N IEMA NIEMAN REPORTS

ONE FRANCIS AVENUE N R AMBRIDGE ASSACHUSETTS C , M 02138 EPO NIEMAN REPORTS THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY R TS VOL. 60 NO. 1 SPRING 2006 Five Dollars V OL . 60 N

O What Katrina Revealed, Will Journalists Now Cover? . 1 S PRI N G 2006 W HA T K A T RI N A

R E V EALED , W ILL J OUR N ALI STS N O W C O V ER ? T HE N IEMA N F OU N DA T IO N

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V Journalist’s Trade ARD

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V Newspapers’ Survival ER S I T Y The Job of Frontline Editor “… to promote and elevate the standards of journalism”

—Agnes Wahl Nieman, the benefactor of the Nieman Foundation.

Vol. 60 No. 1 NIEMAN REPORTS Spring 2006 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

Publisher Bob Giles Editor Melissa Ludtke Assistant Editor Lois Fiore Editorial Assistant Sarah Hagedorn Design Editor Diane Novetsky

Nieman Reports (USPS #430-650) is published Editorial in March, June, September and December Telephone: 617-496-6308 by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University, E-Mail Address: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098. [email protected]

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Please address all subscription correspondence to POSTMASTER: One Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-2098 Send address changes to and change of address information to Nieman Reports, P.O. Box 4951, Manchester, NH 03108. P.O. Box 4951, ISSN Number 0028-9817 Manchester, NH 03108. Vol. 60 No. 1 NIEMAN REPORTS Spring 2006 THE NIEMAN FOUNDATION FOR JOURNALISM AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY

4 Reporting on Gaps That Katrina Revealed

6 Remembering Those Who Are Usually Forgotten BY JANE DAUGHERTY

7 Questioning Assumptions About Poverty BY EMILY HANFORD

10 Exploring Connections and Tensions BY DAN ENGLAND

12 Views About Race Cloud Discussions About Disparities BY MARTHA BEBINGER

14 When the Role Race Plays in Societal Gaps Is Unspoken BY CLAUDIA MELÉNDEZ SALINAS

16 Probing the Shifting Ground of Wage and Benefit Gaps BY KEVIN NOBLET

19 Investigating the Nation’s Exploding Credit Squeeze BY DANNY SCHECHTER

21 As Health Care Gaps Grow, Coverage Shrinks BY TRUDY LIEBERMAN

23 Untangling the Achievement Gap’s Factors BY CATHY GRIMES

26 The Working Poor: Is Their Gap With the Middle Class Narrowing? BY PAUL NYHAN

27 Finding Perfect Pitch BY SUSAN BRENNA

28 Numbers Don’t Tell a Story That Connects With Readers BY JASON JOHNSON

32 The News Gap With the Poor: Engagement, Then Silence BY JENNIFER FRIEDLIN 33 Wealth Is Displayed, While Poverty Goes Unnoticed by Many in the Mexican Press BY ANA CRISTINA ENRIQUEZ

35 Reporting on Gaps in a Country Devoted to Harmony BY YUAN FENG

37 Violence Attracts the News Media to a Story Not Reported Enough BY FRANÇOISE LAZARE

39 Journalist’s Trade Newspapers’ Survival

41 If Newspapers Are to Rise Again BY TIM PORTER

43 Can the Newspaper Industry Stare Disruption in the Face? BY SCOTT D. ANTHONY and CLARK G. GILBERT

45 When Journalists’ Voices Are Missing BY JAMES NAUGHTON

48 A Shrinking Staff Propels a Newspaper’s Transformation BY AMANDA BENNETT

50 A Newspaper’s Redesign Signals Its Renewal BY ANDERS GYLLENHAAL AND MONICA MOSES

Cover photo: Demetrius Thomas, 2, of Biloxi sits in line at the Red Cross check distribution site parking lot. Demetrius’s house was flooded with eight feet of water. He and his father arrived at the site at 6 a.m. to get in line with about 100 people in front of them. Photo by John C. Fitzhugh/Courtesy of the Sun Herald. 53 Lessons From a Newsroom’s Digital Frontline BY MICHAEL RILEY

56 Wrong Turns Make a Difficult Situation Worse BY CAROL BRADLEY

57 Community News Drives a Newspaper’s Vigorous Growth BY JOE ZELNIK

58 Will the Meaning of Journalism Survive? BY MELVIN MENCHER

59 Teaching Journalism for an Unknown Future BY PEG FINUCANE

61 Damaging Ripple Effects of Newsroom Cutbacks BY JOEL KAPLAN

63 Preserving What It Is Newsrooms Do BY STANLEY FLINK

The Job of Frontline Editor

65 New Metaphors Needed for Changing Roles BY JACQUI BANASZYNSKI

66 Moments Illustrate the Lives of Frontline Editors COMPILED BY MAE CHENG

68 Editor and Reporter: A Writing Journey Together BY STUART WARNER

71 Listening to Editors’ Difficulties Helps Find Solutions BY JOHN F. GREENMAN

73 Training Frontline Editors: Once Overlooked, Now Happening BY MICHELE MCLELLAN

74 Aiming to Put the Right People in Charge BY MARTY CLAUS

75 Exploring What Makes Training Successful BY LILLIAN SWANSON

77 The Dearth of Resources for Entering Editors BY CARL SESSIONS STEPP

79 Words & Reflections 80 Seeing Lives as They Once Were and Are Today BY STAN TINER

82 The Connective Threads of the News Media and Government BY DAN KENNEDY

84 A Recurring Image in Art: The Newspaper BY MARIA HENSON

86 The Coverage of Soviet Dissidents by Western Journalists BY MURRAY SEEGER

88 Delivering the News in Two Languages BY SETH LEWIS

3 Curator’s Corner: Community Journalism’s Pathway to the Future BY BOB GILES

91 Nieman Notes COMPILED BY LOIS FIORE

91 Old Newspapers Lead Students to New Discoveries BY DOUG CUMMING 92 Class Notes

100 End Note: Journalist Liu Binyan: China’s Conscience BY JUNTAO WANG AND XIAOPING CHEN

2 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Curator’s Corner Community Journalism’s Pathway to the Future ‘A newspaper can’t be independent unless it is interdependent with its community of readers.’

By Bob Giles he transformation of the mainstream media being corporate ownership of newspapers pose challenges today, driven by digital technology has brought citizens’ voices he said, “the core mission of informing our community is still Tinto territories where once only journalists trod and there and still needs doing.” altered “the balance of power between those who control Words and expressions not typically heard when journal- the means to publish and those who have something they ists discuss their craft and their business seemed a natural believe is important to say.” With those words Nieman Reports part of the Anniston conversation. For example, “backpack opened its Winter 2005 issue’s exploration of the emerging journalism” becomes an antidote to gathering information by engagement of citizens in newsgathering and commentary Internet and e-mail in the newsroom. Tools—a computer, cell and the impact these new voices are having on traditional phone, camera and video-cam—go into reporters’ backpacks news organizations. as they head out to their local hospitals, police stations or In Anniston, Alabama in February a different kind of dis- homeless shelters, not to do old stories but to bring back a cussion took place on the subject of citizens and journalism, new perspective to share with readers. advancing more conventional ideas around the belief that “The Wal-Mart nation” symbolizes those places in the com- community newspapers can and should make enduring con- munity where journalists can find a diversity of values and nections with their communities. The focus was on an impor- a range of religious and economic circumstances that can tant kind of journalism that takes place when journalists are broaden the thinking and understanding in newsrooms. This embedded in their communities with stories conveyed largely is important, noted John X. Miller of the Detroit Free Press, through the printed pages of local newspapers. Participants because diversity that focuses only on color and ethnicity in these discussions characterized Weblogs and other forms creates a workplace of journalists that share commonly un- of digital communication, including those at their own news- derstood values of journalism but don’t necessarily relate to papers, as impersonal and less effective than the face-to-face the diversity of aspirations in the community. conversations that are at the core of the continuing conversa- “Family relationships” speaks to the connection between tion between the newspaper and its community. the newspaper and its community, which in many cases “is so “The Emerging Mind of Community Journalism” confer- distant it has become aloofness,” said H. Brandt Ayers, owner ence was held at The Teaching Newspaper, a new enterprise and publisher of The Anniston Star. “A newspaper’s ties to in journalism education that seeks to emulate the traditions the community should embrace all the emotions you have in of the teaching hospital in training doctors by merging a family—scolding, loving, challenging, grieving, celebrating, teaching with practice. To do this, masters degree students sometimes hurting, sometimes being hurt—emotions people in community journalism from the University of Alabama feel intensely.” will study in the newsroom of The Anniston Star. The Knight “The industrial age of journalism,” in which newspapers Community Journalism Fellows program, funded by a grant tend to separate themselves from the community, is crumbling. from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, will enroll A promising replacement is a newspaper that can create a its first class in August. sense of hope and belief in the possibility that communities The conference drew more than 200 students, university can solve problems. This model is constructed on a central professors, and journalists who work at community newspa- idea: A newspaper can’t be independent unless it is interde- pers (fewer than 50,000 daily circulation). These newspapers pendent with its community of readers. When people believe represent about 30 percent of the total daily circulation and something can be done, they will re-engage in the community 1,238 of the 1,456 dailies in the United States. Many are owned and remain steadfast readers of their local newspapers. by families who live in communities where their papers are At a time when most Americans say they don’t trust the published, and they understand that personal relationships press, it was refreshing to be among journalists talking about are at the heart of the paper’s role in the community. (Ethnic, the ideal of public good and the need to go about their work neighborhood and cultural sections published by metro news- in a spirit of humility. They saw their newspapers as sturdy papers also can be described as community journalism.) institutions in their communities and themselves as grounded In his keynote speech, Alberto Ibargüen, president of the in the belief that feet-on-the-street journalism will lead them Knight Foundation, observed that good journalism helps a into the future. I community define itself, providing readers with information and a sense of place. Though technology and profit-driven ౧ [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 3 What Katrina Revealed

Reporting on the Gaps

In recounting her reporting experiences for the Palm Beach Post after Hurricane Wilma hit Florida, Jane Daugherty speaks to the “retrospective dynamic of our coverage,” in which journalists seem to rediscover in natural disasters the vulnerabilities of those who are poor and powerless. “The unfortunate reality,” Daugherty observes, is “that American journalists do not systematically or analytically cover the plight of the poor, the marginalized, the isolated, or the powerless.” Yet when disaster strikes, these people’s predictable plight becomes news, until interest wanes and the cycle prepares to repeat. In her role as executive producer of North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC’s series about poverty, Emily Hanford relied on a wide array of voices and perspectives to examine in depth such questions such as “What’s political about poverty?” “What is poverty?” and “What’s changed?.” “Getting people to ponder questions like these, possibly in new ways, matters,” Hanford writes. During a 20-month period the local newspaper in Greeley, Colorado (circulation 26,000) devoted considerable space and resources to the publication of a series of articles in which reporters “explored a range of gaps—social, cultural and economic, to name a few—that separate the life experiences of Greeley’s Latino population and the Anglos ….” writes Greeley Tribune reporter Dan England. As she reported stories for two separate series about disparities in health and gaps in school achievement for WBUR, a public radio station in Boston, reporter Martha Bebinger asked herself whether “the arenas of health and education gaps [are] simply the latest way to measure—or possibly sanitize—the effects of discrimination,” and she struggled to figure out “what language to use and what issues to raise in reporting on [such] ‘gaps.’” As a Latina journalist at The Monterey Country Herald who reports often on the city of Salinas’s Latinos, who make up 67 percent of that city’s population, Claudia Meléndez Salinas confronts the challenge of finding ways to “report on these complicated and historic formulas of white privilege and the disadvantage of color in a 12-inch story and on deadline.” As business editor at The Associated Press, Kevin Noblet monitors closely the ever- expanding wage and benefit gaps separating “what an average employee earns and what top bosses take home.” Noblet sees this issue not as a story assigned to a single reporter but as an historic shift for which “every business reporter and columnist needs to be on watch for threads of this story.” As author and Weblogger Danny Schechter explored the widening credit divide in America—fueled, in part, by predatory targeting of the poor by the credit industry—he found reasons why this story might receive less media attention than it should. “… the media industry has discovered that there’s money to be made in the credit business and so credit card companies become big media advertisers. Why alienate them?” Trudy Lieberman, president of the Association of Health Care Journalists, offers some explanations for why health reporting so rarely spotlights the plight of the uninsured. She tells of a newspaper reporter in Wisconsin who can’t “interest her editors in stories about

4 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 health care inequalities or other health policy issues.” In focus groups, Lieberman writes, “consumers tell publishing executives what they want, and it rarely includes a desire for more news about the ever-widening gap between the health care haves and have-nots.” As education reporter for the Walla Walla (Wash.) Union-Bulletin, Cathy Grimes wrote a series of articles about the achievement gap in the wake of the passage of No Child Left Behind. “Stories from the classroom—my version of frontline reporting—focused on successful strategies to bridge the gaps, as well as on efforts and attitudes that seemed destined to leave the gap firmly in place,” Grimes writes. Paul Nyhan, a reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, describes how his newspaper put a lot of reporting resources behind a series of stories examining the “overarching issues” common to the lives of the working poor. Faced now with a lean newsroom and a fight to keep the newspaper alive, Nyhan writes that he expects “to spend the next year writing about middle-class families, a group our marketers say still reads newspapers.” Freelance journalist Susan Brenna offers thoughts on how good writers “achieve the right tone—humane, but clear-eyed—when writing about the disadvantaged.” Jason Johnson, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter, relied on the details of financial experiences to tell an “in-depth story about the economic squeeze on middle-class families.” Accompanying his words are photographs from the series with descriptions of circumstances the families confronted. In reporting for Women’s eNews about how federal welfare reform was affecting poor and low- income families, freelance journalist Jennifer Friedlin realized how little attention most of the news media paid to this important follow-up story and how the stories being done failed to capture the more complicated dimensions that she felt needed to be told. “I got the feeling that once welfare had been ‘reformed,’ the news story was simply over,” Friedlin writes. Ana Cristina Enriquez, who worked as editor in Reforma Group in Mexico, observes that in her country “Mexican society considers it bad taste to talk about these shameful contrasts [of rich and poor].” This attitude is adopted by the press, where the focus today is “on wealth and celebrities.” As Enriquez notes, “What one almost never reads or hears about in Mexico is the immense gap dividing more well-to-do Mexicans from the native Indians, who reside at the very bottom of the economic and social ladder.” In China, the government has acknowledged the need to address the country’s widening economic divide, but as Beijing-based journalist Yuan Feng writes, “From the official news media, readers cannot get a very good understanding about the presence or significance of these gaps, nor is there any mention made of the structural factors which are causing them or helping them to persist.” Françoise Lazare, a reporter with Le Monde in Paris, describes how foreign reporting of France’s “suburban riots” involving poor, ethnic minority youth differed from that done by French journalists, and also observes that in “normal” times “other political, social and economic issues are generally seen as greater priorities by the French press ….” I

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 5 Katrina’s Aftermath Remembering Those Who Are Usually Forgotten ‘… journalists should draw attention to the obvious fault lines that exist in how well various communities are equipped to respond to an impending disaster.’

By Jane Daugherty

t was November 4, 2005, nearly removed. But the lives of Bello and her help feed her kids, and whose medi- two weeks after Hurricane Wilma, a neighbors were still far from normal. cal care is paid for by Medicaid (if she Iwicked blow sometimes overlooked When would their building be safe? qualifies) because her job at Wal-Mart in the wake of Katrina’s devastation, When would they live under a roof or McDonald’s doesn’t include health but a storm that nonetheless left six more solid than the thin blue tarp that care benefits? Economically and politi- million people without electricity and workers tacked to the building before cally marginalized, the poor have little thousands homeless. Post-hurricane they disappeared? On that day, no one choice but to stay put, ride out the rainstorms in South Florida brought could answer these questions. weather, and hope for the best. down trees and weakened power poles, Nor could I answer them now, since while blowing poorly secured tarps from I never returned to Century Village be- Remembering the Poor hurricane-splintered roofs. The water cause I was soon assigned to interview damage was devastating. Katrina victims who had fled New Or- Last year, with its record 27 named I was interviewing Mary Bello, an leans and were being housed in a large storms, 15 of which were hurricanes— articulate 88-year-old widow, in her horse-training facility and putting their several of particular ferocity—proved leaking top-floor condo in a sprawling kids in schools in western Palm Beach most unkind. These storms brought senior housing complex called Century County. Like the Red Cross and power plenty of news to keep journalists busy Village west of Boca Raton. Water was company repair crews, I and other re- and inspired in some cases excellent trickling down the indoor walls of her porters moved on. coverage such as the South Florida Sun- apartment as workmen pulled out sod- The poor and elderly, struggling to Sentinel’s scathing, nationwide FEMA den carpet and set up giant industrial live on limited incomes, suffer a double investigation and The Miami Herald’s fans. “Why are you staying here when whammy when hit by unpredictable revelations that repeated cuts in federal the sign is posted downstairs that says hurricane winds and flooding. It must funding for the National Hurricane Cen- there may be electrical hazards because be little solace that the authorities ad- ter have hampered its capacity to predict of water in the walls?” I asked her. vised them in advance of the storms to hurricanes’ paths and severity. “What am I supposed to do?” she prepare by stocking seven days worth of But during last year’s storms, when asked, incredulous at my question. food, enough prescription drugs to last the incredible damage was being well “Where do I have to go? I don’t have a for several weeks, emergency medical reported and the Pulitzer Prize-winning car, I can’t afford a hotel, and they’re supplies, bottled water, plus fresh bat- photos of the human tragedies shot, already closing the shelters.” teries for flashlights and radios. When how many editors thought of assigning Bello lives in Century Village along evacuations were ordered, they were reporters to spend time with poor fami- with hundreds of other seniors, many advised to flee with those supplies, a lies or elderly people as they prepared in their 80’s and 90’s, with their near- full tank of gas in their car, and plans for a predicted hit by a Category 4 or 5 est relatives in New York or New Jersey. to stay with relatives or in hotels out storm? And how many journalists—not Most rode out the 2005 hurricanes in of harm’s way. to mention editorial writers—in Flor- their modest condos, which are among At first blush, that might sound like ida questioned Governor Jeb Bush’s the more affordable housing units in in- a reasonable plan to young, well-edu- reasoning as he calmly urged Florida creasingly affluent Palm Beach County. cated reporters who sprung mainly from residents to take “personal responsibil- Red Cross volunteers delivered bottled the middle class and are eager for a ity” when preparing for approaching water and emergency meals to them, major hurricane assignment. But how hurricanes? but now, nearly two weeks after Wilma, reasonable is it for an elderly person, Perhaps the governor’s guidance, by they were scaling back their operation who lives alone and spends almost every itself, should have prompted editors to as “things returned to normal.” dollar of their Social Security check on assign a story looking at what personal Normal became a highly relative term housing, prescriptions and food? How responsibility in hurricane prepared- in South Florida. Typically it meant doable is it for a single mother with a ness actually means to poor, disabled electricity was slowly being restored couple of preschool children who takes or elderly people. Where are people on and downed power poles and trees the bus to work, gets food stamps to limited incomes supposed to get the

6 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps resources to purchase an extra week’s high concentrations of low-income implications for the affluent and what worth of food and emergency supplies Americans and migrant workers were “experts” have to say, while keeping a if a storm approaches at the end of the totally devastated, and rebuilding was watchful eye on breaking news. month, as did Katrina, Rita and Wilma? delayed in some cases for more than Perhaps last year’s unprecedented Most likely, their food stamps had been a decade. And this awareness did not hurricane season can convince us to spent earlier in the month. And what translate into more attention being paid factor in the life circumstances and about the elderly whose first-of-the- to these poorer communities as other needs of poor and low-income people month Social Security checks might not storms have approached. as we think about coverage of disasters, afford an unplanned trip to the market As television brought the devastation natural and man-made. To try to avert and pharmacy? of New Orleans into most American’s massive tragedies like those experi- In the previous issue of Nieman Re- homes, these circumstances have been enced by so many New Orleans families ports, journalists eloquently recounted amplified. Within a short time, report- stranded on rooftops or abandoned experiences covering the aftermath of ers were explaining to many who never for days in the Superdome, journalists Hurricane Katrina. Their words spoke thought much about why a poor urban should draw attention to the obvious to what I’ve noticed while covering family who relies on public transpor- fault lines that exist in how well various hurricanes in Florida, and these ob- tation might not have been able to communities are equipped to respond servations, if heeded, could offer us get out of the area before the waters to an impending disaster. This can be guidance for future coverage of di- rushed in. said of hurricane preparedness, but sasters, whether they involve nature’s But this retrospective dynamic of also of potential spread of diseases, fury or more predictable crises whose our coverage—addressing such fun- such as bird flu, or of how a community impact will be differently experienced damental issues only after disaster has could respond to a terrorist attack. As by those of varying economic and social struck—repeatedly causes journalists journalists, poverty, disenfranchisement backgrounds. to miss, or belatedly discover, similar and isolation are as important for us to The poor and near-poor tend to be angles in other major news stories. For examine before tragedies strike as they clustered in areas most vulnerable to example, who are the people who lose are for us to scrutinize after the harm flood waters. And once their homes out in the new Medicare drug program? is done. I and neighborhoods are damaged, Who serves disproportionately in high- these communities don’t return “to risk military assignments? Whose jobs Jane Daugherty, a 1984 Nieman normal” with the same speed as nearby, are outsourced first? Fellow, is a four-time winner of the more well-off areas do. With the dev- The unfortunate reality is that Ameri- Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award astation of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth can journalists do not systematically for coverage of the disadvantaged. Ward—and the debate about rebuild- or analytically cover the plight of the She covered the impact of hurricanes ing it—reporting has made this set of poor, the marginalized, the isolated, or Katrina, Rita and Wilma last year circumstances become quite obvious to the powerless. When we put together for the Palm Beach Post and recently most Americans. But this situation was elaborate hurricane coverage plans, joined the faculty of Florida Interna- evident, too, in the aftermath of Hur- organize medical beats, determine Iraq tional University’s School of Journal- ricane Andrew in South Florida in 1992, war coverage, or decide on approaches ism as associate professor. when Homestead, Perrine, Naranja and to stories about globalization of the other small towns south of Miami with economy, our focus generally is on ౧ [email protected] Questioning Assumptions About Poverty A North Carolina public radio station devotes extraordinary time and resources to an exploration of what it means to be poor in this time and place.

By Emily Hanford

year ago, I was executive pro- reports, 10 call-in programs, 32 pieces attention. We wanted them to think ducer of a series about poverty we called “poverty shorts,” a photo about two questions: What is poverty? A that aired on North Carolina exhibit, a DVD slide show, and a public- And how has poverty changed since the Public Radio-WUNC. The series was, opinion poll. The size of the project, early 1960’s, when poverty was a major if anything, large. We produced two and the variety of forms we used, was focus of public attention? half-hour documentaries, 20 feature a deliberate effort to get our listeners’ These questions obsessed and moti-

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 7 Katrina’s Aftermath

vated me for nearly a year while ponder- ing, planning and producing this series that we called “North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty.” The idea for a radio series about pov- erty had been simmering in my mind for a long time. During my five years as news director at WUNC, a major shift in the state’s economy had been taking place. Tens of thousands of manufactur- ing jobs had moved overseas, leaving entire families and whole communi- ties shell-shocked, unprepared for the future suddenly thrust upon them. At the same time, the high-tech bubble burst, and the relatively strong economy in the state’s urban areas was shaken. Highly educated workers were rethink- ing their lives, too, and retraining for new careers. In our regular news reporting, we Henredon Furniture opened its Spruce Pine Plant in 1967. It was once the county’s did many good stories about these largest employer. The company began phasing out operations in the fall of 2004. changes and their consequences, but I “I see a lot of people who have not found jobs. I see people who are working at much knew there was more to be done. And lower wages than they were before. Having lost hundreds of manufacturing jobs, the around this time, it occurred to me how local economy is suffering. We’re trying to bring jobs back that would be as good as seldom I was hearing the word poverty we can locate now. I don’t know that we’ll ever get back perhaps what we’ve lost.” on the radio. I heard a lot about lay- —Sandra Buchanan, then director of the Mitchell County office of the North Caro- offs, unemployment and the changing lina Employment Security Commission. Photo © Billy Barnes. economy, but I wasn’t hearing much about what it meant to be poor. Were nity leaders interested in applying for Joan Siefert Rose, wanted to hear this the people losing their jobs becoming money to set up antipoverty programs. project on the radio and was eager to poor? Did they meet the definition of I was struck most by the film’s tone. see the station take on big projects like poverty? I wanted to know how the Dramatically, authoritatively, in a very this one. Most importantly, she was notion of poverty fit into the story of early 1960’s kind of way, the film said, willing to spend station funds to make massive job loss. as I recall: “Poverty is a huge problem. it happen. I resigned as news director It’s a problem we’ve been ignoring, but and suggested I oversee the poverty The Project’s Roots we can’t afford to anymore. And we project instead. I knew I couldn’t do can solve it. We can, through effort and both. The job created for me was one I All of these questions came together in activism, make poverty history.” hadn’t known I was longing for: senior the winter of 2004 when the station had I returned to my office bursting with editor for special projects. a sudden opportunity to apply for some ideas. We wrote our proposal for a very Late in the summer of 2004, I started grant money, and I was asked to come ambitious project. Today I can go back to plan the poverty series in earnest. At up with an idea for a series, quickly. The and track the energized and fast-paced the time, my other responsibility at the grant required an historical angle, so I thinking that occurred as we were writ- station was overseeing special election headed for the library. The afternoon ing it. My drafts are saved under titles coverage, so a lot of newsroom conver- I spent there—buried in the archives like “Thursday 8 AM” and “Thursday sations were focused on politics. I was of the North Carolina Collection at 8:30 AM with new ideas.” The project thinking about everything through the UNC-Chapel Hill—was exhilarating. I we proposed would result in a “series prism of questions such as, “How do Re- ended up in a dusty little room with of radio broadcasts concerning the publicans see this? How do Democrats? an ancient looking VCR and watched changes in the experience and percep- What informs the worldview of liberals a film made in 1963 by the staff of the tion of poverty over time and especially and conservatives? If their worldviews North Carolina Fund. since the pivotal ‘War on Poverty’ 40 are so different, why?” I started to think The fund was a new idea, fueled by years ago.” about poverty this way. I took a step private money and a governor, Terry We didn’t get the grant. “Whew!” back and did my best to push away Sanford, who wanted to do something was my private reaction, but the idea what I thought I knew so that I could about entrenched poverty in the state. did not go away. ask in a fresh way: “What’s political This film was a “how to” for commu- Turns out that our station manager, about poverty?”

8 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps

The Politics of Poverty no poor people in America and that mand to “keep things equal.” Other the census definition of poverty exag- listeners heard a series that reinforced So began my quest to better under- gerates the problem. At the same time, their belief that public radio is always stand the politics of poverty. I knew I the official poverty rate is going up, and taking on liberal topics with a liberal was more familiar with what would be people on the political left argue that bias, so it’s hard for me to really know described as the liberal point of view. the threshold is set too low and that what to make of the varied reaction the So I needed someone who could help millions of Americans struggle to get series evoked. me see poverty through a conservative by but are not being counted among But the series achieved one of our lens. I went to Robert Rector. He’s a the official poor. How can meaningful key goals: it captured listeners’ atten- senior research fellow who focuses on conversation about poverty take place tion, and we hope it got them talking poverty at The Heritage Foundation, when there is so little agreement on and thinking and reflecting on poverty a Washington, D.C. think tank whose what the word means? in their place and time—asking what it mission is to promote conservative I started asking everyone I talked means to be poor, who is poor, why are public policies. Rector’s ideology is with: “What is poverty?” That question they poor, and what’s changing about pretty far right on the political spec- became the central focus of our radio poverty. Getting people to ponder ques- trum; even some conservatives regard series, along with “What’s changed?” tions like these, possibly in new ways, his thinking as extreme. But his ideas Questions are what drive me as a matters. One listener wrote: “I listened have held sway in Washington; he was journalist, and I don’t think it’s my job to [your series] every morning with an influential voice during the 1990’s to end up at a particular point of view our sons as we drove to school. Some debate about welfare reform, and The or sway opinion to a certain outcome. of it is hard for them to hear, but it has Heritage Foundation remains one of the Some people think my take on this topic sparked great discussion within our more powerful think tanks today. is exactly what’s wrong with journalism family. And so, I am grateful to you as Rector’s basic argument is that there today and indeed what’s wrong with a professional and as a mom.” is virtually no poverty left in the United the country. Some of our listeners, I That comment—and others like States; the 37 million Americans defined learned, were frustrated that our series it—continues to give me a tremendous by the Census Bureau as poor are not on poverty did not take a stronger stand amount of satisfaction about the work really poor. He argues that most of the on the topic, that it did not say “This is we did on this series. I people defined as “poor” in America an outrage,” or “This must be changed.” “live in material conditions that would Some were surprised—others were an- Emily Hanford works with North be judged as comfortable or well-off just gry—to hear Rector’s voice included as a Carolina Public Radio-WUNC, as a few generations ago,” as he cowrote in part of our series, denying the problem executive producer of “North Caro- a paper called “Understanding Poverty of poverty altogether. lina Voices” and is now working on in America.” Americans, in his view, live As it happens, this series aired when a series about high school. “North in such a rich country, that to be poor an intense and intensely political con- Carolina Voices: Understanding in the United States is not really to be versation was going on about issues Poverty” won a 2006 Alfred I. du- poor anymore. of balance, accuracy and equal time, Pont-Columbia University Broadcast This point of view was not new to especially in public broadcasting. I News Award. This series can be heard me, but I heard it with new significance believe that some listeners heard our at www.wunc.org/special/poverty/in- and interest. Here was an influential series—full of questions, thin on an- dex.html voice in current political circles mak- swers, fascinated by various voices—and ing an argument that there are almost thought we were caving in to a com- ౧ [email protected]

A North Carolina strip shopping center. “It is so expensive to be poor. And I don’t mean in a sym- bolic way. I mean physically, literally, in dollars and cents, it is more expensive to be poor than it is to be middle class. In a poor community you’ll have a convenience store instead of a grocery store. In a poor community you’ll have a check casher instead of an ATM machine. In a poor community you may have an ambulance that takes you to the emergency room instead of … health insurance or a doctor’s appoint- ment. It is literally 10 to 20 percent, in some cases 50 per- cent, more expensive to start out poor. So how do you ever get ahead?” —Martin Eakes, founder and CEO of Self-Help Credit Union, a nonprofit lending institution in Durham, North Carolina. Photo © Billy Barnes.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 9 Katrina’s Aftermath Exploring Connections and Tensions The small local newspaper in Greeley, Colorado devoted considerable time and space to examining the gaps emerging in its community.

By Dan England

o pass through Greeley, Colo- rado on the way to Denver, Twith a stop for lunch at the Red Robin, our town doesn’t leave much of an impression beyond the slew of big box stores—Home Depot, Target, Circuit City, and Kohl’s—that assault the eye. Though the land Greeley residents used to farm is being consumed by such “progress,” some among us still carry the smell of cows, though not nearly as many as those who live in Denver might think. Peer inside these stores, and those of us shopping there are mostly white and appear to be middle class and conservative, whatever that looks like. But if a traveler doesn’t turn off the highway and pull into Greeley, beyond all of these new homes and stores, this first impression will be quite misleading. Ashley sits with Jessica on the foundation of what used to be the house that For years, the local newspaper, the she grew up in. The house was condemned and torn down three years ago. Ash- Greeley Tribune, has invited readers to ley said she never realized anything was wrong with her living conditions while get to know their town and neighbors she was growing up. When the water was shut off and she needed a shower or a a little better, even if doing so makes hot meal or a warm bed, she just went over to Jessica’s house. At one point she them a bit uncomfortable. In a five-year remembers having 13 dogs, 30 cats, lots of fish, and a ferret that someone traded span, the Tribune staff, once a month, her mom for a joint. “It seems crazy looking back that we had so many animals presented readers with stories about yet we never had any food,” said Ashley. Photo by Hillary Wheat/Greeley Tribune. poor and troubled youth who live in our community. In doing so, we often brought them face-to-face with conflicts year, the newspaper published its third both communities. In our next series that have arisen in the midst of an influx series in this project, this one focusing of articles, our reporters tackled such of Latino families. on poverty. Its title was “Living on the topics as obesity, teen pregnancy, and I was a reporter on our first series Edge,” and on that one, I was the lead teenager’s often-overstuffed lifestyles. of articles, which we called “Worlds reporter and part-time editor. By the time we embarked on our third Apart-Coming Together.” During a 20- Each of these series offered the series, we were ready to expand our month period, we explored a range of newspaper an opportunity to focus on reporting to include stories about the gaps—social, cultural and economic, different aspects of these disparate expe- elderly, to look at how the schools are to name a few—that separate the life riences. In our opening series of stories, coping with their job of educating the experiences of Greeley’s Latino popu- we covered such topics as bicultural young, and how middle-class families lation and the Anglos who live in Weld relationships and marriages involving were only a few paychecks away from County, where Greeley is located. I Latinos and Anglos, the impact of Latino poverty’s doorstep. also worked as a reporter on several music on the young in our community, Despite their differences, in many installments of the second series, “Faces and the thriving Latino homebuyer’s important ways these series built on of our Future,” which was about prob- market. Each of these topics explored one another in their approach and also lems facing Greeley’s youth. Then last the tension being felt by members of in what they strived to achieve.

10 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps

Advice About Doing Project and Daily Reporting at the Same Time

What follows is more practical guid- their reporting experience and also This will make it much easier to ance about how to do large projects to have time for the daily obligations organize the story when it’s time to reporting at a small-staffed community they must fulfill. write. Photographers should also edit newspaper, while also continuing to get • Have reporters and photographers their pictures as they take them. The news into the daily paper. —D.E. set up appointments for when they more attention given to these details will see their subjects. This forces as the story is being done, the easier • Offer free movie tickets, for example, them to adhere to a schedule, even the series will be to put together. in exchange for good story ideas de- when they’ve got a story due in two • Build in time for writing and selecting veloped through e-mail conferences days. images. Editors will also need to set with reporters, photographers, copy • Hold meetings every few weeks aside time to work with writers on desk staff, and those who work in about the status of the project. Not revisions, and then designers need other departments. every person involved in it has to time to put the words and images on • Start early. Post a schedule for each get together, but at least one editor the page. This step appears obvious, installment of your series, showing should be there to either prod those yet it is often the most overlooked specific dates when copy needs to working on stories or pat them on when putting a project together. be to editors, including photos and the back. • Have fun. Doing double-time to graphics. Encourage reporters and • Work on the project as it’s being produce a project can be exhausting, photographers to spread out their reported. Type in notes upon re- but it’s also why we became journal- work on the project, both to enhance turning from a reporting session. ists. I

In each series, our reporting illumi- The ideas for these series emerged foster parents—can play in helping a nated the life experiences of people in out of staff brainstorming sessions—a child overcome some of the difficulties our city and county whose lives too often once-a-year retreat where we would that often accompany poverty. are invisible to other residents. Read- discuss our goals for that year. These We are a community newspaper, with ers of the Greeley Tribune were hear- discussions involved photographers, a circulation of 26,000 and a small staff. ing about the gaps between the haves reporters, editors, copy-desk staffers, This means reporters had to keep up and have-nots long before Hurricane and our graphics editor. With all of with their beats and daily assignments Katrina inspired some in the press to us talking around the same table, the while the projects were being done. To start focusing on these disparities. The decision-making about what direction help them, we presented the project installments in each series were each to move in involved everyone. story schedule months, and in some large projects that required weeks, if Once we’d set out the framework for cases more than a year, in advance. This not months, to complete. These install- each series, ideas for stories to tell came provided time to start early in locating ments averaged six spreads, a dozen from people in Greeley as lead report- subjects, finding sources, and reporting photographs, graphics, sidebars and a ers conversed with community leaders their story, which is the key to getting long main story. We are fortunate that and people whose lives were affected it done. For example, I spent eight Swift Newspapers, Inc., our private by the issues we hoped to cover. Out months following a teenager through company that owns the Greeley Tribune of those discussions emerged dozens the last months of her pregnancy, the and several other smaller newspapers, of story ideas and, after months of ad- birth, and the first few months of rais- gives our reporters and editors the ditional meetings to talk more about ing her child. I could not have done time, space and, occasionally, the travel these ideas and how they might be ap- that, and written nearly as complete budget to do these stories. proached, we created a story plan to fit a story, without having such advance Each of our stories featured reporting our schedule. It would be the reporter’s notice. [For more hints about how to on people’s actual circumstances, rather job to find people whose lives could il- do this kind of project at community than articles that conveyed comments luminate each of these topics, and what newspapers, see box above.] about people’s experiences. With every we discovered often is that in setting Though many of these stories were issue explored, we included a sidebar out to highlight a particular issue, our tough to read and see—given the with information about this issue, but subjects led us to dig far deeper into content of the topics we featured—in other photographs and words were it than we had thought was possible sidebars we offered informed guidance primarily devoted to the storytelling to do. In following a foster child, our about solutions. An editorial about the about how people were struggling reporter was able to share with readers featured topic appeared on the day of (and sometimes thriving) with various the critical role that caring adults—in the story, and on the op-ed page we aspects of their lives. this situation the child’s teachers and published columns written by com-

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 11 Katrina’s Aftermath

munity members involved with these I profiled was Anglo, for example. wore me out. They are hard work, of issues. This reporting—and hearing these course, and reporting on many of these As a community newspaper, those reactions—made us examine the choic- emotionally gripping experiences left of us who work here have a huge stake es we make each day in terms of whom me feeling drained. I am, however, in Greeley’s future and that of Weld we interview and the stories we report. thankful for the opportunity we were County, where we all live. As part of We asked ourselves why, when a local given to let Tribune readers learn a lot this project, we tried to offer some an- Spanish radio station has a Christmas more about the interesting and diverse swers geared to the local circumstances party, we tend to use quotes only from city that all of us call home. Many of that are resulting in these gaps in our Latinos in our stories, even though An- our readers surely shared an eye-open- community’s fabric. And in many of glos are there as well. What these series ing journey similar to mine; before I our stories glimmers of hope emerged have perhaps taught us most clearly is started to report these stories, these as the person featured showed by the value of looking deeply at a range of gaps were unknown and unseen by example how difficult situations were issues. For instance, in recent months me as well. I overcome. we’ve published a story on Greeley’s As we expected, some of our readers gang problems, exploring how drugs Dan England is a reporter and part- didn’t like the glare of this spotlight. have made their actions more violent, time editor for the Greeley Tribune Some of them complained that we did how the gangs are affecting our schools, who covers the outdoors and enter- far too many stories on Latinos; others as well as how they are influencing the tainment. told us we were “too easy” on them, community’s pop culture, from cars to though we also featured Anglo families clothes to music. ౧ [email protected] and youngsters dealing with similarly I have to admit I was glad when we tough issues. The pregnant teen whom finished our final series. At times, they Views About Race Cloud Discussions About Disparities ‘Do these labels—“health disparities” and “the achievement gap”—create a more comfortable way for us to talk about contemporary impacts of race?’

