Christian Science Monitor

Mondo Times editors    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 11:02am on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Newspaper reporters are disappearing from state capitols, Jonathan Zimmerman of the Christian Science Monitor reported on June 22, 2009:

"The number of full-time reporters in American state capitols has decreased 32 percent in the past six years, according to a study released last April by the American Journalism Review. Over 140 newspapers have reduced their statehouse staffs since 2003, and more than 50 have eliminated these staffs altogether.

So should we really be surprised when state lawmakers act in corrupt, brazen, or silly ways? The real surprise is that they don't do it more often. Or maybe we just don't know, because newspapers are no longer minding the store.

Remember, many of America's most notable journalists got their start by exposing malfeasance in state capitols. Modern investigative reporting dates to the 1880s, when Henry Demarest Lloyd showed how John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company bribed and intimidated state lawmakers. In Pennsylvania, Lloyd famously wrote, Standard Oil "has done everything with the legislature, except refine it."

The full story:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0622/p09s01-coop.html

Eric Kallgren    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 8:16pm on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Journalists deserve low pay, according to Robert G. Picard in an opinion article published by the Christian Science Monitor on May 19, 2009:

"The demise of the news business can be halted, but only if journalists commit to creating real value for consumers and become more involved in setting the course of their companies.

Journalists like to think of their work in moral or even sacred terms. With each new layoff or paper closing, they tell themselves that no business model could adequately compensate the holy work of enriching democratic society, speaking truth to power, and comforting the afflicted.

Actually, journalists deserve low pay.

Wages are compensation for value creation. And journalists simply aren't creating much value these days.

Until they come to grips with that issue, no amount of blogging, twittering, or micropayments is going to solve their failing business models."

The full article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0519/p09s02-coop.html

Eric Kallgren    Boulder Colorado USA

Posted at 2:55pm on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

Andrew Stroehlein wrote an interesting opinion piece about foreign news coverage in the May 18, 2009 edition of the Christian Science Monitor. He argues that if we want to know what is really going on, we need to have reporters on the scene to tell the story:

"...we do have options other than resigning ourselves to ignorance about the world around us.

"The Internet" in general is not a solution, because the online proliferation of information about foreign affairs is more often than not simply ill-informed commentary. Nor is it "citizen journalism," which is about as appealing an idea as "citizen dentistry."

What we need to look for – and support – is professional news-gathering capacity on the ground. In short, check the datelines.

For TV news, the BBC still has a large number of reporters in the field, as does Al Jazeera English, and the result is quality on the screen. They both cover more world news from the ground than any of the major US news TV outlets. The BBC news runs on many PBS stations in the US, and though Al Jazeera English has faced difficulties getting American cable companies to carry it, the tide now seems to be turning. At the end of April, it became available to viewers throughout the Washington area, and it will roll out to 20 other cities in the coming months. You can also, of course, watch it online."

The full article:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0518/p09s01-coop.html

Eric Kallgren    Boulder, Colorado USA

Posted at 3:55pm on Saturday, March 28th, 2009

Christian Science Monitor editor John Yemma wrote about becoming an "online newspaper" on March 27, 2009:

"The Christian Science Monitor has published its final daily print edition, dated March 27.

The key words in that sentence are "daily print." As of today, we are shedding print on a daily basis. But the Monitor itself – the century-old journalistic enterprise chronicling the world's challenges and progress – is becoming more daily than ever. And with the launch of our new weekly print edition, the Monitor is becoming more vital than ever.

No longer inked on wood pulp, no longer trucked from printing plants to your mailbox, no longer published only five days a week, the daily Monitor is now a dynamic online newspaper on all days.

The Monitor is available everywhere – St. Louis, Johannesburg, Boston, Buenos Aires, Jakarta, Toronto – the instant you go to our website, CSMonitor.com.

We've been moving in this direction for more than a decade.

Two million individuals now engage with us online each month, about 40 times the number that have been subscribing to the print daily. We are linked deeply and extensively across the Internet. People who never picked up our newspaper read Christian Science Monitor articles online, listen to our audiocasts, and view our photo- and video-journalism.

The online Monitor responds to events as they unfold. Our website also features timely editorials and commentary, articles on arts, culture, books, Home Forum essays, and, as has been the case since its founding, the daily inspirational article.

Complementing our 24/7 online Monitor is a new print weekly, the first issue of which will be in subscribers' mailboxes in two weeks.

Why a weekly print publication? Print still works at that frequency. Print is for sitting back, taking a break from the Web, thinking more deeply about ideas and issues."