Helpful Links for Citizen Journalists

A group (Silver Stringers) has but together a decent, quick rundown of the basic tenets of journalistic reporting. As we build this news and information site, this conversation, it's always helpful to have something of a rulebook or even just a notion of all the 'unwritten rules.' The RCFP's compendium of Indiana open meetings laws is another vital link.Citizen Journalism 101

• On Developing Ideas

• On reporting process
• On  Writing
• On conducting an interview
• On being a revisionist
• On being authoritative
• On Right Writing
• On localizing

There are shorter versions of the above available at the site as well.

The above links, though, are good resources if you're wanting to do a 'news' story on Muncie Free Press.

Please feel free to comment and continue the conversation below.

From the EFF's Legal Guide for Bloggers:
Whether you're a newly minted blogger or a relative old-timer, you've been seeing more and more stories pop up every day about bloggers getting in trouble for what they post.

Like all journalists and publishers, bloggers sometimes publish information that other people don't want published. You might, for example, publish something that someone considers defamatory, republish an AP news story that's under copyright, or write a lengthy piece detailing the alleged crimes of a candidate for public office.

The difference between you and the reporter at your local newspaper is that in many cases, you may not have the benefit of training or resources to help you determine whether what you're doing is legal. And on top of that, sometimes knowing the law doesn't help - in many cases it was written for traditional journalists, and the courts haven't yet decided how it applies to bloggers.

But here's the important part: None of this should stop you from blogging. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Internet bullies shouldn't use the law to stifle legitimate free expression. That's why EFF created this guide, compiling a number of FAQs designed to help you understand your rights and, if necessary, defend your freedom.

To be clear, this guide isn't a substitute for, nor does it constitute, legal advice. Only an attorney who knows the details of your particular situation can provide the kind of advice you need if you're being threatened with a lawsuit. The goal here is to give you a basic roadmap to the legal issues you may confront as a blogger, to let you know you have rights, and to encourage you to blog freely with the knowledge that your legitimate speech is protected.

From The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press:
The Indiana General Assembly has given the public and the news media broad access to meetings of public agencies and to records of the public's business through the Indiana Open Door Law and the Indiana Access to Public Records Act. Recent amendments have attempted to provide quicker resolution of access questions through the creation of a state public access counselor and beefed up the right to recover attorney fees when access requests are denied. In addition, the law now deals with the increasing computerization of public records and the shift to privatization of traditional governmental services. Indiana's access laws resulted from pressure from the news media and the public for greater access to the public's business at various levels of government. Both acts also find their conceptual genesis in the wide-ranging demand for openness in government after Watergate.

The Open Door Law was enacted in 1977 and repealed a portion of the Hughes Anti-Secrecy Act as it related to open meetings. While there is no official legislative history in Indiana, the intent of the legislators in enacting The Open Door Law is contained in the preamble. The General Assembly declared:

[T]his state and its political subdivisions exist only to aid in the conduct of the business of the people of this state. It is the intent of this chapter that the official action of public agencies be conducted and taken openly, unless otherwise expressly provided by statute, in order that the people may be fully informed. The purposes of this chapter are remedial, and its provisions are to be liberally construed with the view of carrying out its policy.

Ind. Code § 5-14-1.5-1.
If you know of more links, leave them below.

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