By Martha Bebinger

ften a few comments stay with more frank discussions about every- patients, the goal is becoming more as- me after I finish reporting a thing from the effects of stereotypes sertive. For doctors, it is to encourage Ostory. In the fall, while doing to the lack of supermarkets in minority sensitivity. But “sensitivity trainings,” research for a radio series about dis- neighborhoods and about the sense of with the implication that doctors are parities in health care, I heard such a resignation now felt among some blacks insensitive, didn’t go over well; over remark from a doctor who trains other and Latinos. Other physicians study- time, these classes became known as physicians to think about the role they ing the health gap explained that the “cultural competency” sessions. play in the minority health care gap. complexities involved in the dynamics When I asked him how he addresses of doctor-patient relationships make it Does Training Work? the impact of racism, he replied: “We difficult to focus on seeking and dis- try not to use the ‘R’ word; it’s just not secting signs of bias. What they told Cultural competency is part of a productive.” me is that confrontation of this sort broader effort to improve physicians’ His comment stayed with me, as I isn’t helpful. communication skills. The idea is that wondered how or whether to raise this This led me to want to know more learning how to take care of the body as an issue in my story. It didn’t make about the complicated interactions that isn’t enough—doctors must also know sense to me that “racism” had become go on between doctors and patients how to work effectively with patients. an unspoken word among people try- and how they might contribute to these Doctors have great stories about the ing to unravel the roots of racial and health disparities. I decided one story patients who catch them off guard. ethnic health disparities. So I talked in this series would focus on increasing There was the Chinese woman who with researchers who are pressing for efforts to train doctors and patients. For described “wind” four different ways

12 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps before her physician figured out she with breast cancer, stopped taking her that the workshop was worth the time was talking about shortness of breath. tamoxifen. The challenge presented and would improve their communica- Another doctor says she was stunned to to these top oncologists was to figure tion with patients. realize that a Cambodian woman was out why and persuade her to resume But the training session left me (accurately) testing her blood-sugar the medication. wondering if this kind of exercise re- level by tasting her urine. One doctor incorrectly assumed that ally does begin to reveal the reasons Many doctors now wonder why their Mrs. Bonilla didn’t have health insur- why black patients with treatable lung medical school training did not include ance and could not afford the drug. But cancer are less than half as likely to get tips about how to earn a patient’s trust. during this conference table review, he needed surgery when compared with And in several studies I read on health realized that her coverage plan was in white patients with the same diagnosis. disparities it was found that most black the medical record. The trainer asked Do these workshops help those in the patients are initially wary of white how he’d overlooked that important medical profession understand why doctors. Patients with whom I spoke detail. The doctor paused for moment doctors recommend coronary bypass brought up the notorious Tuskegee and then said, “It must have been innate surgery more often for white men than experiment, where some 400 for black men? A Harvard Medi- poor black men in Alabama cal School doctor who led the were “studied” rather than … a black colleague told me to avoid using lung cancer study used the “R” treated for syphilis from 1932 word in published reports on to 1972. One social worker the words ‘racism’ or ‘discrimination’ when his findings: “In our society, it told me that many immigrant I told this story. Her reasoning in telling me is always hard to rule out rac- women she counsels in the ism.” But he also wrote that Boston area believe white this was her belief that “most doctors want to do the male doctors will try to steril- using those words causes listeners to go right thing. It’s a complex situ- ize them. ation. It’s not just conscious or Workshops to help minor- numb or tune out: either the concepts unconscious racism.” ity patients become better are too loaded, in the case of whites, Early in my reporting on advocates for themselves this health disparities series, are also relatively new, but or worn out, for blacks. a black colleague told me to it wasn’t hard to find partici- avoid using the words “racism” pants who would let a radio or “discrimination” when I reporter eavesdrop on their told this story. Her reasoning session. In these sessions, they share prejudice” that he said was based on his in telling me this was her belief that us- stories about medical workers who as- experience with Latino patients who are ing those words causes listeners to go sume they are drug addicts or illiterate. uninsured. The trainer gently reminded numb or tune out: either the concepts They encourage each other to change him that although Latinos do have are too loaded, in the case of whites, doctors if they feel uncomfortable or the highest rates of being uninsured, or worn out, for blacks. aren’t satisfied with the care. With making that assumption could trigger doctors, however, it took me months decisions that harm patients. The Role of Race to get permission to record a cultural Two other physicians argued about competency training and then I only got what would be the best way to con- A few weeks after we aired my series the okay from the trainer. Participating vince Bonilla that tamoxifen is a better on health disparities, I started work- doctors didn’t know in advance that I treatment than the folk and herbal ing on a collaborative series about the would be there. remedies she prefers. One doctor said achievement gap in public schools. The session I recorded for use in my his strategy would be to keep giving re- Half-seriously I asked if what we really story took place at one of the country’s luctant patients like her more and more needed to do was a larger story to look top cancer treatment centers. The physi- medical evidence about the success of at the connections between these two cians who attended have been treating mainstream medical therapies until they growing areas of research. Are the arenas cancer patients for 20 to 40 years. They agree with his advice. The other said of health and education gaps simply sat around a large conference table as doctors need to ask patients what they the latest way to measure—or possibly their discussion focused on the results think will help and then collaborate on sanitize—the effects of discrimination? of an online test they’d taken that evalu- a treatment plan. Do these labels—“health disparities” ated their success in caring for minority A lot of long pauses punctuated this and “the achievement gap”—create a patients. As part of this test, the doctors review as the doctors looked at the more comfortable way for us to talk had been asked to figure out why several answers they got right and those con- about contemporary impacts of race? Or fictional patients weren’t responding sidered to be “wrong.” Some glanced at do they divert attention away from core to care. In one example, Mrs. Bonilla, my microphone, then didn’t offer any questions about why white Americans, a woman from the Dominican Republic comments. Others told me afterwards generally speaking, have a better shot

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 13 Katrina’s Aftermath

at a productive life, including a decent to stop trying to talk about race and Martha Bebinger is a reporter for education and adequate health care? genetics in public forums because the WBUR, a public radio station in Bos- As I struggle with what language to discussion becomes so polarized. The ton, Massachusetts. The story about use and what issues to raise in report- combination of anger and guilt about cultural competency sessions can ing on “gaps” such as these, another how minorities have been treated makes be heard on the Web at www.wbur. interview keeps popping into my head. having a straightforward discussion org/news/2005/52087_20050928.asp. I asked a leading American geneticist difficult, he contends. But from where Her reporting on the achievement about his efforts to clarify the role of race I sit—listening as I do to many voices gap can be heard at www.wbur.org/ in health disparities. (Predisposition for talking about these issues—it doesn’t news/2005/53313_20051116.asp some diseases is based on a family’s seem likely there will be much progress genetic history and what part of the in closing the health and education gaps ౧ [email protected] world this family comes from and not until we, as a community, find ways the color of one’s skin.) He threw up to get more comfortable with talking his hands, sighed, and said he’s ready about race. I When the Role Race Plays in Societal Gaps Is Unspoken A journalist faces ‘obstacles—some institutional, some personal—that stand like an invisible line between covering race and covering it up.’

By Claudia Meléndez Salinas

n December 5th, the 17-year- that something like this happened to if their children get picked up by the old son of Salinas, California Gloria, one of the most active council police it’s because of the color of their OCouncilwoman Gloria de la members. “Nobody else is out there skin, and if the police appear to do noth- Rosa, a well-regarded member of the doing anything,” Rosa went on to say, ing to stem gang violence it’s because community, was shot in the back after but then she cautioned. “But don’t put it’s only brown people who are dying. a street altercation. In a city gripped by that in the paper.” gang violence, where drive-by shootings “Yeah,” Luz chimed in. “Don’t put Journalists and the Latino are almost routine, a kid who survives an this in the paper either, but I’m going Story attempt on his life seldom merits more to tell you something. The police, they than a breaking police story. Except in don’t care if Hispanics kill each other. All They almost always feel, too, that the this case he was the son of a prominent they do is go round up brown kids, put news media are not doing a good job at politician, a woman who has spoken out them in jail, but that doesn’t stop the covering what happens in Latino com- against gang violence for years. killings. If white people started getting munities. As a reporter for one of the I drove to her home for a follow-up shot, the police would do something city’s daily newspaper, The Monterey story, where I met two women who about it. But you’re not going to put County Herald, I am a part of what they are representative of this working-class that in the paper, are you?” like to point a finger at. Even though I city in California’s central coast: Lati- Just like the people in New Orleans struggle every day with attempting to nas, middle-aged, mothers of young after Katrina, who felt it was their race paint a more complex view into the La- children. Luz1 is a farm worker who that had trapped them in the Super- tino community, I face obstacles—some resumes her involvement in the com- dome for days with no food and no institutional, some personal—that munity in the winter, once her work water, people in Salinas often feel that stand like an invisible line between in the fields dwindles. Rosa works for their everyday struggles somehow have covering race and covering it up. Some a nonprofit aimed at curbing gang vio- something to do with their background. people don’t like talking about race and lence. The women recognized me and They feel that if they get fired from a racism, so they unwillingly contribute smiled. It was a shame, they told me, job it’s because they’re Hispanic, that to the silence on racial matters. Some

1 In my newspaper’s coverage of this story, these women’s names were changed at their request, due to their stated reluctance to be quoted in their discussions about race.

14 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps topics involved with race are so complex these issues, they refuse to be quoted. a story about an elderly white woman that it is hard to report and write about And this presents me with a dilemma: who collects Nativity scenes. In my them on a regular basis. Sometimes I How do I report on these complicated story, I mentioned how ironic it was can’t figure out how to incorporate race and historic formulas of white privilege that this woman lamented the decline and ethnicity in a story, so I try to sneak and the disadvantage of color in a 12- of this Christian custom while just driv- it in or I decide to leave it out. inch story and on deadline? How do ing around Salinas would show anyone The truth is that gang violence in the I convince my sources, whether it’s a that Latino families are keeping this Central Coast region of California is the woman I speak with on the street or tradition alive and healthy. Making this result of complicated, long standing a county supervisor, to tell me on the point in that article was perhaps my relationships developed among “prison record that they believe there’s a racist timid attempt to remind readers that gangs” and “street gangs” to control the tinge on how these things play out in Salinas is 67 percent Latino, and many of drug trade. Latino children, often home their daily lives? them are people who keep their strong alone as both parents work in the fields, After witnessing thousands of black Catholic traditions and allow these re- are easy prey for older gang members, people trapped not just by Katrina’s dev- ligious scenes to be visible while many who have often served time in prison astating effects but also by their poverty white families no longer do because of and now want to recruit new “soldiers” and its evident intersection with race, cultural messages about such public to join their cause. It is in display. But with this story, this way that the Central the word “Latino” didn’t Coast’s lucrative agricul- Some topics involved with race are so complex make it into the paper. tural industry becomes the When I worked in La- perfect breeding ground for that it is hard to report and write about them on a tino news media, whether street gangs. And the major- regular basis. Sometimes I can’t figure out how to my stories were written in ity of the members of these English or Spanish, writing gangs are Latino children, incorporate race and ethnicity in a story, so I try about race and class—with- since it is their Mexican to sneak it in or I decide to leave it out. out having to explain myself migrant parents who work to the higher ups at the in the fields. paper—was routine. The Much the same can be editors there knew, as the said for almost all of the social ills in there’s been a lot of hand-wringing by audience did, that this country’s history Monterey County. Its economy is fueled journalists about how to do a better job has been built on the backs of people by the low-paying agricultural jobs and covering race—and the divisive social of color and that hundreds of years of service-industry jobs related to tour- issues that are a part of this story. Even discrimination are not erased with a ism, and these jobs don’t pay enough if we know that the direct cause is rac- couple of decades of good intentions. for low-wage workers to have decent ism, the overt discrimination of people Ethnic media, which historically has housing or health care, and the schools based on the color of their skin, nobody been more crusading than its main- their children attend are resource-poor seems to know what to call what they stream peers, does not flinch at telling as well. Those who live at the bottom see, either. Even worse, for us, we don’t lopsided stories about injustice in which of the region’s socioeconomic ladder, know how to incorporate these impor- the writer is seen as favoring those who Latinos, are the ones who feel the tant dimensions into our daily coverage, are being wronged. brunt of these problems. Many of the or how to come up with in-depth pieces Isn’t that what journalism is sup- workers are unskilled, and they lack a that could help people to look at these posed to be about, to comfort the formal education, and it can be difficult issues more thoughtfully. afflicted? for them to understand the economic In my daily coverage of Salinas and Mainstream news media are differ- formulas that have placed whites atop surrounding areas, I often try to incor- ent. These news outlets feel straight- and people of color at the bottom. porate tidbits of information that would jacketed by the artificial demands of All they know is that they feel it’s not give a fuller picture of people’s ethnic, “objectivity” and “balance,” in which the right that their children don’t receive social and economic background. For attempt is often made to quote equally a good education, or that they live in instance, in stories about parents vol- from those on both sides of an argu- dilapidated housing, or that they can’t unteering at their children’s schools, I ment. With this formula, what we end afford health insurance. mention the Mexican state where they up with are stories of “he said, she said” come from; or at social gatherings I that give little depth to the real issues. The Dilemma of Race describe the music they hear (maria- These kinds of stories fail to convey to chi or ranchera) or food (tamales and our readers the frustration or the drama Because they don’t have a name to cap- champurrado). At times I’ve found that when a Latino working mother sees ture what they feel, they call it racism. editors are cautious when it comes to her child in jail—or learns that he has But when they talk with me or other stories that mention race or ethnicity. died—then holds in her heart the sense reporters about their lives and about I was assigned, for example, to write that her family has been dealt an unfair

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 15 Katrina’s Aftermath

hand. Nor do these stories share with calling them racists in a public forum. Monterey County Herald. An immi- readers her inability to explain why. Racism is not a pretty word, and they grant from Mexico, she has written What makes this extremely difficult know deep down that perhaps racism about the Latino community for for reporters is that when it comes to is not quite the right term. But they more than a decade at publications talking frankly about issues of inequal- don’t have another word to use and, such as El Andar magazine, Nuevo ity and ethnicity, few people are willing without us being able to establish a Mundo, the San Jose Mercury News, to open up. People who have suffered dialogue about this as part of our news and Mexico’s La Jornada. She is a discrimination are afraid to run into reporting, it might take us quite a while current fellow at the Institute for Jus- trouble with the police, teachers or to find one. I tice in Journalism at USC Annenberg elected officials. They’re wary of the School for Communications. backlash, afraid of what their white Claudia Meléndez Salinas is a staff neighbors might say if they are seen as writer at the Salinas bureau of The ౧ [email protected]

Probing the Shifting Ground of Wage and Benefit Gaps Business reporters need to keep a careful watch on the numerous ways in which corporate executives are thriving, while promises to workers are being broken.

By Kevin Noblet

riter F. Scott Fitzgerald made while the rank-and-file worker made means neither I nor other business his famous observation about meager gains, in fact almost no gain at all editors can simply assign this topic to W the very rich—that “they are when inflation is factored in. And while a single reporter to cover as one story, different from you and me”—at a time this trend might have been interrupted or as a package of stories focused on when it was natural to be intrigued by for a year or two after the corporate only the gap in wages, or even as a the behavior of America’s wealthy. It excesses at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and running beat. Instead, every business was the 1920’s, and the ranks of the other fraud-riddled companies were reporter and columnist needs to be on privileged class had ballooned with the exposed starting in 2001, it appears watch for threads of this story and use expansion of the country’s industrial now to have resumed. a variety of approaches to give shape to and trading might. The relative wealth It’s been called the “salary gap”—a this historic shift in the distribution of of the captains of industry and of Wall title given to this widening difference wealth derived from income, as well as Street was truly fabulous in that era. between what an average employee in the changing relationships between This was happening just before the earns and what top bosses take home. employer and worker. stock market crash of 1929 and before According to Business Week’s annual the rise of organized labor, the social survey of executive compensation, Tracking Executives’ and economic reforms spurred by the which comes out each April, CEO pay Expanding Perks Great Depression, and a new sense of rose 15 percent in 2004 to an average equality after World War II, all of which $9.6 million, while average worker pay Story angles can no longer be limited helped drive up the average worker’s rose just 2.9 percent to $33,176. Using to the astonishing sums that CEO’s, wages and benefits and make the United those numbers, CEO’s made on average CFO’s and other high-ranking execu- States a middle-class country. about 290 times what one of their work- tives receive in wages, annual bonuses Lately, there is reason to be intrigued ers made. Some other surveys put the and stock options, or in the contrast, again. The economic expansion that ratio at closer to 400-to-one. A quarter dramatic as it might be, with average ended in 2000—the longest in U.S. century ago, it was about 40-to-one. workers’ paychecks. These days other- history—made many people rich and Call this a story, and a big one at that, worldly perks are surfacing in the news, made the very rich, well, more different one that readers and viewers of news and these often do more to illustrate the from you and me than they’ve been in a care a lot about. But to be accurate, this expanding executive sense of entitle- long time. Compensation for CEO’s and trend really is about the convergence ment than dollar-sums can. other high-ranking executives soared, of a lot of important news stories. This I’m tempted to call this the “shower-

16 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps curtain approach,” named for the including bankruptcy-proof pensions benefits and reducing their role in pro- $6,000 item that hung in a maid’s and bonuses that were, in some cases, viding costly health insurance for most bathroom of former Tyco CEO L. Den- twice an executive’s annual salary. The workers. In two recent instances, IBM nis Kozlowski’s opulent Fifth Avenue disclosure came right after some big and Verizon, both relatively healthy and apartment and wound up, along with unions agreed that workers would take growing companies, announced plans the $15,000 umbrella stand and other cuts in pay and benefits as part of a deal to freeze traditional pension programs examples of excess, as evidence in his to keep the airline out of bankruptcy. and replace them with defined contribu- trial on fraud charges. But scandals and The intersection of events produced an tion arrangements, like 401(k)s. criminal cases, while they can make outcry that led the airline’s chairman Though numbers can be dramatic, great stories, only exemplify how greedy and CEO to step down. While reducing often they are dry and difficult to com- some powerful executives can get. Ul- wages was seen as being essential to the prehend. More compelling moments timately, reporters need to investigate company’s long-term future, workers play out in the company corridors and more common, generally accepted couldn’t understand why they had to on the plant floor at the time when business practices if they want to be stunned, and at times tearful, work- able to explain how a system works ers learn that promises made about in which the top echelon of the U.S. benefits owed to them are about workforce sees its lot in life improve Ultimately, reporters need to to be broken. To tell this story best so much more and so much faster investigate more common, means finding workers who are will- than the rest. ing to talk, even though in doing so With a little digging, evidence generally accepted business they risk the repercussions at work. leading to such explanations can be practices if they want to be able After Verizon’s announcement of its found. An Associated Press (AP) busi- pension freeze for managers (the ness writer, Ellen Simon, uncovered to explain how a system works company must engage in collec- a good example after she heard about in which the top echelon of the tive bargaining before it can freeze a company’s practice of paying for union workers’ pensions), AP’s labor executives’ personal trainers. She U.S. workforce sees its lot in life and workplace writer, Adam Geller, searched corporate filings at the improve so much more and so tracked down an employee willing to Securities and Exchange Commis- be quoted on the record and paired sion (SEC) to turn up other cases much faster than the rest. her comments with the notice he and came upon one that stood out: obtained that the company had sent Colgate- Palmolive Co. paid not just out to affected workers, noting in his for trainers but for a wide range of lead the irony he’d found. other personal perks, including karate make this sacrifice while at the same Geller’s story began: lessons, fishing gear, swimming pool time executives were receiving added care, pet sitters, and family video rentals security and income. “NEW YORK (AP) The memo to work- for its top 800 executives. This was an Lessons aren’t learned; the contro- ers made the changes sound almost important story to tell, and it became an versy at American Airlines has failed to upbeat: ‘Your Work, Your Rewards, Your even stronger story when, just as Simon lead to greater restraint. More recently, Verizon,’ it read. But to some workers was finishing her reporting, Colgate an- auto-parts maker Delphi Corporation at Verizon Communications Inc., the nounced the elimination of 4,400 jobs asked a bankruptcy court judge to let company’s announcement this past in a cost-cutting effort. it lavish $500 million in special incen- week that it will freeze the pensions Many companies, Colgate included, tives on some 600 executives, even of 50,500 managers is nothing but an contend that holding onto talented, as it closes plants and tries to slash employer breaking a decades-old prom- hard-working executives requires levels wages and benefits for workers. Not ise to its own people. ‘We’re all good and kinds of compensation that the only were workers outraged—the plan people here,’ said Maureen Aeckerle, average worker will never be granted. was so extravagant that even creditors, a 25-year Verizon veteran in Maryland, The argument is most often raised who generally approve special execu- her voice breaking. ‘And to be treated when a company’s business turns bad; tive perks in such situations, called it this way is just unacceptable.’” that is when its top managers are most unacceptable. tempted to flee to a healthier firm. Of course, big companies don’t of- While the argument might have merit, Tracking Employees’ fer the only perspective from which to it sometimes strains the credibility of Shrinking Benefits tell these stories. Last year troubled workers and the public. It is this kind of smaller companies terminated most disconnect that can lead to news stories, The salary gap is, of course, a benefits of the 120 pension plans, covering a such as in 2003 when American Airlines gap, too. Taking measures they see as total of 235,000 workers, which were disclosed in an SEC filing that it was critical to competing in a global econ- assumed by the federal Pension Benefit creating special benefits for executives, omy, companies are curtailing pension Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). Geller

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 17 Katrina’s Aftermath

found a riveting tale at Ajax Magne- grasp of how corporations work and an Shareholders are pressuring com- thermic Inc., a small-size company in ability to ferret out and then break down pensation committees to tighten their the rust-belt town of Howland, Ohio. sometimes arcane and complex dealings purse strings, and the SEC is planning to One day its 138 employees found the into a simple sequence of events. Ra- require companies to report executive factory gate padlocked and then, soon chel Beck, with an MBA from Columbia compensation—wages, bonus, stock after, the company legally vanished University, does just this consistently in grants, perks—in a more open and along with any legal responsibility for a column she writes for the AP called straightforward manner instead of the their pension fund, which wound up “All Business.” complicated, often ambiguous, fine- in the hands of the PBGC. During last year’s proxy season—the print approach that many now use. While tracking a complex paper trail springtime period when companies file Journalists have a stake in this reform: through a series of ownerships, includ- reports on compensation and other mat- This would make it easier for them to ing a venture-capital unit of Citigroup ters before their annual meetings—Beck track corporate practices and trends in Inc., Geller brought this story to life examined how companies play games in pay. Right now, news outlets often have through the words and circumstances of so-called “benchmarking” of CEO pay. to lean on professional consultants to the company’s workers, who described Benchmarking involves surveying com- decipher and compare compensation their diminished futures, the stresses pensation packages that competitors among CEO’s. they and their families now faced: offer their CEO’s. Seems fair enough. Not everyone thinks the accounting But, as Beck noted in a story she wrote reform will really lead to a reduction in “… Necastro was expecting to retire about this practice, “there are those who executive pay. There are many in busi- at 65 with a pension of $1,600 a month. choose to cherry-pick the companies ness who, in fact, contend that many of Instead, he gets $785.70. Hanton, a with which they want to compare CEO the highest paid top executives aren’t manager, was expecting $2,300 monthly pay. One is Goldman Sachs Group Inc., earning too much—that even a $50 or a $344,000 lump sum. Instead, at 63, which said in its proxy report that the million annual paycheck isn’t too much the PBGC is sending him $1,305.85 a compensation committee had exam- for someone who raises a company’s month. In the time spent waiting for the ined executive pay at ‘certain of Fortune worth by billions. first check, he burned through much of magazine’s list of America’s 50 largest But more and more critics seem to his savings. The floor plans he and his corporations’ to come up with the nearly be emerging, warning that the short- wife drew up for a retirement home $30 million it paid CEO Henry Paulson term gains in the stock market or in a have been shelved and talk of travel in 2004—almost a 40 percent gain from company’s balance sheet may not be together has been put aside.” the year before.” worth the broader, long-term impact. Beck went on to write in this story: Financial author and columnist Ben Tracking Shareholders’ Stein worries about workers losing Reaction “Compensation committees usually hope as they find a real pay raise—and don’t work alone in determining ‘ap- social mobility—harder to achieve. At Hard-pressed employees are not the propriate’ pay. Human-resource consul- a recent Manhattan breakfast forum, only ones upset at these widening gaps tants, who mine massive databases with even a vice president of Goldman Sachs in wages and benefits. Shareholders also executive compensation information, & Co. warned of the “corrosive” effect are getting increasingly vocal, pushing are often hired to help define industry of the salary gap on society in general. for more restraint and logic in top ex- standards and tax implications. The Ultimately only time will tell the long- ecutive compensation and complaining trouble is that no one wants to be the term impact, but the concerns are real when it borders on the outlandish. one to tell the CEO that he or she just and coming from enough quarters that A recent survey by a consulting firm, deserves only the average salary when they deserve our serious attention. I Watson Wyatt Worldwide, found that 90 compared to others, especially when percent of institutional shareholders, they keep touting the CEO’s above- Kevin Noblet, a 1991 Nieman Fellow, including those invested in companies average abilities. So they agree to pay is business editor at The Associated that manage big pension funds and the CEO above the average and base Press. mutual funds, feel that executives are that compensation against high-profile, “dramatically overpaid.” high-paying companies rather than ౧ [email protected] Executive pay is determined by a those that they might compete for in corporate board’s compensation com- business and talent. All that ends up mittee that works out the contract for being plugged into the consultants’ a chairman, CEO or other top official. database, which ultimately boosts salary What happens here is rich territory for standards across corporate America.” news reporting, a territory that should be—and can be—examined before scan- That’s different, of course, than how dals break. Tracking these transactions pay gets set for the workers at these does require that a reporter have a good companies.

18 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps Investigating the Nation’s Exploding Credit Squeeze ‘Questions of by whom and for whom need more and better investigation, as well as a look at who are the losers and who are the winners.’ By Danny Schechter

hen I started out, my film teases us with a financial advance when involved, not to mention millions was going to be about other we want it, then sucks it away from us of lives. W people’s economic woes. with more force than we realize. • Identify the key corporate institutions Soon I realized I was part of this story and contrast the compensation of of how the credit industry targets poor Reporting These Stories their executives with the financial and middle-class Americans. Not only circumstances of their customers. was I a target, too, but all of us are. In the old days the poor couldn’t qualify • Shine a spotlight on how special There is a credit divide in America that for loans. Today they are considered interests and lobbyists for financial fuels our economic divide. Put another among the better risks because, unlike institutions contribute to members way, the globalization of our economy the rich, many feel an obligation to pay of Congress and other politicians, is about more than the outsourcing of back. Steve Barnett, who worked in the across party lines, to ensure their jobs. There is a deeper shift underway credit card industry and will appear desired policies and regulations. In- from a society based around produc- in our film, explains: “These are the vestigate political influence affected tion, with the factory as the symbol perfect customers. They need credit, by campaign contributions. Some of American economic prowess, to a so they’re not all that concerned about reporting about this took place dur- culture driven by consumption, with interest. They’ll take a higher interest ing the bankruptcy debate, but there the mall as its dominant icon. if you will grant them credit. They’ll has been little follow-up. My film, tentatively titled “In Debt pay off a small amount each month so • Examine the influence credit card We Trust,” combines storytelling, often they’re in a sense ‘on the hook.’ And companies have on media companies in a voice laced with outrage, with in- because of their own sense of values through their extensive advertis- vestigative inquiry. It’s about a nation or because of their own background, ing. where our credit score is the only score their family background, they’re not • Take a hard look at the predatory prac- many people and institutions care about likely to declare bankruptcy again. Given tices in poor neighborhoods—and and where vast databases record our the change of laws that’s more difficult, crimes committed against poor and every purchase and consumer choice. anyway.” And manufacturers now know working-class people, who are least Ours has become a nation in which the they can spur sales by lending money able to defend themselves. Legal carrot of instant affluence is quickly to buyers up front and then get them service lawyers tell me about how menaced by the harsh stick of bill col- to pay twice—first at the register, then they are overwhelmed by the scale lectors, lawsuits and foreclosures. And with credit card payments, big interest of mortgage scams involving homes yet this bubble can burst: The slickest rates, and compounded interest. whose value have been artificially of our bankers and the savviest of our Given the ubiquitousness of these inflated. marketers have been able to undo the practices—and the reasons why they • Focus attention on what consumers law of gravity, that what goes up must exist and persist that stretch from can do to fight back. Robert Man- come down. corporate America into the halls of ning, author of “Credit Card Nation,” Viewers of our film will be trans- government and revolve around is- explains: “If 10 percent of American ported behind the scenes to meet their sues of corporate greed and political credit cardholders withheld their biggest scammers, the engineers and favors—the expanding gaps between monthly payments, it would bring operators of the billion dollar credit those who have (and then have more) the financial services industry to a card industry who have researched and those who don’t (but pay anyway) standstill. At a larger issue, what we the details and minutiae of consumer need to be explored and exposed by have to do is to get people involved needs and our fantasies so that they journalists. I am raising this issue and at the state level, get their state attor- can deploy the deceptive art of seduc- suggesting ways that it can be reported neys general involved, aggressively tive marketing and modern usury. We because I believe this is an essential filing class-action lawsuits and then will scrutinize a carefully conceived story for us to tell. putting pressure on key legislators to but stealth electronic Web designed say, ‘This is unacceptable that they’re to entrap, cajole and co-opt the most • Report more regularly on these not representing and balancing the powerful consumer culture on earth. It credit issues; billions of dollars are issues of commerce with consumers.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 19 Katrina’s Aftermath

The balance is tilted dramatically reached seven trillion dollars. Hudson ABC television network) card was in against the average American.’” compares the plight of millions of debt- that pile. Many credit cards boast of ors in the United States to serfs of an partnerships and discounts from media The Story’s Key Ingredients age gone by: “For many people, debts companies and entertainment provid- now absorb 40 percent of their income. ers, from subscriptions to DVD’s. Like Class struggle is assuming a new form So many people are paying all of their car companies and airlines before them, in the conflict between creditors and take-home wages over and above basic the media industry has discovered that lenders that reaches into many Ameri- expenses for debt service. And that’s ris- there’s money to be made in the credit cans’ homes, where each month bills ing. In effect, 90 percent of the American business and so credit card companies are juggled and rejuggled with today’s population is indebted to the top 10 become big media advertisers. Why credit card bills paid by tomorrow’s percent of the population.” alienate them? new card. Meanwhile, with interest The coffers of creditors—funded by This credit squeeze is hitting the news compounding at usurious rates, in- the most prestigious banks and financial business, too. Jobs are being cut and debtedness grows, and people sink institutions—are swelling with pay- reporting trimmed. Joe Strupp of Editor even deeper into debts they cannot ments for arbitrarily imposed late fees & Publisher observed in his 2005 media manage. In this conflict, companies and rising interest rates that seem to be wrap up, “Using the bizarre premise function as well-organized machines largely unregulated. Borrowing is now a that newspapers can bring back lost while borrowers are forced to react as national habit. Fueling this shift globally circulation and ad revenue by making individuals. Many are browbeaten with has been our national debt—now in the their products worse, top executives at lectures about “personal responsibility” trillions—as other countries finance our major chains from The New York Times by corporations that only pay lip service trade imbalances and keep our economy Company to Tribune took a butcher to any form of social responsibility. strong. Without that influx of money, knife to staffing with buyouts and layoffs Centuries ago, we had debtor’s pris- the U.S. economy would be in crisis. that appeared almost epidemic.” ons. Today, many homes become similar Everyone in the know knows this, but What happens to news business kinds of prisons, where debtors struggle they do little to deal with it, relying on employees laid off in this environment? with personal finance issues. The scale the theory that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix Like those in other industries where of indebtedness is staggering as consum- it. Occasional warnings and lots of noise cost-cutting leads to unemployment, ers simply follow their government’s surface about cutting the government’s they enter what insiders in the credit lead. As of Christmas 2005 the national annual deficit, including a devastating business call “the turnstile,” living on debt stood at $8,179,165,267,626.42. report by Comptroller General David more and more credit from cards, soon Break that down, and each American’s Walker, who compares the United to be followed by a dip into home equity. share comes to $27,439.48, and our States today to Rome before its fall. He Nor have wages and benefits kept up nation’s debt increases $2.83 billion is dismissed as a prophet of gloom and with inflation and many are being cut. each day. Add to that two trillion more barely covered while debt keeps grow- Health care extensions after a job ends for consumer debt, including mort- ing. All of this borrowed money keeps are over in 18 months and then what? gages. That’s a lot of money. people pacified and, for the most part, What’s the alternative? More debt is Who is really responsible for it? Few politically complacent for now. one of the few accessible options. The of us seem to know. And fewer appear So many of us live beyond our means. turnstile keeps turning as personal debt to know what can be done about it. This is not news, but what isn’t found keeps growing. “They’re never going to be repaid,” in most news reporting is how this shift These issues and scams can be re- says economic historian Michael Hud- has been engineered through corporate ported, and they must be, not just in son, who for many years worked at decisions that are aided and abetted by consumer advice columns but also with Chase Bank. “Adam Smith said that no government polices. Questions of by serious investigative reports. I government had ever repaid its debts, whom and for whom need more and and the same can be said of the private better investigation, as well as a look Danny Schechter, a 1978 Nieman Fel- sector. The U.S. government does not at who are the losers and who are the low, writes his “news dissector” Weblog intend to repay its trillion-dollar debt winners. for MediaChannel.org and is the author to foreign central banks and, even if it Business reporting that focuses on of two new books, “The Death of Media: did intend to, there’s no way in which the upticks and downticks of the market And the Fight to Save Democracy,” and it could. Most of the corporations now provides little room for explanation, “When News Lies.” A former producer at are avoiding paying their pension fund analysis or connecting-the-dots journal- CNN and ABC News, he is now executive debts and their health care debts.” ism. In part, that is a result of the fact producer at Globalvision, Inc. The government and big companies that many of our major media compa- might not have to pay, but regular nies don’t operate in a world apart from ౧ [email protected] people do, as our collective consumer these pressures. At least 10 credit card debt has doubled in the past 10 years. solicitations have arrived recently in With mortgage debt included, it’s now my mail, and the Disney (owner of

20 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps As Health Care Gaps Grow, Coverage Shrinks Stories about the have-nots don’t ‘fit into today’s paradigm of health news.’

