The New York Times' David Carr chronicles the extensive effort by NBC's The Today Show to make right on an audio editing mistake that created an error.

The clip left the impression that George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder of Trayvon Martin, uttered racist statements. The Today Show fired or disciplined several employees and issued a statement apologizing.

What it didn't do, Carr noted, was tell its audience it had erred. Carr examines the case as an example of American television culture about correcting the record.

"Give NBC credit for dealing with a big error that threatened to sow further mayhem on a very delicate story," he wrote. "It’s just too bad it failed to remember that the fix for bad journalism generally includes more journalism. The kind that goes on the air."

Add Comment
 
 
Arguably the most comprehensive examination of news media arrives in the form of the annual State of the Media report from the Pew Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. It looks at each platform, trends in creation and consumption, some of the economic conditions and ambitions, and summarizes the environment in which journalism (primarily North American journalism) operates.

This year's report is out, and not surprisingly its focus is on the technological thrust of content delivery. Its findings note a rapid growth in mobile consumption. that social media are not yet large drivers of news, that television news continues to grow, that subscription models will expand, and that privacy considerations will increasingly intersect with newsgathering. It concludes that business models are still far from certain in this new environment and it chides the traditional media industry for not viewing the engineering function as an economic and operational necessity in the digital age.

As for standards, an area of the study's focus is on the reductions in local coverage of civic affairs. It notes that newspapers have been the primary sources of such information and that newsroom cuts have serious consequences for such coverage. The report also speculates that it may be a matter of time before the large technological platforms begin to acquire traditional content providers.

The report has several elements and is generally considered required reading in the industry.
 
 

In an ombudsman role like mine, impartiality and detachment are keys. But I am led to believe certain exceptions can be made to discuss those in journalism longer than I've been alive.

Lloyd Robertson signs off Thursday as anchor of CTV National News, a role he has held solo since 1984, a role he shared since 1976, and a role he performed since 1970, at that point nearly two decades into his career.

So comfortable are we in our patterns and so significant are media in uniting us. it would not be hyperbolic to suggest that with his departure goes a ritual of Canadian life and the end of a chapter in our country's history. His successor and competitors are formidable journalists, but there is only one Lloyd.

I was one of many executives who held the title of running CTV News in Lloyd's time, but let's be honest, he had built the brand and he knew better than any of us how it could be fulfilled. When CTV was sold more than a decade ago, Lloyd was the principal asset. It would be hyperbolic to suggest otherwise.

We shared two years, including history 10 years ago on the 11th day of this ninth month. On 9/11, Lloyd came in quickly, came on swiftly, and kept on well beyond when the supporting team was spent. The great anchors of our country work hours ridiculous in most jobs but necessary in theirs, and Lloyd typically showed up early and stayed late.

I never saw him in anything other than a suit (except once, when he rode in the Calgary Stampede parade), ready to be in front of the world at a moment's notice.

I know there are countless tributes out there from those with deeper ties, so my contribution will be (as it was with him) limited. But let me list 10 things about him, perhaps to shed some light on the man under the lights all these decades:

1. Considering his status, Lloyd had the world's most disproportionately small office, which he shared with Sandie Rinaldo. I suppose that if a big space had been created for him, he would have lived there.

2. He has an encyclopedic understanding of Canadian federal ridings, which on election night would stun even the party officials.

3. He has, for this business, an unnerving optimism which might be mistaken for casualness if he weren't so convincingly solemn when the moment suits.

4. A minor criticism, albeit personally helpful in my case: He laughs at way too many substandard jokes.

5. There are many valid ways to frame the principles of a newscast, but Lloyd's involves a focus on talking points and on issues of well-being. Satisfy neither and the story is relegated.

6. He tends to the flock, in that he calls the medically and professionally ailing.

7. Last time I checked, he owned a rowing machine and used it most every morning.

8. With awards on his mantle and his Order of Canada pin on his lapel, he remains gentlemanly and courteous with total strangers, and that is the least friendly he can ever be.

9. He has a preternatural love of country, which is why the Terry Fox story and Olympic gold make him misty.

10. He expects much of himself, which is why he never seriously ventured into the eternally disappointing world of golf.

 
 
The week ahead includes a pivotal appearance Tuesday before a British parliamentary committee of News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son James, a leading executive of the company, along with Rebekah Brooks, the former News Corp. executive arrested Sunday.

In his latest blog post, media writer Ken Auletta looks at what Murdoch faces in the way of legal and regulatory challenges. He clearly believes the American consequences stand to be severe in the phone hacking scandal, even without direct activity in the U.S.
 
 
The new annual Gallup poll on institutional trust suggests U.S. media are regaining (albeit slightly) the ground lost.

Its poll of trust in newspapers and television found growth after years of all-time lows. Some 28% said they had a great deal or quite a lot of trust in newspapers and 27% said the same about television.

That number, though, lags considerably behind numbers as recent as 2003.

The biggest gains in approval came from 35- to 49-year-olds. Younger Americans expressed greater trust in television and less trust in newspapers. While Gallup says the new numbers are good indicators, it points to the volatility of young trust as a precursor of possible difficulties.

Newspapers and TV ranked 10th and 11th of the 16 institutions assessed.
 
 
One of the more challenging issues for journalism is to report on itself. In the case of media owned by diversified corporations, that poses an even larger challenge.

The Washington Post noted this week that the top-rated NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams was one of the few major media organizations not to report that General Electric had not paid any corporate taxes this year. GE is NBC's parent company.

NBC indicated this was not a conscious decision to avoid news about its owners, but simply a matter of an editorial selection process that happened not to focus on the story.

