Monday Mashup - Human Journalism

Periodismo Humano

Periodsimo Humano, or “human journalism” is a soon to be launched journalism project from Javier Bauluz, the only Spanish winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The project will be a non-profit org espousing the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights as its only “guideline.”

Last week they tweeted “why do you want a human journalism?” and then remixed the responses into the post Why a Human Journalism? A Post Written by 200 people. Here is an excerpt:

Queremos un periodismo humano porque necesitamos volver a saber por qué quisimos ser periodistas. Porque no nos resignamos. Porque andamos jibarizados a base de siglas y datos. Porque se puede ser responsable, ético, honesto, concienciado y, además, ser feliz. Porque es bueno que se conozca el código fuente de aquellos que nos informan: sus dudas y sus miedos. Porque el periodismo, como la vida, empieza por las cosas pequeñas

Translation: “We want a human journalism because we need to go back to knowing why we wanted to be journalists. Because we didn’t stop believing. Because we don’t go shrinking everything down to dates and abbreviations. Because you can be responsible, ethical, honest, conscientious, and still be happy. Because it’s good to recognize the doubts and fears behind that which informs us.* Because journalism, like life, begins with the little things.”

*not 100% sure of that particular sentence.

This project looks like a major opportunity for Spanish speaking and bilingual journalists wishing to work with a transparent and brilliant community.

Follow them @PmasDH

8 Key Terms for Determining Legitimacy in Journalism

Sarah Menkedick sent me this article last week on determining legitimacy. I really like this post, particularly in the way it rejects the notion that “professionalism” is equivalent to “legitimacy.”

Jay Rosen writes:

These thoughts grew from a comment thread at Nieman Lab. The post in question was titled: The news Good Housekeeping seal: What makes a nonprofit outlet legit? Such things as: adherence to the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics, submitting entries for professional prizes and holding a press credential from a federal or state body were said to be good proxies for legitimacy in journalism. I objected to this:

I don’t think “professionalism” is a feature of legitimacy at all. We could say it’s one way of attempting to secure legitimacy, but the equation: professional news person = legitimate provider of news does not work.

Rosen then gave his 8 key terms, beginning with veracity:

I’d start with the will to veracity, also known as truthtelling. Truthtelling even when it hurts or causes problems for your friends. Real journalists tell us what happened because it actually happened that way, and not some other way. All forms of legitimacy derive from this one.

Follow Jay Rosen: @jayrosen_nyu

National Day of Unplugging

Finally, I saw the national day of unplugging is “scheduled” for later this week. You don’t have to be Jewish to participate.

Community Connection

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