By Trudy Lieberman

ast summer I returned to a subject larger before having it removed, if they perhaps it goes unspoken, the policy I have reported on many times had a choice. choice has been to limit the medical L before—why families don’t have care available to those on the lower health insurance and the consequences Middle Class vs. the Poor rungs of the economic ladder. They are that result. This time I looked in-depth less visible politically. They don’t raise at what was happening in Tennessee, Consider the public outrage against much of a ruckus, don’t have a lot of where some 200,000 people, mostly health maintenance organizations well-paid lobbyists to plead their case, poor, were being cut off from TennCare, (HMO’s) in the 1990’s when, in an and they usually don’t vote, all of which the state’s bold expanded Medicaid effort to control costs, patients often makes them expendable in the political program established a decade calculus. ago. For more than 10 years Last summer, however, in when these people had insurance The dilemma of reporting on the gaps Tennessee advocates for those coverage, they received better dropped from the TennCare rolls medical care and with it came in health care brings up the age-old raised a ruckus, or at least they better health. The state paid the question in journalism: Does the press tried to. Every night from late bill, but when the cost became June until Labor Day they held a too expensive for Tennessee’s follow what newsmakers do or does candlelight vigil at the state capitol political leaders to support, the it lead, based on what its reporting in Nashville, and every day they Democratic Governor Phil Brede- congregated on the capitol steps sen decided to trim the rolls of determines are problems? to raise awareness of the inevi- this program, and his staff care- table—the deterioration in health fully crafted a plan that cut these and well-being that results when families and individuals adrift. no money is available to pay for As I listened to those who no lon- had to wait to be seen by specialists. care. They convened town meetings ger had health insurance, their stories Remember the outcry when HMO’s and gathered signatures from state were wrenching. One woman told me refused to pay for extra hospital days lawmakers for a special legislative ses- she was lucky to have breast cancer after a normal delivery, which their sion. They asked for a public meeting because that meant she could stay on mostly middle-class moms wanted for with the governor. Despite their efforts, TennCare. Even so, the state’s new limits rest. Political leaders couldn’t vote fast the governor and the politicians he on prescription drug coverage forced enough to mandate that HMO’s pay for controls were unmoved. The governor her to choose which of three other life- three-day stays, even though for most did call a special session, but that was threatening diseases she would treat. women this length of stay is medically to consider government ethics, not the There was another woman who told unnecessary. These mandates forced TennCare cuts. me about a mole growing near her eye. HMO’s to spend money on wasted care She said that no doctor would remove at the expense of more pressing needs, Ignoring the Real Story it because she lacked insurance and did such as programs to improve nutrition not have the money to pay for surgery. for their elderly members who are often Three weeks into the protests, the Nash- A health department physician in her poorly nourished. ville television station, WTVF, broadcast county told her to come back in three The stark truth is that health policies a story lamenting that because of the months; he would take another photo to and practices in the United States ration sit-in—and the extra state troopers re- see what kind of treatment she needed health care. The TennCare experience quired to police it—every hour of the if, by then, she could pay for it. displayed this as poignantly, if not as protest was costing taxpayers money. No woman with health insurance vividly, as did the bodies of poor people Then, around Thanksgiving, the city’s would utter the word “fortunate” to floating in the post-Katrina streets of alternative newspaper, Nashville Scene, describe what it is like having breast New Orleans. Of course, medical sys- published a story about Tennesseans cancer. Nor would anyone wait for a tems in all countries limit health care who had lost their health care cover- potentially cancerous growth to grow in some ways; in this country, though age, some of whom had died. But the

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 21 Katrina’s Aftermath

writer, John Spragens, concluded his nology and health care services, and by health care coverage—weakens as more article with these words: focus groups, which supposedly reveal companies eliminate or reduce health that readers want to know how to lose benefits for employees and retirees. “Who is to say whether Bredesen’s weight or where to buy pills that will With government and companies less TennCare reforms are the tough medi- make them healthier. inclined to regard this as “their prob- cine this state must swallow—whether, A young reporter, who is well-trained lem,” the imperative for editorial leader- as he said last week, ‘we’re getting the in health journalism and works at a ship in tackling this subject is greater results we need?’ Perhaps this is, as he Wisconsin newspaper, told me that she than ever. insists, the best of some bad options. cannot interest her editors in stories A poll by the Kaiser Family Founda- Who knows?” about health care inequalities or other tion, conducted in October 2005, shows health policy issues. “Let’s just say they that the public is more worried about Reading this made me wonder how aren’t intrigued,” is how she put it. having to pay more money for health the public is supposed to “know” when Someone who works on the business care or health insurance than many the news media is unwilling—or un- side of a national publication explains other family concerns. The 1,200 adults able—to present them with the neces- that when there are too many stories in polled were almost twice as worried sary information. Like other stories her magazine about Medicare or health about paying for health insurance or about the plight of the uninsured, insurance the concern is that reporters health care (40 percent) as they were this article did not tackle the difficult might wander into the forbidden ter- about paying their rent or a mortgage subject of rationing, nor did it explore ritory of universal coverage, and this (22 percent). They were nearly three alternative proposals to keep people might offend readers. times as concerned about health mat- insured. Altman notes that the number of ters as about losing savings in the stock Perhaps one reason the writer hesi- reporters who call him has decreased market (14 percent). When compared tated to take the reader there was that during the past 10 or 15 years. He at- with the worry they expressed about the state’s political leaders refused to tributes this decline to changes in the being a victim of a terrorist attack (18 discuss these other dimensions, either. news business. Occasionally there is a percent), health issues were again of The steadfast posture, held by state major story about the uninsured or a much greater concern. officials, was that Tennessee could not report about a study in which blacks Public concern about health care ap- afford the cost. As someone coming were found to receive worse medical pears to be nearly as high as it was in the from outside the state—and trying care for heart attacks than whites. But early 1990’s when Harris Wofford ran for to understand the dynamics of what those stories are scarce and, like the the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania and his was happening—I wondered whether story about TennCare in the Nashville victory—based in large measure on the members of the local press should be Scene, these articles rarely delve into power of this issue—sparked a national taking politicians to task for failing to potential solutions that might lead to debate on health care reform early in address such issues. improvement. It’s as if quiet censorship Bill Clinton’s presidency. Yet for some Drew Altman, the thoughtful head envelops the topic. reason that level of concern has failed of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which to translate into political change. serves as a resource for journalists, con- Gaps in Health Care What role, if any, do the news media tends that we—politicians, journalists Coverage play in maintaining this disconnect be- and the public—have yet to confront tween what people indicate they want health care’s core issue. “It is a problem The dilemma of reporting on the gaps from their political leaders and actual of reallocating wealth in America,” Alt- in health care brings up the age-old changes in policy? man says, “and we don’t do that very question in journalism: Does the press Not long ago I was wandering well.” Indeed the news media avoid follow what newsmakers do or does it through the Franklin Delano Roosevelt the subject, as well as most other top- lead, based on what its reporting de- Memorial in Washington, D.C. and ics connected with the nation’s health termines are problems? At this time, I’d came across his remarks carved into care have-nots. argue the news media are following, as the granite: “The test of our progress Such stories make readers, listeners they chase after advertising dollars and is not whether we add more to the and viewers uncomfortable by remind- a bigger audience. Focus groups help abundance of those who have much, ing them of how vulnerable all of us to shape coverage, too, as consumers it is whether we provide enough for are. Nor do such stories fit into today’s tell publishing executives what they those who have too little.” In reading paradigm of health news. Editors prefer want, and it rarely includes a desire those words, I thought about those in personal health stories, the kind with for more news about the ever-widen- Tennessee whose circumstances I’d exercise and diet tips or ones that hype ing gap between the health care haves covered and of those in other states a yet-to-be-proven treatment to head and have-nots. in similar situations whose stories too off Alzheimer’s disease. This is market- This is happening at a time when often go untold. I thought, too, about driven journalism fueled by advertising the backbone of the American health the kinds of stories that are told for and dollars for pharmaceuticals, new tech- insurance system—employer-based about upscale audiences, whose daily

22 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps lives and well-being are not challenged loosely on his shrunken frame, and Trudy Lieberman is director of the by the decisions of government poli- his eyes were sunken. Most likely he Center for Consumer Health Choices cymakers. We don’t have much sense was sick as well as hungry. I gave him a at Consumers Union, a contributing of social welfare in this country—not clementine; a man at the end of the car editor to the Columbia Journalism much sense of the common good, and stood up and offered a banana; a young Review, and president of the Associa- our media coverage reflects that. girl next to me thrust a couple of dollar tion of Health Care Journalists. She Earlier this winter, FDR’s point hit bills into his hand. At that moment, too, is writing a book about health care home again when a beggar appeared in I thought of FDR’s injunction and of my in America to be published by the a New York subway car. “I’m hungry,” he profession. I found it wanting. I University of California Press. said, “Can someone help me eat?” He was skinny as a rail, his suit coat hung ౧ [email protected]

Untangling the Achievement Gap’s Factors ‘Gaps intersected and converged like earthquake fault lines; what affected one rippled through the others.’

By Cathy Grimes

have questions taped to my com- legislation. When it was first authorized, explore these as it is to inform people puter monitor. Among them are ESEA received bipartisan support as about the failures. Ithe usual prompts: What’s the it rocketed through Congress; it was story? What’s the point? What does this regarded not as an education law, but Examining Why Gaps Exist mean to the reader? But among them as a central part of that era’s civil rights are other questions, equally important legislation. With its passage, Congress As I began delving into issues related ones that often drive my reporting about declared that every student in public to Washington state’s education re- education: What is the gap? What are schools had the right to an educa- form efforts in 1993, I recognized the its causes and consequences? How can tion that would provide the skills and importance of this newfound focus I make the reader care? knowledge needed to become produc- on achievement gaps. It made sense: Since passage of the No Child Left tive, contributing citizens. Though the establish learning standards in all core Behind Act of 2001, achievement gaps legislation’s name has changed, that subjects (Washington considers the arts, have gained more prominence. But right still exists. physical education, and social studies amid the many stories about schools The 1965 law originally focused to be core subjects, though its key as- and districts missing test score targets, on students in low-income settings sessments are for math, reading, writing students struggling to earn test scores (predominately rural and urban school and science), then align curricula and high enough to graduate, and schools systems), where students’ performance teaching methods so students master hit with “needs improvement” labels, I traditionally ranked below that of their the skills and content. But setting wonder if the words “achievement gap” suburban peers. It expanded to include forth a common goal has not meant are becoming more of a metaphoric cultural and ethnic designations, special uniform delivery, nor has it resulted measure than a genuine identification needs and language barriers, as factors in uniform high achievement. And it of a real and correctable inequity. I influencing student achievement and has certainly not erased the inequities also worry that this phrase will become resulting in gaps. Today, burned-out that are inherent in schools as children linked to only one or two high-profile teachers and a focus on test scores are carry with them into the classroom all gaps, rather than applied to the myriad being added to the stew of factors simply of the circumstances and issues of their chasms that education reporters en- referred to as the “achievement gap.” home environment, just as teachers counter in schools. Federal officials like to note how bring their backgrounds and prepara- This should not happen. For if this much money has been spent attempt- tion with them. term starts to lack true meaning, what ing to “bridge the gaps,” and journalists Not surprisingly, test scores, broken will be undermined is the vision of the often point to the resounding failure in down within schools by gender and fam- original Elementary and Secondary this effort. But, in fact, there are pockets ily income and with ethnic and racial Education Act of 1965 [ESEA], which of success in bridging these gaps, and it backgrounds in mind, highlighted a morphed into the No Child Left Behind should be as much a part of our job to wide range of mastery among students.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 23 Katrina’s Aftermath

And the patterns of these results were Stories from the classroom—my ver- Even in the fun stories, like one I remarkably similar regardless of the sion of frontline reporting—focused on wrote about third-graders learning to district, school or grade on which I successful strategies to bridge the gaps, play cribbage to reinforce rote arith- was reporting. In an effort to better as well as on efforts and attitudes that metic skills that had gotten lost in the understand why this was show-your-work shuffle, happening, I spent a lot I came upon a gap that of time in classrooms threaded its way through observing students, and the story. As students I spoke with teachers at brought to this game a length about how they wide range of language conveyed curriculum and math proficiency to students and how levels, cribbage and they assessed whether the guidance of adult students absorbed their volunteers proved to be lessons. As I did this, great levelers. One of I discovered gaps that my favorite focus-on-the- stretched across grades gap stories came from a and also within class- high school math teacher rooms. And I discovered who was frustrated by among teachers a range the rising number of of attitudes toward stu- students failing algebra. dents’ learning and their The school’s traditional potential. remediation was to have Achievement gaps be- students take the course came the subtext of much again, but this teacher of my reporting for they decided to try something existed in every commu- different. After much nity and school district I lobbying, he taught a covered, whether urban class in which the en- or rural, prosperous trance requirement was or poor, homogenous a failing grade, and his or diverse. Gaps inter- teaching methods com- sected and converged bined technology and like earthquake fault elementary school strate- lines; what affected one gies like team learning rippled through the and centers. Some of others. Some gaps had the students in his class existed stubbornly for were second-language decades, as I found in learners and children studying results from with mild disabilities. His norm-referenced stan- expectations were high dardized tests. Others and, by midsemester, emerged with changes all of the students were that came to communi- earning a “C” or better. ties and neighborhoods. I wrote about an el- Sometimes these chang- ementary school where es were obvious, such as Green Park Elementary School teaching assistant Gayle Harwood helps kin- the majority of the stu- an influx of employees dergartner Octavia Ibarra-Flippo to be more comfortable on her second day of dents qualified for fed- associated with a specific school. September 2003. Photo by Jeff Horner/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. eral meal programs and industry arriving in one spoke English as a sec- neighborhood while a ond language. Addition- rise in immigrant residents happened seemed destined to leave the gap firmly ally, the school had a high number of in another. As I looked more deeply in place. I learned to ask teachers to de- special education students and a dismal at some of the gaps, they seemed to scribe the range of abilities and achieve- parent involvement rate. Students had be based on more subtle influences, ment of students in their classrooms. struggled since 1996 to master state such as changing lifestyles or cultural And I’d talk with students about what learning goals and meet proficiency pressures. and how they were learning. targets on state-mandated tests, missing

24 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps more often than not, and the school the district’s graduation rate because of Ask about the mission of the school. Ask seemed destined for a No Child Left Be- federal accounting rules; in fact, they the administrators and elected officials hind “needs improvement” label, which were considered to be nongraduates, what they believe about children and meant possible state intervention. (The similar to dropouts, and counted against learning and what they’re doing to act 2001 federal law requires schools to the district. In this case, the state edu- on those beliefs. Then tag along to see increase the percentage of students cation department took up their cause if they walk the talk. meeting testing goals each year; schools and received federal permission for Observe, then ask to see the data, that fail to meet the target goals for two alternative graduates to be included in including test scores and detailed fi- consecutive years are considered in the total rate used for school and dis- nancial budgets. Scrutinize alternative need of improvement.) But the adults trict accountability. Such schools—and education, special education, and other in the school refused to accept the programs that might be masking idea that their students could not gaps. Students might be incor- meet high expectations. When rectly placed in such programs the school’s 2003 test scores, the Ask teachers about their students; because they are low-achievers, first ones that triggered the No but the lack of achievement might Child Left Behind sanctions, were listen closely as they describe their be happening because of poor announced, the school not only expectations of them. Ask about support teaching and not because of a met its state-mandated targets, disability or language deficiency. but exceeded them. they receive, or don’t receive, from their Explore what is going on at each I spent weeks with adminis- administrators, district officials, and grade level, from preschool up, trators, teachers, students and and listen for subtle messages parents at that school to find out community members, including parents. from teachers and peers that can what had changed and why more Push beyond the usual complaints about affect achievement and success. students were passing the state Pay attention to school climate; test than had done so before. I was time and money. There’s never enough ask students if they feel safe. Ask concerned that teachers might of either. Press them to be specific older students if they have teach- be “teaching to the test,” one ers who take an interest in their way to mask true gaps. But what when they blame laws and policies for success. I found when I went there were stagnant achievement. Jeffrey Fouts, former execu- profound changes in the way tive director of Seattle Pacific that teachers taught and students University’s Washington School approached their work. The key Research Center, opened my change: attitude. Adults and students issues—also deserve close scrutiny by eyes to the irrefutable effect that adult began to believe they could meet high reporters to make certain they give more attitudes have on student learning. He expectations, and they did. I wrote sev- than lip service to their mission. and his colleagues studied schools that eral stories that helped our readers to are performing against expectations. Put understand the school’s strategies, all Strategies to Tell the Story most simply, he looked at schools with of which were accomplished with the high poverty and racial and ethnic di- same dollars every other elementary How can the news media make sure versity that performed well and schools school in the district received. Three attention remains focused on achieve- with low poverty and student diversity years later, the students at this school ment gaps and the work being done to that struggled. His findings remind us of continue to meet state targets. try to close them? It helps to get into the need to move beyond the questions Sometimes schools’ efforts to bridge the classrooms, especially in schools I have taped to my computer. I or eliminate achievement gaps become and districts with perennially low test victims of rigid laws and regulations. scores or a pervasive attitude of ennui. Cathy Grimes, a 2006 Nieman Fel- One district I covered ran three alter- Ask teachers about their students; listen low, is the education reporter for native education programs to retrieve closely as they describe their expecta- the Walla Walla (Wash.) Union-Bul- dropouts and prevent students at risk tions of them. Ask about support they letin. Her series of stories about the of dropping out from taking that step. receive, or don’t receive, from their achievement gap and No Child Left But few of the students graduated “on administrators, district officials, and Behind can be found at www.union- time” because they were making up community members, including par- bulletin.com failed classes or juggling work and ents. Push beyond the usual complaints family. Many came from low-income about time and money. There’s never ౧ [email protected] families, had learning disabilities, enough of either. Press them to be spe- spoke little English, or were of minor- cific when they blame laws and policies ity backgrounds. When the students for stagnant achievement. Make them did graduate, they were not counted in define catch phrases and buzz words.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 25 Katrina’s Aftermath The Working Poor: Is Their Gap With the Middle Class Narrowing? A reporter looks for ways to merge coverage of the middle class and the poor.

By Paul Nyhan

here is a distinctly American view no more than twice the federal poverty families tell their stories over weeks of poverty. The poor are not like level even though at least one member or months, and the longer they spent T you and me. They are homeless works full time. with us, the more comfortable they be- men huddled outside shelters, single came. This slower, more easy approach mothers lingering on welfare in the proj- Reluctant Sources worked well with almost everyone I met ects or, most recently, dirt-poor families after Collins. Eventually, these families ripped apart by freak hurricanes on the Our series of stories began with Kath- let us into their kitchens, cubicles, lease Gulf Coast. The poor are separated from leen Collins, a 34-year-old mother of signings, and job-training classes. the rest of us, this view holds, perhaps two firmly in the labor force as a veteran Photographers and I succeeded be- by natural disasters, addictions or long emergency room technician, the kind cause we spent time with people, and stints on welfare, and they rarely join who would check your father in if he we reminded them that any bad choices us at work. had a heart attack. In her mind’s eye, they’d made were nearly always dwarfed In reality, there are no clear bound- she was not poor. But she couldn’t cover by the changing contours of the U.S. job aries. These days the poor might serve her bills on the $21,000 she earned a market. These workers were caught on coffee, greet patients at the doctor’s of- year. Instead, the single mother racked the wrong end of a 21st century, service- fice, guard commuter trains, or handle up credit card debt for pots, pans, plates based economy that some economists legal papers. A team of Seattle Post-Intel- and other housewares and paid 19 per- have described as a “U,” with plenty of ligencer reporters spent the past year cent interest on her car loan. low-wage jobs at one end and lots of with these workers, watching them lose And she didn’t really want to talk high-paying jobs on the other, but rela- their homes, declare bankruptcy, enroll about it. After overcoming some initial tively few jobs in the middle. Further in college, get pregnant, and most of all reluctance, Collins decided to share her complicating the life circumstances of work in an economy where the odds of story and held little back during inter- the working poor is that real wages for moving off the bottom are getting lon- views at her home, at the hospital, and these Washington state residents have ger. We met nurses who didn’t realize over the telephone. But as we neared remained largely stagnant—at about they were poor, emergency room techni- publication, she appeared to become nine dollars an hour—during the past cians who didn’t care for the label, and nervous, dodging the newspaper’s 30 years, according to the Economic cocktail waitresses who didn’t want to photographers and rarely returning Policy Institute. talk about it. But they were undeniably telephone calls. When one photogra- The fact is no matter how hard poor. They carried loads of credit card pher showed up on her doorstep, she these people work there are fewer debt to cover basics, shopped in Dump- refused to let him in her house. Collins middle-class jobs for relatively unskilled sters, enrolled their kids in Medicaid, wasn’t opposed to running the story, workers to move into today. Many of and increasingly lined up at local food but she wasn’t completely comfortable those whom we featured in our re- banks for groceries. with it either. Her story appeared in the porting know this. “No man, I am not Together, these workers represent Seattle Post-Intelligencer a year ago, and doing OK. If I was doing OK I would perhaps the biggest economic story of she has not returned my calls since. be doing something else,” Nahimana this new century because their ranks Collins was not unique. Throughout Hakizimana, a Seattle security guard appear to be growing, swelled by the the year, few people initially wanted to earning $11 an hour, told me earlier expansion of low-wage service jobs, be poster children for poverty, working this year. “I don’t really think if I keep soaring urban housing costs, limited or otherwise. For example, one story doing exactly what I am doing I can access to higher education, stagnant held for a month while we waited for reach the middle class.” wages, and rising living standards. To- a couple’s cold feet to warm up. Their To avoid losing readers’ engage- gether, these changes threaten to fun- reluctance forced me to overhaul my ment with these people’s daily lives damentally alter the nation’s workforce. approach to reporting. When I covered and their financial dilemmas, we spent The Seattle Post-Intelligencer found Congress, I could not be too aggressive; days and weeks paring down research nearly 300,000 working-poor residents now I spent most of my early interviews on a specific policy issue to just a few in its metro area—households living at simply explaining the project. I let nuggets of critical information. While

26 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps it’s not uncommon for a narrative News—but now my pace was slower, in class and their concerns—the public story to contain only a few lines about part because what we were trying to do schools, the economy, shopping and research, in our articles a person’s with this series was to answer difficult personal health. As the publisher leads story might dominate the text, but the and fundamental questions about what this effort to keep our newspaper alive, empirical findings would define the creates poverty. For example, editors he has precious few resources, since our story’s broader significance. wanted to kick off the project with a de- newsroom was lean long before being To steer clear of stereotypes common finitive count of Seattle’s working poor so lean came into vogue. in much of today’s poverty reporting, and the forces behind their struggles by It is possible, though, that the work- I backed away from working with non- the end of 2004. As it turned out, we ing poor hold some future promise as profits and their agendas and hunted for didn’t publish our leadoff article until a news story. I noticed while looking at people whose lives fit into our report- February 2005. some Washington state data that six of ing in unexpected areas. For example, This delay in timing between what the 15 jobs most in demand around Se- I found a factory worker at a local high editors expected and what we were able attle pay less than $30,000 a year. These school and poverty-level employees to accomplish—given the reporting, are the kinds of people who are keenly working at a leading law firm and our research about underlying social interested in any help-wanted ads. government agencies. The most fertile and economic trends, thinking and After having devoted a year to cover- ground was among caregivers, such as a writing—became a recurring theme age of the working poor and the chal- social services worker who didn’t serve for a while. By midyear, though, we’d lenges they confront, my hope is to her own children meat often because it found a balance. I fed the newspaper a be able to merge, whenever possible, cost too much and a child-care teacher steady diet of smaller stories, while we coverage of the middle class and the earning less than $12 an hour after a grappled with some of the overarching poor. Though I expect to spend the quarter century in the business. issues, such as the rise of poor elderly next year writing about middle-class women in the workforce and the fact families, a group our marketers say still Newsroom Priorities that access to four-year colleges has reads newspapers, I have basically of- improved little for low-income students fered management a deal. I will tackle Despite an already lean newsroom, the during the past three decades. the reader-rich middle class; just let me newspaper launched “Hard Work, Hard Now, management wants to move on. pick away at stories about people who Times: The Plight of Puget Sound’s Having devoted a year to this explora- are a few rungs down on the economic Working Poor” with an impressive tion of the people and forces involved ladder, who inhabit the increasingly commitment: a team of two full-time with the working poor, they want crowded world of low wages. There are reporters, another part-time reporter, our newspaper to tackle other issues. fewer rungs between the two groups and one lead editor. Senior newsroom Editors show little interest in extend- each year anyway. I editors believed in the project’s goal of ing the social and economic topics that uncovering the extent of working pov- emerged as part of this project into a Paul Nyhan is a reporter at the erty in the region and regularly pushed full-time beat. Seattle Post-Intelligencer. To view the to buy extra space for these stories. Like newspapers across the country, complete Seattle Post-Intelligencer When the team and newsroom the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is trying working poor project, visit the Web leaders disagreed, it was often about to attract readers and keep its aging site http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/ time—because these stories took a lot subscribers. For us, and I suspect other specials/workingpoor/ of it. I’ve written fast—as many as six newspapers, this has meant reorganiz- stories a day when I was at Bloomberg ing the newsroom to cover the middle ౧ [email protected] Finding Perfect Pitch ‘… the stronger their facts, the more vivid their detail, the less reliant they are on the poetry.’ By Susan Brenna

ow difficult is it to achieve the difficult lives for our inspection—and I’m not talking about the well-edited right tone—humane, but clear- maybe our abashed relief at returning coverage of the poor, the exploited, the Heyed—when writing about the to easier lives—can tempt us to use a undereducated and overlooked that is disadvantaged? I think at times our tone more appropriate for a preacher scrupulously nuanced and reported in gratitude to those who lay open their than a chronicler. all its complexity. There’s a great deal

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 27 Katrina’s Aftermath

of that. This criticism applies only to reliant they are on the poetry. ‘Winter will be over soon.’ She offers those print and broadcast pieces that A recently published book by the no praise, no comment about Katie’s re- give the impression that the reporter sociologist Annette Lareau bears that sourcefulness or creativity. Ms. Brindle presumes all folks of good conscience out remarkably. Written by an academic, sees these various creative endeavors as will want to join him or her in rescuing presumably for a readership heavy with Katie’s projects, not hers. Thus, when the victim of the day from any number other academics, the Lareau book is Katie asks her to help build a dollhouse of stock villains—rule-worshipping crammed with fascinatingly detailed out of a cardboard box, she refuses, bureaucrats, uncaring educators, cal- fieldwork (sociologist-speak for report- casually and without guilt.” culating politicos. While as journalists ing) in the homes of children whose Lareau’s tone here is one I would we understand that not every story can lives the author compares by economic describe as no-tone, tone-scrubbed. be perfectly balanced and that fairness class. In “Unequal Childhoods: Class, But the picture could not be clearer. emerges over a number of pieces in the Race and Family Life,” Lareau describes, When the reporting does the job, the fullness of coverage, news consumers for example, a nine-year-old girl named tone can take a break. I often measure us by a simpler standard. Katie whose mother is typical of the They react to the last story they read, working class and poor parents Lareau Susan Brenna is a journalist based heard or viewed. So I worry when I observed. Child’s play, to many of these in New York City, a consultant to come across a tone-deaf story—one parents, is simply not their business—it nonprofit organizations serving chil- where, in the noble service of trying to does not require adult involvement, dren and families, and an adjunct cut through noise and achieve impact, encouragement or praise. professor of journalism at Columbia the reporter slips into pathos or subtle “While middle-class homes typically University. She has reported and hectoring. have a nearly inexhaustible supply of edited for publications including The Striking an appropriate tone is a paper, crayons, markers, stickers and as- New York Times, New York Newsday, mighty struggle for some of my jour- sorted other craft supplies for children’s New York, Atlanta, AdvoCasey, Child nalism students. In their hands, every use, the Brindle house has none, literally and Good Housekeeping. This article profile subject is a hero or a zero. They ….” Lareau writes. “When Katie fashions first appeared on the Casey Journal- have a hard time just letting a person snowflakes from clean cardboard she ism Center on Children and Families be on the page. I tell them the solution found in a Dumpster at the apartment Web site (www.casey.umd.edu). lies in the reporting: the stronger their complex, her mother accepts the one facts, the more vivid their detail, the less Katie has made for her, saying only, ౧ [email protected] Numbers Don’t Tell a Story That Connects With Readers With reports about tough economic times in hand, a journalist relies on families’ experiences to illuminate the significance of the findings. By Jason Johnson

t was the kind of story that edi- was to produce stories about various to 20-inch story; a lot of background tors might greet with a roll of the racial and ethnic groups, as well as reli- context and important voices in the Ieyes and an everybody-knows-this gion and demographic trends. My area debate about policy had to be left out. reaction. But when it was published, of concentration was the African-Ameri- Among the lost voices were often those “Making Ends Meet”—stories about can community. I also covered social of people I interviewed whose lives the challenges facing working fami- services, which meant that routinely I’d were affected by the trends represented lies—drew one of the strongest reader receive reports on wages, housing costs, by the long lists of numbers in these responses I’ve seen in nearly 15 years and the impact of political decisions on reports. It’s fine to say, for example, as a reporter. government assistance programs. that five in 20 people using daycare When this series began, I was in my Sometimes I wrote stories generated services are single mothers, but for the second year as a demographics reporter by findings in these reports. But with significance of these numbers to be ab- at the San Francisco Chronicle, working the daily news-hole space tight, only sorbed, readers need to “hear” a single as part of a six-person team whose job so much could be addressed in a 12- mother talking about her experiences.

28 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps

Second, many of these reports are done was my editor’s expressed interest in victims of some conspiracy to crush the by groups leaning to the conservative having me do a second, more in-depth middle class. These stories would have or liberal side of the policy debate, and story about the economic squeeze on the strongest impact, I believed, if they critics of their findings (and message) middle-class families. Although she offered a straightforward account of often brand these groups’ findings as gave me a general target length for both what these people’s lives were like and if biased attempts designed to skew data stories, her main message was to write I could then fit their circumstances into to further some agenda. Also, each of whatever I had, and we’d deal with the a broader look at the nation’s economic these reports usually examines only a story size later. and social trends. small part of what is really a much bigger Again and again, I heard—and told and more complex situation. Families’ Experiences in my story—about the challenges During a period of several weeks early Illuminate the Numbers posed by the high costs of housing in 2005, I received several studies from and child care and escalating credit local and national advocacy groups and With marching orders in hand, I started card debt caused by families using the think tanks about cost of living increases looking for people whose lives could cards to pay for what their paychecks and spending trends. That summer the flesh out the hard data about how could not cover. There were some em- federal government put out a series of working poor and middle-class fami- blematic moments that I think explain trend reports compiled from new cen- lies are falling further behind. I found why this story succeeded in captur- sus data, including “Income, Poverty many using sources and contacts I’d ing the attention of so many readers. and Health Insurance Coverage in the compiled from my beat reporting. I When a single mother who moved to United States: 2004,” and “Income, also tapped into a new database of a suburb of San Francisco because of Earnings, and Poverty from the 2004 readers that is part of the Chronicle’s rising housing costs in the city told of American Community Survey.” Neither Two Cents outreach feature. I drafted her long morning commute and the report drew any sweeping conclusions, a message to explain what my story phone call she had with her 16-year-old but the data were valuable enough to was about, and our Two Cents editor son each morning to make sure he got merit daily stories. And when combined sent out an e-mail to readers whose up and off to school, her description with reports we’d received from the contact information is in our database. captured what numbers and data could California Budget Project, among oth- I ended up speaking with a wide cross not. Similarly, the couple who spoke ers, it became clear to me that there section of people—diverse in their of the help their parents gave them so was enough valid data to draw some ethnic and social backgrounds—from they could buy a house in a city where fairly good conclusions about trends different parts of the nine-county Bay housing prices are sky-high touched affecting middle-class families and the Area region. I also sought perspective a nerve with many who are living this working poor. on these trends from economic and same story. Several couples spoke of These trends were even more pro- social policy experts. Accompanying what their family life now looked like nounced in the Bay Area, where hous- this reporting were compelling visu- as they worked split shifts to cut down ing and other cost-of-living indexes are als, including photographs of family on child-care costs, and one just knew among the nation’s highest. And these members whose lives I wrote about, as they were not alone. reports confirmed the expanding gap well as detailed graphics compiled by I’d like to think that the approach between those with higher and lower our art department. we took to doing these stories and the incomes, while middle-income families Working on this story reminded me space the paper devoted to them will and the working poor are experiencing that one of the more difficult areas to have a lasting impact on the way such increased pressure in covering their probe in people’s lives is their personal topics are covered on a daily basis. But major essential expenses, having lost finances, especially when that informa- I know the constraints of daily journal- economic ground since the 1970’s. tion might be published. This possibility ism can make this difficult. I believe that With this information in hand, I went made some families very nervous; one these articles—and the strong response to the Chronicle’s demographics editor family pulled out of the story for this they received—added to the consensus and shared what I saw as the potential reason. Another family threatened to of opinion at the Chronicle about the for a larger story, one in which these pull out but then changed their minds importance of reporters seeking out the trends could be described and illumi- after we had a long talk one night. Often I experiences of people whose lives are nated. She let me know that the cost- had to go back to visit families to go over reflective of the numbers we convey. of-living pressures on working families certain figures or get more information This is something many newspapers are were an issue she’d also been following that they or I had forgotten to include doing, but there remains much room with just such a story in mind. Once she in our earlier calculations. for improvement. I gave me a green light for my reporting, Another challenge this story pre- I worked to develop a Page One story as sented was a cautionary one: I wanted Jason Johnson is a reporter with the quickly as I could to hook it to news from to write about these families in a way San Francisco Chronicle. the recent release of the census surveys. that didn’t say to readers “pity these But what was even more heartening poor people” or imply that they were ౧ [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 29 Katrina’s Aftermath

These photographs accompanied the San Francisco Chronicle’s article written by Jason Johnson about the economic squeeze on middle-class families.

Kerry and Gina Morning with their three kids, Marzell, 11, Rahsaan, 15, and Syd- ney, 9, in October 2005 in Richmond, California. The family’s income plummeted when Kerry was injured at his job as an Alameda County probation officer. His $65,000 annual salary was replaced by a little under $3,500 a month in taxable disability payments. Gina Morning turned the odd jobs she did for extra cash into a business. She now makes about $20,000 a year staging children’s birthday parties, driving students to school, caring for kids during the summer, and sewing costumes and clothes with African-style prints. Photo by Paul Chinn/San Francisco Chronicle.

Patrick Campbell, 37, works on his laptop while he super- vises bath time for his two daughters. Campbell and his family moved from San Fran- cisco’s Noe Valley to San Jose three years ago so they could afford to buy a home. It was a small 1,100 square foot four- bedroom one-bath model cost- ing $430,000, but at least it was theirs. A year later Patrick was laid off from his job at Silicon Graphics in Mountain View. The family struggled, but managed to keep it to- gether as Patrick became a self-employed worker, with an annual income of about $80,000. But they’ve managed in part by racking up $8,000 in credit card debt and taking out a $46,000 line of credit on their home. Photo by Mike Kepka/San Francisco Chronicle.

30 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps

On the bed the whole family shares, Olive, 3, jumps off her dad, Lou Maunupau, 47. His wife, Claudia Vlasakova, 37, helps daughter Daisy, 2, fold laundry. Maunupau and Vla- sakova live in San Francisco’s Sunset District, renting a small one-bedroom, almost like a studio, for $1,200 a month, for them and their two daugh- ters. They have a combined income of a little over $52,000 a year, but find themselves struggling to make ends meet. They are an example of how many Bay Area families living well above the nation’s official poverty line find themselves cutting corners to afford the basics of food, housing, transportation and health care. Photo by Christina Koci Hernan- dez/San Francisco Chronicle.

Linda Knighten, 45, a single mom, gets up at 4:30 a.m. every day to travel from her home in Pittsburg, California to her job as a cook at Omni San Francisco Hotel. At 6 a.m. she calls home to make sure her 16-year-old son, David, wakes up and gets ready for school. Although Knighten makes about $40,000 a year and has her health insurance paid for by her employer, she finds herself in the red at the end of every month. Photo by Christina Koci Hernandez/San Francisco Chronicle.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 31 Katrina’s Aftermath The News Gap With the Poor: Engagement, Then Silence ‘I got the feeling that once welfare had been “reformed,” the news story was simply over.’

By Jennifer Friedlin

s a journalist interested in I would be interested in exploring the afford to take on and the time we can reporting on issues related effects of TANF and writing a five-part dedicate to them. A to poverty, race and gender, I series on my findings. She was hoping I got beyond these obstacles by have envied reporters who were cov- that such a series would open a dia- dedicating two months to researching ering such topics in the 1980’s and logue about how the repeal of welfare and reporting this story while I tried to 1990’s. Then the American people were was affecting these women and their work on some other projects in order to embroiled in a spirited debate about children. make ends meet. I spoke to numerous whether the welfare system offered a current and former TANF recipients, necessary safety net for the indigent Challenges to Telling This legislators, activists and policy wonks, or whether recipients—90 percent of Story and spent countless hours reading whom were single women with chil- government records and reports. The dren and the majority of whom were I jumped at the opportunity, but the final result was a five-part series that minorities—were a bunch of “welfare assignment presented many challenges, took an across-the-board look at vari- queens” who were happily mooching the first of which was figuring out a ous trends that the drop in the welfare off the public coffers. way to uncover the story behind the rolls reflected. I explored, too, how The debate was so hot that Bill numbers. This was a huge task given states were implementing TANF and the Clinton’s 1992 presidential platform the fact that instead of a centralized programmatic holes that still needed included the promise to “end welfare welfare system there were now 50 state to be filled. as we know it.” And by 1996, he’d suc- programs, plus programs in the ter- The most important lesson I learned ceeded. That year Congress passed ritories and the District of Columbia, from working on this series was that, the Personal Responsibility and Work each reflecting local political decision- as suspected, the more complicated Opportunity Reconciliation Act, re- making and economics. This challenge and truer story of how the changes in placing the federal government’s Aid was compounded by limitations of time welfare were affecting poor women to Families with Dependent Children and money that could be spent on the and children was different than what cash assistance program with the Tem- project. An online Web site with limited much of the news media had been porary Assistance to Needy Families resources, Women’s eNews didn’t have reporting, when they even bothered to [TANF] program. TANF, a decentral- the budget to send me to communities do these stories. While the welfare rolls ized system of state-run programs, was across America to see how TANF had had dropped precipitously, the reason designed to encourage people to find changed life for poor single moms. had little to do with former recipients and hold-down jobs by setting lifetime This meant I had to do nearly all of my finding steady employment. Instead, in limits on welfare eligibility and pro- reporting by phone, which is not a good an effort to keep program costs down, viding supports such as childcare and substitute for speaking with people many states had created complex rules transportation. face-to-face and observing first-hand the and diversionary tactics that kept people Once TANF was implemented, case- circumstances in which they live. from applying for benefits. Others had loads did drop and the media’s coverage As a freelancer, time was also an is- simply timed out of the system. of welfare pretty much dried up. When sue. While sites like Women’s eNews are I also learned that many states were stories were done, the thrust of them able to flourish on the Internet, their failing to provide the promised sup- was that the declining rolls proved limited budgets for reporting prevent ports, such as childcare and transpor- that TANF was working. Very few in them from paying journalists a rate com- tation, which mothers needed if they the news media seemed interested in mensurate with the time it takes to do were expected to hold jobs. In some doing stories that looked behind the in-depth stories. The fact that freelance cases, the high cost of providing such numbers. rates have not increased much, if at all, supports had caused states to reverse In 2004, Rita Henley Jensen, editor during the past decade takes a toll on their policies, revealing the whimsical in chief of Women’s eNews, asked me if the types of assignments many of us can nature of the welfare-to-work philoso-

32 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps phy. One example of this was found about the new system’s failings was that Rita reawakened reporters’ and editors’ in Tennessee, where all mothers were the number of people living either in interest in class, race and gender. As I expected to work. The state had cre- poverty or in deep poverty—defined read articles in the wake of these hurri- ated a system to provide daycare for as 50 percent of the poverty line—had canes and watched the television reports newborns so that moms with infants increased. For them, the safety net had with their tone of righteous indignation, could work. But when Tennessee faced simply disappeared. I wondered whether the news media budgetary constraints, state officials In the end, I felt these stories uncov- would continue to stay on this story or granted mothers of newborns a one-year ered many important issues affecting if this revitalized interest would recede exemption from work requirements, the lives of poor women and children. with the floodwaters. Now, nearly six saying that infancy was an important But I was disappointed when the sto- months later, it looks like journalistic bonding time for parents and babies. ries failed to generate renewed interest slumber is settling in again. I The truth of the matter was that passing among other journalists in the coverage such an exemption saved the state $4.3 of poverty and gender. While Women’s Jennifer Friedlin is a freelance re- million a year. eNews hoped the series would spark a porter living in Brooklyn, New York. Being able to report on situations like dialogue about these issues, the pack- The opening article in her five-part these was rewarding since this part of age did not garner much feedback. I series can be found at http://wo- the welfare story was largely happen- got the feeling that once welfare had mensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/ ing out of public view because of the been “reformed,” the news story was aid/1940/context/archive absence of news coverage. The most simply over. salient piece of evidence I came across Of course, hurricanes Katrina and ౧ [email protected] Wealth Is Displayed, While Poverty Goes Unnoticed By Many in the Mexican Press ‘What one almost never reads or hears about in Mexico is the immense gap dividing the more well-to-do Mexicans from the native Indians ….’

