The Poynter faculty began the forum by presenting each of what it said were the elements of competency. Poynter Director Jim Naughton described this first skill as the ability to know what was important, what was fair and what to leave out. It is perhaps the most elusive capacity of all, one which encompasses taste, character, sensitivity, guts and brains. News judgment is knowing when not to put the President's sex life on Page One. It is authoritative, not judgmental.
Technology poses unprecedented challenges to such judgment.
The deliberative news process is disrupted now by the need to stay current as charge and countercharge are followed by rebuttal and surrebuttal and overtaken by spin and counterspin, all in a single news cycle. The latest information might be wedged into stories nanoseconds before airtime or press start. Know where to go to collect relevant documentation. Organize, sort and analyze sometimes conflicting evidence. Find, develop and maintain sources.