Naked news reporting

The book Naked Conversations convinced me I wanted to launch a blog and write for it daily. Robert Scoble and Shel Israel made a point that corporate transparency was becoming valued like never before. I suspect that Journalism 2.0 is coming to the same conclusion. A lack of transparency will equate with a lack of value, credibility, professionalism and incentive to spread the reputation of the reporter. I recently explored another facet of this transition as journalists becoming confessional professionals. This morning I've been playing around with how newsrooms and news gatherers can "get naked". Here are some of what I would expect to read from reporters about newsmakers:

• They have been trying to make some news in ways the media has not found newsworthy.
• Their incident was timed perfectly to get in today's news cycle.
• They made the news by making a scene unlike the previous two.
• Their attempt to mislead the public gave us journalists a high horse to ride to expose the deception and reveal the truth.
• They managed to get in the news by parlaying the slight offense into a big story.
• They provoked the media to cover the story by mentioning the news organizations shortcomings in their press release.
• They framed the conversation as so one-sided the reporters had to fill in what was unstated and neglected.
• They got paid attention by the reporters by paying the reporters attention in their own publicity.
• They attracted a lot of interest in their story by leaving a lot for the news-gatherers to add, fill in and spin.
• They baited the reporters to cover their latest developments by suggesting more had already changed than actually did.

These "news items" reveal how assignment editors make decisions. They show the readers the inner workings of a news room. They make public what has gone on behind closed doors for centuries. They make news of how news is selected, prioritized, gathered, researched, vetted and written up.