By Ana Cristina Enriquez exico is known as a land of Institute of Statistics, Geography and And so it seems that much of the news contrasts. Its terrain stretches Informatics released a report classifying media in our country has adopted this M from the most arid deserts 44.1 percent of Mexican households as sense of shame, as they ignore this story to exuberant tropical forests, with poor, with 15.8 percent living in what or find ways to tell it only in parts. What colorful architecture in the south and one almost never reads or hears about sober constructions in the north, with in Mexico is the immense gap dividing tropical huts on the seacoasts and the more well-to-do Mexicans from the modern skyscrapers in the cities. In Social inequality is often native Indians, who reside at the very urban areas, expensive European-made regarded as a given, and bottom of the economic and social lad- automobiles sweep through on broad der. In part, this is a reflection of a lack highways, while in mountainous vil- neither its presence nor its of interest in such news by those who lages horses pull wagons on precarious potential consequences are purchase newspapers and magazines. dirt roads. But this reluctance to engage with these The enormous gap between how viewed as newsworthy. issues is echoed in decisions made in the rich and poor live in this land is newsrooms in which reporters are not something readily observable, though encouraged to pursue such topics. For Mexicans, for the most part, shut their it called “extreme poverty.” In that year, many—both inside and outside of jour- eyes to this uncomfortable reality, 10 percent of Mexico’s wealthier fami- nalism in Mexico—social inequality is which has existed since colonial times. lies held 40.8 percent of the nation’s often regarded as a given, and neither its Extreme poverty in proximity to enor- income, a number that grew in 2004 presence nor its potential consequences mous wealth is not new in Mexico; to 42.1 percent. is viewed as newsworthy. neither is the blind eye cast to this Mexican society considers it bad taste After the North American Free Trade circumstance. In 2002, the National to talk about these shameful contrasts. Agreement was implemented in 1994,

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 33 Katrina’s Aftermath

the Mexican market opened up to the Latin America, which launched Caras. article, is not how to promote green goods available and expanded the bank Indeed, nearly all of Mexico’s leading policies but how to find what he calls accounts of a few privileged citizens. political figures from various parties “the love of his life,” a woman whom But for those living in extreme poverty, have appeared in the pages—and on he describes as “relaxed, light, joyful their lives have not improved, nor have the cover—of such publications. and not good in school,” because he their incomes, which could hardly be- This coverage has opened a new wouldn’t like to go out with a hard come worse. At the same worker. Also, he observes, time, there seem to be no she should be 10 years limits to the ways in which younger, so she can feel those who have wealth now … today, the focus is on wealth and celebrities. some admiration for him. choose to display it. This kind of journalism has flourished during González is just one of During the mid-1990’s the many public figures the look of many Mexican the past five years, ever since Quién magazine who have naively exposed cities started to change. Big was launched by Expansión, a media group themselves in the Mexican shopping malls flourished celebrity press. There was in urban centers, as U.S. recently bought by Time, Inc. Mexico’s first lady, Marta Sa- companies such as Wal- hagún de Fox, who showed Mart, Costco, H-E-B gro- the most intimate spheres ceries, and Sam’s Club opened stores. window through which Mexicans peer of her world and her heart to audiences Restaurants such as Chili’s, Applebee’s, into the lifestyles of the rich and fa- of several publications and flaunted and Carl’s Jr., disdained by the wealthy mous. A generation ago such frivolous her expensive taste. A few years later, in the United States for being chain stories would not have been published a political scandal emerged about the restaurants, became the favorites of given the historic memory of the 1910 amount of public money being spent upper middle and middle classes in revolution that had raised the hopes of on her wardrobe. In an auction of her Mexico, who flocked to them as a way the nation’s impoverished masses soon designer dresses for “good causes,” just of demonstrating their modernity. They after Porfirio Diaz’s regime, which was four out of 36 were sold. also shopped at exclusive designer a period with one of the highest levels Until the last few years, the Mexican boutiques—Fendi, Prada, Salvatore Fer- of social inequality. media were mostly controlled by an op- ragamo, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany—which Today, what appears on these pages pressive government, ruled by a party are now found in major cities, alongside is regarded by middle-class Mexicans as that had remained in power for 71 years. exclusive Spanish brands, such as Zara, showing them the way—through dress, For now, self-censorship in mainstream Mango and Tous. social behavior, and places to eat and media and the marketplace are dictating purchase items—to move up the social what is published. Celebrity journalism Celebrity Journalism ladder. These magazines have become will continue entertaining Mexican Highlights Politicians for many a style manual for living. Un- readers as long as it remains an attrac- like in other countries, education is tive business. In the midst of this, let us Unless the World Bank or United Na- not necessarily portrayed as the key hope that the relative freedom the press tions issues a report about the con- to social and economic success. What now enjoys will, in time, lead members trasting poverty and wealth in Mexico, is sometimes surprising is how willing of the news media to more meaningful these issues—and the ripples of their politicians and their family members stories about the nation’s social and consequences—will simply garner no are to display their material “achieve- economic inequality. The path leading media interest. Instead, today, the focus ments” in a country with such high rates to this kind of change isn’t clear right is on wealth and celebrities. This kind of poverty. And in their interviews, the now, but it’s possible that out of the of journalism has flourished during sad reality of the disparities is covered excess of focus on wealth and power the past five years, ever since Quién with the mask of superficiality. might emerge some greater awareness magazine was launched by Expansión, In a year-end interview with Caras, of what isn’t being talked about but a media group recently bought by Time, Jorge Emilio González Martínez, the cannot remain unseen. I Inc. “There were people who said that young president of the Mexican Green it was never going to work, because we Party who was recently involved in a Ana Cristina Enriquez, a 2005 Nie- don’t have royalty. But we decided that corruption scandal, was portrayed in his man Fellow, has worked as editor the politicians were going to be our bathrobe, eating a salad on his elegant in Reforma Group and is currently royalty,” wrote Quién’s editor, Blanca bed, and wearing a swimming suit in focusing on Mexican immigration as Gómez Morera, in an article about the what appears to be a pool in his home. she studies at the Graduate School of Expansión group. “People read Quién His fancy closet reveals his preference Journalism at Columbia University. to see how to dress.” This success- for Gucci shoes (with four identical ful formula was followed by Grupo pairs), along with a pair of Ferragamo. ౧ [email protected] Televisa, the largest media group in His main concern, expressed in this

34 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps Reporting on Gaps in a Country Devoted to Harmony In China, social and economic gaps are acknowledged, but the news media rarely probe their causes or their consequences. By Yuan Feng n the early morning of December 15, 2005, three teenage girls were Ikilled in a traffic accident while on their way to school. This happened in Chongqing, one of the biggest cities in China. The three families received dif- ferent rates of compensation: According to the girls’ families, 200,000 RMB was given to the family of each girl who had an urban household registration; 50,000 RMB was given to the family of the girl with a rural household registra- tion. [There are eight renminbi, RMB, to one American dollar.] This unequal treatment reveals the urban/rural and income gaps that are deeply rooted in China and strength- ened by law and policy. And different news media in this country handle the reporting of stories like this one in dif- ferent ways. Chinese migrant workers carry sacks while the screen behind them displays the Shenzhou As the Lunar New Year approached VI launching in a live broadcast at the Beijing railway station in October 2005. Photo by in late January, on the front page of the Elizabeth Dalziel/The Associated Press. People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party, a special column ap- mobilizes 16.4 million RMB, helps expect to receive New Year call as a peared with the title, “Sending Warm difficult migrant workers go home farmer.” Regards, Giving a Good New Year.” What for holiday family reunion. follows are news items that appeared in • In Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province: More than a half of the news stories this column on January 22, 2006: Ensure 170,000 difficult people have on the front page on this day were a safe winter, 64,000 party members related to disadvantaged people. That • Central government appropriates help 18,000. kind of coverage is unusual and is likely 17 billion RMB as pension security happening now because of the Chinese subsidy for enterprise employees. Along with this column, there were New Year, the country’s most important • Party members among central gov- news stories related to ways that the festival. But still it sheds light on the ernment and party organs send warm government is working to bridge social more typical way that the official media hearts with money and goods, all of and economic gaps: cover these gaps in China. the donation arrived into the hands In the past few years, as the govern- of people who have the needs. • Fujian Province: all new provincial ment started talking about building a • Free health check-up for 63 cleaners financial income is spent for agricul- harmonious society and began working in Jinan, Shandong Province. ture, rural areas, and farmers. on its Scientific Review on Develop- • In Xian, Shaanxi Province: 800 model • Hainan Province: financial spend- ment, the three new big societal gaps workers have gotten one million holi- ing focuses on things that benefit identified were urban/rural, east/west, day subsidy from city government. people. and rich/poor. That there are three • In Dalian, Liaoning Province: Union • And a story entitled, “We did not new large gaps is a reminder of the

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 35 Katrina’s Aftermath

historic “Three Big Gaps” theory dur- stories. than 1,200 items in which “income ing the Mao era. Then the gaps were Commercial media differ. On the one gap” or rich/poor gap is cited. But only urban/rural, worker/farmer, and mental hand, these media have some in-depth 12 stories mention gender gap, even labor/manual labor, and the slogan was stories, and they are more attractively though the income gap between men “Eliminating the three big gaps, toward told for readers. One reads some hu- and women increased by seven per- the ideal Communist Society.” man stories and in doing so feels how cent in urban China and 19 percent in Mao’s policies did indeed reduce people are affected by poverty and social rural China during the 1990’s. During income and social status gaps between inequality. Some stories go further to re- this same time, the employment rate mental and manual labor by degrad- veal deep roots of the problem, and they of women dropped more than it did ing the former, but did not close the explore the resolution of the problem among men. other two. In the early to mid-1980’s, from a systematic or structural angle. At Along with reporting on these gen- reformers among the party’s leaders the same time, however, many of these der gaps, issues of discrimination also did reduce some of the urban/rural reports have visible faults: The writing fall under the light of media attention. and worker/farmer gaps, however, by is done sensationally, so that vulner- Regional discrimination under hukou, enhancing the latter. However, gaps able people like women are portrayed the system of household registration by among industries, regions and the haves simply as victims/losers, sometimes as area, which determines whether family and have-nots were still built-in, and in isolated cases, and their problems are members receive certain benefits and recent years these have even expanded personalized. In these stories, there is opportunities, and discrimination in in some regards. a failure to probe structural factors that health care, along with other forms of Gradually, the topic of social gaps has caused their problems. Some of these discrimination, are becoming topics of received attention from scholars and reports just blame the victim and offer press coverage. those in the media, and more articles no hint, background, or comprehensive Ironically, gender discrimination is and stories about them have appeared. analysis. Stories showing how people not very visible in the media. Among There are different approaches to cov- try to change the unfair institutional ar- 2,103 stories that mentioned discrimi- ering these issues, since the media in rangement and improve their situation nation, only about 100 mentioned “gen- China can be divided into two general are rarely seen, and very few media out- der discrimination.” In the fall of 2005, categories—the official news media lets, among hundreds and thousands of Beijing University required women and the commercial one, which is also them, have published stories that reveal applicants for a given department to under the control of the party and state the emergence of activists and citizen score higher during their recruitment; government. The typical official style is movements to secure people’s rights. when this became known, much of the seen in what was shared above from the news media gave more space and bigger People’s Daily: Most of what appears is The Gender Gap voices to the opinion that this is not a good news about what the authorities clear-cut example of gender discrimi- have done to resolve the problem. Coincidently, both the official and com- nation. When women’s voices are not From the official news media, readers mercial news media have paid much heard, gender inequity is not a visible cannot get a very good understanding less attention to gender gaps. For issue in the media. If journalists don’t about the presence or significance of example, women retire at an age five value this topic, how can we expect these gaps, nor is there any mention years younger than men do, and this more comprehensive coverage on social made of the structural factors that was allowed by law even though it is gaps and a harmonious society? are causing them or helping them to against the equal rights principle of the Now harmonious society has become persist. Nor can readers learn about constitution. Women’s organizations a fashionable term among China’s lead- efforts being made by nongovernmental called on this to be changed for many ers and media. But how is this harmo- organizations and other institutes in years, but this issue did not become a nious society to be interpreted? Some unconventional ways. When it comes major media topic until recently. The stress exists about whether it is better to to talking about causes for these gaps, events about Beijing +10—which was maintain stability and ignore the ineq- official mouthpieces might mention the 10-year review on the follow-up uity to keep the status quo. It is also very them in very abstract ways, if they talk action of the commitments made by difficult for China’s structural factors about them at all. Terms used to refer governments at the World Conference to be touched. There are some people to gaps often appear in jargon, and usu- on Women held in Beijing by the United who interpret the words “harmonious ally numbers are used and few human Nations in 1995—more involved a society” to mean that there should be stories are told. If people’s experiences celebration than a chance to reflect on a society in which everyone has food get written about, stories fall into a gender gaps that remain, and are even and has a voice; this interpretation is predictable formula: victims become expanding in some areas. signaled by the two Chinese characters beneficiaries and the state and party If one searches through recent years that make up the word harmony. leaders act as patrons, and the former of the People’s Daily, one finds about 500 How can the news media in China are grateful to the latter. Readers can items that mention the gaps between do better? They face many challenges; hardly find in-depth and down-to-earth rural and urban Chinese and more the dilemma for them is how to push

36 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Reporting on Gaps the limits while following the party’s published since November 2003 by an would accept. It is difficult to know how guidelines. On January 24, 2006, Chi- official newspaper belonging to the to make journalists keep their probing nese authorities closed Freezing Point, Central Committee of the Communist eyes while under restraint. I which had been a section of China Youth Party and the Southern Metropolitan Daily since the mid-1990’s and was al- News, a “child newspaper” of Guang- Yuan Feng, a 2002 Nieman Fellow, is most the only outspoken media space dong Provincial Party’s newspaper a co-coordinator of Media Monitor among official newspapers. A month group. The publication of The Beijing for Women network in Beijing. earlier, the party authority removed the News was allowed by special permission editor in chief of The Beijing News, a of authorities, and as time went on its ౧ [email protected] lively newspaper that had been jointly performance was beyond what the party

Violence Attracts the News Media to a Story Not Reported Enough Coverage of the riots in France reaffirmed the need for ongoing, in-depth reporting of poor immigrants’ circumstances and the issues they confront.

By Françoise Lazare

any in the international press matize the situation more. Even as about the number of burned cars in interpreted November’s riots rioters shouted hatred of the media, specific areas. (During the three-week Mby poor, minority youth who they worked hard to obtain maximum period of rioting, the total was more live in congested French suburbs as new coverage of their neighborhoods. A kind than 8,000.) testimony of France’s weakness. In some of competition for the number of cars In this atmosphere, reporters had to publications, the crisis was referred to destroyed by fire took place. A week or move in teams, sometimes wearing hel- as a “civil war.” Newsweek headlined so into the rioting, several TV produc- mets. They tried to work away from the its coverage “Europe’s Time Bomb,” ers decided not to inform viewers daily local police to protect press indepen- and Time claimed that dence and also “Paris is Burning,” get more accu- while explaining that rate accounts “nights of mayhem from rioters. Yet scorch France’s trou- they did not bled banlieues and want to move blacken the country’s too far away, image of itself.” fearing at times As suburban riots for their own continued day after security. Nor day, French news me- did they want dia leaders became to miss any cru- increasingly embar- cial episodes in rassed by the spec- this story, since tacle. They knew that there were, of the public gravitates course, many to violent events, no violent confron- matter where they take tations between place. Yet these French the protestors media executives also and police. Af- knew that giving too ter several of much attention to the Clichy-sous-Bois residents walk past the wreckage of a burned car in a suburb east of the correspon- riots would only dra- Paris. November 2005. Photo by Jacques Brinon/The Associated Press. dents had been

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 37 Katrina’s Aftermath

insulted or attacked, editors selected the 1970’s, unem- special reporters—such as those who ployment strongly were better able to speak Arabic—to increased; some cover the story, and these reporters ap- of today’s teenag- proached this assignment with a sense ers are growing of heightened caution. A young French- up in families in Algerian journalist said that several which no one has years after working for a newspaper as a job. Also, most an intern, that paper called him in No- of these families vember to propose a new assignment. are Muslims and What French journalists reported on oppose anti-Islam during the time of these riots diverged so attitudes, some of much from the coverage that the inter- which have sur- national press gave to this story that the faced in the de- government organized a special briefing bate about women for foreign correspondents in Paris. Yves wearing a religious Bordenave, a reporter for Le Monde, veil in France’s says of decisions he made about cover- public buildings, age of this story: “We understood very such as schools, fast that following smoke and flames which have been Riot police arrest youths in the Paris suburb, Le Blanc-Mesnil, would lead us nowhere. Only staying going on for more early on November 3, 2005. Youths battled with police in Paris’s on the surface of things …. We had to than a year. troubled suburbs for a seventh straight night, setting fire to a car really enter the gangs to move further, It is certainly dealership and hurling stones at police in at least 10 towns, of- though it was difficult and risky.”1 not the case that ficials said. Photo by Christophe Ena/The Associated Press. These events were not a French “civil what goes on in war,” nor did they degenerate into a new these poor neighborhoods does not to figure out how to use some of the permanent form of insurrection. At the receive attention from the press in inopportune remarks made by politi- government briefing, spokesman Jean- “normal” times. But the fact is that other cians. For example, Nicolas Sarkozy, the François Coppé said that the image of political, social and economic issues French minister of homeland security, “France on fire” was not accurate and are generally seen as greater priorities spoke about the need to clean out the called such coverage a “caricature” of by the French press, which tends to affected suburbs using a high-pressure the events. He even pointed out that concentrate its reporting on day-to-day water machine and referred to rioters such coverage had raised international hard-news stories. Nor have any of the as “rabble.” fears that could hurt tourism and foreign successive French governments devel- It was quite frustrating for members investment. The intended effect did not oped any real strategies to deal with of the French press to receive much appear to take hold. German journalists, these simmering issues or integrate general foreign criticism about their for example, emphasized that France these families into French society. country and its news media, given that was the only European country in a state But once the riots broke out, several many journalists felt they were covering of emergency. Michaela Wiegel, from newspapers, radio and TV reports fo- the issue of the urban violence in greater the Frankfurter Allgemeine, remarked cused on the poor level of education depth. For sure, if more journalistic at- that it was strange that the foreign press and the high number of students who tention to specific suburban and immi- should be singled out, as if it were not drop out of school, a situation that grant issues could be paid in daily news reporting on the same events as the has contributed to an astonishing 60 coverage—rather than addressing them French press. percent youth unemployment rate in the midst of violent outbursts—that Broadly speaking, the problem is that in some suburbs. As they worked to would likely be a good thing for the these immigrants, most of whom are report this story, journalists struggled future of French society. I poor and who settled here after France’s with language problems. Not only do colonies achieved independence, have many of these immigrant families not Françoise Lazare, a 1998 Nieman not been given opportunities to inte- speak French, but the teenagers have Fellow, is a reporter with Le Monde grate into traditional French society. But developed their own way of talking, in Paris. neither do they want to give up their using an odd French-Arabic slang and different ways of life to join the core of inverting syllables of French words. ౧ [email protected] the French population. Suburban high- Nor was it easy for journalists to avoid 1 rise housing was built for them to live in, reverting to “war” vocabulary, especially To read some of Yves Bordenave’s but they were weak, prefabricated build- at a time when it is so much in use in reporting on the riots, go to www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/ ings and within only a few years they the international debate about Iraq. campanas/migration/paris.htm have deteriorated. Also, beginning in In addition, those in the press had

38 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Journalist’s Trade

Newspapers’ Survival

“Reinvent or die. It’s that simple,” is advice offered to newspapers by Tim Porter, an editor and writer with newspapers and now a news media consultant. “And the death will be slow and painful, a continuing slide into mediocrity and irrelevance, as tighter budgets reduce staff and the public opts for newer, more compelling sources of information.” Porter argues that “local journalism,” done in new ways that he describes, will be the difference in whether daily newspapers survive. Clark G. Gilbert, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, and Scott D. Anthony, a managing director at Innosight LLC, explain the transformative impact of “disruptive change” on the newspaper industry and describe how mistakes made by other industries that have confronted such change can be instructive. “… following these tips, newspaper companies have a chance to successfully navigate through increasingly turbulent times,” they write. With Knight Ridder, the nation’s second biggest newspaper company, “headed for sale, dismemberment or reorganization because its three largest shareholders were not satisfied with the measly 19.4 percent in operating profit in 2004,” James Naughton, formerly an editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer and president of The Poynter Institute, presents the case for why it is essential that journalists serve on the corporate boards of newspaper companies. In the two and a half years since Amanda Bennett became editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, a Knight Ridder paper, budget cuts have reduced the newsroom staff by nearly 21 percent. “In downsizing, we are forced to think hard about the basic question of what exactly journalism is,” writes Bennett, who goes on to describe some new ways of approaching their mission “that necessity is forcing us to examine.” At the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the paper’s routine redesign collided with major changes in readership habits and interests. This led to “a sweeping project taking on some of the most difficult questions confronting newspapers,” write Star Tribune editor Anders Gyllenhaal and Monica Moses, deputy managing editor and the chief architect of the redesign, who explain the changes made to their paper and the lessons learned in the process. Despite experiencing moments of great concern about the future of newspapers, his recent experiences in merging his newspaper’s print and online content have convinced Michael Riley, editor of The Roanoke (Va.) Times, that “Newspapers—or, more precisely, newsgathering operations—are in a position of strength.” He shares “an up-close look at what’s happened at our midsized newspaper to enable us to join the digital dance.” After 26 years working as a newspaper reporter, Carol Bradley has seen plenty of mistakes made when newsroom cutbacks happen and points to 10 of the more common errors that she hopes editors will avoid making. Joe Zelnik, editor of the Cape May (N.J.) County Herald, a weekly community newspaper, reports that “Nothing is shrinking at the Herald, which is doing more with more,” and he explains why his local paper is thriving at a time when many bigger daily newspapers are struggling. Melvin Mencher, professor emeritus at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, notices changes in what is taught to journalism students and in news habits of the young and contends that “The question no longer is whether the newspaper will endure but

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 39 whether the kind of news that is essential to a functioning democracy will survive.” Peg Finucane, an assistant professor of journalism and media studies at Hofstra University’s School of Communication, describes the training of journalists for a rapidly changing workplace. “There is no blueprint for this effort, and many newspapers cannot define what they want our journalism graduates to know or do,” she writes. Joel Kaplan, an associate dean at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, sees the ripple effect from newsroom cutbacks as students move away from journalism toward public relations, advertising and film, and he worries that “journalism appears to be losing some committed students who were on the verge of entering its workforce.” At Yale, Stanley Flink, a lecturer in political science, challenged his students to propose ways to buttress the vital journalistic work of newsrooms. He describes the various stages of their thinking and the proposal they arrived at. The Job of Frontline Editor

The frontline editor’s job is one that, in the words of Jacqui Banaszynski, who holds the Knight Chair in Editing at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, “has expanded to one that just keeps on expanding.” As she observes, changing duties often lead to a new name for the job but “none speak to the complexities or to the whole.” Her article is the first in a series of stories, compiled by a founder of the Frontline Editors Project, John F. Greenman, for Nieman Reports. These articles, described briefly below, track changes in this vital newsroom job and show how best to prepare for the range of its responsibilities.

• Mae Cheng, regional editor at Newsday, highlights moments in the work of frontline editors to illustrate lessons to be learned from doing what they do. • Stuart Warner, enterprise editor and writing coach at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, illustrates the editor-writer relationship in narrative journalism and how he handles that work in the midst of his other editor duties. • John Greenman, the Carolyn McKenzie and Don E. Carter Professor of Journalism at the University of Georgia, explores the difficulties reporters can experience when they become frontline editors and describes new efforts being made to ease their transition. • Michele McLellan, who directs Tomorrow’s Workforce at Northwestern University, writes about a new online training initiative created by the Frontline Editors Project to which prospective and current editors can turn for assistance. • Marty Claus, former vice president/news for Knight Ridder and now a consultant on recruitment and training, tells what the project’s online training will offer journalists in determining their suitability for the job and their development in it. • Lillian Swanson, director of NewsTrain, a training program for frontline editors developed by the Associated Press Managing Editors, offers tips and advice for training editors and describes how some newsrooms approach their own training. • Carl Sessions Stepp, a former editor and now journalism professor at the University of Maryland, writes about how few resources are available for those entering an editor’s job. He also compiles a list of books, articles and Web sites to which editors can go for advice and inspiration. I

40 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival If Newspapers Are to Rise Again ‘Reinvent or die. It’s that simple.’

By Tim Porter

ewspapers are in big trouble, They have the chance to build new forms sliced and cross-diced into me-media, an the biggest since television be- of journalism that operate on traditional RSS feed for every person, an opinion Ngan eroding their audience 60 principles of fairness, stewardship and expressed for every viewpoint offered, years ago. There is no need for an ump- vigilance but are not bound by tired everyone a publisher. teenth recitation of the demographic, definitions of what is “news,” how it All that’s left is the journalism. Local economic and technological trifecta should be presented, and who should journalism. That is the niche, the slice, that has endangered newspapering be given the tools to do so. Reinvent newspapers can and must own. as a vehicle for journalism—which, of or die. It’s that simple. And the death I can hear the protests now. Editors course, is why we care about the fate of will be slow and painful, a continuing are pointing to the numerous local newspapers: They pay the freight for the stories in their papers, to the enterprise type of journalism we have considered projects, and to the staffing that, while a necessity in a democratic society. All that’s left is the no doubt reduced, is devoted primarily There is, however, a need to repeat journalism. Local to local news. Fair enough, but let’s look an unpleasant truth most newspaper more closely. True, most newspapers journalists, particularly newsroom journalism. That is produce hundreds (at least) of column managers, don’t like to hear: They are the niche, the slice, inches of local copy every week, but as responsible for the decline in reader- what is all that ink and all those pixels ship and relevance of newspapers as any newspapers can and being used for? In most regional and of the other bugaboos cited routinely must own. smaller newspapers, two-thirds to three- as contributing causes—the Internet, quarters of all local, nonsports stories pesky bloggers, disinterested youth, and are about institutions (government), that Craig guy from San Francisco. crime (courts and cops), and reports Why is that? Because risk-averse slide into mediocrity and irrelevance, (more institutions). Count them in your newsrooms have spent several decades as tighter budgets reduce staff and the paper. And, as the papers get smaller, with their collective heads in the ink public opts for newer, more compelling these stories become increasingly eye- barrel, ignoring the changing society sources of information. glazing, devolving into either recitations around them, refusing to embrace new of agendas or, worse, poorly executed technologies, and defensively adhering The Route to Reinvention attempts to mimic the more difficult to both a rigid internal hierarchy and forms of journalism (narrative, analysis, an inflexible definition of “news” that Reinvention must begin at the core, the columns) practiced with excellence by produces a stenographic form of jour- nucleus, the thing all the 1,450 or so only the best papers. nalism, one that has stood still, frozen daily American newspapers that are not If newspapers were a restaurant, their by homage to tradition, while the world The New York Times, The Wall Street motto might be: “C’mon In. The Food has moved on. Journal, or USA Today must excel at: Ain’t Great, But You Get Plenty of It.” But there is good news. Amid the coverage of local news. Sadly, this tired, institutionally fo- carnage of smaller newsroom budgets, Local is the franchise for newspapers. cused news formula makes it nearly buyouts, layoffs and seemingly endless Local reporting, local photography, impossible to provide readers with the prognostications of doom, opportunity local commentary, local information, one thing the Readership Institute at lives. In fact, newspapers have never local interaction with the community. Northwestern University finds resonates been presented with an opportunity Yahoo! and Google spew out routine most with the public—an experience. this large—or with such an urgent rea- national and international news by the They want journalism that makes them son to take it. Opportunity is not just screen full. The bleat of the blogosphere feel smarter or makes them feel safer knocking; it is kicking down the front and the wail of cable TV heads provide or makes them shudder, shake, shimmy door to the newsroom and yelling: the nation with punditry in spades. or otherwise twinge with emotion. You Reinvention! Myspace, Flickr and other social net- won’t find these characteristics in the Newspapers now have the chance— work sites built the virtual communities halls of government, where journalists albeit forced upon them—to discard the Internet promised in its nascency. spend so much time. decades of rote practices and processes. The one-time mass media has been thin- Don’t misunderstand. Journalists

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 41 Journalist’s Trade

must cover government, and journal- After realigning resources behind when most of them would have hap- ists must cover crime—but politicians true, community-oriented priorities, pily been spared that opportunity. We and bureaucrats and cops and criminals and after some difficult conversations, covered our region, warts and all. And aren’t the audience; the electorate, the you’ve picked up news hole, able-bod- we participated in the life and civic taxpayers, the victims, and all the other ied journalists, and production time causes of our town—Greenville, Missis- ordinary people these institutions were that can be used for other things—local sippi—with avocational fervor. We saw formed to serve are the audience. The content, niche editorial packages, inter- ourselves as citizens as well as journal- current beat structure and the reigning action with the community around you. ists. We saw ourselves not simply as a newsroom value system produce and This is called product development. mirror reflecting what was happening reward news reported from the point of in the community, or as its critics, but view of the government instead of from 3. Determine the skills your newsroom as indivisible from it, a piece of the the perspective of the governed—and needs to meet your new goals. Do re- community’s fabric.” that makes for bland reading. porters need to learn how to use digi- Never has the passion Carter It doesn’t have to be this way. We can tal tools—photography, video, audio? displayed toward journalism’s role change the practices and processes of Do copyeditors need to learn how to in building community been more journalism and still keep its principles write? Do managers need to learn to important for newspapers. Because intact. Here’s how: collaborate? Yes, it’s training, but train- technology has given the people, in the ing with purpose. It’s focused, it’s goal words of PressThink blogger Jay Rosen, 1. Start with a question. If you could oriented, and it’s measurable. This is “formerly known as the audience” rebuild your newsroom from scratch, called resource development. the power to publish, they are talking with the same full-time equivalent of back and engaging in conversations, employees and budget numbers and 4. Kill the defensive, authoritarian with each other, with news sources, with the only requirement that you must newsroom culture. Break down the and with the press. Newspapers can make a print and an electronic product, hierarchy. Dismantle the content silos. join this conversation and help gather what would you change? Would you Don’t manage, enable. Newsrooms communities of local interest or stand hire the same people? Create the same are filled with creative people whose mute and be left behind. beats? Keep the same print and Web talents and ambitions are shackled by designs? Implement the same workflow? a plethora of inhibiting rules. Reward 7. Finally, big ideas rule. It’s too late Of course you wouldn’t. So why do you effort. Fail. Learn. And repeat. Free the for tinkering. There’s no time to rear- continue on as you do? newsroom 55,000! This is called fun. range the deck chairs once again; the Asking and answering this ques- keel for a new boat must be laid. Media tion—honestly—compels a confronta- 5. Get a persona. I won’t use the word have exploded. We need to explode the tion with assumptions about staffing, “brand” because it makes journalists newsroom. resource allocation and news judgment, blanch, so let’s use “identity.” We all and leads to conversations about edito- have one, and the paper must have one, This is a time of great transition. The rial goals, readership strategy, and pro- too, something for which it is known, tectonics of technology, demograph- ducing a newspaper that is unique to its a signature type of work that reflects a ics and economics are disrupting the community instead of one that reflects zeal to excel, to be the absolute best at ground on which newspaper journalism a generic industry template. something that separates it from the rest stood for half a century. Survival re- In short, it provides a reply to the of the media horde. Great writing. Great quires nimbleness, resoluteness and an perennial question: Where do we want investigations. Great columns. Great unwavering sense of the possible. This to go? reader participation. Great simplicity. is called leadership. Newspapers that Objectivity is not a personality. acquire those skills will prosper—and 2. Put the bodies in the right places. Put so will their journalism. I them where the priorities are, where the 6. Don’t cover the community, be the mission-critical reporting, photography community. This is an idea borrowed Tim Porter is an editor and writer and editing must be done. Is having a from Hodding Carter, former head of with an extensive background in staff movie critic essential to your mis- the Knight Foundation, who a while print and Web journalism. He works sion? If not, use the job for something back spoke about his early newspaper as a freelance journalist and consul- else. Foreign and Washington corre- days at the Greenville, Mississippi Delta tant for newspapers and other infor- spondents? Aren’t you already paying Democrat-Times. His words are better mation-intensive organizations. He for the Times, the Post, The Associated than mine: “We practiced journalism is the author of First Draft, a blog on Press, and Reuters? Out of town sports? with zeal and, occasionally, foolhardy quality journalism at www.timport- Do readers really care about the byline? abandon. We took up the implicit er.com/firstdraft and associate direc- Hundreds of column inches for TV grids, demands—the implicit responsibility tor of Tomorrow’s Workforce. entertainment listings, and stocks? Put inherent in the First Amendment—and them online. let people know our editorial mind ౧ [email protected]

42 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival Can the Newspaper Industry Stare Disruption in the Face? ‘Lessons learned from past failures can help to ensure future triumphs.’ By Scott D. Anthony and Clark G. Gilbert

hese are scary times for news- come easily, but by following these tips, 3. Force the disruptive initiative into paper veterans. Hardly a day newspaper companies have a chance to the existing business model and prod- T goes by without news about successfully navigate through increas- uct concept: Eastman Kodak Company disappearing readers, shrinking rev- ingly turbulent times. spotted digital imaging in the 1970’s. enues, declining stock prices, or loom- Disruptive innovations typically offer It invested billions of dollars to create ing layoffs. Tellingly, these editors and lower performance along dimensions its first commercial camera, a $30,000 writers are just as likely to come across that firms consider critical. In exchange, camera targeting the professional this news in a blog or hear it through new benefits are introduced along market. Only recently has it embraced a podcast as they are to read it in their dimensions such as simplicity, conve- simplicity and begun to experiment local newspaper. nience, ease of use, or low price. with new business models. Had Kodak The newspaper industry is going In the media industry, blogs, Google, made different choices and realized the through what we call a “disruptive” eBay, Monster.com, and freely distrib- potential to create new business mod- change, a phenomenon that has trans- uted commuter papers each fit the els sooner, it could have owned digital formed industries such as retailing, pattern of disruptive innovation. Each imaging instead of being one of many computing, airlines and automobiles. emerging competitor lacks something players in space. The bad news is that when the dust of that is core to most newspaper com- disruptive change settles, historically panies’ value proposition. Some can’t Our work with the newspaper in- even the best-run companies typically match a newspaper’s broad distribution dustry suggests that the second and end up in the loser’s column. In the network. Others can’t compete with the third problems are the more pressing. computing industry, for example, Digi- newspaper’s detailed reporting capabil- Most newspaper companies still focus tal Equipment Corporation missed the ity or local reach. All, however, compete a disproportionate share of time and personal computer (P.C.) in the early along dimensions of performance that attention on their print product. While 1980’s, started to fall apart in the early are different than the traditional metrics not ignoring that product, allocating 1990’s, and got acquired by Compaq in emphasized in the print newspaper more resources towards new disruptive 1998. Dell Computer’s low-cost busi- business. products makes sense. It seems clear ness model destroyed Compaq, forcing Three barriers typically make it dif- to us that newspaper companies must a merger with Hewlett-Packard (H.P.) in ficult for market-leading incumbents to reimagine their content and business 2001. Dell’s continued incursion into get disruption right: models if they hope to succeed. the P.C. and printing office now threat- Despite the sense of doom and gloom ens H.P., which announced more than 1. Fail to spot the disruptive change early that pervades the industry today, there 10,000 layoffs last year in an effort to enough: Disruptive change tends to start are signs of hope. While newspaper remain competitive. innocently at a market’s fringes. Market readership is declining, information There is good news: Lessons learned leaders tend to dismiss early disruptive consumption is increasing. Almost from past failures can help to ensure fu- developments because they just don’t every newspaper company has made ture triumphs. Even better, newspaper affect their core business. the transition to the Web, with their companies have real assets to bring to properties attracting new audiences and this fight, and a number of emerging 2. Fail to allocate sufficient resources new advertisers. In fact, the interactive industry experiments with new prod- towards disruptive offerings: Disrup- nature of the Web allows forward-think- ucts and business models could point tive innovations often have lower ing companies to completely change the the way towards future success. performance and lower prices than way they interact with readers and ad- This article describes some reasons established offerings. Companies find vertisers. Readers can become content why powerful market leaders stumble it hard to prioritize spending time and creators and community builders. Web in the face of disruption and describes money on disruption when they have sites can serve advertisers that would a few simple tips to help companies seemingly attractive opportunities in eschew the static nature of print. avoid those pitfalls. Success won’t their core business. Additionally, companies are experi-

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 43 Journalist’s Trade

menting with new approaches. Dozens journalists, strong brands, in-depth scoff at the quality of the writing in of companies have launched free papers local knowledge, healthy balance the blogosphere, many consumers targeted at young readers or recent im- sheets—and think how they could appreciate the freshness and direct- migrants. Last year Knight Ridder, Gan- reconstitute those assets to address ness of user-generated content. nett and Tribune were among top buyers important, unsatisfied jobs. • Assume your first strategy is wrong. of HomeGain and a controlling stake in It seems strange that underfunded news aggregator Topix.net. Earlier this Break old business models: The news- entrepreneurs so often triumph over year Gannett took a minority position paper industry’s business model has resource-rich companies. One chal- in an emerging mobile information stayed broadly consistent for years and lenge that big companies face is that provider called 4INFO. its still-high profit margins are a testa- they often run fast and hard in the To maximize their chances of success- ment to its power. Succeeding with wrong direction. The initial strategy fully prospering in the next generation, disruption requires embracing new for a new growth business is typically newspaper companies should remem- models. Metro International shows the wrong strategy. Companies that ber the following principles. how a company can build an attrac- pursue perfection and fear failure tive business without any circulation too often shut off signals that suggest Assume a market-first perspective: One revenues at all. Its key is matching its they need to change their approach. of the core principles of succeeding with costs to its revenue sources. Metro aug- Learning what’s wrong with an ap- disruptive innovation relates to how to ments content that its staff produces proach and adapting appropriately connect with customers. The concept is with substantial contributions from is a good thing, not a failure. Focus elegantly simple: People don’t buy prod- wire feeds and minimizes distribution early efforts on small-scale experi- ucts, they hire them to get jobs done costs by placing its papers in central- ments that offer more knowledge in their lives. When people encounter ized locations. about key assumptions. a problem, they look around for the The industry’s online business model solution that allows them to solve the also needs some rethinking. Too many While it might be hard to see through problem. Too often, companies define newspaper companies have replicated today’s clouds, the newspaper industry markets through their own internal their print models online, relying on has the potential to do some very excit- lenses, missing great opportunities display advertisements and classifieds, ing things in the coming years. Most staring them in the face. instead of creating new business mod- companies have good brand reputa- To succeed, then, try to look at the els. A recent study showed that as few tions, strong cash positions, and a world from the perspective of your as 10 percent of top print advertisers deep well of content. The plethora of readers and advertisers. What are the are top online advertisers in newspaper experiments throughout the industry jobs they are seeking to get done in Web sites. These new online advertis- suggests a readiness for change. The their lives? How could you improve ers often require different ad metrics newspaper industry has a chance—if your current products so they get the than those traditionally used in print companies make the right choices over job done better than by using any other media. Newspapers need to ask how the next 18 months—to stare disruption competitor? What new products could much money their sites make from lead- in the face and succeed where other be introduced that address a point of generation, consumer direct marketing, industries have failed. I consumer frustration? and pay-per-use content. If the answer These jobs can be very different in is zero, then they should not be satis- Scott D. Anthony is a managing different contexts of use. Up to 50 per- fied with even 50 percent growth rates, director at Innosight LLC, an inno- cent of online registrants for newspaper because they are missing big growth vation consulting company. He is Web sites are not newspaper subscrib- opportunities. the coauthor of “Seeing What’s Next: ers. Even print subscribers follow very Using the Theories of Innovation to different patterns of use online. As one Embrace new mindsets: Generally, Predict Industry Change” (Harvard former metro editor said to us: “When I succeeding with disruption requires Business School Press, 2004). Clark first joined the online group, I couldn’t challenging mindset barriers that might G. Gilbert is an assistant professor understand why everyone referred to stand in the way of success. There are in the entrepreneurial management our readers as ‘users.’ It took me more two specific mindsets that newspaper department at Harvard Business than a year to realize that people read companies need to watch out for: School. He is the coauthor of “From the newspaper, but they use the Inter- Resource Allocation to Strategy” net. The whole relationship with the • Don’t define quality internally. Often, (Oxford University Press, 2005). An- product is different.” companies evaluating a disruptive thony and Gilbert are spearheading Newspaper companies should look offering say, “We can’t do that. It is the Newspaper Next project with the at their local market to identify jobs just not good enough.” The problem American Press Institute. that people can’t get done well today. comes when a company applies its in- They should think of the great assets ternal filters to make that evaluation. ౧ [email protected] they have at their disposal—top-flight Although newspaper editors might [email protected].

