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Nieman NotesNieman NotesCompiled by Lois FioreThe Watchdog Journalism Project Moves to the Web‘We want to cajole, encourage, prod, stroke and, in the end, help create a sense ofurgency and obligation to higher reporting standards.’By Barry SussmanNiemanWatchdog.org is about toget started. I’m the editor, andI can use your help.As you might know, the NiemanFoundation has had its Watchdog JournalismProject for six years, createdand funded by Murrey Marder, a distinguished,retired Washington Post diplomaticreporter. Marder’s commitmentto watchdog reporting is intense.He believes it’s possible that, if reportersand editors work hard, perhapsthey can help to improve things hereand there and, once in a while, possiblyeven avert catastrophes. It’s a beliefa lot of us share. And if we believe this,we must continually work to see that ithappens. This is what this new Website is all about.Watchdog reporting means holdingaccountable people and groups in positionsof power and especially in government.In practice, fidelity to thisgoal ebbs and flows.A grievous default in watchfulnessby both the press and Congress in 1964plunged the United States into the VietnamWar on a false rationale. While theprinciples remain constant, each generationhas to learn the watchdog lessonanew. In Iraq, as in the Vietnamconflict, the shortcomings of the presshave been remarkably similar: lack ofprobing pre-war questions about thewar’s justification, about the political,economic and military components ofthe U.S. war-fighting strategy and, mostimportant of all, about the postwarcosts and consequences.Until now, the Nieman WatchdogProject relied primarily on conferenceswith members of the press—most heldat Harvard University, one in Washington,D.C.—to stimulate greater interestin how to use reporting to hold thepowerful accountable. But the adventof the war on terrorism, with its wars inAfghanistan and Iraq, have made itimperative to reach a wider audiencemore quickly. The Internet makes thispossible. During earlier times of warthe public was conditioned to criticizethe press for disclosing too much, butin the Iraq conflict a considerable portionof the public has been criticizingjournalists for failing to question governmentpolicymakers vigorouslyenough.With the Internet revolution, anyoneconnected to the Web has accessto more raw information and far moreopinion than any journalist could possiblysort through. What this means isthat there is a critical need in this alwayschurning news world for knowledgeand ability to evaluate this delugeof data. No reporter or editor isequipped to cope with the interwovencomplexities of foreign and domesticpolicy, science, economics, the environment,world trade, culture, religion,genetics and all the other issues thatnow engulf us.NiemanWatchdog.org is poised toassume this role in offering a uniqueservice to journalists at newspapers,TV and radio and to online reportersand editors, journalism students, andcitizens who care about the worldaround them.The Nieman Foundation’s objectiveis to “elevate the standards of journalism”by further educating “personsdeemed especially qualified for journalism.”The Watchdog Web site willmarshal the vast learning resources ofHarvard University, which have nourishedNieman Fellows for more than ahalf-century, to help supply inspirationfor questions and lines of inquirythat reporters around the globe canpursue with policymakers. HarvardUniversity will not be the sole source ofinformation on this site; thought-provokingideas will be offered by otheracademic centers, scientists and specialistsfrom these diverse fields.We want to cajole, encourage, prod,stroke and, in the end, help create asense of urgency and obligation tohigher reporting standards. We will beinternational in scope. We will offerless trivia and more substance, but wealso know that if we are dull, or evenhard to navigate, we are dead.We have plans for several main features,each of which focuses oninteractivity. In one part of the site,there will be brief essays or columns byHarvard professors and other expertsin a variety of fields. The journalist canselect the subject matter to explore,such as how to better report on OPECor race relations or recidivism or Afghanistan.This list is large. These expertsmight focus their writing on aspectsof an issue that the press isn’tcovering well and might include questionsthat ought to be asked. And hereis where the interactivity begins: The96 Nieman Reports / Winter 2003