CIAO DATE: 7/04

Journalism, Security and the Public Interest
Best Practices for Reporting in Unpredictable Times

Abstract

In the wake of the national trauma of September 11, 2001, if there was one nostrum that dominated national commentary, it was “nothing will ever be the same again.”

But for the country’s print and electronic journalists, the questions that have arisen in the last two years more often involve testing old principles against new circumstances than confronting unique situations for which the past offers no guidance.

This is the dilemma that faced participants who gathered for the Seventh Annual Aspen Institute Conference on Journalism and Society on June 18–20, 2003, in Queenstown, Maryland. Unlike previous conferences that focused more directly on the financial pressures on quality journalism, this year’s meeting addressed another, equally significant set of pressures on journalism–those emanating from the imperatives of “homeland” or national security. This conference report examines these pressures and offers a set of best practices for media leaders to use as an additional resource in navigating the unpredictable landscape.

Full Text (PDF, 64 pages, 345.3 KB)