44 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival When Journalists’ Voices Are Missing A former newspaper editor examines the impact of the lack of journalists serving on media company boards.

By James Naughton

hen executives of a Florida how it has become Florida’s largest in 1995 after 37 years as an editor, newspaper company pro- newspaper. Its success demonstrates publisher and executive in Knight Rid- W posed to spend $30 million that journalists can be trusted with der. He says several McClatchy family on a 12-year marketing venture, a Pulit- the business of news, but they aren’t members on the board often recite zer Prize-winning reporter challenged given much chance to be trusted in the family mantra of quality journalism corporate executives to justify the boardrooms of public companies. Not and community service, as does the expenditure. Once the chairman, Gary Pruitt, a voting began, there was First Amendment lawyer little doubt about the out- Knight Ridder, the nation’s second biggest who earned newsroom come as one after another newspaper company, is headed for sale, respect as publisher of member voted in favor of The Fresno Bee. the proposal. It might be dismemberment or reorganization because its three Louis Boccardi, who a surprise that the edito- largest shareholders were not satisfied with the joined the Gannett board rial page editor voted after 36 years at The As- yes. The editor in charge measly 19.4 percent in operating profit in 2004. sociated Press, including of news coverage in the 10 as executive editor and competing newspaper’s 19 as president and CEO, home city voted yes. The says he had to come up to managing editor voted yes. The execu- counting family members like Arthur speed quickly to “understand the myriad tive editor voted yes. Even the Pulitzer- Sulzberger, Jr. at The New York Times pressures on a publicly held media winning reporter voted yes. or Donald Graham at The Washington company.” He says Gannett’s directors This was not your typical media com- Post or James Ottaway of Dow Jones & focus on business, but “also discuss pany board. Of the 13 directors, nine Co., who once did newsroom stints as topics such as new publications (e.g., were journalists, and the company was part of their corporate tutelage, here youth tabs), circulation trends, news the St. Petersburg Times Co., privately is the current tally of media company ratings in broadcast, Katrina coverage owned by The Poynter Institute, a non- directors who have made their careers challenges, and similar.” profit school for journalists, of which I in newsrooms: Let’s grant that all corporate directors was then president. (By the way, I also are earnest, including the construction voted yes.) Belo—one journalist of 13 direc- and real estate executives on the Belo Those of us on the Times Co. board tors board, the Hong Kong banker and the knew the $30 million would go to Dow Jones—one of 16 greeting card maker on the Dow Jones marketing not instead of to newsgath- Gannett—two of nine board, the investment company execu- ering but in addition. We knew the Knight Ridder—one of 10 tives and the manufacturer of golf cart Times already had spent many more Lee—zero of eight wheels on the Gannett board, the sta- millions to expand news coverage in McClatchy—one of 14 tistics professor on the Lee board, the the primary market of the rival Tampa Media General—one of 9 family member who is chief executive Tribune. This $30 million would go to New York Times—zero of 15 of the pro baseball team, and the fro- renaming the region’s most important Tribune—zero of 11 zen-foods executive on the McClatchy entertainment venue—in downtown Washington Post—one of 10 board, the libertarian economist who’s Tampa—“The St. Pete Times Forum,” a guest host of the Rush Limbaugh and by doing so we’d be reinforcing, Why Journalists Matter on show on the Media General board, the not depriving, the St. Pete newsroom’s Boards razor-blade maker and the German Tampa presence. retailer on The New York Times board, The St. Petersburg Times Co. has “I’ve never felt isolated on the McClatchy the three food and beverage company had and always will have journalists board,” says Larry Jinks, who has been executives and the avocado farmer on in charge, which might help explain a McClatchy director since he retired the Tribune board, the two enormously

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 45 Journalist’s Trade

An Open Letter From Knight Ridder Alumni

What follows is a letter signed by insufficient is free to sell Knight Rid- trust. It must balance corporate 92 journalists who have worked for der stock. An investor who instead profitability with civic purpose. We Knight Ridder newspapers. It was demands the sale or dismantling of oppose those who would cripple the distributed to news media outlets Knight Ridder merely in the name of purpose by coercing more profit. We in November 2005. a larger profit margin is engaged not abhor those for whom good business in good business but in greed. is insufficient and excellent journal- John S. Knight, a founder of the As did Jack Knight, we speak out ism is irrelevant. company known today as Knight of confidence in, not fear of, the We have watched mostly in silent Ridder, believed—and proved—that future of the good business of ex- dismay as short-term profit demands excellent journalism is good busi- cellent journalism. There is durable have diminished long-term capacity ness. The undersigned, all alumni value in businesses that treat their of newsrooms in Knight Ridder and of Knight Ridder, have lived that citizens, their communities and other public media companies. We creed. their employees with respect. New are silent no more. We will sup- As did the late Jack Knight, we technology is an ally of, not a threat port and counsel only corporate believe profit is not merely nice but to, trustworthy and nimble media. leadership that restores to Knight necessary. Knight Ridder routinely Competition gives rise to innova- Ridder newspapers the resources has generated double-digit operat- tion and efficiency, much as recent to do excellent journalism. We are ing profits—such as last year’s 19.4 declines in print circulation have prepared collectively to nominate percent. We understand the obliga- been accompanied by increased candidates for the Knight Ridder tion of an institutional investor to electronic readership. board. We wish to reassert John maximize return on investment. An Knight Ridder is not merely an- Knight’s creed. I investor for whom double digits are other public company. It is a public

rich people named Buffett and Gates on November 2005, 92 of Knight Ridder’s from AstraZeneca, Sara Lee, Kodak, The Washington Post board—even the alumni were so fed up that we signed Pfizer, Northrop Grumman, DuPont, four engineers and the lawyer-lobbyist an Open Letter demanding “corporate Ernst & Young, and Compaq. for a toilet tissue manufacturer on the leadership that restores to Knight Rid- The legal obligation of board mem- Knight Ridder board. der newspapers the resources to do bers is to protect the interest of share- So what if these people haven’t been excellent journalism” and threatening holders. Michael Josephson, the ethicist journalists? Here’s what: Knight Ridder, to nominate candidates for the Knight who may have worn out his welcome the nation’s second biggest newspaper Ridder board [see box above]. teaching in Knight Ridder’s executive company, is headed for sale, dismember- We realized this effort is quixotic; if leadership program when he called the ment or reorganization because its three nothing else we can demonstrate the fixation with quarterly profits a Ponzi largest shareholders were not satisfied kinds of people who care about journal- scheme, says that if they wanted to do with the measly 19.4 percent in operat- ism and would be excellent candidates so, directors legally could “turn Knight ing profit in 2004. The board of directors for the board of a news company. We Ridder into a travel agency.” Even so, of Knight Ridder will play a crucial role know that there is no law, nor any securi- he calls it shocking that media compa- in deciding what happens to the storied ties regulation, requiring public compa- nies have been able to let a focus on company, and it matters whether they nies to place on their boards individuals shareholder obligations dilute their have much of a clue about what it takes who know anything about the compa- public trust responsibilities in their to do high-quality journalism. nies’ products. Still, logic might suggest communities. Media company boards, Knight Ridder once was regarded as that protecting investors is more readily says Josephson, are “hiding behind the the big news company that journalists accomplished by directors who have pretense that they’re about journalism. most respected and aspired to join. some depth of understanding about They converted long ago to bankers.” During the past two decades it lost that the company’s reason for existence. If Boccardi and Jinks both say that the luster as the corporation’s method of directors of General Motors knew noth- boards on which they sit focus primar- satisfying shareholders was to cut re- ing about manufacturing vehicles, how ily on the journalism business and its sources, staff and space, year after year could they guide executives in how to challenges. But, Jinks says, “you can- and sometimes quarter after quarter. compete against Japanese imports? Oh, not be on that board without being When Knight Ridder agreed to inves- wait. Hmm. The General Motors’ board constantly reminded of McClatchy’s tor pressure to be put up for sale in boasts among its 12 members moguls commitment to outstanding journalism

46 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival and community service.” He says that always to have a journalist at the top necessary hot water because he didn’t commitment is “really a business value,” of the company. have a strong number two person who because a strong community franchise was clearly his successor and somebody is a tremendous corporate asset. Knight Ridder’s Situation with a news/editorial background.” Gannett’s board, Boccardi says, is “a The duality of media company obli- corporate board responsible for guid- Knight Ridder used to follow the Knight gations was underscored when, in late ing a seven billion dollar business. But tradition of always having a journalist in January, the Society of Professional Jour- certainly as journalistic issues arise, one of the company’s two senior execu- nalists (SPJ) and its Northern California there is free-flowing discussion. There tive posts. The duality of forceful editors chapter called for national debate on the was, for example, extensive board dis- teamed with aggressive business leaders meaning of Knight Ridder’s fate, saying, cussion on the Jack Kelley case at USA served the company well. Then in 1995, “We acknowledge that newspapers can- Today [in which Kelley was accused of James K. Batten, the journalist who was not serve their democratic role unless fabricating content in his foreign report- chairman and CEO of Knight Ridder, they stay in business. But the increas- ing and fired because of it], ing corporate pressure and I played a key role in the to squeeze additional re- handling [of that situation], … logic might suggest that protecting investors turns out of already profit- formally and informally. able newspapers, at rates When matters arise to which is more readily accomplished by directors who exceeding the margins I can contribute a newsroom have some depth of understanding about the in most other industries, perspective, I do—formally has skewed the balance and informally. I find the company’s reason for existence. between journalism and input welcome.” commerce. SPJ and the Some public media com- [Northern California] panies compensate for the Chapter believe that those board’s lack of journalism expertise died of a brain tumor. That June, after directing the production of news have in various ways. The McClatchy board Batten’s funeral in Coral Gables, Florida, an ethical obligation to readers every meets five times each year at the Sacra- half a dozen of us Knight Ridder editors bit as significant as their fiduciary ac- mento headquarters, but always visits gathered in a Miami bar to toast Batten’s countability to shareholders.” one of the more distant newspapers for memory and to lament what we foresaw For the two decades that Ridder a sixth meeting and uses the occasion as the inevitable decline of newsroom was president of the newspaper divi- to visit each of its departments, includ- influence in the company under his sion and then CEO, numbers trumped ing the newsroom. Most public boards successor, P. Anthony Ridder. newsrooms in Knight Ridder. Perhaps invite a newsroom executive into the It’s wrong to demonize Tony Ridder the most telling and obvious symptom room to make the occasional report for his fixation on numbers. Tony always was that under Tony Ridder The Miami about news coverage, but not to vote has been a numbers guy. But the six or Herald was allowed to decline in qual- on the company’s direction. At Gan- seven of us who were in the pub that ity though Miami was the corporate nett, for instance, the newspaper and day correctly anticipated that his aver- headquarters. After Ridder moved the broadcast divisions make presentations sion to forceful editors would cause headquarters to San Jose, its Mercury at every Gannett meeting. “Does the him to make the fundamental mistake News declined in quality, too. And the board formally sit and review, say, USA of running the company without the tra- board of directors, who might have Today’s White House coverage? No, I’m ditional strong journalist as his number been in position to insist on restoring not sure it should,” says Boccardi. “Lo- two. He picked a lawyer. He picked an the yin of newsroom values to the yang cal autonomy specifically for Gannett’s accountant. Not until last year, 10 years of shareholder satisfaction, did not. journalism is part of the creed.” later, when the company was headed Chances are they didn’t even realize The Washington Post Co. and The toward total submission to investors, they should. I New York Times Co. have family leaders did he pick a journalist. who enunciate a clear—and correct— Here is how Alvah Chapman, the James Naughton instigated the Open choice between being in journalism to retired Knight Ridder chairman who Letter that Knight Ridder alumni is- support the business or being in busi- had selected Batten to succeed him, sued last year. He was an editor for ness to support the journalism. Media described it in “Knightfall: Knight Rid- 18 years at The Philadelphia Inquir- General has a chief operating officer, O. der and How the Erosion of Newspaper er before becoming president of The Reid Ashe, Jr., who cut his teeth in news- Journalism Is Putting Democracy at Poynter Institute in 1996. He retired rooms and was among Knight Ridder’s Risk,” Davis (Buzz) Merritt’s excellent in 2003. most innovative publishers. Until Peter history of the company published last Kann was forced out as CEO of Dow year: “Tony needed to get another Jim ౧ [email protected] Jones, the controlling Bancroft family Batten to back him up. I told Tony that, had respected a century-old tradition so I’ll tell you that. Tony’s in a lot of un-

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 47 Journalist’s Trade A Shrinking Staff Propels a Newspaper’s Transformation ‘If we’re forced to be a smaller place, then let’s aggressively teach ourselves the virtues that go along with that sensibility.’

By Amanda Bennett

araphrasing Samuel Johnson, past few years means that fewer people big institution—doing what big institu- folks often say that nothing fo- must do more work. Institutional tions do only with fewer people. If we’re P cuses the mind like the sight of memory and valuable community ties forced to be a smaller place, then let’s the gallows. I like better the version that are severed. Every loss brings a new aggressively teach ourselves the virtues a friend, the head of a large nonprofit headache, as those who remain must that go along with that sensibility. In organization here, recently offered. She spend hours, sometimes days, trying fact, as we’ve worked our way through has it taped to the back of her door: to figure out: Who will do this work? this process, I’ve settled on some new “Nothing inspires creativity like favorite words: Resilience. Flex- a big budget cut.” It is a lesson ibility. Creativity. Collegiality. virtually all of us in newspapers Cooperation. Focus. are learning—whether we like it The essence of journalism is In shrinking, we are forced or not. providing information, insight, almost daily to choose. Aggres- For all its delusional, Pollyanna/ sive pruning is sad, of course, for glass-half-full/necessity-is-the- education and entertainment. It ambitious journalists who know mother-of-invention quality, this is making connections, building what they could do with just a wisdom offers us the best—and little bit more. But it’s also push- perhaps the only—way out of the community, uncovering secrets ing us to think deeply, seriously fix we find ourselves in at American and hidden information, and being and profoundly about what we newspapers today. Here’s the co- value. About what our readers nundrum: All across America our watchdogs for our community. value. About what value we can newsrooms are shrinking—leaving bring to them. About what value us with far fewer resources than we should and can bring to our ever before to deal with a changing How will we train replacements? How community. Every choice we make is a industry that is presenting us with do we juggle schedules? What will we reaffirmation of those values. It’s like problems and issues that are ever more do when people possessing unique the old desert island game: When you vexing and intractable. Here’s the solu- skills walk out the door? think about the choices you would make tion: Use the crisis to do what we should After big losses—like the ones if you had only one choice, it forces you have been doing all along. brought about by cuts we’ve just to confront what matters most. Without question our newsroom emerged from—dozens of us spent In downsizing, we are forced to think here at The Philadelphia Inquirer months doing little else but figuring hard about the basic question of what has earned its shrinking-newsroom out how to remake the newsroom in exactly journalism is. Newspapers have chops. Since I became editor here two the wake of the departures. I can’t stayed in much the same form for de- and a half years ago, we’ve lost 110 think of one of us who at the end of cades, as everything around us has been people—or nearly 21 percent of our this process was not emotionally and changing. Only the sight of the gallows newsroom staff—along with similar cuts physically exhausted. is helping wrench us to the realization in newsprint and our budgets. Those That’s the bad news. Now, here’s the that journalism isn’t just interviewing with longer memories can recite even good news: There is good news. people, writing stories and headlines, bigger staff, budget and newsprint cuts. The skills we’re honing through taking pictures and writing captions. The sad result is that more than a few necessity are precisely the ones we will The essence of journalism is providing people can look around our newsroom need to propel ourselves into the future information, insight, education and en- and see 425 people—plus more than that is thrusting itself upon us with such tertainment. It is making connections, 200 ghosts. vigor. In the face of these challenges, we building community, uncovering secrets The near-constant attrition of the don’t need to settle for simply being a and hidden information, and being

48 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival watchdogs for our community. resources would go increasingly to a and increase privacy; how high school And there are lots of ways to do futile, frustrating and ultimately boring advanced placement classes aren’t just this—ways that necessity is forcing us attempt to chase down each detail of for top scholars any more, and an inves- to examine. the day’s news. tigation of underreporting of crime at local colleges and universities. The New Approach Our core conclusions underlay our subsequent decision-making. During Create community: Our losses pushed Here’s how we approached transform- the next few months, nearly 160 people us to pursue bold Internet experiments. ing what our newspaper does and how throughout the organization came As a result of the loss of our two theater we do it with a lot fewer people than together as part of this rebuilding pro- critics, we’ve launched a pilot project we had before. cess. One group focused on what we to work with local theaters to turn Web Within a few days of learning in 2005 called “regionalism” and was charged pages we create into places where we that we were going to have to drop 75 with fully integrating coverage of our can go beyond reviews to engage the people, or 15 percent of our editorial eight-county region into every beat. readers themselves in richer conversa- staff, we held an off-site meeting of our One group examined our organization tions that will, hopefully, turn us into a department heads. Our nervous and and its structures. Another focused on local hub of discussion about movies. strong urge was simply to try to fix the breaking down our online aspirations problem. After all, everyone was feeling into achievable jobs. Yet another was Train, train train: Our training budgets anxious about how their own depart- tasked with simply acting as a transition were slashed to nearly nothing. So we ments were going to be hit. Instead, led team—getting us from here to there. decided to do more training. We used by editorial page editor, Chris Satullo, Fundamentally we restructured computers freed up from the down- we spent an entire—and sometimes much of our operation. Some of the sizing to create a training center and painful—day examining our values. At restructuring, admittedly, was simply launched “Inquirer University.” Among the end of the day, we reached agree- for greater efficiency. But the exciting our 425 people, we have skilled editors, ment on some core principles: part of the restructuring was where we computer-assisted reporting experts, could merge efficiency with greater ef- designers, photographers, interview- We had to maintain our ambition. Our lo- fectiveness—and get ourselves closer ers and wordsmiths who can act as cal and regional news would be robust, to our long-term goal of transforming coaches. We have launched an ambi- inclusive and investigative; our national our journalism. tious yearlong curriculum including and foreign news would be analyti- Here are a few of the things we de- classes in everything from ethics to the cal, forward-looking and informative; cided to do: use of quotes, interviewing skills and our paper valued expertise and voice, narrative, to using databases, creating good writing, and unique perspectives. Re-Imagine Page One: We agreed to blast audio text for online to creating photo Perhaps most important: We would no Page One out of its decades-old format, slide shows. One goal is to improve longer consider ourselves a newspaper, remnants of a day when newspapers our journalistic quality despite our but rather a news organization—one were still the prime source of yesterday’s reduction in numbers. Another goal is that would aim to operate with equal news. Instead, we go deep on one daily to increase our flexibility by giving as facility in whatever medium, be it print story, layering the story of the day with many people as possible as many skill or electronic, that would serve readers background, context, interpretation sets as possible. best. and analysis. Fewer people means more planning so that we can be prepared Be flexible: Our cuts left departments We had to maintain our mission. As im- to produce excellent packages for the without vacation backups. So we portant as what we decided we were major stories of the day, while creating paired departments in a buddy system. was what we realized we were not. We robust briefs collections for much else We cross-trained editorial assistants were not—nor should we be—a paper inside our lead section. in multiple jobs. Fewer copyeditors of record. The notion fell hard. Still, this meant looking closely at peak-period was an important conclusion. It had, in Think community: We fundamentally scheduling to find dead time that could fact, been years since any newspaper altered our labor-intensive, geographi- be filled effectively with nondeadline had truly been the kind of all-inclusive cally based zoning in favor of team work. We’re working to improve plan- recording-secretary chronicler of the coverage focusing on communities of ning to eliminate costly delays and to daily institutional activity of the region. interest. Rather than trying, unsuccess- ruthlessly excise low-value work. We’ve What’s more, every type of reader survey fully, to blanket all school boards, or been breaking down walls between told us over and over again that readers crime stories, or town council meetings, departments so that we can practice no longer valued this kind of blow-by- our suburban coverage now focuses on daily stories the same kind of all- blow incremental institutional cover- on issues with impact. Some recent ex- hands-on-deck cooperation that every age. Yet, without a specific recognition amples: How communities are “unpav- newsroom exhibits during major break- of that fact, we feared that our shrinking ing” their roads to retard development ing stories.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 49 Journalist’s Trade

Integrate online: With so many fewer add-on. We took the job of daily posting Nobody would contend that they people, how can all of this extra on- of breaking news, which previously was like budget cuts as a spur to creativity line work be done? The answer was to done centrally, and trained editors and and change. But given that is what we make it as little extra work as possible. reporters to do their own work. We’re have, I am extremely proud of the path We worked with designers to make even going back to the “Sweetie, get our newsroom has chosen. I sure that graphics were designed only me rewrite” days by rotating people once—to work in the paper and online. through a slot that will be available to Amanda Bennett is editor and execu- Our director of photography, Hai Do, take dictation from people out of the tive vice president of The Philadel- massaged a software package to turn office—turning that part of the job from phia Inquirer. the job of creating online photo shows a complex technological nightmare to from a half-day ordeal to a two-minute one cell-phone call. ౧ [email protected] A Newspaper’s Redesign Signals Its Renewal ‘… newspapers have enormous strengths to rely on—and that is where we need to concentrate.

By Anders Gyllenhaal and Monica Moses

hen talk of a redesign of the write and package informa- Star Tribune began two years tion for the hurried reader, W ago, the plan was to launch a how to attract young read- simple remake of the newspaper. It had ers, and more. We set goals, been eight years since the last update, revised them, showed them and the paper was due. But as work got around, and revised them under way, the ground seemed to shift again. We scrutinized our under the nation’s newspapers. Strug- beats, workflows, deadlines, gles with circulation and readership communications, evalua- came into sharp focus. The advertising tions, rewards, training and base continued to erode. Young readers leadership practices. proved steadily more elusive. Changes that went into Before long, the remake expanded effect October 12, 2005 in- from a routine redesign to a sweeping cluded about 100 improve- project taking on some of the most diffi- ments that fell into three cult questions confronting newspapers: categories. How does the newsroom compete in a competitive, around-the-clock media 1. Producing a newspaper world? How do we hold onto our best that satisfies whether readers traditions while keeping up with the have two hours or 20 minutes. times? How does the newspaper do a We tried to create a paper that better job of hooking and keeping the enables readers to get a good impatient modern reader? measure of information on As the questions multiplied, so did the surface of almost every the scope of the project. We scoured the story—as well as to go as deep corners of news, circulation and mar- as they wish. We created a keting for research on our readers. We new repertoire of story forms talked to scores of readers in interviews, that are easy to scan and small groups, and surveys. We launched digest—from various Q & A more than a dozen task forces—to styles to vignettes to content- study how the newsroom and online rich graphics that have come departments should interact, how to to be called “charticles.” The Star Tribune before its redesign.

50 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival

2. Creating new content to reflect what is the center of the newsroom as a kind of forces, brainstorming sessions, pro- most meaningful today. The new paper news triage operation for both online totypes or section planning. It might includes a twice-a-week world section, a and print, and we established a host go without saying, but those directly weekly entertainment section targeted of new beats—from coverage of the involved tended to be more enthusiastic to young singles, and a Sunday section Internet and fitness to nightlife, fashion about the changes. devoted to style, fashion and living well. and the seasons. After reorganizations A growing swath of readers use the Web of both local news and features, 80 re- Listen to ideas from everyone, from to broaden their knowledge, so we are porters are in new assignments. clerks to the publisher. One of the most becoming much more systematic about striking changes in the paper—a daily online references and about filing early At the heart of this project are a list on the front page called “Have you versions of stories to the Web site. We couple of convictions. We know that Heard”—came out of a cross-company know readers like to talk about news many changes in the newspaper land- group of 20-somethings studying how to with friends and family, so we put a scape are beyond our control. We should attract younger readers. A popular daily premium on “talker” stories with the not expect to turn Sunday back into a print feature called “Web Search,” which added emphasis that they be done leisurely day of endless reading, wrench outlines what’s new online, grew out of exceptionally well, with depth and per- back the clock on classified competition, a challenge the publisher laid down to spective that were not always a part of or prevent news from flowing out in cover the Internet as we do television. these kinds of pieces in the past. e-mail, cell phones, and BlackBerries. We offer a front-page forecast for seven And yet newspapers have enormous different times of day in response to 3. Reorganizing the newsroom to capture strengths to rely on—and that is where readers telling us they like to anticipate new content. We created a new desk at we need to concentrate. Even with traffic delays during lunch and the drive our circulation challenges, the paper home. We also borrowed ideas from reaches the largest market of other newspapers, magazines and the any single competitor. Online Internet, even though traditional brain- sites give newspapers a huge storming led to more good ideas than advantage, when they use we could use. them well. The experience, knowledge and skills of our Readership is increasingly fragmented staffs give newspapers a vast and reading habits are changing—dy- advantage over the transience namics that the newspaper and Web of many competitors. site must respond to aggressively. In Readers’ reactions since the some respects, we’d been putting out launch in October have been a newspaper that primarily served one encouraging. Home subscrip- segment of our readership: heavy read- tions are up substantially in ers, who happen to resemble journalists the first three months, and more than other readers do. The more the stop rate is down substan- we studied our readers and their needs tially as well. One of the most and interests, the more ways we found gratifying early indications is of serving a broader array of readers. in single-copy sales, which are Ultimately a picture emerged of five running well above last year discrete reader groups, and we com- since the remake. mitted ourselves to serving each with specific content and design elements. Lessons Learned Research on readership, the market, the current paper, and reader segments After two years of this project, should all be part of a project like this. a number of lessons stand out. It’s hazardous to rely exclusively on Here, in no particular order, research, of course, because it rarely are 10 things we discovered. leads to breakthrough ideas. But it’s foolish to ignore the kind of deep and The more involved every part compelling studies available from such of the newsroom is, the better sources as Northwestern University’s the chances of success. By the Readership Institute, the Poynter Insti- time this project concluded, tute, The American Press Institute, Pew a little more than half of the Research Center, American Society of newsroom had been directly Newspaper Editors, and the Newspaper The Star Tribune after its redesign. involved in one of the task Association of America.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 51 Journalist’s Trade

Newspaper remakes should not be car- important to credibility. Now newspa- ment of the paper, and ask if it is still ried out by the newsroom alone. The pers compete with a host of other media valuable. Assembling a newspaper every newsroom should lead the redesign, that feel less cold and conventional. day is complex, and in the drive to sim- but if it doesn’t work closely with the And those Web sites, magazines and plify we may develop habits that serve advertising, circulation, production cable news outlets are winning people ourselves above our readers. One of our and marketing departments from the over in a climate of great skepticism new goals is to make every journalistic beginning, the project will not be suc- toward the media establishment. We’re decision with our readers foremost in cessful. Some of the freshest thinking trying to engage Star Tribune readers mind. It will take time before we have on this project came from smart staff fully absorbed this shift in thinking. members not immersed in the way we’ve always done things. Many pieces Improving the paper and Web site should of the launch were successful because The Star Tribune be a constant obsession, not something they were managed by staff from other redesign was easier and we do once each decade. While dramatic departments. changes in typography, new sections, harder than we might and reorganizations have to be well Work hard to keep the newsroom and have anticipated. planned, many other changes that were overall company up to date on the prog- part of this project should not have ress. Early on, it’s good to develop a waited until a formal redesign. Tastes communications game plan, and the and habits are changing faster than ever, bigger your organization, the more chal- and new beats, fresh features, good lenging it will be to engage the staff. We in a warmer, more personable way. We ideas for columns, puzzles and other showed prototypes at monthly brown- have a daily greeting built into our new upgrades need to be constantly under bag sessions, sent out regular redesign nameplate. Our obit pages are labeled consideration. bulletins, involved 75 staff members “Remembering.” We use second-person in prototyping, and conducted nine pronouns in headlines and box text. We The Star Tribune redesign was months of training prior to the launch. try to respond to the readers’ interest easier and harder than we might have Still, in the final training sessions, we as quickly and practically as possible. anticipated. Once we felt as if we had had people who asked, “We’re start- Old headline: “Identity theft costs con- a real grasp of our various readers’ ing a world section?” Many folks will sumers billions.” New: “How to protect needs, the ideas for how to fulfill those wait to tune in until they are directly yourself from identity theft.” flowed freely. Conceiving a paper that affected. consistently engages and serves is not Training is vital, particularly when terribly difficult. The hard part comes Keep explaining to readers what changes preparing for a dramatic remake. After in the maintenance. We’ve challenged are being made and why. Any change is months of brainstorming, prototype our routines and our conventions. Now upsetting to many readers; dramatic presentations and other discussions, we have to continually remind ourselves change will get plenty of reaction. We we began redesign training in earnest why we are working in new ways and introduced the redesigned Star Tribune nine months before launch. It took 33 refocus our attention on the people with an eight-page guide, a Web site three-hour sessions to train the whole we’re working for. For that transfor- tour of the changes, and a succession staff in reader-focused story planning. mation to be complete, we need a few of Weblogs, editors’ columns, and front- We followed up with sessions on al- more years. I page notes to readers. Still, the launch ternative story forms, budgeting and prompted questions and complaints summary writing. Two months before Anders Gyllenhaal is editor of the from readers—about 5,000 e-mails, launch, many staff said they were just Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Minne- calls and letters the first month. Now plain tired of talking about the redesign sota. Monica Moses is deputy manag- that we’re several months into it, the and simply wanted to do it. Still, in the ing editor and the chief architect of balance of reaction has been good: A final round of nuts-and-bolts training, the paper’s redesign. deeper readership study will come in there was plenty of anxiety, especially April, when we’ll get a methodical look among copyeditors and designers. ౧ [email protected] at reader reaction. Expect a certain percentage of folks to [email protected] be alarmed about learning new ways. Recognize that the arms-length tone we Offer extra hands-on help, checklists valued in the 1970’s feels aloof today and, always, reassurances. to many readers. In the midcentury move to professionalism, journalists There are great advantages to question- embraced the inverted pyramid and ing everything and reinventing it. One of objectivity. During the Watergate years, a the blessings of an ambitious redesign detached recounting of the facts seemed is the chance to stop, look at every ele-

52 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival Lessons From a Newsroom’s Digital Frontline In Roanoke, Virginia, a midsized newspaper has had ‘the freedom to run some ex- periments, fail, try again, and along the way discover some meaningful success.’

