AP executive editor extols accountability journalism
AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll this week accepted the Carr Van Anda Award at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.
The award is named for a pivotal managing editor of The New York Times, who studied at Ohio University beginning in 1880.
In Carroll's remarks on campus, she underscored the importance of accountability journalism, saying it should be what we do on every beat, in every location, every single day. We eschew that to our peril, and there are perils enough in our profession.
She added: How do you make it part of your everyday work?
Everybody knows the Old Five Ws of basic journalism _ Who What When Where Why.
They are foundational, of course, but in my view, the most important questions in journalism start with a different word _ HOW?
Here is the full text of Carroll's remarks:
What an honor it is to be here this evening. Let me first offer my congratulations to the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism for 90 years of excellence.
So many outstanding journalists have gotten their start here and I'm proud to call some of them my friends, including Andy Alexander, whose distinguished career at Cox Newspapers and the Washington Post is matched only by his enormous generosity as a friend. One of the classiest people in the profession.
Also Alan Miller, a clever and deft managing editor at the Columbus Dispatch and hard-working industry leader, particularly through his work on the Associated Press Managing Editors Board of Directors.
At the AP, OU claims Political Editor Liz Sidoti and reporter Phil Elliott, sports writer Jay Cohen plus East Africa Bureau Chief Jason Straziuso, whose work on the Nairobi mall attack has been stellar, particularly since he came off paternity leave to cover it while the attack was still underway (I had to keep adding to this list as the OU alums in AP offered all kinds of shoutouts). And I cannot forget my longtime friend and former colleague Dick (Richard) Carelli, who covered the U.S. Supreme Court for many years and in the late 1970s, taught this young reporter to order a proper gin and tonic.
They, among many hundreds of others, have contributed to the profession and championed the changes that make journalism better for readers, listeners and viewers ... all in the tradition of Carr Van Anda.
For that is exactly what he did and indeed what we all must do every day, in flush times and lean. Make the journalism better. Drill on accuracy and speed and clarity. Organize so you can attack a story. Anticipate questions and answer them. Think about what the news consumer needs and give it to them.
Carr Van Anda is most remembered for the way he organized and delivered outstanding coverage of one of the biggest stories of his century, the sinking of the Titanic. Breaking news is a huge part of what we do every day at The Associated Press, of course.
But just as important is News that We Break, particularly the coverage that holds governments and institutions accountable to the people they serve.
In settings like this, we usually talk about that kind accountability journalism in a kind of high-minded way ... we are fulfilling our watchdog role.
In truth, accountability journalism should be what we do on every beat, in every location, every single day. We eschew that to our peril, and there are perils enough in our profession.
How do you make it part of your everyday work?
Everybody knows the Old Five Ws of basic journalism _ Who What When Where Why.
They are foundational, of course, but in my view, the most important questions in journalism start with a different word _ HOW?
As the news cycle spins faster and faster, the basic facts of a new event _ those 5 Ws _ are easily digested and soon forgotten. What people crave are answers to the HOW questions.
How did that happen?
How do you know that?
How are you going to stop it? Or start it?
The How questions get into the plumbing of what happened, where you can explore how it might have been prevented, how previous efforts to stop it worked (or didnt), how officials plan to seek remedies or solutions. And later, you can go back and ask how those solutions are coming along.
Answering those HOW questions, and all the others that follow, are where journalists prove their greatest value to society.
Our future as a profession depends on us making this our mission every day. We cannot survive simply showing up for work every day and waiting to cover news that breaks through no effort on our part _ the actions of God and man. You know ... Rivers Flood. Governor Holds Press Conference. Opposition Seethes. Local Team Loses Another Squeaker. Etc.
We have to find those stories that spring from your curiosity (or the curiosity of a reader), from your questions.
Here are a few examples from AP bureaus around the country. Listen for the HOW questions ...
Columbus reporter Andrew Welsh-Huggins was chasing a tip that Ohio State President Gordon Gee had said something off in a speech to the schools athletic council. HOW to be sure? Andrew filed a public records request for the audio and minutes of the remark. The tipster was wrong about what Gee said _ this is why you verify things _ but what the president actually said made for a lively story anyway. You guys know this one already, Im sure ... he referred to the folks at Notre Dame as damn Catholics who cant be trusted and took a few other swipes at other universities and conferences. It was enough to very quickly cost Gee his job.
Knowing HOW to track down original information and how to navigate public records requests is a critical skill for every journalist.
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AP executive editor extols accountability journalism 