The Post drew on the Fairness and Accuracy in Media organization to argue that several GE-related stories have been underplayed by NBC over the years and that tax-avoidance stories had made the newscast when others were involved.
 
 
The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism has issued its eight annual State of the News Media report today. It's a definitive look at American media, with some implications for media outside the U.S. in trends and practices.

The report concludes that, with the exception of newspapers, media operated better in 2010 than in 2009 on many frontiers. Some new business models began to blossom, for instance.
But the report says that the problems aren't involving audiences or even the new models.

"It may be that in the digital realm the news industry is no longer in control of its own destiny," the executive summary of the report concludes. New intermediaries are adding layers to the relationship between consumers and advertisers, whether they are software manufacturers or platform creators, and their share of the revenue and data pose new challenges.

Among major trends: executives from outside, some willingness to pay, untapped local news opportunities, a new media economy of smaller entities,  and assistance to media via the car bailout.

The report looks at newspapers, online, television networks, cable television, ethnic and alternative press, magazines, audio and some special reports on, among other things, international newspaper  economics and the online experiments in Seattle.
 
 
A documentary on electronic waste, produced for PBS' FRONTLINE by a team from the Graduate School of Journalism at University of British Columbia, won an Emmy award Monday in New York for its investigative excellence over competition from CBS' 60 Minutes and 48 Hours and ABC's Nightline.

It's the first such win for a Canadian journalism school. The project --- Ghana: Digital Dumping Ground --- was produced by professor Peter Klein (a previous Emmy winner and an Emmy nominee in his own right Monday) and financed through a Mindset Media grant and benefactor-filmmaker Alison Lawton.

Lawton furnished the UBC school with a $1-million fund to produce international documentaries, a key piece in the creation of the international reporting course.

A team of 10 UBC students travelled to Ghana, India and China to chronicle how casually electronic waste is disposed. Along the way they found a hard drive with sensitive American defence contract information, but mainly they discovered a trail of indifference about environmental standards and worker safety.

(Disclosure: I have taught at the school since 2004 and my spouse has been its director since 2008 and an associate professor since its inception more than a decade ago.)
 
 
More evidence emerged today that Americans are shifting their patterns of media consumption but still taking in a large dose of news --- more than they have in recent times, it appears.

The Pew Research Center for People and the Press released a biennial study that suggests Americans are spending more time than ever consuming news. The average daily dose is about 70 minutes, up from 67 minutes. One-third are doing so through digital formats.

The digital consumers are larger in number than the newspaper consumers --- in itself an interesting development --- and on par with radio. Television news continues to be the most prominent format, reporting no real decline in recent years despite the arrival of digital delivery.

While the amount of consumption is increasing, the number of people consuming isn't. And the survey suggests newspaper declines are only partly offset by digital gains.
 
 
Two Canadian television networks have appointed female anchors in recent days. Today Global announced Dawna Friesen would return to Canada from London, where she has been NBC's European correspondent, to replace founding anchor Kevin Newman on Global National, who earlier this year announced he was stepping down. Last week CTV announced Lisa LaFlamme as the replacement for Lloyd Robertson, who is stepping aside gradually over the next year (he'll have 35 years in the chair once he shifts into semi-retirement to host special events).

Both terms for the anchors have been extraordinary. Newman essentially built the infrastructure for Global National and made it the largest overall national newscast. Robertson essentially defined anchoring in Canada over a 50-year career and made CTV's the largest late-night newscast through a longer-term creation of infrastructure. Each changed the operating culture of his news division and both redefined the newscasts under them, just as competitor Peter Mansbridge has in winning the most industry awards at CBC.

(My statements of several conflicts in this post: Newman is a longtime friend and colleague, I have worked at CBC and been part of Mansbridge's newscast political panel at times, and I was Robertson's boss for two years at CTV News. I appointed LaFlamme to be host of Canada AM, and on her second day, 9/11 happened. She and co-appointee Rod Black handled the challenge very well (they won a Gemini for it) until Robertson arrived and anchored for most of the next day and beyond. While these comments seem tepid, I happen to think we're served exceptionally by our national newscasts for a country our size. Their perspectives are ambitious and their storytelling distinct from each other to create good consumer choice. End of conflict statement.)

The Canadian television newscasts are not unlike the Canadian newspapers, in that they haven't been battered by audience departures the way their counterparts below the border have been. If you include the digital audiences, more people consume the content now than any time in the last decade and a half. Still, they recognize the need for constant change, accelerated in the digital era.

What will be interesting in the time ahead under these three anchors will be the evolution of the dinner-hour and late-night newscasts. Some commentators suggest the day is past for the evening newscast, but the audience indicates otherwise. A large contingent still makes an appointment to be in front of the television set at a particular hour, just as they set aside time for the paper.

As many media find themselves increasingly focusing on their local relevance in an age of choice for non-local media, though, how will national/international newscasts create an event worthy of making an appointment? The same challenge exists for newspapers. Canadians have so far been highly tolerant and supportive as they redefine themselves.

What is also interesting is that the networks continue to lean heavily toward journalists and not news readers. Friesen is an accomplished reporter, as is LaFlamme. Mansbridge, Newman and Robertson all have been involved extensively in field reporting and long-form anchoring of specials, election coverage and events. All three anchors --- one in the supper hour, when there are more viewers, and two at night when there are fewer --- possess a strong grasp of the always-on digital imperatives for their operations. What is in store should be exciting.
 
DA25E68FDEC14EAFA7B2A27D26C48058