By Michael Riley

hat wakes you up in the newspapers. That’s what we’ve been everything? middle of the night? With trying to do in Roanoke during the past As answers emerged, we began to W me, it’s sometimes the dog few years as we’ve merged our print and glimpse ways to transform the news- barking or a growling stomach or per- online content operations. Recently, we room culture, first by recognizing that haps a daughter with the flu, but most launched a funky and fun online video we need to split the word “newspaper” times it’s a nagging question with no newscast each weekday,1 which is our apart and realize that it’s the “news” clear answer: Can the daily newspaper way of embracing today the multimedia that’s most important and not the “pa- be saved? The theoretical angst behind world of tomorrow. per.” Once that happens, other changes this question gains a stark and fright- Granted, this former railroad town follow more easily. eningly personal focus when I think is not at the hub of the digital universe. about The Roanoke Times, the daily We’re not the first place most people Take the long view: The newspaper’s newspaper (circ: 97,000) I oversee in would look to see how the Internet is senior leadership team, led by our Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. And revolutionizing our business. But that’s publisher, Wendy Zomparelli, played it’s a question we’ve been wrestling the beauty of the digital revolution—a a key role in helping the newsroom with for a number of years. news organization doesn’t have to be in think hard about the future. Once we The depressing news about news- Silicon Valley to make things happen. In identified where the rest of the world papers seems overwhelming. A stack fact, not being in a big city is helpful; we is headed, it was easier to decide where of studies sits on my desk, all of them have the freedom to run some experi- we wanted the news operation to go. lamenting circulation declines, the ments, fail, try again, and along the way We decided not to stick our head in the absence of young readers, the aging of discover some meaningful success. ink tank, but chose to become well- loyal readers, the corporate squeeze schooled in digital technology so we for ever-higher profits, and the intense Crossing the Digital Divide could find new ways to reach different competition for readers’ time as the audiences. We wanted to become a liv- Internet rapidly reshapes our world. What follows are some lessons we’ve ing laboratory and find smart ways to The story is all too familiar—it’s the learned on the digital front. Consider play in the online world. end of the world as we know it, and this an up-close look at what’s happened that’s enough to make any ink-stained at our midsized newspaper to enable us Don’t force change: That’s a sure path curmudgeon cry. to join the digital dance. This is designed to failure, because resistance will be Yet I’d argue that digital technology to be part case study, part practical ad- high. Look first for allies across the and the Internet might offer the best vice, part big picture, and then, a look newsroom, staffers who see the need for reason to put the cap back on the Prozac. at some pitfalls to avoid. change and the importance of online. It’s counterintuitive, but the future of We partnered first with photographers, what we do is not as scary as it seems. Educate, educate, educate: About two technophiles who love to experiment Newspapers—or, more precisely, news- years ago, our newsroom undertook and want to see their work go global. gathering operations—are in a position a strategic review dubbed “Looking As creative storytellers, photographers of strength: In most markets, they are Ahead.” Amid the tumult of change, started posting online slide shows of the last remaining mass-medium; they we asked some basic questions: How assignment outtakes, then began play- are prime creators of original journalism is the world changing? What’s happen- ing with an inexpensive video camera and, in many cases, they are deeply com- ing to newspaper readers? What’s the and digital mini-disk recorders. Several mitted to a community’s civic life and impact of shifting demographics? What learned Flash and quickly emerged as welfare. Finally, they are blessed with does national research, such as reports teachers. I knew we’d reached a mile- a profitable business model that can, if from the Readership Institute, tell us, stone when I spotted two reporters with allowed, underwrite a range of digital and how do these findings fit with our headphones on, busily editing sound experiments and online forays to move local experience? Where are our gaps in files for online stories to accompany us successfully into the future. coverage? What do readers expect from their work in print. The enthusiasm Simply put, we need to reinvent us? And how is the Internet changing was going viral.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 53 Journalist’s Trade

Integrate, don’t separate: There’s a ro- bust debate about whether a disruptive technology has a place in the traditional newsroom of the newspaper. My belief is that you shouldn’t relegate online players to backrooms or basements, particularly if you want others to learn and grow. The online content operation should be integrated into the news- room, particularly as the seismic shift of resources from print to online gains momentum. We moved our online team into the newsroom more than a year ago, and what a difference it has made. The online editor hears a metro editor Each weekday afternoon The Roanoke Times delivers an interactive online video news- talking with a reporter about a breaking cast, TimesCast (left). On roanoke.com, readers find multimedia projects tied to topics story, and within minutes that nugget of covered in the newspaper (right). news is posted on our Web site. We’ve even given up the old-fashioned notion that we can scoop ourselves, except in pursue this strategy, we’d then worry jerky, ghostly images of video on the the rarest of cases. about who’s going to get there first and Web. It was an experiment without an eat our lunch. In the end, eyeballs are immediate payoff, and I used to wonder Prepare to get messy: While our online eyeballs, and we have to capture them why we bothered. But with broadband content team is in the newsroom, our wherever we can. video bearing down like a tornado, digital media operation is a separate everything about this technology has department. That works okay, even if Don’t be afraid to invent jobs: Who would changed. The same for podcasts, which it can sometimes be confusing. The have imagined that a newspaper would we jumped into last year, and YourPix, a digital folks handle the back-shop work, ever create a slot for a multimedia edi- popular photo-sharing site that creates the Web mastering, some advertising, tor? That’s what we did more than a year good user-generated content. Finding and any disruptive content creation not ago. Seth Gitner, a photographer who a way to play with new and emerging connected to the newsroom. In this gravitated early to online, fills that role. technologies is key, even if at first they case, some separation is good, because He’s helping us with video, audio and don’t attract huge audiences or drive they are free to pursue new and more slide shows. We’ve invested heavily in big dollars. radical ideas. video equipment and are building a studio next to the newsroom to allow Interactivity: Play to the medium’s Get everyone to drink the Kool-Aid: us to create, in effect, a guerrilla TV strength. Bring users into the site and Beyond our online team, we have key station, so we can do online video on listen to them. Create message boards. players in the newsroom thinking on- our terms. Build polls. Seek comments. Pay atten- line. Editors know that breaking news So far, this approach has paid off tion to the most-read stories. Bring blogs online is important. Our assistant man- with some stellar multimedia projects, onto the site, including ones written aging editor for content and planning, like “An Unlikely Refuge,” a chronicle of by newspaper staff. Build them around Dwayne Yancey, is intimately involved Bantu resettlement in Roanoke that won strong communities of interest. We were in online ventures. Our managing first place in the 2005 Associated Press slow to buy into blogs because of their editor, Carole Tarrant, who joined us Managing Editors Online Convergence bad-boy reputation. Now we’re looking a year ago, brought with her immense category and “Going Down the Crooked to drill deep in areas with strong local online savvy, creativity and new ideas. Road,” a fascinating multimedia look audiences and use blogs as an interac- It’s vital to have key leaders pushing an at old-time mountain music. Finally, tive reporting tool. Yes, we run them online vision. we recently launched the TimesCast, through an editor’s eye and monitor the an interactive, online video newscast conversations. Next, we plan to pursue Shore up your weaknesses early: with a playful sensibility that posts each and publish in print more user-gener- First, claim the online news ground. weekday afternoon in time to beat our ated content, particularly as community Plant your flag by breaking news online TV competitors. news items. and beating the TV stations. Go ahead and scoop the newspaper. Anecdotal Embrace the waves: More than a decade Work across traditional barriers: In this evidence leads us to believe that break- ago, when I was executive producer of new world, different departments need ing news online leads to more inter- allpolitics.com, we used Vivo, a stream- to communicate and coordinate well, so est in the print product. If we didn’t ing online video software that rendered that means that editors will be talking

54 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival

fort moves from print to online—might occur. The first line, declining steadily over time, captures the commitment of readers to print newspapers. The second one, increasing steadily, shows users going online to get news. At some point in the not-too-distant future, those lines will cross. As we head towards that tipping point, these trend lines let us know that a concomitant shift already needs “Going Down the Crooked Road” provided a multimedia look at old-time mountain to be taking place at our news op- music on the newspaper’s Web site. erations. Gradually, we need to either add or move resources—people and money—from print to online. This a lot with advertising and information Beware of Pitfalls redeployment of resources is one of technology folks. In a recent redesign, the more critical questions ahead. Our for example, we created sellable slots Along the way to achieving this transi- experience tells us that efforts should for advertising, which is crucial to our tion, there are plenty of bumps in the already be underway to make time for business success. Our content creators road. For starters, not everyone in the journalists in the newsroom to experi- are constantly aware of the need to newsroom will embrace the new vision; ment with and learn more about digital work closely with the technology. In it’s a foreign concept for many tradi- storytelling. With good planning, the a traditional newspaper world, such tional journalists, particularly when tradeoffs in this transformation need conversations might seem jarring, but the word “video” is involved, given our not be too harsh or debilitating. in this new environment, it is essential long-seated disdain for our TV brethren. So far, we’ve been fortunate. Our that they take place as we construct a We’ve had some robust discussions, newspaper is consistently ranked new paradigm. This is not always easy driven by a fear that our online efforts among the Top 10 nationwide for for newsroom folks to understand. The will undermine our print credibility. readership, based on the percentage irony, of course, is that newspapers, Editors daily face the difficult decision of adults who regularly read us. (In the world’s chroniclers of change, of whether to ask a reporter to write our case, that number for our core are themselves frightened to death of a breaking news item for online or al- market is 73.5 percent, a loyal reader change, and that fear can often impede low her to continue reporting for the base.) Our corporate culture willingly vital experimentation. Don’t let that print edition. We’ve debated whether embraces change, and we’ve devoted happen. we should scoop our newspaper by real resources to allow our newsroom posting news stories online. We’ve to experiment. But all we’ve done is Maintain journalistic values: As online argued about whether message board still not enough to tell us whether we meshes with journalism, realize that postings should be used in print, and might save the daily newspaper. the two are not separate and apart. we’ve unfortunately allowed some items My hunch, however, is that we can, Journalists’ work is about telling sto- on our blogs that clearly didn’t meet and here’s why: We’re motivated by ries, albeit in different (and exception- our journalistic standards. Currently, a glimmer of optimism rather than a ally powerful) ways. Core journalistic an internal debate is rumbling about pall of fear, and we spy opportunities values must be maintained, for they how much playfulness we can inject in where others might see problems. In the are what lend the news organization the TimesCast without besmirching the end, we’ve decided to try to shape our its credibility, whether in print or on- newspaper’s reputation. future rather than allowing the future line. We should not underestimate the For many of us, this is uncharted to shape us, and that has a calming value of that credibility, because those territory, and as we move into it and ex- influence, particularly in the middle fundamental journalistic principles periment, we discover new boundaries, of the night. I we hold dear—accuracy, verification, and this can lead to a rather disquieting fairness, honesty, context, ethics and tension for many. Michael Riley, a 1995 Nieman Fellow, community service—will become an is editor of The Roanoke (Va.) Times. even more important competitive The Tipping Point The newspaper can be read online at advantage as the Internet morphs and www.roanoke.com people seek sources of news they can Looking at this as an economist, I would trust. No matter where this technology draw a chart with two trend lines to ex- ౧ [email protected] is able to take us, it is essential that plain our future. On this chart, I’d look 1 our strong journalistic foundation be to see where the tipping point—when The video newscast can be watched at preserved. the weight of our news dissemination ef- www.roanoke.com

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 55 Journalist’s Trade Wrong Turns Make a Difficult Situation Worse A journalist lists Top 10 bad decisions editors make when facing cuts in staff.

By Carol Bradley

lot of editors of small- to mid- 8. Less editorial edge: On the edito- with coverage of “real-life moments”— sized dailies are struggling to rial page, inch steadily toward a centrist senior proms, 30-year grade-school A overcome the waves of budget position with the objective of avoiding reunions. Establish monthly quotas for cuts that have swept through news- the alienation of any individual or group these kinds of stories and make it clear rooms in recent years. Chief among to the point that angry readers start can- that no reporter gets off the hook, even their worries is: Will readers notice the celing subscriptions. Become convinced when real news is unfolding on his/her cutbacks? What follows are 10 common that if no one calls to complain about beat. mistakes editors can (and have) made an editorial then that’s a good sign. 3. Swap reporters and beats: Shake in reacting to these cutbacks. 7. Rely on focus groups: Form a focus up the newsroom by swapping reporters 10. Top-down approach: In the face group of readers and assign more weight and beats—and do it without input from of dwindling resources, decide it’s too to its members’ ideas for coverage than your staff. Don’t give a senior reporter risky to trust reporters to unearth the to your gut instinct. Readers often have the chance to argue that he plans to stories of the day. Instead, hold morn- no concept of the public-service man- retire long before he tops the learning ing meetings with middle managers to date newspapers strive to live by. Focus curve on that new technology beat he determine the paper’s contents. Let groups will ask for more coverage of was just assigned. Create enough dis- marching orders flow forth from there the high school girls’ volleyball team or equilibrium and a few of more veteran and ignore entreaties from reporters the best rides at the state fair. Indulge (i.e. higher-priced) reporters might who insist they can sniff out something them their preferences and inevitably decide to leave. Ka-ching! At the very better. Insist that reporters remain in the newspaper will move away from least, morale will be seriously damaged, the newsroom, accessible at all times, bold, grab-’em-by-the-collar coverage and the morning pages will reflect it. unless out on a specific assignment, to toward scrapbook material. 2. Establish story quotas: Generate be there at the editor’s beck and call 6. Create new community-related even more turmoil by establishing story when the next brilliant idea pops into his projects: Expand the definition of a quotas. Some newspapers require an av- or her head, usually around 4:30 p.m. newspaper and play a bigger role in erage of a story a day. To give themselves The result of this thinking will be fewer cosponsoring community events. Bet- time to work on meaty stories, reporters stories unique to the community and ter yet, dream up new projects the will take an item worth a paragraph or more generic stories, the kind that could newspaper can sponsor entirely on its two, stretch it to 15 inches, and call it appear in any newspaper anywhere. own: a bridal extravaganza or a women’s good. 9. Demand more: Let the job freeze expo. “Borrow” the city hall reporter for just announced by the publisher sink a couple of weeks to help coordinate And the Number One mistake: in for a couple of days before dropping the coverage. Hope that no one notices the other shoe: In addition to having to the sudden dearth of stories about city 1. WWCW: Wield as your constant cover for departing colleagues, report- hall. yardstick the mantra WWCW—What ers must add online duties to their job 5. Public special sections: In a Would Corporate Want? Corporate descriptions. Make it clear that evalua- similar vein, compensate for declining would want pretty papers filled with tions and raises will be based in part on revenue by rolling out a series of spe- cute, inoffensive stories. But corporate the number of stories reporters flesh out cial sections: A 10-page tab saluting the has no idea what real news had to be online. Arrange for video interviews and armed services or a medical directory overlooked to serve up the warm-fuzz- have reporters dump their notebooks that’s no more in-depth than the Yellow ies. Stick to pleasing the corporate into sidebars the print version won’t Pages. News columns will be siphoned managers and readers will definitely have room to run. Or add a Q & A on away from the daily paper and reporting notice something lacking in their news- that series on toxic waste dumps. Re- and editing time stolen as well. Gradu- paper—probably its soul. I mind reporters that, incidentally, this is ally, readers’ expectations will adjust not an excuse to let story counts falter. and they will come to see the paper as Carol Bradley, a 2004 Nieman Fel- The result: an immediate increase in less of a public watchdog and more of low, worked as a newspaper reporter shallow, just-the-facts stories because a community “friend.” for 26 years. that’s all that reporters will have time 4. Focus on “real life moments”: Soft- to produce. en the paper’s personality by steeping it ౧ [email protected]

56 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival Community News Drives a Newspaper’s Vigorous Growth ‘We joke about how almost every day maintenance people seem to be assembling another desk.’ By Joe Zelnik

hen I started as editor—one If I had gotten the call from The government, as well as keeping an eye of a two-man news staff—of Philadelphia Inquirer in 1982, I would on the just-opened local community W the Cape May (N.J.) County have run to it. And undoubtedly been college, and by going to about 40 meet- Herald in December 1982, the news- laid off long ago. For as former Inquirer ings each month, we bring news of local paper’s half-dozen other employees reporter Huntly Collins wrote in Nie- interest from 13 of the 16 towns in this seemed a little nervous. Finally one of man Reports last summer, there have county. The paper also carries a healthy them asked me if this meant they would been “successive waves of buyouts” mix of features from reporting about soon be jobless. My reputation had during which “scores of other reporters successful lung transplants to a story preceded me. Twelve months earlier, and editors” have left the Inky. So when about a three-legged dog euthanized the Philadelphia Bulletin, where I was Nieman Reports was recruiting stories because no one would adopt him. We a reporter, ended publication. After about “shrinking newspaper/news- make no effort to cover local sports, failing to achieve everyone’s goal—usu- rooms,” where people are trying to do though we do run some columns on ally this meant a job offer from The more with less, I thought of what could various topics, including one written by Philadelphia Inquirer—I went to the have been and was delighted to instead a 13-year-old who follows NASCAR. editorial page staff of the Buffalo (N.Y.) be able to report on what is. The paper publishes a strong edi- Courier-Express. Six months later, it Nothing is shrinking at the Herald, torial page that includes a “From the closed its doors. which is doing more with more. Last Publisher” and a column I write. Op-ed The Herald, a free distribution, year the paper hired an additional re- pieces can take up to three pages and tabloid-sized weekly newspaper, then porter, a community news editor (and include occasional columns by staffers averaged 20 pages. We worked in a two part-time assistants), a real estate and regular columns by contributors two-room hovel just south of the bridge editor (and one assistant). Growth is who include a high-school sophomore going over the canal into Cape May. If similar in other departments. We joke and a college freshman. We publish someone wanted to use the bathroom, about how almost every day mainte- about 250 letters each year. I had to get up from my desk and let nance people seem to be assembling Perhaps our most widely read fea- them by. Since then, there have been another desk. ture is something we call “Spout Off,” several physical moves as the staff and a column that publishes anonymous newspaper have expanded; the Herald The Value of Local News call-in, write-in, e-mail opinions on offices are now in a modern office build- almost every subject. This column re- ing in Rio Grande, New Jersey, and the The Herald apparently is doing some- ceives hundreds of submissions a week company is in the process of buying a thing right. All local news? Or is it that and maybe a third of them survive our building next door that will double the nothing can compare or compete with selection process. On our Web site, this square footage. a community newspaper? Actually, we column is interactive, with little attempt The paper is still tabloid size, still have “competition” from a daily news- made by us to edit them. free, and still a weekly community paper, local TV station, a few radio Owner-publisher Art Hall embraces newspaper, running as many as 100 stations that rip and read, and four or the Internet as an opportunity, not a pages with 35-40 percent news. Rows five weeklies. Many communities have threat, and has had developed an all- of journalism awards, for editorial and their own Web sites, as do all of our new Web site1 with all sorts of interactive advertising, line the walls. The newspa- media competitors. None of this has opportunities. Several summer publica- per is available Wednesday morning at slowed the Herald’s growth. Advertis- tions—this is a tourism county—are several hundred locations. Among the ing—display and classified—is up and being merged into an all-new weekend busiest is the Herald building where, with it our news hole. edition. This paper designed the soft- we say without hyperbole, people stand Our news coverage is heavy into lo- ware for its own classified management in the rain or snow to wait for it. Well, cal government. I, along with five other system that has enjoyed phenomenal some people. reporters, report on all facets of county success and is being pitched to other

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 57 Journalist’s Trade

newspapers. that are best communicated that way,” Joe Zelnik, a 1970 Nieman Fellow, is As the new kid on the block, the as the publisher wrote recently. editor of the Cape May (N.J.) County Internet is getting a lot of attention at As a lifelong print guy, I note with Herald. the Herald. But it is seen as one element satisfaction that this newspaper recently of an integrated approach, in which replaced the three trucks that were used ౧ [email protected] news and information “best conveyed to deliver the paper. Each replacement in print” will be in the newspaper, and was larger, to accommodate the antici- 1www.capemaycountyherald.com/ what will go on the Web are “the things pated increase in circulation. I Will the Meaning of Journalism Survive? ‘Journalism educators are in a state of disquiet, if not distress, at their students’ lack of the broad background essential for independent journalism.’

By Melvin Mencher

he question no longer is whether The technical preparation is more knowledgeable reporter who is able the newspaper will endure but than adequate. I am not as certain of to develop ideas that guide his or her T whether the kind of news that the intellectual preparation. questions and observations. Despite all is essential to a functioning democracy Journalism training, to which I have the sophisticated equipment reporters will survive. Studies of the reading habits devoted the past 40 years, increas- might haul to an assignment, they are of the young conclude that the drift from ingly centers on the techniques and limited by the background knowledge print to screen is steady and irrevers- the technology crucial to news delivery that guides their reporting. The Brit- ible and that the interests of the 18-34 in this electronic age. Students are ish scientist W.I.B. Beveridge said that demographic may well generate a news being taught to prepare news for a developing ideas or hypotheses helps budget heavily slanted to the popular variety of platforms. Writing is aimed a person “see the significance of an culture and the quick read. at the two-line/sentence screen reader. object or event that otherwise would Whether this key demographic For reporting, pad and pencil will be mean nothing.” Or, as a former editor group will have an interest in “a truth- supplemented, possibly replaced, with a of Time magazine, Thomas Griffith, put ful, comprehensive and intelligent ac- megapixel still and digital video camera, it, reporting is “conjecture subject to count of the day’s events in a context digital audio recorder, laptop computer, verification.” The political writer Irving that gives them some meaning,” as the digital cell phone, and half a dozen Kristol said, “A person doesn’t know Hutchins Commission on Freedom of other pieces of hardware. Given the what he has seen unless he knows what the Press described the obligation of cutbacks in staffing, the future reporter he is looking for.” journalism, is uncertain. Equally un- cannot count on being accompanied by Without wide-ranging knowledge, certain is whether the new generation a photographer or any other technician journalists are forced to rely on flacks of journalists, most of them graduates on assignment. He or she will have to or, at best, engage in “he said, she said” of journalism programs, will be able go solo, which adds further emphasis journalism. to supply the public with a meaningful to the need for wide technical train- Journalism educators are in a state of news account. Sower and reaper are ing. Since the journalism curriculum disquiet, if not distress, at their students’ locked in a troubling embrace. is limited by its accrediting association, lack of the broad background essential Journalism is “the quintessential this additional technology instruction for independent journalism. An instruc- knowledge profession,” says Vartan squeezes out content, subject matter. tor told me she listed Charles Darwin in Gregorian, president of the Carnegie a quiz in which students were asked to Corporation of New York, which re- What’s Missing? identify the subject and tell why he/she cently funded an effort to improve is in the news. “Out of 10 students, only journalism education, and as such The widening of instruction in technol- two identified Darwin—both said he “deserves the best educated and trained ogy by many programs recalls Thoreau’s had something to do with ‘survival of the practitioners.” Less clear to Gregorian is warning about our becoming the tools fittest.’ Nobody mentioned the theory “whether our graduate and undergradu- of our tools, or T. S. Eliot’s observation, of evolution. In a follow-up discussion, ate programs in journalism provide ad- “We had the experience but missed the most knew nothing about the brouhaha equate intellectual and technical prepa- meaning.” over intelligent design.” ration to meet those challenges.” The reporting process centers on the Another instructor suggested I drop

58 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival a reference to Walt Whitman in a sec- “skimmable.” As it is, student reading they don’t want war coverage or for- tion on writing in the next edition of matter is confined to textbooks, many eign coverage or to see poverty in their my journalism textbook. “Keep Stephen of which nowadays are accompanied by communities?” King,” he wrote. “Drop Whitman. My a CD-ROM that duplicates the text, and students have never heard of him.” to the screen. Andrea Panciera, online Does any of this really matter in the From another: “I expend precious time editor of The Providence Journal, says scheme of things? Associate Justice Ste- explaining such matters as the fact that on her visits to campuses “nobody is phen Breyer thinks it does. He writes World War II followed World War I.” reading the newspaper.” that the First Amendment should be David T.Z. Mindich, a journalism Not to worry about the decline of the understood “as seeking to facilitate a instructor at St. Michael’s College in newspaper, argue the optimists. There’s conversation that will encourage the Vermont, begins his book “Tuned Out: cable TV, the insatiably curious bloggers, informed participation in the electoral Why Americans Under 40 Don’t Follow and many excellent magazines whose process.” But then there is the observa- the News,” by recalling a quiz he gave correspondents do a good job of dig- tion of John G. Roberts, Jr., now chief his students when the Supreme Court ging. To which a journalism instructor justice, then a White House associate had ruled on the Florida Bush-Gore vote in Nebraska responds, “But I defy any- counsel in the Reagan administration. count and John Ashcroft was nominated one to show me how I can get reliable, In a memorandum dated August 28, for attorney general. He writes: “Of 23 thorough, unbiased information about 1985, Roberts said he favored relaxing students, 18 could not identify even one my schools, my city, my county, even my the standards established by the Su- Supreme Court justice. Only one could state government if my newspaper has preme Court in New York Times Co. v. name the attorney general nominee. abdicated its responsibility to provide Sullivan libel case. Most revealing of all, four wrote that that. Where do I find that on the Web? Forty years ago, which Mindich dates the attorney general was Colin Powell; On TV?” as the beginning of the decline of in- it is likely they homed in on the word The answer might lie in a comment terest in news, the British philosopher ‘general,’ reflecting a total ignorance of by Andrew Heyward when he was presi- Stuart Hampshire worried that we were what an attorney general is or does.” dent of CBS News: “There is a broader, heading for an “ice age of not caring Mindich observes that “young people new definition of news that we will need … passivity and nonattachment, in a no longer see the need to keep up with to develop for this next generation.” general spreading coldness.” Perhaps the news.” The result, he continues, This new definition may be closer to the cold wind blowing is what many of is that “America is facing the greatest the observations of Rupert Murdoch us now feel. I exodus of informed citizenship in its than to those of Dean Baquet, editor history.” of the Los Angeles Times: Melvin Mencher, a 1953 Nieman Textbook publishers are aware of the Fellow, is professor emeritus at the state of the student mind. They consider Murdoch: “[Young readers] want Graduate School of Journalism at today’s freshman the equivalent of a control over their media instead of be- Columbia University. The 10th edi- high school junior of a few decades ing controlled by it. … Too often, the tion of his book, “News Reporting back and want textbooks simplified. question we ask is: ‘Do we have the and Writing,” was published by Mc- The author of a copyediting textbook story?’ Rather than: ‘Does anyone want Graw Hill Higher Education in 2006. told me that her publisher asked that in the story?’” her next edition she reduce the “read- Baquet: “It’s not always our job to ౧ [email protected] ing matter” and try to make it more give readers what they want. What if Teaching Journalism for an Unknown Future Journalism professors work to align essential skills with emerging technology.

By Peg Finucane

magine the world 65 million years disappearing. Smaller, more nimble in this imaginary world would look at ago, where great, lumbering dino- creatures were gathering the best leaves the other beasts and try to find a way Isaurs roamed. Imagine that some and refusing to stand still long enough to survive; if this happened, we know of them heard a warning, deep within to be killed and eaten. Some would they did not succeed. their small, unevolved brains, that they ignore it: How could the largest beasts In the media world today, newspapers were about to become extinct. The on earth all die? Some would worry, but are the great, lumbering dinosaurs. For climate was changing. Their food was go on with their lives. Perhaps a few almost 40 years, we have been hearing

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 59 Journalist’s Trade

warnings that newspapers were about both fair and accurate; how to interest This generation of students knows to become extinct. But many journalists an audience through active language, how to communicate in this era of and educators have ignored them, even compelling narrative, and precise de- round-the-clock deadlines; we need as papers have died and others suffered tails; how to avoid libel or copyright to show them how to tailor their en- drastic cuts in a triage effort to stay alive issues. We discuss the same issues, ergy to communicate with mass audi- or increase profits. practical and philosophical, including ences, maybe even in service of the First As an educator with almost 30 years news judgment, history, ethics and the Amendment. experience in the newspaper business, I importance of communication for indi- sometimes think of myself as a dinosaur viduals, community and culture. The Converging Future who has learned to use tools. My col- On the second point, there is major- leagues and I are trying to teach the next ity approval, if not unanimity. It is hard Many of us remember the transitions generation how to evolve quickly while for some print dinosaurs to admit that from hot type to cold type and from retaining the best parts of our dinosaur other media might serve their audiences typewriters to word processors. If we culture. We are training them for both as well as newspapers. Most journalists squint myopically into the past we’re the current, rapidly evolving world and are not early adapters to innovations. bound to see reporters and editors a near future of changed media. We are But almost all newspapers, even the who resisted these changes before be- training some students who will gradu- smallest, have established a presence on ing forced to adapt, plus a few who left ate and assume traditional jobs, but we the Web by now. In its early form, this the news business rather than change. are training others for jobs that haven’t presence generally is no more than a The transition now from print journal- even been invented. straight transfer of stories and pictures ist to multimedia journalist is meeting from the newspaper to a Web site. Web the same resistance throughout the Passing on Necessary Skills readers get no more or less than their industry, primarily from the over-40 neighbors who read ink on paper. As crowd, who might feel they’ve changed There is no blueprint for this effort, and newspaper Web sites become more so- enough. Some of these journalists are many newspapers cannot define what phisticated, newspaper staff members taking buyouts or retiring early in part they want our journalism graduates are pulled inexorably toward digital because they’re not sure they want to to know or do. Do they want writers? journalism as they are asked to edit Web jump onto the good ship convergence. Interviewers? Storytellers? Multimedia content, report special or additional Many others are reserving judgment or producers? Chat room monitors? Com- features, or even join online chats or trying to ignore this new technological munity developers? Podcast recorders? podcasts. Not surprisingly, these staff future, fearing and rejecting the Inter- The newspapers don’t know, and nei- members find they are doing the same net and other digital tools just as their ther do we. Yet in committee meetings work, but the end product just looks predecessors first ignored and then and conversations, my colleagues and I different—and it might not appear on opposed the introduction of radio and find important points of agreement that the front porch at all. then television as news media. form the foundations of our teaching: The third point, flexibility, is complex. Thus, the area of least consensus I’ve never heard anyone argue against among journalism educators and prac- • Good journalism—good writing flexibility, but it’s clear that not everyone titioners involves the tools we use to and editing—is just as important as thinks change is good per se. Change produce news and other information ever. is often seen not as evolution, but as for our audience. Some of my col- • Good journalism works in all media— criticism or rejection of older ways; leagues in academia, like Hofstra’s Carol the delivery methods might change, therefore, this change might be easier Fletcher, who heads a committee study- but the content must be informative, for journalism students to embrace than ing convergence, believe we should interesting and reliable. for middle-aged professors and journal- expose students “to as many different • Flexibility—the ability to manage ists. Remember, our students are the technologies and strategies for storytell- change rather than being over- children of the baby boomers—many ing as possible, without sacrificing the whelmed by it—is required for sur- of whom are included in the decreased fundamentals.” To guarantee this expo- vival. newspaper readership tracked since sure, many universities have developed the 1960’s. Few of our students, even converged newsrooms or, like mine, are Agreement on the first point is unani- the print majors, come from newspa- working to develop one. mous. We teach the same reporting skills per-reading households. They don’t Many, including me, also try to em- today that my professors taught me years read newspapers every day unless we phasize that the reporting skills and ago: What is news? How do journalists threaten them with news quizzes, yet values useful in print are useful in all find information, ask questions, talk to they are constantly gathering and shar- media and that all the “rules” stay the real people, or talk to newsmakers and ing information: online at desks, laptops same whether the story is on paper or their professional handlers? And we and PDA’s; texting or taking pictures onscreen. This is the lead and the bot- teach the same writing skills: how to with their cell phones, sometimes even tom line for journalism educators. A organize a story; how to make a story starring on their Webcams. large part of our mission remains the

60 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival same: producing quality people who notorious Matt Drudge has asserted that of our industry as it’s happening and will produce good journalism, whatever “Anyone with a modem can report on help them to manage change. But as their job titles or specs. the world,” he also has admitted that his Professor Steven Knowlton, another col- “There is always going to be a need for original reporting may be accurate only league and former ink-stained wretch, content, and honest reporters provide 80 percent of the time. Unless we want said, “Journalism is still journalism and the best, most reliable, most trustworthy to cede the powerful tools provided by biased, unsourced junk is still biased, content,” according to Carol R. Rich- the Internet to nonjournalistic informa- unsourced junk.” It remains our task ards, recently retired deputy editorial tion purveyors like Drudge, we must to teach the difference. I page editor at Newsday on Long Island. teach young journalists to understand “Newspapers have a product of great the visual and digital world, plus yet- Peg Finucane, a 1985 Nieman Fellow, value, particularly in a marketplace unseen technologies, and to use these is an assistant professor of journal- where there’s so much content and to produce and distribute good journal- ism and media studies at Hofstra so little of it is thoroughly vetted,” she ism—news gathered and sourced with University’s School of Communica- said, even if “how we deliver it in the the traditional values. tion in Hempstead, New York. She future is unclear.” In other words, while parts of the was an editor for 29 years at vari- The difficulty is not only in maintain- journalistic world are changing rapidly, ous newspapers, most recently at ing that reliable, trustworthy content, in full color, ear-splitting audio and Newsday on Long Island. Her recent but also in convincing the audience eye-catching video, other parts remain research focuses on newspaper edi- that the journalists producing it still more essential than ever. We dinosaurs tors’ reaction to and acceptance of are different, dare I say better, than are still teaching our students all of the new media. bloggers, interest-group commenta- old tricks while preparing them to learn tors, or citizen monitors. Although the new ones; we can explain the evolution ౧ [email protected] Damaging Ripple Effects of Newsroom Cutbacks ‘In previous downturns, rookie reporters reinvigorated the newsroom; now, there might not be any quality, young journalists to take over.’

By Joel Kaplan t’s not news to anyone who teaches students still flock to journalism. Public relations majors, and almost 400 majors journalism that the allure and pres- relations and advertising might get the in television, radio and film. Itige of being a journalist long ago numbers now, but we get the smartest, Given the state of journalism, it vanished. For the past 10 years we’ve most aggressive, and most committed probably is not a bad thing that so few seen a steady stream of those who enter students. These are the students who of our students are deciding to major even the more prestigious communi- are still captivated by our showing the in it. After all, in this age of newsroom cations schools planning to become movie, “All the President’s Men.” (Some cutbacks if we had as many newspaper journalists switching to alternative ma- still read the book, though only if as- majors as public relations majors we jors within the school, including film, signed.) These students also tend to would be hearing from parents who advertising and the current favorite, read and watch each year’s Investigative have shelled out more than $150,000 public relations. Reporters and Editors’ award-winning in tuition, room and board over four This movement away from journal- series. years and now want to know why their ism has been periodically explained This year only about 100 of the New- kids can’t even get jobs as stringers for by a number of factors: more money; house students are newspaper majors weekly newspapers. better hours; more money; less stress; out of 1,850 undergraduates. Almost Because of the small numbers, virtu- more money; better working condi- twice that amount are magazine majors. ally all of our students who want to be tions, and more money. Still, during We still have more than 300 broadcast newspaper reporters or copyeditors get the past decade my colleagues and I at journalism majors, though students to be. And some of them find jobs on the Newhouse School of Public Com- who want to follow Marv Albert, Bob great (or used to be great) newspapers. munications at Syracuse University have Costas, and Mike Tirico into sports Others have their choice of several pres- justified this noticeable outflow from broadcasting dominate that group. tigious internships, which often turn our favored profession by rationalizing In contrast, we now have nearly 300 into full-time jobs. And for the most that the best and the brightest of our advertising majors, another 300 public part, they excel. They do great because

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 61 Journalist’s Trade

they received a good deal of personal- day’s current events quiz. “Fantastic Five,” and they undertook a ized attention in college, did several How do I know this? Those free spirited investigation of the Syracuse Po- internships over their college career, boxes of The New York Times and USA lice Department and produced a terrific and because they are bright, motivated Today remain full on Fridays—the day series that ran in the school newspaper.) and inquisitive students. when there are hardly any journalism Still, only two of those five will probably classes. end up in journalism. Students and News These are some very discouraging Here is what one of those students signs as newspapers and other news wrote on our listserv: But events of the past year are hav- organizations try to figure out a way to ing a profound effect on this cadre of produce quality journalism in this era “Why do I feel like I’m the only news- students. It appears that newspapers of significant downsizing. paper major who is looking forward are now making the same mistake to working in the newsroom after I with their future employees that they Business Changes Affect graduate in December? Of the under- made with their old clients—the read- Student Choices grad newspaper students in my three ers. Newspapers took their readers for Newhouse classes this semester, I can granted and now have fewer and fewer, But what I believe is even more frighten- count on one hand the number of stu- particularly younger ones. It is so rare ing is the impact these changes are hav- dents who are looking for a long-term on a college campus to see students ing on future journalists. Let me share career in journalism. Sixty percent of reading a newspaper even though on one e-mail our newspaper listserv re- students in one newspaper class I took our campus, like many others, they get cently received from an undergraduate last semester are headed for either grad The New York Times and USA Today contemplating changing her major: or law school in May. One senior with for free. (The cost comes out of their a healthy newspaper resumé recently student fees, for those of you seeking “So I’ll admit it, I’m not sure about announced that he is headed for poli- another circulation scandal.) a future in journalism. This week tics where he’s going to make so much The truth is that most students no Woodward gets grilled for protecting money that one day he will be able to longer care about news, period. They sources, the L. Times cuts 85 newsroom ‘buy me’ as a reporter. Other senior think news no longer affects them or employees, the Chicago Tribune cuts newspaper majors are even choosing their lifestyle. If something important 100, and Knight Ridder goes up for uncertainty over journalism. This idea is happening in the world, then they sale. On top of all of this, Google an- has infected fresh newspaper alums too are sure to find out about it from their nounces plans for Google Base, which in at least two cases where people are friends, teachers or parents—in one of has the potential to replace just about looking to ‘get out of newspapers’ as the four cell phone conversations per any written periodical anywhere. I’m though the career is some poverty-rid- day they have with them. Instead of concerned. I think many of us are. I was den country plagued by an oppressive sneaking a peak at a newspaper during just wondering if there was anyone who dictatorship.” class, they are more likely to be glanc- could provide an explanation I haven’t ing down at their cell phone (put on already heard providing a reason why Journalism appears to be losing some vibrate) to see the latest text message I shouldn’t be [unsure about a future committed students who were on the from a friend. When class is over, they in journalism.]” verge of entering its workforce. But the don’t take out a newspaper or magazine reverberations of this past year go far or glance at the latest news from CNN. Certainly that comment is not un- beyond that. Newhouse Dean David Instead, they take their iPod from their usual. Similar sentiments probably Rubin, who teaches about 75 fresh- backpack, put the earphones on, and echo across many newsrooms. But the men in a general survey course, has a go grab a cup of coffee. difference is that a bright 20-year-old group of women in the class who have This is true even of those hardcore, said this and not a jaded 55-year-old dubbed themselves the “Jumping Ship” committed journalism students who checking out his 401(k) statement. In students. They all came to Newhouse were editors of their high school news- previous downturns, rookie reporters to major in broadcast journalism, and papers (at least those high schools who reinvigorated the newsroom; now, they have all decided to leave the major. still have newspapers) or ran the high there might not be any quality, young Among the reasons they cited: general school television station. Even those journalists to take over. working conditions, including the in- students see the assignment of reading Last year, in my advanced reporting ability to have a life outside of work; a daily newspaper the equivalent of class, our most rigorous course for low salaries in small markets where reading a chapter of a textbook. Most journalism majors, I started out with they are unwilling to live; the entertain- journalism professors require at least 13 students. Within one week, it was ment nature of the business including one newspaper to be read each day by down to five. The students simply did the focus on soft news, and the general all members of their class. The result is not want to put in the time and effort uncertainty about the future of news. that those papers are only read on the required of the class. (I can’t complain, I fear that the difference between days of class in order to prepare for that I dubbed the remaining students the today and past newsroom recessions

62 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Newspapers’ Survival is that in the past there was a strong And some of our students see the cur- fewer talented writers and top-notch cadre of young journalists ready and rent crisis as an opportunity. As one of reporters will aspire to journalism ca- willing to do battle for low pay and our freshman journalism majors wrote, reers. And that would be the saddest under harsh conditions when media “The Internet and new technology pres- development of all. I companies began to hire again. All in- ent significant challenges. This problem dications make me think that this time, should make us excited, because it is Joel Kaplan, a 1985 Nieman Fellow, what lies ahead for newsrooms will be our generation that will be given the is associate dean for professional very different. chance to reinvent the newspaper. It’s graduate studies at the Newhouse Is this depressing enough? It should up to us to come up with a solution to School of Public Communications at be. But there is hope on the horizon. the problem, something that’s never Syracuse University. Innovative journalism schools are trying been tried before.” to teach students how to cope with the Still, unless companies that now own ౧ [email protected] changing technological and economics news operations embrace that enthusi- dynamics of the modern-day newsroom. asm and take some chances, fewer and Preserving What It Is Newsrooms Do A teacher challenges his students ‘to devise a proposal for the protection of newsroom independence and integrity’ in a changing media environment.

