Charles Lewis Articles About the Future of Journalism

GREAT EXPECTATIONS
By Charles Lewis;
Columbia Journalism Review; September/October 2009
According to Lewis “an increasing percentage of the most ambitious reporting projects will emanate from the public realm, not from private commercial outlets.” And “properly structured and led, the Investigative News Network could become the online destination for original investigative reporting.”

PURVEYORS OF TRUTH ABOUT THE POWERS THAT BE
By Charles Lewis;
Society of Professional Journalists centennial anniversary book essay, 2009
On the 100th anniversary of the founding of Sigma Delta Chi, Lewis writes that now, “more than ever before, we need fearless truth-tellers to ferret out the overtly obscured or merely inaccessible facts about the decisions, policies and practices that affect our daily lives.”

THE FUTURE OF WATCHDOG REPORTING BRIGHTENS AS NONPROFIT GROUPS ORGANIZE A NEW NETWORK
By Charles Lewis;
Nieman Watchdog; July 3, 2009
Regarding the new Investigative News Network, Lewis writes that “Never before has anyone attempted to organize the best investigative reporting output and energies of respected news organizations and their journalists, making that original ‘accountability’ information infinitely more accessible to the public in multiple ways in the new media landscape.”

10 RULES OF THE ROAD FOR NONPROFIT CENTERS
By Charles Lewis;
IRE Journal , May/June 2009
According to Lewis, “we are witnessing nothing less than the dawn of a new investigative journalism ecosystem in the United States, in which the most ambitious reporting projects will increasingly emanate from the public realm, not from private commercial outlets.” With journalists increasingly entering the public realm and attempting to start their own investigative reporting news organizations, he outlines some “logical, basic, best practices” to help them succeed.

A SOCIAL-NETWORK SOLUTION
by Charles Lewis;
Columbia Journalism Review , March/April 2009
In “A Social-Network Solution ,” Lewis takes us forward to the year 2014 where journalism is thriving. He then takes the readers back through time to the current state of journalism and shows the steps that can be taken to make journalism a vibrant industry.

ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO FINANCE
by Charles Lewis and Bruce Sievers;
Chronicle of Philanthropy , March 12, 2009
In “All the News That's Fit to Finance,” Lewis and Sievers explore the future of financing journalism and the role philanthropy should play in promoting journalistic endeavors.

SEEKING NEW WAYS TO NURTURE THE CAPACITY TO REPORT
by Charles Lewis;
Nieman Reports , Spring 2008
“Seeking New Ways to Nurture the Capacity to Report “ is an examination of how the government has seized control of information and how major news outlets have devoted fewer and fewer resources toward investigative journalism. Lewis explains how nonprofit journalism can be a method of promoting sound investigative reporting.

NEW MODELS FOR NEWS
by Charles Lewis;
Louisiana State University Breaux Symposium paper, April 2008
Co-moderator Lewis reviews some of the recent history of nonprofit and for profit news organizations, with the over-arching question: “what is the likely, foreseeable future for journalism as a profitable or at least sustainable enterprise in the years ahead?”

GOODBYE, MR. GATES
by Charles Lewis;
University of North Carolina Philip Meyer Symposium paper, March 2008
In this critique of market-driven journalism, Lewis trumpets the vision of computer assisted journalism pioneer and author Philip Meyer, who wrote in his 2004 book, The Vanishing Newspaper , “The only way to save journalism is to develop a new model that finds profit in truth, vigilance and social responsibility.”

THE NONPROFIT ROAD
by Charles Lewis;
Columbia Journalism Review , September/October 2007
Lewis discusses the major changes in journalism and the necessary role that nonprofit organizations must play to promote good journalism.

THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF NONPROFIT JOURNALISM
by Charles Lewis;
Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard University, April 2007
In “The Growing Importance of Nonprofit Journalism,” Lewis examines the necessity of nonprofit journalism to ensure high quality journalism that is necessary for a thriving democracy.

Incubating new economic models for journalism.

Latest from iLab

Journalism in Russia: Still hampered, but improving

The difficulty of producing investigative journalism in Russia, where journalists are often threatened, is compounded by the economic hardships many publications face, according to Russian journalists who spoke last week at a conference in Washington, D.C.

Reporting on Washington for those outside the Beltway

The decline of local news is highly visible in the nation's capital, where the once-robust tradition of regional reporting — covering the federal government as it pertains to specific regions, states and communities — is now a shadow of its former self. “When I started, regional reporting was very important,” said Stephen Hess of the Brookings Institution. “I've watched it, over time, fade away.”

Most Recent Posts

Wisconsin legislators vote to kick investigative journalism out

A group of Republican state legislators in control of the Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee voted to kick the nationally respected Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, better known online as “Wisconsin Watch,” off the University of Wisconsin premises. Top officials at the university countered forcefully against the nocturnal mischief, calling it a "direct assault on our academic freedom."

Obama defends drone program amid calls for oversight

President Obama has pledged to increase accountability for the administration’s controversial drone program in a speech today at the National Defense University. The administration has used the program in the killing of thousands of suspected terrorists overseas, including four American citizens.

The move is in response to growing public unease on both sides of the aisle surrounding the administration’s use of drones, and recent criticisms by the state department’s former legal adviser, Harold Koh. In a speech May 7 at Oxford University, Koh asserted that the administration’s lack of transparency regarding drone use has led to public misinformation and disillusionment, and called on the president to release its full legal justification for the assassination of American citizens abroad.

Solitary amendment passes Senate

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed an amendment Monday to the 844-page immigration bill that would both better define and limit the use of solitary confinement at immigration detention centers. The amendment limits the use of solitary confinement in adults and bans it for children younger than 18 and those with mental illness except in situations deemed as emergencies or threats.

Reporting the aftermath of a crisis: journalism and accountability in Bangladesh

Journalists from Bangladesh, meeting last week in Washington, implored local and international media to take a broader look at the social issues surrounding the garment factory collapse, and focus on understanding the social, political and economic factors that led to the accident.

Supreme Court says states can limit FOIA laws to citizens

The Supreme Court ruled this week that states are not required to extend their Freedom of Information act coverage to people who are not citizens of the state. The unanimous opinion also held, once again, that access to government information is not a fundamental right. Effectively, the court was saying — as it has many times in the past — that access to government information is a privilege that can be regulated largely as governments see fit.

Workshop Partners

We publish online and in print, often teaming up with other news organizations. We post quarterly updates to our BankTracker project, in which you can view the financial health of every bank and credit union in the country, with msnbc.com, now nbcnews.com, and we co-publish stories in our What Went Wrong project with The Philadelphia Inquirer and New America Media. Learn more on our partners page.

Investigating Power update

Profiles of notable journalists and their stories of key moments in U.S. history in the last 50 years can be found on the Investigating Power site. See Workshop Executive Editor Charles Lewis' latest video interviews as well as historic footage and timelines. You can also read more about the project and why we documented these groundbreaking examples of original, investigative journalism that helped shape or change public perceptions on key issues of our time, from civil rights to Iraq, here.