Pulitzer Prize winner Garcia shares top strategies for investigative reporting

Long-time investigative journalist Manny Garcia says journalism students are getting into the business at the right time, and need to be prepared for the "baseball bat they're inheriting." His ten tips offer guidance to students and a refresher for seasoned journalists.

1. "Operate honestly, transparently, and with integrity.
2. If you’re denied access to information, get it in writing. Ask for the statute that denies access.
3. Understand the laws in the state you work in.
4. Knowledge is power—The more you know, the harder it is for someone to spin you or give you a line of crap.
5. We need to impeach dishonesty.
6. Find the protagonist who’s going to carry your story.
7. If you feel uncomfortable in a situation, let your editor know. Bring someone with you.
8. Make sure your source sees your note pad and understands you’re doing a story, so there are no misgivings.
9. Look for animosities in relationships.
10. If you’re writing a tough story about someone, let them know early."

Garcia, who is now Executive Editor/Director of el Nuevo Herald, spoke to students at Washington and Lee University March 18, 2010. His visit was sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds foundation.

CNN’s fear of social media harbinger of shift in agenda-setting power of the press?

A top CNN executive told Businessweek Wednesday that he fears competition from social networking sites. The story quotes the cable network’s U.S. president, Jonathan Klein, as saying he views social media as a threat that can pull people away from CNN: “The people you’re friends with on Facebook or the people you follow on Twitter are trusted sources of information. Well, we want to be the most trusted name in news.”

When a major news organization's leader calls attention to competition coming from social networks, it highlights their growing importance and power in the flow of news and information. Today, people around the world send 50 million tweets per day, and more than 400 million people are active Facebook users. These sites have assisted in recent earthquake aid and rescue efforts, helped elect a president, and facilitate discussions on key issues daily.

The power of traditional news media to set the agenda for the public may be shifting in light of this social media environment. By integrating with and contributing to social media, mainstream news will play a critical role in reshaping the next phase of mediated communication.

Pew Internet study (3/1/10): Today’s news portable, personalized, participatory

Three fourths of online news users get news through e-mail or social networking sites, according to Pew’s new study, Understanding the Participatory News Consumer.

Also, think three “P”s when describing our relationship to news today. The study found that news is:
" Portable: 33% of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones.
Personalized: 28% of internet users have customized their home page to include news from sources and on topics that particularly interest them.
Participatory: 37% of internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.”