By Stanley Flink

t was more than 20 years ago that kind of “vox populi” in the tradition of discussed various texts (Confucius, I began teaching a seminar called free expression protected by the First Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) on the origin I“Ethics and the Media” at New Amendment. I don’t quarrel with that of ethical principles, on the evolution York University School of Journalism. assumption, but I ask them to consider of freedom of expression and politi- In 1985, these graduate students read the challenge of arriving at some kind cal discourse (Milton, Kant, Mill), and newspapers and newsmagazines with of consensus, to say nothing about about the critical importance of a free some regularity and, though computers truth, out of multitudinous voices and press in the formation of the United were in wide use, they were not nearly hidden agendas. States (the Founding Fathers and the so pervasive as they have become. Dur- As part of our classroom discussion, constitutional debates). ing our discussions of ethical issues, I I’ve asked them to consider how these With sadness I must acknowledge asked students to think of themselves forms of “new media” might replicate that during all of my years of teaching as a hypothetical editorial board, and the efforts of mainstream news organiza- “Ethics and the Media,” I’ve encoun- this was something they could do with tions that employ experienced reporters tered among the students little knowl- ease. and editors engaged in the difficult busi- edge of American history, particularly When, in the 1990’s, I moved the ness of producing reliable information in regard to the constitutional issues course to Yale, a dramatic shift from on a daily basis. In a question I put to my that are inseparable from the role of the print to cable television and online hypothetical 2005 editorial board mem- press in assuring an informed elector- services was already happening. Dur- bers, I asked if they regard the generic ate. The concept that a nation defines ing the past five years, not more than newsroom as an entity portable from itself by the deal it strikes with its press a handful of undergraduates in this print to television to Internet. (To ask is not commonly discussed these days seminar have read the news on paper the question a bit differently, I wanted but, most simply put, no government or watched network news. They were to know if they support a process of can function as a democracy if it does (and are) dependent on the Internet truth-seeking by talented and skilled not permit unfettered freedom of ex- and are increasingly interested in blogs, practitioners working together with pression. In this context, students read those self-anointed online sites largely the assistance of technology, but not Walter Lippmann’s “Public Opinion” given to opinion on public affairs and in thrall to it.) The class—average age, and Alexander Bickel’s “The Morality of lately devoted to highlighting errors 20—voted in the affirmative. Consent.” And as a class, we examined or falsity in mainstream reporting. I next challenged them to devise a two critical Supreme Court cases—New Students, who seem usually to seek proposal for the protection of news- York Times Co. v. Sullivan, which elimi- out blogs with opinions in concert with room independence and integrity. To nated sedition charges as a means of their own, credit blogs with being a prepare for that project, they read and silencing the press, and the Pentagon

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 63 Journalist’s Trade

Papers case, which confronted national Add to this conundrum the realization are supplied by newsroom personnel, security issues not unlike those being that awakening and reawakening the and the fund will balance the fact that debated in regard to global terrorism. public to moral standards has never stock options, offered to others in the Finally, we visited the long-neglected, been a natural pastime for journalists corporation, are inappropriate for re- 1947 Hutchins Commission report, “A in a competitive marketplace. porters and editors who might have to Free and Responsible Press,” which laid Nonetheless the students were learn- cover the activities of separate interests out moral requirements still timely more ing that newsrooms, which are generic owned by their parent company. than half a century later. centers of newsgathering, editing and Clearly media organizations contrib- editorializing, are confronted today with uting to a “Newsroom Fund” will have Protecting the Newsroom great uncertainty. As traditional media earned the trust of the public—whatever outlets and publications seek a base technology is used to reach them. To All of this preceded the attempt to in cyberspace, the economic viability keep that trust, the students agreed, craft a proposal to protect the modern of newsrooms suffers. But this does requires independence and financial vi- newsroom from the budgetary and not alter the fact that only vigorous, ability. Ultimately, the confidence of the technological forces that are buffeting independent reporting can counter consumer will attach to the news orga- it today. Though I acknowledged from the charge that the First Amendment nizations that demonstrate consistent, the start that much of what we were is being used to reinforce concentra- uncompromising ethical standards. contemplating wore a tinge of romanti- tion of private power in the hands of In composing our proposal, we ad- cism, I said that should not discourage conglomerates that now control cable opted three suggestions made in 2002 thoughtful resolve. And it didn’t. Some to newspaper companies by the Ad Hoc of the goals offered by the class, how- Committee on the Press, comprised ever, were unrealistic. Not much has changed— of nine well-known senior journalists. In the first draft, the students envi- These were: Outside directors, with sioned a very substantial foundation to except the stakes. editorial experience, to monitor the be funded by the media corporations quality of news operations; outside (and perhaps other benefactors) for directors to supervise newsroom com- the purpose of subsidizing salary in- pensation policy, and prohibition of creases for journalists who produced and television, telephone and computer stock options for newsroom staff and outstanding work. The notion that large networks, as well as some publishing outside directors. corporations would donate millions franchises. Irrefutably, the power to The Hutchins Commission report to an outside organization that might distribute information is potentially the prophetically observed: “The quality of reward some of their employees, or power to select content. the press depends in large part upon the the employees of other corporations, With these thoughts in mind, the capacity and independence of the work- was not explored with much sophis- “board members” turned to a more ing members in the lower ranks. At the tication. practical approach involving an internal present time their wages and prestige Back to the drawing board. In the fund. They were prompted to head in are low and their tenure precarious. second draft, they lowered their sights. this direction by a reminder I made of Adequate recognition and adequate Up for discussion this time was an in- the kind of communication with which contracts seem to us an indispensable ternal fund that could be managed by they are most familiar—the Internet— prerequisite to the development of outside directors at each corporation and a suggestion that they research the professional personnel.” who would have editorial experience growth of online services already offered Not much has changed—except the and primary responsibility for news- by major media organizations. These stakes. The question looming largest room compensation. The fund would include archival materials, research and now concerns the dangers of extreme reward excellence based on the judg- analysis, maps, photographs, videos and political fragmentation and the increas- ment of experts. This would enhance DVDs. Fees are, or soon will be, charged ing individual isolation. If a social individual careers, but in the students’ for these services as well as, on some compact is to survive in the digital view it would also be emblematic of the news sites, payment to read specific age, it will need the help of dedicated parent corporation’s commitment. daily content. And advertisers are using newsrooms. I We began a conversation about the these media Web sites because of the unique status of news organizations, precision with which specific audiences Stanley Flink is a lecturer in politi- which are private enterprises with a can be targeted. cal science at Yale University and constitutional protection. There is no The students’ final proposal recom- author of “Sentinel Under Siege: The other business with a similar obligation mends that some reasonable portion Triumphs and Troubles of America’s to serve the public interest. But the irony of online revenues should go to the Free Press” (Westview/Perseus Books, of ethical and enterprising journalism “Newsroom Fund.” Their reasoning in 1997). is that what is in the public interest selecting this revenue base was two-fold: does not always interest the public. Most or all of the material and services ౧ joy.fl[email protected]

64 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 TasksFrontline and Training Editor New Metaphors Needed for Changing Roles ‘It is time for some new language to describe the role and value of the assigning editor. Even the job title is dated and limiting.’

By Jacqui Banaszynski

onsider the fifth Beatle. Skip past us and how we see ourselves. It is time (brief it and put it inside). They’ve got the tedious Paul McCartney-and- for some new language to describe the single-engine stories and jumbo jets CWings riff. Go back to the core. role and value of the assigning editor. out there. They’re adjusting for sudden The Fab Four: John, Paul, George and Even the job title is dated and limiting. weather or mechanical failures. They’re Ringo. And … ? There was a day when assigning editors “managing” the incredible expertise and The concept of the fifth Beatle is so did that and little more: They assigned, oft-connected ego of pilot/writers. They embedded in pop culture that it has often in a bark: “Hey, you! Press confer- work among chaos and cacophony, have been parodied by “Saturday Night Live” ence starts in five minutes. File in-takes little time to plan, are responsible for and “The Simpsons.” Charles Manson to the desk. Make sure you get a quote situations beyond their control, and once laid claim to the title. Yoko Ono from the mayor. Keep it short. And don’t don’t dare schedule a bathroom break. might as well have, to the chagrin of get fancy on me.” And talk about deadlines! many fans, as did a long list of musicians But that job long ago expanded to But those metaphors lag behind the who sat in with the band before—or one that just keeps on expanding. Some real life of the 21st century assigning after—it became the band. newsrooms have given a nod to that editor, with their focus on crisis man- But who was it really? The question change by changing the job’s name: agement. Leadership, creativity, even never fails to launch an impassioned Team leader. Story editor. Line editor. journalism get lost. boomer debate, but usually acknowl- Frontline editor. Supervising editor. All edges four true contenders: Bass gui- touch on rough aspects of the job—but Language Catches Up to tarist Stuart Sutcliffe, who was, indeed, none speak to the complexities or to Reality the fifth member of the group before the whole. Does a team leader edit? the band became famous; drummer Does a line editor lead? It’s a bit like A small group of assigning editors who Pete Best, who kept the beat before the the old story about the elephant in the met in 2005 at the Poynter Institute as Beatles picked up a contract and Ringo living room: People standing around part of the Frontline Editors Project Starr; manager Brian Epstein, the guy can only touch and describe one part, was asked to describe what their jobs who made all the mundane backstage but no one can get their arms around have become. [See John Greenman’s stuff happen so all the magical onstage the whole beast. article on page 71.] Their lists were stuff could, or producer George Martin, Think of the metaphors we default long, revealing and self-contradictory. a musical savant most often credited to. The most common: traffic cop. As- The red-meat veteran journalist is now with creating the Beatles’ groundbreak- signing editors keep traffic moving, also a coach and teacher. Great reporter- ing sound. minimize fender-benders, clear the writers must don the hats of adminis- So what does any of this have to do crosswalk for pedestrians, and prevent tration, management and leadership. with journalism? Consider not who any really big wrecks. (The stories get News judgment is no more important the fifth Beatle was, but what it was: a assigned and into the paper, report- than people judgment. The pit bull must powerful metaphor. The anonymous ers are kept busy and most names are become sheep dog, herding up, down guy behind the scenes. The genius who spelled right, the big story du jour gets and sideways. They juggle reporters’ pulls it all together and makes the parts a little extra time and—whew!—no one eggshell egos with readers’ needs. work better as a whole. The people who is libeled.) Now ask traditional “word people” to stand in and back up and get things Put some altitude behind that learn visual language. Demand mastery started and go away and never get bill- metaphor: air traffic controller. Same of video, audio and online production. ing and rarely take a bow. job, but faster pace and higher stakes. And insist they understand not just Now consider newsroom assigning They’ve got six, or 16, stories circling journalism—but the business model editors. Sound familiar? for a landing. They need to make light- of journalism. If language has power—and in ning-speed judgments: what order to When asked to put their jobs in journalism it should—what we call bring them down in, which to hold metaphorical language, the frontlin- something determines how we regard for midair refueling (more reporting), ers at Poynter described a multiple it. Metaphors shape how the world sees which to divert to a smaller airport personality:

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 65 Frontline Editor

• Priest-rabbi-guru-shrink, bartender- you hear a young reporter claim their They are forces of nature, providing cabdriver-scout leader: the people ambition is to be an assigning editor? calm in the midst of chaos and creating who offer comfort, guidance and Even if they honor the job, they don’t energy in the midst of a lull. They are wisdom, who listen, drive, nurture. see it as much fun. the pilots whose steadiness lets great • Triage doctors in the emergency The challenges are more than anec- reporters wing walk and the ground room: They decide which stories go dotal. A sophisticated “profile” of assign- control crew that lets great writers soar. to the front of the line, which get a ing editors at the frontliners’ meeting They can be the physical manifestation few limbs lopped off, and which die showed that the jobs demand a dizzying of faith—the ones who still believe in for lack of time and equipment. array of almost contradictory skills: stories, even when the writers lose • Salvage artists: They take notebook creative and analytical, administrative their way; the ones who believe in the dumps on deadline and transform and emotional, strategic and fast. The readers, even when circulation flags; them into something publishable. profiling firm said it has never seen a the ones who practice journalism as a job that included so many vital tasks that public service, day in and day out. The frontliners also applied some all had to be done in a minimal amount New language might help top editors acerbic wit to their metaphorical roles: of time. In other words: a job in which and reporters alike see that they can’t The guardrail on the interstate. The oil almost everything truly is a priority. function very well or very long without to the engine. Or this one: Duct tape. Good people are stumbling under good assigning editors. And the right (“It’s cheap, it holds things together, these burdens. And words alone aren’t metaphors—positive, creative, power- and it works in any situation.”) going to change that reality. But words ful ones—might help assigning editors, Senior editors across the United might hold the power to reflect the job as toiling in those anonymous, impossible States agree, at least in theory, that it has evolved and to respect the power jobs, stand a little taller. Which brings assigning desks are the make-or-break it has to create the atmosphere in which us back to the fifth Beatle. Where would center of their newsrooms. Good great journalism thrives. Good frontline John, Paul, George or Ringo be without frontliners can make the day’s report, editors do much more than shovel and him? Whoever he, or she, is. I a so-so idea sparkle, a serviceable story save. They conceive and create. They sing. Bad ones can break the flow of are patient problem-solvers and nimble Jacqui Banaszynski spent almost 15 production, the chain of communica- jugglers. They do their jobs with cour- years as an editor at newspapers in tion, the spirit of a reporter. Those age and compassion. They often do it St. Paul, Minnesota, Portland, Or- same editors will tell you their assign- with a sense of humor. egon and Seattle, Washington. She ing desks are often the weakest parts So how about some new metaphors holds the Knight Chair in Editing at of their newsrooms, that the jobs are that speak to that rich reality? Assigning the University of Missouri School of the hardest to hire and promote into, editors are honest brokers, linking the Journalism. and that many people in the job move reporter and the newsroom, the writer up, flare out, or flounder. How often do and the reader, the story and the system. ౧ [email protected] Moments Illustrate the Lives of Frontline Editors

Mae Cheng, regional editor at News- always realized when the number of understood his angst. His feature story day, president of UNITY: Journalists stories I have to assign, edit or rewrite had been slated to run three weeks ago, of Color, and former president of the is on the rise and the time I have to do but breaking news had forced me to Asian American Journalists Associa- this fleeting. So when stories get lost, hold it. What was worse was that I still tion, collected capsule reports from a deadlines get missed, and wires don’t had no idea when it would run. diverse group of frontline editors, who just get crossed but downright tangled, “Well?” he demanded. “When is my described lessons they’ve learned in I often turn to humor to smooth the story going to run?” doing their daily work. situation out. “I don’t know,” I said pathetically. “I Take the case of one freelancer, just don’t know.” s an assistant city editor, I have who is good at gunning for facts, and He continued to badger me, so much to work with all different types unfortunately at editors, if he hasn’t that I could feel myself becoming agi- A of people: eccentric freelancers, gotten paid or God forbid his story tated. Still, I didn’t lash out. Instead I irritable staff reporters, and produc- doesn’t run. began to sing. That’s right, sing, sing- tion people bellowing about missed “When is my story going to run?” ing the phrase “I don’t know” as lustily deadlines. No matter whom I talk with, an irritable voice said to me over the as I could. I started with a quavering good communication is crucial but not phone. His approach was rude; still I soprano then switched to an alto. I

66 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Tasks and Training paused. became business editor of the Colum- stocks be included in the report each “Sing it with me,” I said cheerily. “I’ll bus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer. day. Despite a few threats, we lost no take the high part, you take the low.” subscriptions because of the stock page I could tell by his silence that he was Challenge 1: Take what had been changes. flabbergasted, which emboldened me an anemic business page, triple the to sing even louder. reporting staff (from one to three), and Challenge 3: A spot-news rotation “I don’t know,” I sang. “I just don’t create a three-page section with themed was developed for reporters through- knooooooooooooooow.” local centerpieces five days a week and out the newsroom to spend a week at I could hear him suppressing laugh- add a Sunday business page that had a time covering other beats or general ter. not existed. assignment stories; this would allow “Okay,” he said. Another escaped Problem 1: I had no input on the other reporters time to work on enter- giggle. “I’ll wait for you to call me until selection of the staff, including a swap prise projects. you do know.” of staffers four months into the year. Problem 3: The business staff had —Tania Padgett, staff writer and for- Lesson Learned: A good game plan to give up five-week and four-weekend mer assistant city editor at Newsday can work with any team. The coach has shifts to the spot system, but when a to let every person know his/her role business reporter’s project was nearing and the expectations. I talk daily with deadline, there was hesitancy to assign my reporters about what they are work- a spot reporter to cover his beat. When I started my job as an assistant city ing on, and we maintain a two-week Lesson Learned: Taxation without editor, I was the newbie, but supervising schedule of stories we have budgeted representation is still wrong. I had to a former department head, former bu- for our themes. I’ve coached my report- demand that the spot system we had fed reau chief, and other seasoned veterans. ers to understand they are partners in be used to backstop our daily expecta- Just one person was younger than I was. our section. tions. I’m the leader of the business At 28, and in my first editing position, They regularly consult with our other staff, so it’s my job to make sure we are earning their trust and making them feel teammates in photography, graphics contributing to the whole newspaper, like I was their team coach instead of and me on planning the entire package, but that in doing so we are not being team water girl was a challenge. not just their words. taken advantage of. But I remembered this advice: Don’t While I certainly had expected to be —Jerry Morehouse, business editor give drive-by praise. You know you’ve able to help shape my team, attention to at the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-En- heard it: “Good job on that story.” That planning and organization have allowed quirer doesn’t tell your reporter anything. us to rejuvenate the business section. If Look for the exquisite detail your re- you’re the boss, even if it’s just over one porter has used or applaud a turn of section or group of reporters, clearly phrase. Don’t just say “Good job.” Be communicate the goals and keep the When I was promoted to editor, I specific. staff working toward them. started off with a brand-new staff. The It sounds simple, but it’s true. Writ- last person hired was, in some ways, an ers crave attention. That attention to Challenge 2: Reduce our stock- act of desperation: The former editor’s detail is important. As line editors we market listings from two pages to one retirement date was two weeks away, don’t have the luxury of time to take to gain space for more local business and he was reluctant to leave without our reporters out on a half-day retreat news reporting. There were production a full staff in place. Alas, we had only to build team rapport. They have stories issues to work out with the stocks pro- one viable applicant. to write for the paper, a version to file vider, as well as the public relations end online and, in some cases, television with readers who aren’t computer savvy Mistake No. 1: We settled. appearances to promote the brand. and still wanted to see the daily listings Lesson Learned: If your gut is telling Simple things like offering specific of the stocks in their portfolios. you this person won’t be a good fit for praise or asking “How are you today?” Problem 2: Angry readers’ phone your newspaper, listen! and taking the time to listen means a calls. Troubleshooting the niggling lot. It shows you care. errors in the page from the conver- Mistake No. 2: As a new editor, I — Kristen Go, an assistant city editor sion, such as wrong fields flowing into adopted the “let’s be friends” style of at The Arizona Republic text boxes and wrong headers over management. This was disastrous in columns. the case of this employee, who is much Lesson Learned: Anticipating the older than I am and had not succeeded topic, if not the tenor, of complaints. in management. I let her have control For years, I’ve thought that I could or- We were honest about our reasons for and tried to be nice in my criticisms. ganize a staff, plan news coverage, and making these changes and offered to Lesson Learned: People will take produce interesting stories and pages. meet our readers halfway by request- advantage of you, if you let them. Be the My chance to prove this came when I ing a limited number of their favorite boss first and be a friend second.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 67 Frontline Editor

Mistake No. 3: Allowing a nonper- build relationships, learn compromises, and shifting through the reports. An- former to coast. I made excuses and and spend time. other challenge has been that with most was afraid to be brutally honest with Sounds simple and, as I found out af- reporters helping out on a story or two my boss about the situation for fear it ter applying it, it’s also very effective. each day, no one is free to concentrate would reflect badly on my capabilities as —Doug Peterson, assistant features entirely on weekend features. a manager. After four years, the problem editor at The Des Moines (Iowa) Reg- On the whole, it surprises me how was so bad the employee was threatened ister much we are doing with a more com- with termination. She improved ever pact staff. so slightly, just enough to hang on. As —Brad Jolly, city editor at the John- an older woman, she also made veiled son City (Tenn.) Press threats of legal action if we fired her. When our newspaper changed owner- Lesson Learned: Nip problems in ship a few years ago, the new owners the bud. You wouldn’t be in manage- applied the industry staffing standard ment if your boss didn’t think you could and determined we had a few more In my 13 years as a reporter and edi- handle it. It’s not fair to you or your staff reporters than necessary. No one was let tor in the Midwest, I’ve found that lazy to allow a poor performer to hang on. go, but the first three or four reporters reporting habits can have their roots in The situation has improved somewhat, who moved on were not replaced. At the fear and insecurity. It seems an aston- but I don’t think it will be resolved until same time, we were asked to produce ishingly large number of reporters are this employee chooses to leave. more local copy. introverted to some extent; many of —Stephanie Taylor, editor at The Surprisingly, that happened: The them would rather sit in the office and Salem Leader and The Salem (Ind.) reporters produced more stories. The contemplate a story than get out in the Democrat difficulty with a smaller staff has been street and drum one up. Many reporters, covering the many beats and communi- too, loathe the idea of making a difficult ties. For example, we have a bureau in phone call or crosschecking facts; they a nearby town of about 20,000 people. feel that they might hurt someone’s Politics in a newsroom? You bet. It had been our practice to have two feelings or appear stupid. I’d been moving through a particu- reporters in the bureau, one dayside My keys to helping such reporters larly trying period of dealing with dif- and one nightside. Now one reporter include encouraging out-of-the-news- ferent parts of the newsroom, each of decides what to cover and adjusts his room interactions while at work, plan- which seemed to have its own goals that schedule to do so. ning stories while maintaining a loose at times seemed shortsighted. Then I Reporters with increased territories grip, and drawing attention to positive attended an Associated Press Managing or beats were encouraged to be more se- examples. Allowing reporters—with a Editors seminar in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, lective and spend less time on minutiae, helpful shove out the office door—to which included a session by Edward such as local government subcommittee wend their way through the many steps Miller on situational leadership. Miller actions that would be voted on by the of completing a story, along with show- is managing director of the Newsroom larger bodies. It’s probably good that ing off their successes in the newsroom Leadership Group in Marietta, Georgia. we cover the more important stories, and explaining them, have resulted in Though designed for those who are new but it remains difficult trying to report slow but sure improvements. to the job, Miller’s guidance works for on crimes promptly. Calling from out —C.T. Kruckeberg, managing edi- anyone struggling with newsroom rela- of town doesn’t yield the same results tor at The Washington (Iowa) Evening tionships: listen to other people’s ideas, as dropping by the police department Journal I Editor and Reporter: A Writing Journey Together ‘Then Joanna found her vision. It was crisp and clear. She made me see it, too.’

By Stuart Warner oanna Connors was an editor’s always among the newspaper’s leader upscale Cleveland suburb where she dream. The nationally respected film in byline counts. Then she met a story lived, who had gone to the same high Jcritic for The Plain Dealer in Cleve- she couldn’t get out of her head. school as her two teenage children, had land, Ohio was a fast and fluid writer Near the end of the 2004 Sundance just died of a heroin overdose. He was who rarely needed editing except for Film Festival, she got a call from home. the son of two psychiatrists, a family occasional lapses on length. She was A young man who lived in the same that seemed to be living the American

68 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Tasks and Training dream. She didn’t know the family, but ence for the reader. … Above all, there tor, I talked to her about the transition the story touched her as a parent. “I was are two things to avoid: Confusion and to narrative journalism. “You’re not scared,” she says. boredom. Readers get enough of both going to use direct quotes,” I told her, She came to me, the paper’s writ- in their lives.” looking for the surprise in her face. I ing coach and narrative specialist. She This story may not have been “clean” saw none. “Dialogue replaces quotes.” wanted to follow the family’s travails of at the start—I had no idea where this We talked about scenes, character de- dealing with the death of their son. story might lead, and there were lots of velopment, filling her notebook with Just what I needed—another project. characters and conflicted elements— details. She bought Franklin’s book, Writing coach was just one part of my but I also knew it wasn’t going to be “Writing for Story: Craft Secrets of Dra- job. I had 11 feature matic Nonfiction,” and I writers and columnists gave her copies of other working directly for Just what I needed—another project. Writing coach newspapers’ Pulitzer me with no assistant to was just one part of my job. I had 11 feature writers and Prize-winning narrative fill in on editing. With series, including those Ohio figuring as one columnists working directly for me with no assistant done by Barry Siegel of of the key states in the to fill in on editing. With Ohio figuring as one of the the Los Angeles Times upcoming presidential and The Oregonian’s election, I was about to key states in the upcoming presidential election, I was Tom Hallman, Jr. embark on one of the about to embark on one of the largest election packages Now we had access, largest election pack- and we were speaking ages our paper had ever our paper had ever attempted. I directed a group of a common narrative attempted. I directed a seven reporters, five photographers, and two graphic language. But in any group of seven report- project like this there ers, five photographers, artists on a series called ‘The Five Ohios ….’ are bigger obstacles and two graphic artists to overcome, ques- on a series called “The tions that had to be Five Ohios,” that exam- answered, questions ined why our state was such an accurate boring. I could tell that just from the the Poynter Institute’s Chip Scanlan barometer in presidential elections. I passion I saw in Joanna as I listened to frequently challenges writers with: was also working with an intern who was her recount the details. So I agreed to Whose story was it? What was it really going undercover to learn what it’s like work with her. Besides, my boss told about? What did it say about the world to get by on a minimum wage job. me to. in which we live? But enough whining; I consider That was in March 2004. A year later, Franklin calls the process of find- myself a lazy editor: I rarely rewrite a we still weren’t certain when this re- ing these answers the search for “vi- reporter’s work. We chat, then I make porter-editor journey would end. sion”—connecting the dots. At The them do the rewriting. Even on final Oregonian, narrative editor Jack Hart edits, they sit at the keyboard and make Finding the Story has his writers look for “meaning” all the changes while I watch. I edited or “the universal principle.” Author- 13 columns a week during most of Once Joanna decided to pursue the educator Walt Harrington, in an essay 2004—including the Pulitzer Prize-win- story, the next step was to earn access to titled “The Writer’s Choice,” talks about ning commentaries of Connie Schultz. I the family. Sometimes, journalists make why storytelling must go beyond plot, worked on 17 major projects (two open the mistake of reversing that process. character and scene. “Certainly it’s true pages or more) and my staff produced We’re granted access to a heart trans- that drama, intrigue and tension hold almost 200 centerpieces for our daily plant or get embedded with a military readers,” he wrote. “That’s good in itself. section. But I rarely stayed at the office unit, so we decide we need to write a But the elements of story are not only past six p.m., so I couldn’t say I was too story about it. tricks but tools of inquiry, devices that busy to take on Joanna Connors. I had Joanna spent hours getting to know direct our vision to the many nuances other misgivings. Jim and Elaine Psarras, whose son Andy of real life.” My narrative mentor, Jon Franklin, had died of the heroin overdose. She So as Joanna and I met regularly, we taught me that if you are going to invest showed them previous narrative series kept talking about the questions. And major time in one of these stories to the paper had written. She convinced the answers kept changing. With her make sure that it appears to be “clean” them that their story might help others. movie background, Joanna began with with some logical outcome. “I look for Then she warned them: “This will be a the premise that she would recreate a a clean story—with a limited number long process. By the end of it, you will true-life version of the film “Traffic,” of elements,” Franklin told me. “I want be sick of seeing me.” But even she had using Andy’s experiences to trace the to make sure I know who the main no idea then how long it would be. heroin from Mexico to Shaker Heights characters are. I want a unified experi- As we began to talk as reporter-edi- as well as from scary street drug to

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 69 Frontline Editor

suburban teen drug. But the authorities Andy’s mother knew he used recre- editors asked for an eighth part on the never found enough evidence in this ational drugs. But she didn’t know about following Sunday. Families who had case to arrest the local dealer, much less the heroin. Certainly she never would been through the drug battle with a link the trail back to Mexico. Then we have prescribed the antidepressant if child or other loved one sent us their thought for awhile that the story might she had. Finally, the parents began to stories. Hundreds of others responded be about Andy’s best friend, Ben, who acknowledge that they, too, had a role to Andy’s Foundation, which his par- was using heroin with Andy the night in their son’s death, instead of seeking ents set up to spread knowledge about he died. Ben could be resurrected by to assign blame elsewhere. drug use. this experience. Except he wasn’t. What had scared Joanna as a par- The story got real traction with Then Joanna was certain she our younger readers. found the story. A bereaved fam- Normally, the features ily seeks justice. The parents and I consider myself a lazy editor: I rarely rewrite section of our Web site the local authorities decided to averages 1,700 hits per pursue murder charges against a reporter’s work. We chat, then I make them do day. During the eight the suspected dealer because the rewriting. Even on final edits, they sit at the days of “Andy’s Last Se- Andy’s death, they reasoned, cret,” that number was had occurred as the result of keyboard and make all the changes while I watch. 25,000 per day—al- a felony—selling heroin. We most 200,000 through imagined a dramatic courtroom the series—and, even scene at the end, Jim and Elaine hugging ent when she first encountered this after it was out of the paper, the story as their son’s death is avenged. story—“If they’re both psychiatrists and still saw activity on the Web. The investigation continued for sev- they didn’t know, how are we supposed As for Joanna, I suppose some eral months, with Joanna returning to to?”—had now become her universal would say she’s no longer an editor’s the film beat most of the time, still keep- meaning: “How are we supposed to dream. After her exposure to serious ing close contact with the Psarrases on know about our kids’ secrets?” narrative journalism, she decided that nights and weekends. By now, she was she couldn’t spend another summer almost part of the family. “When I talk Writing the Story reviewing movies like “Dodgeball.” to you, I feel like I’m in therapy,” Elaine She is now the newspaper’s arts and Psarras told her. Joanna frequently re- The writing process unfolded rather entertainment critic, sort of the Frank minded her that she was recording their quickly. Joanna’s understanding of film Rich of the Midwest. But she’s spent conversations, any of which could end techniques meant I didn’t have to beat the past couple of months working up in the newspaper. the inverted pyramid out of her as I often on another narrative—this one about In the fall of 2004, the family—and do with first-time narrative writers. And the suicide of a local man who looked our story—received a crushing blow. though she was accustomed to having like he had it made as a Hollywood There would be no murder charges. The her work sail through her editors, she producer.2 Her byline count will never autopsy showed that besides heroin, even embraced the process of multiple be the same. I Andy had been taking an antidepres- rewrites. sant that had been suspected of caus- I usually took her drafts home at Stuart Warner is writing coach and ing suicidal behavior in teenagers. The night, made a few notes on them, dis- enterprise editor at The Plain Dealer drug hadn’t been prescribed by Andy’s cussed them with her the next morning, in Cleveland, Ohio. He was the lead doctor. It had been prescribed by his and she would return to the computer. writer on the narrative “The Good- mother. There was no way, prosecutors She also shared the stories with other year War,” which was a centerpiece said, to prove that the heroin by itself writers, including her husband, and they of the Akron Beacon Journal’s 1987 caused Andy’s death. made suggestions, too. So by the time Pulitzer-winning coverage of the at- By now, I was getting questioned re- the stories came back to me, there was tempted takeover of Goodyear Tire & peatedly by Joanna’s editors: When was very little polish to be done. Rubber Company. He also supervised this story going to end? I really couldn’t More importantly, she had done vo- “A Question of Color,” the Beacon say. We agreed she’d return to criticism luminous reporting, especially collect- Journal’s 1994 Pulitzer Gold Medal- full-time through the 2005 Oscars. It ing police and court documents. In the winner. seemed that the dream reporter’s story exclusive neighborhood she was writing might turn into a nightmare. And I about, everybody has an attorney. And ౧ [email protected] was mulling how to tell her that after our attorney knew that. all her work, it might be time to drop Joanna was still following the fam- !1www.cleveland.com/andy the story. ily as late as May 8th. We began the 2 The series was called “Fade out: The 1 Then Joanna found her vision. It seven-part series, “Andy’s Last Secret” death of producer Alan Schechter,” and was crisp and clear. She made me see on Sunday, May 22nd. The response it can be read online at www.cleveland. it, too. from readers was so powerful that our com/fadeout

70 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Tasks and Training Listening to Editors’ Difficulties Helps Find Solutions ‘Frontline editors usually come from reporting ranks, and it is not unusual for problems to emerge in the transition.’

