Examining the New England News Forum

My media column in the new issue of CommonWealth Magazine takes a look at the New England News Forum, a nascent organization based at UMass Amherst that's modeled after — and, in important ways, not modeled after — the news councils of Minnesota and Washington State.

"We are not a watchdog group if the watchdog's role is to go bite the mailman," says Bill Densmore, the director and editor. "It's to assess the mailman and educate the dogs about the mailman's role."