Recently I was a last-minute fill-in on a panel of journalists discussing the relationship between community news sources and local residents. “The Local News and Me” was the first in a series of public forums, “Building a Local News Ecosystem,” being hosted by WSLR Radio and the Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center through a grant from the Florida Humanities.
That two of the four journalists on the panel cancelled at the last moment was an ironic twist, given that the subject was the dwindling amount of journalists providing local news coverage and how to remedy the loss.
It’s no secret that over the past two decades, the news industry has struggled to adapt to the 24/7 world of internet, cable television and social media news streams. Since 2004, the U.S. has lost more than 2,500 papers, many of them weeklies that provided the kind of hyper-local coverage unavailable from other sources.
Changes in ownership, tighter budgets and fewer reporters with less experience have all contributed to a corresponding reduction in the ability to provide the kind of coverage critical to fostering informed and engaged citizens. Despite Sarasota’s reputation as a strong news town, it has not escaped the impact.
“As local news declines, so it seems does local engagement – and so does transparency and accountability in our local governments,” said panelist Dawn Kitterman, who came to her job as an investigative reporter for the online-only Bradenton Times via her activism as a citizen watchdog.
“Without access to the information to know what your local issues are and what your local governments are doing,” Kitterman said, “it is very hard to be engaged as a citizen.”
Though former presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s proposal to have the federal government pay journalists to work in local communities wasn’t embraced, creative solutions to bolstering local news are proliferating.
In Sarasota, foundation philanthropy has played a role, with the Barancik Foundation funding the Community News Collaborative, which produces stories that can be used by other local media outlets, and the Patterson Foundation’s “Aspirations Journalism” initiative, which has funded salaries for reporters focused on specific coverage areas at the Herald-Tribune and Solmart Media.
More:An offensive post stirs anger in City Hall. It should spur some straight talk in Sarasota.
Still, there is lots of room for improvement.
This six-session series is intended to “leverage our existing resources to build a local media ecosystem that better serves all of our community by fostering collaboration, coordinating coverage and connecting local newsrooms,” according to Arlene Sweeting, general manager of WSLR+Fogartyville.
Topics include identifying the strengths and weaknesses of reporting in our area; addressing gaps in coverage; the role of hyperlocal news in preserving democracy; and building more informed and engaged news consumers.
“One of the questions I would pose is: ‘What do you think local news organizations need right now?’” asked panel moderator Maria Vesperi, an anthropology professor at New College of Florida and advisor to its student newspaper, The Catalyst.
“I would suggest they need you,” Vesperi said. “They need all of you as volunteers, as informed people who can cultivate relationships with reporters because the staff of all papers have declined hugely.”
Too many news outlets are focused on “following the noise,” and reporting on whatever the buzz of the day is rather than “what’s not being said,” said Johannes Werner, news director at WSLR, which relies on interns and volunteers for its staffing. By way of example, Werner pointed to the plethora of recent stories about controversial Sarasota County School Board Member Bridget Ziegler, but the dearth of reporting on the impact of school choice vouchers.
Suggestions for areas that need improvement included: Covering business and local economics from the perspective of employees and consumers as well as business owners and investors; explaining and breaking down issues so readers understand how they will be personally impacted, not just reporting the technical “nuts and bolts” of a story; and, practicing more “solutions journalism,” in which reporters look at how other communities have handled a problem that has stymied local leaders.
Other audience concerns included the need to teach media literacy so readers can discern fact from fiction and news from opinion; the importance of educating rather than just entertaining readers; engaging younger community members by focusing on the local impact of global issues they are concerned about (such as climate change); and – particularly in this election year – providing factual, detailed information on candidates running for local office and the donors who support them.
Until I brought it up, no one mentioned the value of remaining journalists making themselves more accessible to readers. Drastic reductions in staff, increases in workloads, outsourcing and the regularity with which interviews are now conducted on Zoom or by phone rather than in person, means journalists are less visible than ever before. “Feeding the beast” of the internet has skewed focus and priorities, but it’s tough to grasp a community’s zeitgeist without getting out into that community.
If I did one thing right when I took on this column in 2017, it was to vow to return messages from any reader who contacted me. To that end, my phone number and email still run at the end of each column. I readily accept opportunities to speak to local groups about my work, the news industry and the need for them to be more civically involved. Knowing what my neighbors are concerned about makes me a better and more relevant journalist.
While this means I sometimes get a call on Sunday mornings from a reader wondering why her paper hasn’t yet been delivered – and I can spend an inordinate amount of time crafting personal replies – this commitment has probably been more important than any column I’ve ever written. Like elected officials, journalists sometimes need reminding about why they are doing what they do and for whom.
“Building a Local News Ecosystem” continues Tuesday with “Introduction to Community Journalism” (Jan. 30), followed by “Thinking Like a Journalist” (Feb. 13), “Media Ethics & Law” (Feb. 27), “Working a Beat” (March 12) and “Community News & Democracy” (April 2).
(Full disclosure: I am on the Feb. 13 panel.)
All sessions are free; registration is at wslr.org.
And if being a journalist has always been your Walter Mitty dream, you can vie to be one of six community members WSLR will select for a four-session Hands-on Citizen Journalism Training program, where you can learn to identify and share important stories; conduct interviews and find credible information; and record and edit a story for radio broadcast.
Apply at wslr.org/news.
Contact Carrie Seidman atcarrie.seidman@gmail.com or 505-238-0392.
Source link