may outrage law enforcement officials and members of Congress, is one of the first federal court decisions that brings the First Amendment into the Internet age.

An excerpt of the article is below and you can read it in its entirety at FranklinCenterHQ.org.

Federal court ruling provides a victory for grassroots journalism
Written by Jason Stverak

This case emerged from an incident where a private citizen used his personal cell phone to capture alleged police brutality.

Simon Glik could have walked away when he saw two police officers punching a man in the face. Instead, he pulled out his cellphone and started recording it. When Mr. Glik informed the police officers that he was recording audio, the officer arrested him for violating the state's wiretap law. He also was charged with disturbing the peace and aiding the escape of a prisoner. The charges were dropped eventually because of lack of merit, but Mr. Glik filed a lawsuit claiming his free-speech rights had been violated.

This latest ruling is especially relevant to those who consider themselves citizen journalists. Before the court's decision, members of the general public did not have the legal protection guaranteed by state shield laws enjoyed by credentialed journalists.

The court decision, in part, reads:

"Changes in technology and society have made the lines between private citizen and journalist exceedingly difficult to draw. The proliferation of electronic devices with video-recording capability means that many of our images of current events come from bystanders with a ready cell phone or digital camera rather than a traditional film crew, and news stories are now just as likely to be broken by a blogger at her computer as a reporter at a major newspaper. Such developments make clear why the news-gathering protections of the First Amendment cannot turn on professional credentials or status." 

Read More

Franklin Center - ICYMI: First Amendment victory for citizen journalists

Today, Washington Times ran an editorial from Jason Stverak, President of the Franklin Center. It discusses the recent court decision to allow citizens to film government officials, including police officers, in public. This decision is important to citizen journalists who are not protected under any shield laws or credentials. It is also one of the first cases that opens the definition for “the press” in the Constitution.

An excerpt of the editorial is below:

Freedom of the press belongs to everyone, not just ‘official’ reporters
 By Jason Stverak
The Washington Times

 

In a landmark decision, a federal court ruled last week that recording public officials, including police officers, is protected by the First Amendment. This decision, which may outrage law enforcement officials and members of Congress, is one of the first federal court decisions that brings the First Amendment into the Internet age.

This case emerged from separate incidents in which private citizens usedpersonal video cameras or cellphones to capture alleged police brutality.

The first occurred when Khaliah Fitchette, a New Jersey teenager, boarded a bus in Newark. As she waited for the bus to depart, two police officers boarded the bus to forcefully remove a drunken passenger. Ms. Fitchette began taping the police officers and refused to quit upon officer request. She was arrested and detained while the police deleted her footage. No charges were filed against Ms. Fitchette, but she filed a lawsuit against the Newark Police Department with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey.

The second incident occurred in Boston when Simon Glik pulled out his cellphone to tape police officers punching a man on the street. An officer asked Mr. Glik if he was recording audio. When Mr. Glik admitted that he was, the officer arrested him for violating the state's wiretap law. He also was charged with disturbing the peace and aiding the escape of a prisoner. The charges were dropped eventually because of lack of merit, but Mr. Glik joined the ACLU lawsuit, claiming his free-speech rights had been violated.

Read More at Washington Times

Washington Examiner: Pew study points to work of Franklin Center journos

Dear Friends,

Wanted to share with you the below column by Franklin Center's President Jason Stverak that appeared in today's Washington Examiner. Jason's column discusses last week's Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism's study analyzing 46 independent online news organizations – half of which were part of Franklin’s national network of state-based news bureaus.

Pew study points to work of Franklin Center journos
By: Jason Stverak
Washington Examiner

Last week, the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism released a study examining 46 nonprofit news websites, which have become more prevalent as traditional media outlets have disappeared.

The study, which analyzed 1,203 stories from the month of September 2010, found that more than half of the news sites were ideologically based.

Among the sites analyzed were the national investigative site Watchdog.org and the statehouse reporting news site StatehouseNewsOnline.com. Both of these sites are run by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, a nonprofit group working with news organizations in more than 40 states.

To many in the press and around the nation, the Pew study was an introduction to the work of the Franklin Center. And, although we don’t agree with all of Pew’s findings about our organization, we urge readers around the nation to judge for themselves. That’s right, go to our various news sites; sign up for our news clips and read the stories for yourself.

What you will find is that the Franklin Center and our network of reporters are dedicated to educating the public about corruption, incompetence, fraud, waste and abuse of public trust by elected officials.

What you will also find is that the Franklin Center and our reporters are accurate, independent and relentlessly in pursuit to expose the truth and to hold our government officials accountable to the people they represent.

Read More at Washington Examiner

COMING SOON:
The Franklin Center will be launching a new website with fresh, innovative, and interactive features. Check it out at FranklinCenterHQ.org