from the director

Welcome to The Public Affairs Project, a forum for the exploration and practice of public affairs reporting across the many planes the media now encompass. Conventional wisdom has it that traditional journalism is headed steadily toward its demise. Newspaper circulation is declining, network news audiences are shrinking and aging, and the presence of these venerable outlets on the Internet has shown frustratingly little profit. Yet the public’s thirst for knowledge has never been greater.

The instinctive curiosity of human beings ensures continuing demand for information, and increasingly innovative and available technologies guarantee its endless supply. Those technologies have brought out new opportunities for enterprising communicators, new means of expression, and new tools for storytelling. But they have also awakened a dormant desire on the part of citizens, the need to be involved.

Once, the power of the pen was wielded only by an elite few who could afford a printing press. Now, we comment publicly on elite opinion, we keep news diaries online, we carry video cameras in our pockets, we friend elected officials, and we hold those elites accountable. We demand news from every corner of the world at every time of the day, not just on our doorstep in the morning and our television set in the evening.

Three quarters of us use the Internet, and three quarters of Internet users get news online. More people name the Internet as an important source of information than television, radio or newspapers. Reporters who have left cash-strapped traditional news organizations have been turning up in new outlets made possible by the new technologies of the past decade. By harvesting the talent shed by print and broadcast, outlets like Propublica, XM Radio, Politico, and HDNet have earned instant distinction—and credibility.

Here at the Public Affairs Project, we’re studying the innovative ways the news is changing—and we’re doing a bit of innovating ourselves—but we haven’t forgotten the basic underpinnings of good journalism. Among all the technological tools at the disposal of news organizations, the best tool is still the hard work and shoe leather of intrepid reporters. For all the new ways to present a story, nothing has emerged to replace a one on one conversation.

News has become a two-way medium, and journalism has found creative ways to inform and involve the public. Democracy works better when more citizens participate. The demands of the public are more easily met and leaders are better held accountable. News is increasingly becoming the link that connects people to their government, to their world, and to each other. I hope you’ll join in.

 - Frank Sesno