Bill Adair, founding editor of PolitiFact National, feels the news website is an example of how journalism should look in the 21st century. Too much online journalism, he said, looks like 20th-century print stories just slapped up on the Internet.
Adair spoke at the April 9 Mark of Excellence luncheon during SPJ's 2011 Region 2 conference in Norfolk, Va. The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk sponsored the luncheon, which also included the presentation of the Virginia Press Association Collegiate Awards.
Journalism today needs to take better advantage of all the available platforms to report the news and engage readers, Adair said. PolitiFact.com, founded by The St. Petersburg Times and a 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner, “aims to help readers find the truth in politics” using old-fashioned journalistic fact-checking, he said, but presenting it in a dynamic platform.
The national operation is based in Washington, and the site, which also follows state politics, has reporters around the country.
One example of how PolitiFact drills down to get to the truth of what politicians, lawmakers, government officials, and pundits and other commentators are saying is its Truth-o-Meter, which rates comments as true, mostly true, half true, barely true, false and “pants on fire.” There also is the Obameter, which follows the 500 promises President Barack Obama made during his 2008 campaign, and the GOP Pledge-o-Meter, which follows the dozens of promises made by Republican leaders in the 2010 campaign.
SPJ’s regional on April 8 and 9 drew close to 100 people from all four pro chapters in the territory and a dozen colleges. About 40 people attended a social function on April 8, the evening before the Saturday filled with programming.
A silent auction raised $220 for SPJ's Legal Defense Fund.
SPJ Region 2 Director Brian Eckert and the Virginia SPJ Pro chapter organized the conference, which was held in conjunction with the Virginia Press Association/The Associated Press Advertising & News Conference, and the Virginia Newspaper Photographers Association.
Topics of SPJ sessions included the ethics of social media, “FOIA: A Dose of Sunshine,” “Freelancing, Odd Jobs and Life After Corporate Media,” “Digital Success Stories: What’s Working Today for News, PR and Advertising” and “50 Ideas in 90 Minutes: Ideas to Take Back to Your Newsroom.”
A “speed dating” event brought editors together with freelancers, recent college graduates and college students.
A session on the how to cover the sesquicentennial of the Civil War yielded a raft of ideas, including exploring angles related to the military, economic, social, medical/technological scientific and political issues of the day.
One speaker suggested comparing the cost of running the military during wartime then to the cost of running the military now during the war in Afghanistan.
Another said good sources for Civil War stories range from librarians, tourism boards and history teachers (high school and college) to local historians, preservationists and descendants of slaves, soldiers, ordinary citizens and government officials who lived through the conflict.
Eckert reported that Elon University near Burlington, N.C., is being considered for the 2012 Region 2 conference, with help from the new Greater Charlotte Chapter.