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PublicPolicyMatters.com is a daily web-based service, provided at no cost to journalists, that monitors press release and other news activity on 2,300 websites of federal government agencies, congressional offices, and a wide array of thinktanks and watchdog groups of every imaginable purpose and persuasion. In early May, 2011, the assets of PublicPolicyMatters.com were donated to the Institute for Public Policy Reporting, completing the website’s conversion from a for-profit enterprise to a tax-exempt organization. The web service was created by Edward Zuckerman, a lifelong journalist who worked in the newsrooms of Illinois and Indiana newspapers before he was assigned in 1970 to the Washington bureau of the Ridder Newspaper Group (later Knight-Ridder Newspapers). In 1980, he began a 25-year stint as editor and publisher of the PACs & Lobbies newsletter. Zuckerman, aided by a staff of associate editors who are all professional journalists, conduct a nightly examination of the websites and select press releases, reports, statements, and other news items for inclusion in the daily report which is now being distributed every morning to news editors and reporters in more than 1,500 newsrooms throughout the country. They select items that involve a public policy issue without regard to the viewpoints they may express and thereby assure the fullest possible exposition of opinion and ideas. The daily PublicPolicyMatters.com report consistently inspires news editors and reporters to report on public policy issues by introducing them to ideas not yet imagined, issues not yet confronted, viewpoints not yet expressed, and—most important of all—to stories not yet written. PublicPolicyMatters meets the Institute’s core mission which is “to promote excellence in journalism and open government by encouraging news editors and reporters to fulfill the news media’s obligation to provide timely and accurate news about public policy issues, and thereby help meet the substantial information needs of an enlightened democratic society.” Questions? Comments? Email them to ez@policynewslinks.com. Better yet, 304-754-9189 rings on Ed’s desk. Return to Homepage |
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