All too soon it became clear that my Nieman year would be no warm bath of nostalgia, no tired reprise of my college days, but a complex amalgam of the old and the new, the fresh and the familiar, the comforting and the challenging. — J. Anthony Lukas, NF ‘69

Nieman Watchdog

NiemanWatchdog.org went online in 2004 with the sense that we’d be doing a great service if we could help frame questions on important issues. It was clear that reporters could use all the help they could get, stuck as they were under enormous pressure from deadlines, a flood of raw information, manipulated news, deliberate misinformation and just plain junk that was thrown at them every day.

Today journalists have to deal with even worse facts of life: the press’s astonishing loss of credibility, the many empty newsroom spaces once occupied by colleagues, and a constantly shrinking news hole. These of course were problems when we started, but they keep growing. Some of the credibility wounds are self-inflicted, some the result of bloggers’ attacks and some the work of a push by the Bush administration and others to discredit the press and make it irrelevant in Americans’ lives.

Nieman Watchdog’s response is to offer suggestions and encouragement and to urge the press to cover important stories aggressively, with independence and originality. We continue to add features, get distinguished new contributors and, all in all, go about establishing ourselves as a worthwhile online journalism voice.
 
One recent innovation is a new section on the site, “Elsewhere on the Internet,” which draws attention to watchdog reporting that otherwise might get little or no notice. Often the stories are ones editors may want to replicate on their own. Thus “Elsewhere” serves both to single out good work and as a source of story ideas.
 
In some instances Watchdog’s experts are so knowledgeable—and such good writers—that items on the site are easily ahead of work done at most news organizations. For example, Watchdog repeatedly offers leading-edge reports on the war in Iraq, the cost of oil and gas, missile defense, Medicare, and voting machines and procedures.
 
Some well-known journalists became contributors in the past year. Among them are George Lardner, Jr., and Myra McPherson, both formerly of the Washington Post; energy/environment reporter Joseph A. Davis, and Carolyn Lewis, with experience in print, radio, TV, and as a teacher. Lardner, McPherson and Lewis have been added to the site’s list of bloggers.
 
At this point, Watchdog’s occasional newsletter goes to more 4,100 people, including publishers and chief editors of American dailies, leading TV executives, journalism school professors and some 800 Nieman fellows around the world. Often our items generate lively debate, and much of the readership comes via links from various blogs.
 
Academic researchers also are taking notice. One account in August, by Scout, a University of Wisconsin group, said, “The Nieman Watchdog Journalism Project at Harvard University is concerned with helping ‘the press ask penetrating questions, critical questions, questions that matter, questions not yet asked about today's news.’ It's a very laudable mission, and for anyone concerned with these matters, their Web site will be one worth returning to numerous times.”

— Barry Sussman, Editor