New York Times environmental reporter Justin Gillis on how often he feels it’s necessary to quote climate change skeptics in his articles:

I quote the climate skeptics or deniers — whatever term you prefer — when they’re relevant. So when I’m doing a piece about the science itself and what the latest scientific findings are, especially if that’s a short piece, I don’t necessarily feel obliged to quote the climate skeptics the same way that if you were doing a story about evolution, a New York Times reporter wouldn’t feel obliged to call up a creationist and ask them what they think. On the other hand, the climate skeptics are politically relevant at this point in American history [in a way] the creationists are not, for example, so we have a fair chunk of the Congress … that sees political traction right now in questioning climate science or purporting not to believe it and so, in a political story or in a longer story, I usually do give some amount of space to the climate skeptics.

Image by Jonathan Stead/Flickr

Jake Tapper tells Terry Gross about whether he gets any blow-back from the White House for asking tough questions:

There’s always blow-back. … I think it’s fair to say that when you ask a question that makes the president displeased that displeasure has a way of trickling down and making itself know not only from White House officials but from the unruly masses on Twitter and Facebook and email and the President’s allies in the media. So i think it’s fair to say that yes there’s blow-back but that’s also part of the job and if you can’t handle blow-back because you asked a tough question then you shouldn’t be doing the job. … [B]ut I will say, and especially to reporters out there — or aspiring reporters: Ultimately, if the questions are good ones — and not about stupid things like birth certificates — but ultimately if the questions are good ones, about things that they know in their hearts were fair questions, if uncomfortable ones at the time, you will earn the respect of people in the White House.

Image of Jake Tapper and President Obama from the White House/Flickr

Charlie LeDuff tells Dave Davies about his two rules for journalism:

There’s two rules to this whole game called journalism: Get it right; and don’t be boring. Because if you’re boring, you’re dead. I’ll say it this way: [The] press is written into the Constitution like the judiciary, the executive and the legislative, except they didn’t leave us any money. We have to find our own money to do it. So if people don’t want to purchase your product, you’re dead. So I like Borat; I like Jackass; I like Charles Kuralt; I like Colbert; I like 60 Minutes. I like kitty cats and YouTube. Put them all together, shake it up, and give me something — give me something smart and give me something entertaining. That’s my mantra.

There’s a bullseye on my head when I step into Somalia, wherever I am. People have been kidnapped and killed. Westerners have been taken hostage. I’m going into this area – and putting myself in danger and so is the photographer – and the paper supports us doing that because we feel that this is important, this is part of our job and we have an opportunity as journalists to make a difference.

— Jeffrey Gettleman covers Somalia for The New York Times. On today’s Fresh Air, he explains what he’s seen and why he keeps going back.

I’m on the board of the Committee to Protect Journalists and they consider Pakistan as the most dangerous place in the world for journalists. Seven journalists were killed last year. Countless others have been arrested, tortured, kidnapped, beaten, harassed, whatever. Journalism has become a very dangerous profession, from both the extremists and the authorities. That has become a big burden on affecting people’s ability to write.

— Today on Fresh Air, Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid discusses the challenges facing Pakistan and Afghanistan in the post-Osama bin Laden era, as well as the complicated relationship the two countries have with the United States.

Once you’ve put yourself on record in an interview, and you’re sort of thinking fast and saying the first thing that pops into your mind, basically, anything to fill up the air time or the reporter’s time, it’s a little disconcerting, when you’re younger than I, to realize that these remarks which you toss off, once they’re in print, have an equal weight with all the words that you’ve labored to polish and make come out exactly right.

— John Updike telling Terry Gross why he once called interviews ‘a form to be loathed.’ [complete interview here]

How NPR Became A Hotbed For Female Journalists (via @thedailybeast)

Media Diet?

I gave a talk at my college newspaper last night about interviewing and ethics. A lot of the people at the talk had questions relating to journalism careers and social media. I sent them a list of links this morning and thought I would share them here too. Does anyone have any other ones to suggest?

Helpful Sites:

I use Media Gazer to keep on top of media stories (a good way to learn about job openings is to read about when people have moved on…) I also have a twitter search for ‘public media’ AND ‘jobs.’ You can substitute ‘newspaper’ or ‘magazine’ for public media, obviously. @nprjobs posts all of the npr-related jobs. Lots of people post about jobs on Twitter so follow journalists you admire and you’ll start to see some job postings.

Atlantic Wire: Media Diet is a good resource for finding out what other journalists are reading:

I keep Twitter keyword trackers (in Tweetdeck) and Google News Alerts for keywords associated with my show. If you have a beat, creating a keyword tracker for your beat + Philadelphia will result in many helpful tips.

This is a cool site from the WSJ which just shows you top headlines. You can change the order (I think the WSJ is first because they made it.)

CJR tracks media stories. A good overview of what’s going on in the biz.

This is just a *really* nice way to display clips online.

If you use any other sites, please let me know. Obviously, this is just a sampling to get them started. (Many were freshman and eager to get involved in journalism.)

At least on the Web, you can amend. The ethic of the Web is to say what you know as quickly as you can, and then reiterate over and over again. The Web is kind of a self-cleaning oven, and what you have up there can grow more accurate as time goes by. That’s never true of print. It’s always there for the ages.

— David Carr: A Media Omnivore Discusses His Diet : NPR (via thisistheverge)

If they don’t engage, I just tell them, ‘Well, you better put the nut-cup on, because this isn’t going to be pleasant for anybody.’

— David Carr on how he tells sources that he’s writing a serious piece

4 Times Journalists Held Captive in Libya Faced Days of Brutality

In March, veteran foreign correspondent Anthony Shadid and three other journalists were held and beaten by security forces in Libya. On today’s Fresh Air, Shadid talks about his experiences in Libya and why he decided to continue reporting from conflict zones. In the past year, he’s covered the Arab uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Tunisia. Before that, he covered the Iraq War for nearly a decade. 

We are entering a golden age of journalism. I do think there has been horrible frictional costs but I think when we look back at what has happened, I look at my backpack that is sitting here, and it contains more journalistic firepower than the entire newsroom that I walked into 30 to 40 years ago. It’s connected to the cloud, I can make digital recordings of everything that I do, I can check in real time if someone is telling me the truth, I have a still camera that takes video that I can upload quickly and seamlessly.

— David Carr reflects on the future of journalism.

Am I going to give up following the NFL? Am I going to give up listening to music and going out and seeing it? Am I going to give up riding my bike? Or am I going to cut back on some of these digital habits I have that are eating me alive and some of these … endless panels about the future of journalism. The future of journalism is wearing badges and talking on panels, as far as I can tell.

— On today’s Fresh Air, journalist David Carr talks about how social media has changed his productivity.

On today’s Fresh Air, media reporter David Carr reflects on old media, new media, and the future of journalism: “The web is kind of a self-cleaning oven and what you have up there can grow more accurate as time goes by. That’s never true of print. It’s always there for the ages.”

_DSF3379 (by lekoil)

I’m terrified when I’m out on a battlefield. Telling these stories, I think it’s important that people understand what it’s like out there, what people go through, who are the people who are doing this in Afghanistan on our behalf. Most of us have sat this war out. I want them to know what it’s like and who is in the middle of it and what the consequences are. Beyond that, I don’t really have an agenda. I think that’s really important, especially in a democracy. We need to know who is doing it and what it’s like for them.

— David Wood is a conscientious objector and a Quaker who has spent the past 35 years on a battlefield reporting about war.