The following comments were sent to the Journalism That Matters list as the result of a query April 8, 2010 by Bill Densmore, who wrote:  "Can I ask for you please to contribute a little crowdsourced wisdom for to share tomorrow? I'm going to be participating in a one-day event at the Berkman Institute at Harvard Law School on cyberlaw topics. See:  http://www.omln.org/conference/agenda "  The are edited and used by permission.

TWO CASES TO CONSIDER:  The first involving the Cleveland Plain Dealer is elevating once again the challenge of managing anonymous comments:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/04/cuyahoga_county_judge_shirley.html

 ALSO: KY. NEWSPAPER COMMENTER TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS FOR NOWHowever, Madison Circuit Judge Jean Logue adopts multipart test that allows for Web poster to be identified if certain criteria are met.http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=22822   

A Connecticut-based video production house has completed a 60-minute video which documents the near-death experience of the Bristol Press, an 8,000-circulation Connecticut daily newspaper which was about to be closed by it's chain owner before an independent owner rescued it.  The documentary chronicles the value of a small daily to its community, and the challenge of making money in the newspaper business as advertising migrates to other venues.

Listen to and view  highlights of the New England Newspaper & Press Association’s annual convention Feb. 5-6, 2010 in Boston.  New England News Forum director Bill Densmore audio recorded six sessions, all reached from a single URL for streaming or download.  Densmore also moderated a sesson on Non Profit journalism and there’s archived video of session, plus a page which lists the participants and some of the key narrative comments.  

Source: New England Society of Newspaper Editors

Full poll results are available on the NEFAC/Northeastern website:
www.northeastern.edu/firstamendment

The vast majority of New Englanders believe that having open access to the workings of government is important to citizenship and most favor toughening the laws that protect access, according to a poll of attitudes toward the First Amendment. Moreover, nearly nine out of ten New Englanders believe government agencies that wrongly withhold public records should pay the legal bills necessary to open them.

Are you concerned about a generation of youth who aren't paying attention to the news? Find out about at least a half-dozen initiatives in American classrooms to do something about it -- at a one-day Media/News Literacy symposium at MIT, in Cambridge, on Saturday, Oct. 24. For details of a key breakout session on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., go to: http://www.mediagiraffe.org/wiki/index.php/Mit-media-literacy-jouranalism

The New England News Forum has made video available from the “Newsout: Options and strategies for New England communities when the newsroom lights dim” event which took place on March 21, 2009 at Boston University. Click here to view videos.

BOSTON, Mass. - Dramatic declines in the quantity or quality of local news, and the impact on participatory democracy in New England communities were topics at a daylong collaboration among some 45 public officials, journalists and concerned citizens Sat., March 21.

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READ POST-EVENT REPORTS or SEE VIDEO

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"Newsout: Options and strategies for New England communities when the newsroom lights dim," was a one-day participatory conference co-sponsored by the New England News Forum (NENF) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Boston University College of Communication and the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism.

The conference ran from 9 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Boston University's College of Communication.