Jim Walls’ hopeful project
Former AJC projects editor Jim Walls has given himself a tall order: Getting facts to take precedence on the Internet.
That ought to be about as easy as an ant moving a rubber tree plant.
But maybe Walls and those who help him in publishing his new Atlanta Unfiltered website can at least achieve two other other things: Fill the gap in public records reporting that has opened with the downsizing of newspapers around the state, and clear a path toward better online journalism.
I hopeful. Walls’ project should be exciting for anyone in Georgia who believes that basing political decisions on real information is better than basing them on rumors and innuendo. The site already contains a no nonsense report on a pending $25,000 ethics fine facing recently elected Public Service Commissioner Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, and it simply links from a short blurb to a document showing big salaries at the Children’s Wish Foundation.
Walls’ name may not be as widely known as some of the familiar bylines that have disappeared from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution over the last couple of years. But he was a force behind some of the daily’s best work in the ’90s and during this decade. While I was reporting on last year’s AJC staff cuts, his name came up more often than anyone else’s when I asked staff members whom the paper would miss most — save perhaps business columnist Maria Saporta.
Unlike Saporta — who is a brand unto herself — Walls was an inside guy for much of his time at Georgia’s largest local news-gathering organization. As one high-ranking editor told me, Walls is a “reporter’s editor” — the kind of guy who built allegiance from writers because he cared so deeply about their work.
It’s not surprising that Atlanta Unfiltered aspires to that kind of integrity. From Walls’ note to his readers:
The Internet is overflowing with opinions. Facts? Not so much.
This site is about restoring the balance. We dig up and share public records on ethics and transparency in government and public institutions — all with minimal interpretation.
The site includes some smart, inviting ideas such as opportunities for readers providing tips and documents, and even taking tutorials in doing their own investigations. This is the kind of empowering, populist journalism that I was thinking about when I mentioned the potential of the web in a January AJC column. If such sites become popular and spur true citizen journalism, perhaps we’ll all end up better informed, even if fewer people are employed as traditional journalists.
Such citizen journalism has been used sporadically but effectively by one of my favorite sites, Talking Points Memo. In an earlier e-mail exchange with me, however, Walls stressed that he’s steering clear of advocacy and opinion. As Sgt. Friday used to say, “Just the fact, ma’am.”
UPDATE: Responses from Walls to two e-mailed questions:
Q: Do you see any models for Atlanta Unfiltered (if so, what)?
A: I haven’t really modeled my site after another one, if that’s what you mean. I got the idea of posting documents from The Smoking Gun. What type to post, the topics, the tone of the language all came to me in a sort of fever dream on a long drive from DC to Atlanta last year. I’m starting with a focus on ethics in government because it’s relatively simple.
Q:There are relatively few techno bells and whistles (e.g. links to other sources, Web. 2.0, etc.) on the site. Is that by design or do you expect to add more interactivity as you move along?
A: I have reached the limits of my techno knowledge with the site that you see (exceeded them, really). I’m focusing on content & reporting at the moment. I don’t have time now to moderate readers’ posts, so I’m not going to get into that for a while. I do have some modest bells and whistles in the works, and some more ambitious ones. But I wanted to get started rather than sit around thinking about it any longer.
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Comments
3 Comments on Jim Walls’ hopeful project
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Walter L. Johnson II on
Tue, 24th Mar 2009 6:01 pm
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Tator Tot on
Sat, 28th Mar 2009 2:54 pm
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Jane Goody on
Wed, 22nd Apr 2009 2:01 am
Nice blog. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s posted there.
Atlanta Unfiltered sounds a lot like Atlanta Unsheltered. Why don’t you merge?
Not that I’m totally impressed, but this is more than I expected for when I found a link on SU telling that the info here is quite decent. Thanks.
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