Committee of Concerned Journalists
The Committee of Concerned Journalists "is a consortium of journalists, publishers, owners and academics worried about the future of the profession." [1]
History
"On a rainy Saturday in June 1997, twenty-five journalists gathered at the Harvard Faculty Club. Around the long table sat editors of several of the nation's top newspapers, as well as some of the most influential names in television and radio, several of the top journalism educators, and some of the country's most prominent authors. They were there because they thought something was seriously wrong with their profession. They barely recognized what they considered journalism in much of the work of their colleagues. Instead of serving a larger public interest, they feared, their profession was damaging it...
"Over the next two years, the group, now calling itself the Committee of Concerned Journalists, organized the most sustained, systematic, and comprehensive examination ever conducted by journalists of news gathering and its responsibilities. We held 21 public forums attended by 3,000 people and involving testimony from more than 300 journalists. We partnered with a team of university researchers who conducted more than a hundred three-and-a-half-hour interviews with journalists about their values. We produced two surveys of journalists about their principles. We held a summit of First Amendment and journalism scholars. With the Project for Excellence in Journalism we produced nearly a dozen content studies of news reporting. We studied the history of those journalists who came before us." [2]
Staff, Washington, DC Office
- Jeffrey Dvorkin - Executive Director
- Bill Kovach - Founding Chairman
- Wally Dean - Broadcast Director
- Brett Mueller - Website/Curriculum Manager
Executive Board
- Bill Kovach - Chairman
- Tom Rosenstiel - Vice-Chairman
- Dean Mills
- Geneva Overholser
- Hedrick Smith