By John F. Greenman

n the day I visited a midsize 2. Giving direction, motivating and trash talk about me before I even began daily, owned by an excellent communicating expectations to staff. to work,” one frontline editor told us. Onewspaper publishing com- Some of these editors progress quickly pany, my job was to ask frontline editors 3. Acting on poor, deteriorating or into their new roles. One sought advice about their problems and needs. The inappropriate performance—including from her boss, adopted a “professional goal: to develop a newsroom training firing. demeanor,” and then “killed the report- plan. An editor who had been in the er with kindness.” It “won her over,” she job for about 18 months was succinct 4. Confronting more and greater de- said. Others don’t: “It’s a trust problem in her response: “disrespected” from mands with fewer resources. that can’t be solved by doing one thing,” above, she told me, “pitied” this editor said. “Will take from below. When I ran her long term.” words by a second editor, The most common I heard that the first editor Undermining starts early. ‘A gossipy reporter problems, frontline edi- “took the words right out tors say, arise in giving of my mouth.” And a third whom I’d worked with at a previous paper direction, motivating and editor concurred: “Abso- spread rumors and trash talk about me communicating expecta- lutely accurate.” In notes tions. It’s toughest, many I jotted while listening, I before I even began to work,’ explain, when they are wrote, “These frontline one frontline editor told us. trying to improve things, editors are not well thought such as increasing produc- of, by themselves—or by tivity, or raising the quality others.” of the work, or pushing a Sociologist Herbert J. Gans has Dealing With the Inheritance reporter “to reach his full potential,” referred to journalists as “troubled.” or reversing complacency, and getting None are more troubled than frontline Frontline editors usually come from “clean copy … written simply and clearly editors, who find themselves working at reporting ranks, and it is not unusual … on time,” avoiding repeat mistakes. the neck of an hourglass, as the Ameri- for problems to emerge in the transi- And it can be hard to even get some re- can Press Institute’s Carol Ann Riordan tion. Some talk of reporters who are porters to show up for work on time. observed. They process the sand from “jealous of my promotion” and who are Some editors we spoke with found it above, then below, from above, then “struggling with accepting my author- strange that communication can be so below. They are the managers who Oren ity.” This gets demonstrated when they difficult in a communication business. Harari had in mind when he wrote about “challenge assignments,” are “person- It can be a matter of learning, in the the impossible work of “managing from ally insulting,” and “very negative.” It’s words of one frontline editor, “to be the middle.” toughest with veteran reporters who more focused and more detailed” in In my work for NewsTrain1—a front- have “all the answers,” think they know making assignments. Some expressed line editors’ training project of the As- “more about what the paper needs than reluctance to be forceful or confron- sociated Press Managing Editors—I’ve I do,” and have “nothing to learn.” tational, preferring to make requests asked more than 200 frontline editors Undermining starts early. “A gossipy rather than demands. Others weren’t to describe “the most significant super- reporter whom I’d worked with at a so reluctant. “I’ve trained them, en- visory or managerial problem” they’ve previous paper spread rumors and couraged them, begged them, and encountered. Their answers are consis- tent and come in four closely related 1NewsTrain is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation as part of its categories. three year, $10 million training initiative. As I write this, NewsTrain’s frontline editor workshops have visited 18 cities, training 1,600 editors, with stunning results: 95 1. Lack of managerial authority and percent reported that they’ve used what they learned in their newsrooms. Virtually all related new-in-the-role issues. said they would recommend this training to other frontline editors. —JFG

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 71 Frontline Editor

even threatened a few reporters with “make do.” Others continue to struggle. ranges in talent. disciplinary action,” this editor said. Asked about his toughest problem and • Tips for improving copy on dead- “But the problem persists.” whether it was resolved, one editor said, line. Another common difficulty con- “Managing time. Still there.” • How to motivate, get better work nected to these other concerns involves and more loyalty from reporters. what to do with underperformers, who Making a Tough Situation • Inspire employees to produce good are often in place when the new editor Better stories. takes over. In this category, one editor • Time management. told us about “a burned-out senior So what’s to be done? Initial training • How to deliver bad news. reporter,” while another talked about would help, but frontline editors receive a reporter “who had severe behavioral little today. Just 21 percent of those Given these problems, ways to problems.” A third editor said he “in- who attended NewsTrain workshops resolve them are not surprising. The herited [an] office with two good news is that there is reporters with low morale more attention to the cir- whose production was sub- Exacerbating these problems, from the cumstances that frontline standard and often ended editors confront. Current up crying in the office.” frontline editors’ perspective, is ‘having to do attention includes the Ugly words can sometimes more with less.’ One editor said that after the Frontline Editors Project, be used to describe such which is a loose confedera- situations, and the editors newspaper changed ownership, ‘the reporting tion of industry profession- we spoke with used a few of staff was reduced … while demand for local als and academicians [See these words to tell us what article by Michele McLellan they’d found: “attitude and copy increased.’ It’s often a matter of ‘figuring on page 73], as well as the obstinacy,” “totally disrup- out a way to accomplish 40 things in a day Poynter Institute and the tive to the rest of the staff,” American Press Institute “dealing with alcoholism with only enough time for 10,’ said another. (API), which offered new and absolute denial,” “a seminars in the past year. new employee who would API’s offering was based not listen nor do what she on a blunt assessment of was assigned,” “an employee whose in 2005 reported getting any training the problem. They called it a “survival work habits completely fell apart,” before their first assignment. guide.” A new organization called the a reporter who was “combative and What to teach? Listen, again, to the Society of Metro Editors (SOME) grew yelled at me.” frontline editors. Asked what they want out of an API seminar and hopes to of- What do these new editors do? Most to learn, the responses indicate a desire fer a professional forum for frontline learn quickly the laundry list of human for management techniques and editing editors, according to Monica Markel, resource’s approved steps: counsel, craft. What follows is a sampling from an who is SOME’s first president and document and apply progressive disci- October workshop in Indianapolis. deputy metro editor of the San Antonio pline. A common result: The disruptive Express-News. or difficult staffer left or was fired. But • How to give more concise feed- Journalism begins with the relation- not before another common problem back. ship between frontline editors and occurred, with editors convincing their • How to help my staff improve their reporters. If we want better journalism, boss to act: “Only when my boss reached skills. we need to understand the relationship the same frustration level,” one editor • The magical trick of how to get every- better. One thing’s for certain. You don’t said, “did he take action.” thing done: the daily drill, deadline want these editors disrespected from Exacerbating these problems, from surprises, planning further out, and above, nor pitied from below. I the frontline editors’ perspective, is still keeping up with the longer-range “having to do more with less.” One things. John F. Greenman is the Carolyn editor said that after the newspaper • Becoming a more accurate editor. McKenzie and Don E. Carter Profes- changed ownership, “the reporting staff • Better early story coaching. sor of Journalism at the University of was reduced … while demand for local • Nailing down the key details early. Georgia. copy increased.” It’s often a matter of • How to work efficiently, and how “figuring out a way to accomplish 40 to help other employees work ef- ౧ [email protected] things in a day with only enough time ficiently. for 10,” said another. With “too much • Hints for coaching young, unskilled to edit,” said a third, there is “not writers. enough time to plan and think.” To bor- • More leadership skills. row their common term, most editors • How to manage writers with wide

72 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Tasks and Training Training Frontline Editors: Once Overlooked, Now Happening ‘Despite their importance and the tough transition when they switch from reporter or copyeditor, frontline editors often are sent to the end of the line for training.’ By Michele McLellan

ater this year frontline editors— editors often are sent to the end of the • At The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, prospective and current—will be line for training. Generally, the focus at senior editors decided the impor- L able to browse an online course news organizations is on craft training tance and changing nature of the that introduces them to the job, helps for writers and visual journalists, with frontline role required an intensive them figure out whether they want to some leadership training available for training program. “We started our try it, and directs them to the training top management. There is very little training with assigning editors be- they need to be more effective at doing training going on in between. Now cause they touch so many people in what’s required of them. The course, that’s changing. Tomorrow’s Workforce the newsroom. They are the bridge offered at Poynter Institute’s News program, which I direct at Northwest- between reporters and top editors, University (NewsU), costs very little to ern University, is working in 16 print the coordinators between the vari- take and is one of the first products of newsrooms to improve their training ous newsroom departments, and the the Frontline Editors Project, a broad and development programs. News- pipeline for so many newsroom coalition of frontline editors, journalism papers, including the South Florida messages,” said Shawn McIntosh, educators, and corporate and newspa- Sun-Sentinel and The Atlanta Journal- deputy managing editor in Atlanta. per training experts. Constitution, and news corporations, Since 2004, McIntosh and Managing Launched in 2004, this project is an including Cox, Lee, Knight Ridder, and Editor Hank Klibanoff have taught outgrowth of the John S. and James Scripps, have developed programs for two-day sessions for more than 100 L. Knight Foundation’s $10 million frontline editors. frontline editors. Newsroom Training Initiative, which • In addition to efforts by news organi- seeks to increase industry support for • In 2003, Mike Phillips, editorial de- zations, the American Press Institute midcareer training of journalists. The velopment director for E.W. Scripps and the Poynter Institute initiated Frontline Editors Project1 focuses on Newspapers, created an intensive programs in 2005 and will launch improving both the understanding of training program for newsroom more online courses for frontline these editors’ roles and challenges and managers. “I spent a lot of years in editors at www.newsu.org. the midcareer training they receive. midlevel jobs,” Phillips explained to • The Society of Metro Editors was The job of the frontliner—the editor those directing Tomorrow’s Work- formed to provide a professional who has a direct hand in shaping news force. “You really do feel trapped forum to serve frontline local news content and guiding newsgatherers—is between the suits and the working editors. among the fastest changing and most stiffs in some ways. And in today’s challenging in the newsroom. No lon- newsroom, which is far more com- The Frontline Editors Project seeks to ger just a conduit between the power plex than it was when I was city edi- link such existing resources and also to centers of reporting and copyediting, tor or an assistant city editor, you’re identify additional training and develop- the frontline editor must be a skilled trapped in a lot of complex processes ment needs. In addition to the online craftsperson, manager, leader, admin- and very demanding serial deadlines. overview of the job, NewsU hopes to istrator, topic specialist, coach and You’ve got to post to the Web site develop additional online training advocate for journalism and readers. and on and on. We all had to feed to supplement other training efforts. Some of the industry’s innovators have the beast forever, but the beast has Working with a number of frontline edi- found they could not drive change in gotten to be more demanding.” tors and other journalists, the project their newsroom and their newspaper’s content without frontline editors lead- 1Knight project directors include NewsU’s Howard Finberg, NewsTrain’s Lillian Swanson, ing the way. and McLellan, who are joined by journalism educators Jacqui Banaszynski, Knight Chair Despite their importance and the in Editing at the University of Missouri; Michael Roberts, deputy managing editor of The tough transition when they switch Arizona Republic; John Greenman, journalism professor at the University of Georgia, from reporter or copyeditor, frontline and Carl Sessions Stepp, journalism professor at the University of Maryland.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 73 Frontline Editor

is working to develop an inventory of in producing quality journalism. Their asks to implement them. Look to the skills and training needs that can help roles also touch on key factors that newsroom’s frontline and give these to shape a curriculum that will be pre- strengthen audience: employee satis- editors the training they need to do sented to industry leaders in 2006. faction (high retention is also a money the job well. I Our goal is to help industry leaders saver), newsroom culture (highly and training providers take a fresh look defensive editors resist change and in- Michele McLellan, a 2002 Nieman at this ever-changing job—whether on novation), and content improvements Fellow, directs Tomorrow’s Work- the journalism or the business side of that can bolster and build credibility, force, a training and development the organization. The case for training relevance and engagement. program at Northwestern University. and staff development for frontline As any top editor knows, her goals editors goes beyond their critical role are only as good as the people she ౧ [email protected] Aiming to Put the Right People in Charge New online tools will help prospective assigning editors see whether they have what it takes to succeed.

By Marty Claus

hat makes a good assigning 1. We can help prospective assigning questions such as, “Do I like giving hon- editor? Knight Ridder has of- editors determine whether they are est feedback?” “Am I a good teacher?” W fered more than 20 seminars well suited for the job. “Well organized?” “A problem solver?” for assigning editors during the past Can I juggle several tasks at once?” “Do seven years and, at the start of each 2. We can help assigning editors iden- I meet deadlines?” “Am I comfortable class, we ask every participant: “Who tify their most critical developmental with tension and conflict?” is the best assigning editor you’ve ever needs. Then we wondered if job fit could known, and why?” They always cite the be even more accurately predicted. same qualities, using many of the same Exploring the Job’s Fit Psychologists say there is a scientific words: She trusted me. She pushed me. way to predict success. If we are able to She believed in me. … He was patient. Through the Poynter Institute’s News accurately describe an assigning editor’s He cared about me. He helped me. … University, which offers online train- critical tasks, attributes and competen- A great coach. Set clear goals. Could ing, journalists will be able to learn cies, a sophisticated software program see the story. … Demanding. Generous more about the frontline editor’s job will be able to tell an individual just with her time. … Energetic. Passionate. and whether it would be a good fit for how good the fit will be. Confident. But in almost every group them. In October, we asked Dr. Leslie of editors, someone stands and says, To give a realistic preview of the job, Krieger, a consulting psychologist and “I’ve never known a good assigning working assigning editors have been president of Assessment Technologies editor.” videotaped talking about the good, the Group, to meet with about a dozen as- I always want to apologize for that. We bad, and the ugly parts of the work, signing editors to start to develop such should be ashamed of how many assign- telling what surprised them most, shar- an interactive “job fit” tool. The group ing editors are not good enough—not ing their passions, and warning about spent hours analyzing and describing good enough to help our reporters do pitfalls. We also plan to provide samples how they do their job, and this infor- better work, not good enough to grow of raw copy and offer case studies on mation was digested by a computer. Its readership. It’s a tough job, getting management and editing issues. For software then produced the first draft tougher all the time. Every problem those who want to take the next step, of our instrument. seems to land on the desk of the as- we will tell how to go about shadowing Krieger said that in 30 years of re- signing editor. Yet doing the job well is an assigning editor in their newsroom search he had never encountered a critical to the success of the newspaper. and how to apply for cross-training in job with such intense problem-solving Those of us involved in the Frontline that job. demands. The assigning editors were Editors Project want to increase the Originally, we planned to provide a not surprised to hear this. Based on odds of success. self-assessment questionnaire, specify- their input, the report generated by Our goal is two-fold: ing desirable traits for this job, with the computer listed three essential

74 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Tasks and Training attributes for the job (all involved able to respond to a series of questions an assigning editor who doesn’t clearly problem-solving), seven important and receive a confidential report show- understand the demands of the job and ones (“detail-conscious,” for example) ing how they scored on these essential, the consequences of performing poorly and 16 that are also relevant (“tough- important and relevant attribute scales in it. And it could decrease the chances minded” and “conscientious” are just and see how their scores compare with that an experienced journalist would two of these). Each attribute was scored those of the ideal candidate. ever say, “I’ve never known a good as- from 1 to 10, and a shaded area marked Obviously, there is no such thing as signing editor.” I on the scale where the ideal candidate an ideal candidate. But the right “job would score. fit” tool could help journalists see how Marty Claus, a former vice president/ Of course, that session was just the well suited they are for this demanding news for Knight Ridder, was an as- start of a process to create a credible in- job. By showing how their strengths dif- signing editor for more than 12 years strument. Additional sessions in Atlanta, fer from those of the ideal candidate, it at the San Bernardino (Calif.) Sun- Kansas City, and San Jose will repeat the will help them identify developmental Telegram and the Detroit Free Press. exercise of defining the job, to vet the needs. It could also help the industry She is now a consultant, specializing instrument and gain new insights. Our determine training priorities. in recruiting and training. target is to offer this “job fit” tool to all Having such a tool could avoid the journalists by fall 2006. Once it’s avail- harm done by having the wrong person ౧ [email protected] able online, prospective editors will be in the assigning editor’s job or having Exploring What Makes Training Successful Whether editors’ training takes place in a single newsroom or as a regional gathering, its essential elements remain consistent.

By Lillian Swanson

n April 2005, I invited 84 frontline the John S. and James L. Knight Foun- may be absorbed through examples and editors attending a NewsTrain dation, should reach more than 3,000 experiences, both good and bad, in the Iworkshop in Seattle to spend an editors at 40 sites by December 2006. newsroom. They will not be based on hour talking about job-related issues At NewsTrain, Carol Nunnelley, the the advice of professionals who know that were keeping them awake at night. APME projects director; Elaine Kramer, how to do it well.” When frontline edi- The idea was this: divide into groups the project’s manager, and I have seen tors improve in these three areas, their of three and have one editor describe what works—and what doesn’t—and skill and confidence in handling stories a problem for which the two others what follows are tips and advice we and managing people rises along with would offer possible solutions. Let each and other trainers have learned about their credibility in the newsroom. This editor present a problem. But even teaching frontline editors. sets them on the path toward becoming before I could finish these instructions, real newsroom leaders. the group cut me off, and the sound in Meet them where they are by letting the room rose quickly to a roar. Only them know you understand how complex, Leave behind theory and academic in- the lunch bell brought the exercise to isolating and stressful their jobs can be. struction. Instead, give frontline editors a close. This eruption of conversation It’s a role that requires a high degree of practical advice, useful information vividly demonstrated how overworked problem-solving skills, a critical evalu- they can use on the job immediately. and overwhelmed these editors are ation of everything they read, and an Remember, they are busy people who and how hungry they are for advice on understanding of human nature. are constantly evaluating what they how to navigate this rapidly changing need to know and casting off what terrain. Design a training program focused on they don’t. NewsTrain, the Associated Press Man- improving editing and management aging Editors’ (APME) training program skills alongside their interpersonal Base the instruction on real-life ex- for frontline editors, has crisscrossed the skills. “These are skills that usually have amples. Be as specific as possible. “The nation since May 2004, hiring top-flight to be taught,” said Michael Schwartz, more real-world that you make the trainers to teach practical skills. These manager of editorial training for COXnet learning, the more it is going to stick,” two-day workshops, largely funded by and Cox Newspapers. “Otherwise they Schwartz said.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 75 Frontline Editor

Give editors a range of solutions to their Approaches in Different considering joining the editing ranks, most pressing problems. Foster a dis- Newsrooms another is for those already on the desk. cussion that helps them reach inside Every two weeks the participants read themselves for the answers. Butch Ward, A valuable benefit of this kind of training assigned material, then meet with others a Distinguished Fellow at the Poynter is that it can build a support network in the group to discuss how to apply Institute, offers this advice: “Front- and reduce the isolation that frontline this to their work. Roberts also sets up line editors respond well to concrete editors often feel. At the South Florida experiences for them to practice using suggestions—how to relate better to Sun-Sentinel, Gail Bulfin, editor for new skills. During the past year, eight their bosses; resolve conflicts; better news research, training and readership, new editors went through the Editor’s manage their time. These are the day runs a six-month program involving 10 Circle program and then moved into in, day out challenges they face.” The editors from across all disciplines of the frontline editing jobs. “Helping these solutions must take into account an newsroom. The group meets twice a new editors find their footing through editor’s style and a newsroom’s culture. month for half-day sessions to discuss the first year is very important,” Rob- It’s important to remember, Ward says, erts said. that one size does not fit all. “Training At The Washington Post, Peter Perl, works when you give them enough director of training and professional room to design their own response to ‘Training works when you development, has used feedback—from a challenge.” give them enough room to those who report to the editors—as an important learning tool. Nineteen Classes must be interactive, because design their own response to a assigning editors, all volunteers, took editors learn as much from each other as challenge.’ —Butch Ward part in a training program that included they do from the teacher. Learning occurs the feedback component. Reporters through practice and small groups for were asked seven questions about their discussion. Involve them in role-play- editor’s greatest strengths, including ing and problem-solving exercises. job-related issues. The editors have ac- communication skills, their ability to “Lectures and war stories accomplish cess to top-notch trainers, high-level edi- manage conflict, and other core parts very little,” said Michael Roberts, deputy tors, workshops not available to others of the job, as well as asked to recom- managing editor/staff development at in the newsroom, and great food. mend areas in which the editor could The Arizona Republic. “By far, the comment that I hear improve. Each editor received anony- most frequently—and with the most mous feedback from at least six people Vary the format. Steve Buttry, director of passion—is the value of just interacting they worked with. The result was a lot tailored programs at the American Press with other assistant city editors in a ‘safe of positive reinforcement for editors, Institute, says “exercises are essential, environment,’ ” Bulfin said. “They learn Perl said, as well as a raised awareness but because they are staged, they get to share similar issues, problems and of what aspects of their work were get- old if you don’t vary the approach.” concerns. One of the first things they ting in their way. Buttry often gets the stories flowing by learn is that no one seems to be a pro describing how a special editor helped in this job. They are very interested in NewsTrain’s Regional him grow professionally. Then he invites hearing how their peers are dealing with Strategy editors to relate their own examples. issues, and there is comfort in knowing “The stories start pouring forth,” he said, they are not alone.” Unlike the training that goes on within “each one inspiring and each one with Giving these editors this chance to a newsroom, NewsTrain takes a regional clear lessons we can identify.” step back from demands of their jobs can approach that relies on local partners to be a big plus. They view their work in a help produce the workshops. Though If trainers come from outside the news- different light and emerge with tools to one newspaper serves as a host site, room, pay what it costs to hire the best. help them make better decisions about the workshop will draw as many as Great teachers know the issues, are en- how they spend their time. Ward sug- 100 editors from across a region. We gaging and entertaining, and use humor gests including an exercise that gives have been surprised to find no need to to get their points across. They must editors an opportunity to reflect on offer separate classes for editors who tap into the experience of a newsroom, why they got into journalism and why work at large and small newspapers. taking into account the traditions, nu- they do their jobs. “This is extremely They can talk to and learn from each ances and creativity of journalists. One valuable for a group of people who other because the problems they face of their first tasks will be to create an mostly think about how to survive their are essentially the same, though more environment that is safe for editors to jobs,” he said. complicated in larger newsrooms. express ideas and opinions, even when At The Arizona Republic, Roberts Likewise, veteran editors and rookies misguided. The classes must operate created an Editor’s Circle program, a can be in the same classes, though the under Las Vegas rules: What is said in series of readings and discussions that benefits they take back to the newsroom the classroom, stays in the classroom. spans 10 weeks. One circle is for those from them will be different. Veterans

76 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Tasks and Training leave with a few new insights, but with important to leave time for editors to Lillian Swanson is project director of renewed confidence about what they are network and talk about problems with NewsTrain, a training program for doing. Rookies depart with new tools each other. The hard part is getting frontline editors developed by the As- and with hope that they can succeed. them to stop. I sociated Press Managing Editors. We’ve also found—no matter what the mix of participants might be—that it’s ౧ [email protected] The Dearth of Resources for Entering Editors There are available ‘… few books, a large but scattered field of articles, and the handouts and tip sheets collected at relatively few Web sites.’

By Carl Sessions Stepp

ome 20 years ago, my dean at “Editing for Today’s Newsroom: New Resources for Midlevel the University of Maryland, Reese Perspectives for a Changing Profession,” Editors SCleghorn, asked me to develop which was published in 1989. That this a course for the editors of our student book remains in use in some classrooms This list of books, articles and Web newspaper, The Diamondback. We were and newsrooms speaks to the absence sites has been compiled by Carl Ses- teaching basic copyediting, Cleghorn of contemporary, comprehensive texts sions Stepp, a former assigning editor said, but it was clear that these young for assigning editors. While fledgling and now journalism professor at the editors needed more. They needed to and veteran writers can choose from University of Maryland. know about managing people, coor- dozens of fine textbooks and trade dinating coverage, developing ideas, volumes in their area and copyeditors Books About Editing budgeting time, and keeping themselves and designers can select from at least a and their staffs productive and sane shelf-full, assigning editors must piece “Caught in the Middle: How to Im- under stress. together their libraries from a few books, prove the Lives and Performance I was a former editor, just arrived at a large but scattered field of articles, of Newspaper Middle Managers,” the university, and this sounded like and the handouts and tip sheets col- by Sharon L. Peters. Published in a wonderful course, one I wanted to lected at relatively few Web sites. [See 1999 and now downloadable from take myself rather than teach. I set out accompanying box for specific titles and Northwestern’s www.mediamanage- to collect the most relevant books and relevant Web sites.] mentcenter.org. Peters surveyed more materials for this much-needed class. Meantime, we must be heartened that than 500 journalists and wrote about I found almost nothing. There were some progress has occurred. The litera- the problems of midlevel editors from books on reporting, copyediting and ture today, if not adequate, certainly their perspective and also the views design, on upper-level management, surpasses what I found two decades of their managers and their reporters. and on general matters of leadership ago. It falls into two broad categories: Great insights into the problems and and ethics. But the shelves were nearly a few works expressly for midlevel edi- some suggestions for help. bare of materials aimed directly at those tors and more general works that can “Coaching Writers: Editors and key newsroom figures, the midlevel as- help midlevel editors. Let’s hope that Reporters Working Together Across signing editors. today’s renewed interest in editing Media Platforms,” second edition, by Today, a generation later, things will inspire even more advances in the Roy Peter Clark and Don Fry. Best book are better, but nowhere near what is literature. I of its kind. Clark and Fry have been pro- needed. In both the news industry and moting collegial editing for two decades, the universities that feed it, editing is ne- Carl Sessions Stepp, a former report- and the book is full of wisdom, humor glected. We fail to invest intellectually in er and assigning editor, teaches jour- and hands-on techniques. identifying, recruiting, developing and nalism at the University of Maryland “Editing for Today’s Newsroom: nurturing editors, especially at the as- and is a senior editor of American New Perspectives for a Changing signing level, and this failure is reflected Journalism Review. Profession,” by Carl Sessions Stepp. in the profession’s literature. Out-of-date in terms of technology, After a few years of teaching our ad- ౧ [email protected] vanced editing course, I wrote a book, Continued on page 78

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 77 Frontline Editor

but still somewhat useful in advis- who ever lived (he died in prison but with some useful articles and ing assigning editors on how they after killing his wife). He was born links for midlevel editors. Example: can make better decisions about to chase the news and had much “Critical Thinking Checklist.” everything from copy to coaching success, but at a very high cost. A www.copydesk.org: Site of the to ethics. good book about a bad example. American Copy Editors Society, it “The Editorial Eye,” second provides good links, discussions edition, by Jane T. Harrigan and Books About Managing and other resources. For example, Karen Brown Dunlap. Mostly for and Leadership click on “site features,” then “re- copyeditors, but includes friendly sources” and read a long list of and helpful insights into “the big These are not directed primarily to interesting articles, such as Jane picture” of editing. journalists, but are among the most Harrigan’s “Why Editing Is Cool.” “The Effective Editor: How to often recommended by top editors www.journalism.org: Affiliated Lead Your Staff to Better Writing and trainers. The titles are pretty with the Project for Excellence in and Better Teamwork,” by Foster much self-explanatory. —CSS Journalism, this site has links and Davis and Karen Dunlap. Slender full texts of research reports and volume filled with good humor and “First, Break All the Rules: What articles, including such practical good sense, mainly about working the World’s Greatest Managers ones as “Ten Tips on Time Manage- with writers but with additional Do Differently,” by Marcus Buck- ment.” overall advice for the beginning ingham and Curt Coffman. www.metroeditors.org: In assigning editor. “Getting to Yes: Negotiating its infancy, as is its host, the new “Newsroom Management: A Agreement Without Giving In,” by Society of Metro Editors. Great Guide to Theory and Practice,” Roger Fisher and William Ury. potential here for discussions, links by Robert H. Giles. Hefty guide, “Love and Profit: The Art of and resources. pitched more toward top than mid- Caring Leadership,” by James A. www.newsthinking.com: Run level managers, but full of guidance Autry. by writing coach and former Los on motivating and supervising. “Management of the Absurd: Angeles Times editor Bob Baker. Paradoxes in Leadership,” by Outstanding material on how to Books About Editors Richard Farson. find, write and help others write “Time Management for Dum- great stories. Try Susan Ager’s “A One can gain inspiration and in- mies,” by Jeffrey J. Mayer. Vocabulary List for Reporters and sight by reading almost any editor’s “You Just Don’t Understand: Editors” or Laurie Hertzel’s “Yeah, biography or autobiography. The Women and Men in Conversa- I’m Defensive. You Gotta Problem books below also contain material tion,” by Deborah Tannen. With That?” that is immediately and directly www.notrain-nogain.com: useful, including practical descrip- Articles Gold mine. Newspaper trainers site, tions of editing style and methods, with links, exercises and tip sheets both good and horrid. —CSS All the journalism trade magazines galore. Try Steve Buttry’s “Helping deal with midlevel editors from Reporters Improve Stories” or Mi- “Genius in Disguise: Harold Ross time to time. One publication chael Roberts’ “A Six-Month Program of The New Yorker,” by Thomas that has done so regularly is The for Line Editors.” Kunkel. This book, written by my American Editor, published by the www.poynter.org: A varied and current dean at Maryland, looks American Society of Newspaper constantly evolving site, geared not just at what the master editor Editors. It frequently runs articles more toward writers, but with Ross did, but at how. Every editor on pertinent topics such as writing, numerous relevant essays and tip can learn from this book. ethics and leadership. Fortunately, sheets on editing, coaching and “Max Perkins: Editor of Ge- content from the past several years leading. nius,” by A. Scott Berg. An in-depth is available online at www.asne. www.readership.org: Compre- look at the editor behind Fitzgerald, org. Unfortunately, the searching is hensive collection of research from Hemingway and others. Not really rudimentary, so you have to know Northwestern’s Readership Insti- journalistic, but inspiring anyway. what you want or be willing to skim tute. Lots of studies and reports, “The Rose Man of Sing Sing: a lot of article titles. —CSS plus examples of how papers are A True Tale of Life, Murder, and applying what is being learned. I Redemption in the Age of Yellow Web Resources Journalism,” by James McGrath Morris. Charles Chapin was almost www.americanpressinstitute. certainly the meanest city editor org: Targeted at journalism broadly

78 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Words & Reflections

“The first accurate description we heard of the storm’s wrath was told to a Sun Herald reporter in four words: ‘Your city is gone,’” writes Stan Tiner, executive editor of the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi. The storm was Hurricane Katrina, and in a book, “Katrina: 8 Hours That Changed the Mississippi Coast Forever,” published by the Sun Herald, words and images by journalists in South Mississippi convey a sense of what once was and what is today. Tiner describes this book (“not only a story of tragedy and devastation [but] one of survival …”) and how the Sun Herald regrouped in the wake of Katrina. “In this very chaotic environment,” he writes, “… the newspaper continued to make extraordinary efforts to see that the news reached readers.” As seen through the eyes of Dan Kennedy, who teaches journalism at Northeastern University and authors Media Nation, a Weblog, “The Death of Media: And the Fight to Save Democracy,” by Danny Schechter is “a small, elegantly packaged call for reform of what he has dubbed ‘the mediaocracy.’” This is defined by Schechter as “a growing symbiotic relationship between increasingly interlocking media elites and their political counterparts … a political system tethered to a media system.” Kennedy connects what Schechter writes about with what is happening in today’s “toxic media environment.” Maria Henson, deputy editorial page editor of The Sacramento Bee, explains how the book “Press Gallery: The Newspaper in Modern and Postmodern Art” reminds “us that what many of us do for a living continues to inspire artists to paint, to comment, to build and to assemble, often with scraps of news clippings, metal and dirt on canvas, and occasionally a crowd.” Despite the lack of shared cultural ground among the artists featured in this book, Henson writes that “newspapers have become a shared tool of storytelling across countries and eras.” The book “The KGB File of Andrei Sakharov” provides journalists such as Murray Seeger, who once covered the Soviet Union and reported about this famous dissident, with a revealing look at “how the activities of the mild-mannered, brilliant physicist Andrei Sakharov preoccupied the ruling Communist Party Politburo for more than two decades until his death in 1989.” Seeger takes us back to this era as he explains how dissident activities were covered by the Western press and also describes how Sakharov’s use of “international communications to plead his cause” likely saved him from being “locked up in a mental institution and forgotten like many lesser-known dissidents.” Seth Lewis, a Miami Herald editor who recently spent time in Spain as a Fulbright Scholar, reflects on how well bilingual journalism, as practiced in several regions of Spain, is working for newspapers that are publishing their content in hybrid mixtures of the regional and national language. And he assesses how readers react when presented with these choices. Lewis looks, too, at comparisons with the different way in which U.S. newspapers approach their bilingual markets. “Spain is a case study and a cautionary tale—a lesson in bilingual innovation but also a warning that such efforts, however well-intentioned, don’t always translate into readership gains,” he writes. I

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 79 Words & Reflections

Seeing Lives as They Once Were and Are Today More family album than newspaper report, a book published by the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi documents Hurricane Katrina’s life-altering force.

Katrina: 8 Hours That Changed the Mississippi Coast Forever Editors Keith Chrostowski, Drew Tarter, and Dorothy Wilson Sun Herald. 122 Pages. $29.95.

By Stan Tiner

If editions of the Sun Herald, produced those early days in the first few days after Katrina rav- and then stayed aged our town of Biloxi and the entire to do so many Mississippi coastline, are the first draft good deeds. In of this storm’s history, then the book any book about we published, “Katrina: 8 Hours That Katrina, no fi- Changed the Mississippi Coast Forever,” nal chapter can can be considered our family album. On yet be written. its pages, reporters and photographers There is only the document what “home” was like here latest chapter, before and after nature’s extraordinary and for the Sun force altered our lives so dramatically Herald the focus on August 29, 2005. has turned to the The first accurate description we spirit of a people heard of the storm’s wrath was told to beginning the re- a Sun Herald reporter in four words: covery of their “Your city is gone.” Indeed all of our region in a highly coastal cities: Waveland, Bay St. Louis, organized, delib- Pass Christian, Long Beach, Gulfport, erate and democratic fashion. County Emergency Operations Center Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Moss Point, The Sun Herald’s Katrina book tells in Gulfport and the other from a home Pascagoula—and inland communities, one of the more important stories in in Hattiesburg, continued to communi- too—were blown and washed away on American history, and its words and im- cate with readers through blogs. They that dreadful day. The words used to tell ages are brought to its pages by journal- passed along information that was this story are the faithful testimony of Ka- ists in South Mississippi who have not unfolding by the hour that was read trina’s victims but, because this is more only experienced Katrina but continue by those who stayed to face Katrina album than memoir, its photographs tell to cover the stories of its aftermath. and those who evacuated to distant the stories we will forever remember. points. We’d already sent a team of For many of us, some of its pages will no Katrina Arrives editors from our newsroom in Biloxi doubt become tear-stained as survivors to the Ledger-Enquirer in Columbus, turn them to reveal images of their lost It can sometimes be hard to remember Georgia, in anticipation that they might cities and transformed lives. what Biloxi was like before Katrina ar- need to produce the Sun Herald for an But this book is not only a story rived. But we can look back at the Sun unspecified period of time from that of tragedy and devastation. It is one Herald’s last pre-storm edition and see newsroom. of survival, helping hands, hope and that as Hurricane Katrina bore down on Soon we knew the answer to our even triumph, too. It might seem a the Gulf Coast, our front-page headline headline’s question: Katrina’s destruc- cliché these months later, but from our asked the question, “Another Camille?” tion was many times worse than that vantage point on the frontlines of this and a Page One editorial prophetically of Camille. It would have been hard disaster, the strength of Mississippians predicted that this hurricane would to imagine a worse scenario for the was a righteous truth that bolstered the alter our communities and our lives South Mississippi coast, as Katrina’s journalists who told their stories, as it forever. 30-mile-wide eye-wall came ashore over did the thousands of volunteers and After this edition went out, two Sun Waveland and Bay St. Louis, and her workers who helped them dig out in Herald reporters, one in the Harrison deadly northeast quadrant pounded

80 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Words & Reflections

Biloxi Beach Park on U.S. 90 was an attraction for coast residents and tourists for decades. Hurricane Katrina obliterated the popular amusement park. Photos by John C. Fitzhugh/Courtesy of the Sun Herald. every inch of the state’s coast. Katrina’s homes were destroyed or severely dam- editorial said, “We are calling on the force produced the world’s highest aged—the newspaper continued to nation and the state to make life here recorded storm surge—some 35-feet in make extraordinary efforts to see that possible.” It became very clear to us Pass Christian—far eclipsing the 23-foot the news reached readers. In addition at the newspaper, and I believe to the mark of Camille in 1969. to the initial loss of tens of thousands community, that during this incredible When the worst of the storm had of home delivery customers, more than period of universal suffering there was passed, Sun Herald news staff began to half of our news boxes were destroyed no “us and them” nor an “editorial we;” report the awesome scenes of death and and half of our circulation force was there was just “we.” destruction that Katrina had wrought displaced. Some paper routes were al- What we reported was also available along 70 miles of Mississippi’s coast most completely obliterated, and many on our Web site, for those who had where homes, businesses, roads and subscribers were relocated to tents or access to the Internet. News could be bridges were destroyed, many of them FEMA trailers. By year’s end we were found there, but also the site became the flattened beyond recognition, and still delivering free papers to thousands, posting place for useful bulletin board electric service, cell towers, phone lines and some carriers were experiencing information that was necessary for life were all gone. some of the worst circumstances; to in the post-Katrina world. Even though the unimaginable had deliver the paper, some of them had As important as it is to get the paper happened, the Sun Herald, which had to walk over piles of debris. to our readers, it is the incredible news not missed publishing an edition in For those privileged to get them into coverage of Katrina’s impact on South its 121-year history, did not break that the hands of readers, seeing people’s Mississippi that has been at the center of string. On Tuesday morning, August eager anticipation for the Sun Herald the Sun Herald’s effort. Since the storm, 30th, we produced an eight-page news- was gratifying. For many people, this our news staff of 50 has produced more paper in Columbus that was trucked newspaper was their primary source than 2,800 news stories on our towns into Biloxi and distributed across the of news, and the Sun Herald was soon and the people whose heroic response region by reporters, photographers, transformed into something resembling has humbled us and yet made us so editors and other employees who drove the town square for South Mississip- proud to be able to tell their story. As copies to emergency shelters and to pians whose communities no longer the staff of the Sun Herald has worked people wherever they could be found. existed. When things were so desperate tirelessly to meet their obligations, each The first edition had a press run of in those early days, the newspaper’s of us has been reminded of how very 20,000; during the next few days this editorial voice spoke loudly to the world important a newspaper is to a commu- was increased to 80,000. of our plight and let it be known when nity. Our coverage of Katrina provided For the first month after Katrina, we government assistance programs were a sense of fulfillment and reminded us delivered newspapers free of charge. failing. Soon after Katrina swept so of journalism’s true purpose. I Publishing and delivering the paper much away, our newspaper’s front-page was accomplished under the most try- headline declared, “Help us Now,” and Stan Tiner, a 1986 Nieman Fellow, is ing circumstances for Sun Herald staff, a Page One editorial spoke clearly of executive editor and vice president of many of whom had lost their homes. our needs: “We are not calling on the the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi. In this very chaotic environment—in nation and the state to make life more which more than 70 percent of coastal comfortable in South Mississippi,” our ౧ [email protected]

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 81 Words & Reflections

The Connective Threads of the News Media and Government A journalist sets forth a reform proposal to alter the incentives and break apart the ‘mediaocracy.’

The Death of Media: And the Fight to Save Democracy Danny Schechter Melville Manifestos. 173 Pages. $10.

By Dan Kennedy

Late last year The New York Times Rather, it was about the phony issue courageously performed the role envi- of whether the government should be sioned for the press by the drafters of allowed to spy on followers of Osama the First Amendment. In a 3,200-word bin Laden, a cynical argument based on front-page story, Times reporters James the false notion that the law somehow Risen and Eric Lichtblau revealed that prevented such spying. Not surpris- the Bush administration, as part of ingly, by mid-January a Fox News poll its antiterrorism efforts, had allowed showed that, by a 58 percent to 36 the National Security Agency (NSA) to percent margin, respondents favored conduct no-warrant wiretaps aimed at warrantless domestic wiretapping of intercepting international telephone “suspected terrorists.” calls and e-mail messages from people in the United States, including American Dissecting War Coverage citizens. The story amounted to a tale of official wrongdoing at the highest It is this toxic media environment—in reaches of government. It appears to be which nothing, not even illegal wiretap- almost beyond dispute that the White ping, is immune from being reduced House violated the law by failing to seek to mere politics as usual—that is the warrants from the Foreign Intelligence subject of Danny Schechter’s book “The Surveillance Court. Given the ease with Death of Media: And the Fight to Save which such warrants have historically Schechter defines this Democracy,” a small, elegantly packaged been obtained, the administration’s call for reform of what he has dubbed actions were not just constitutionally ‘mediaocracy’ as ‘a growing the “mediaocracy.” Schechter defines dubious but also inexplicable. symbiotic relationship this “mediaocracy” as “a growing sym- So it is instructive to examine how biotic relationship between increasingly the ensuing media battle quickly between increasingly interlocking media elites and their po- transformed the story into just an- interlocking media litical counterparts … a political system other partisan standoff. Conservative tethered to a media system.” This book commentators attacked the Times’s elites and their political stands as a persuasive indictment of editors for publishing the article—de- counterparts … a political those intertwined systems. spite allegedly having promised to kill Don’t be put off by the back-cover it—after they realized they were about system tethered to a media blurb from far-left media critic Noam to be scooped by Risen’s forthcoming system.’ Chomsky. Although Schechter and book, as though that charge somehow Chomsky may share some political negated the paper’s findings. The Fox sympathies, Schechter understands the News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly referred of listeners that the wiretaps were legal. media as an insider. A counterculture to the Times as “suspect number one,” The Wall Street Journal editorial page, media pioneer in the 1970’s, when he while a guest, conservative pundette National Review, and The Weekly Stan- was the “News Dissector” at Boston’s Michelle Malkin, referred to the NSA dard all rallied to the White House’s WBCN Radio (then an independent story as “just the latest in a pattern of defense. “underground” station, now part of the news articles and opinion and analysis This conservative counterattack suc- CBS empire), Schechter is an award- [in the Times] that has undermined the ceeded in changing the terms of debate. winning television producer (his stops Bush war on terror since September 12, No longer was it about the original—and include ABC’s “20/20”) and a docu- 2001.” The great constitutional scholar very real—issue of whether the admin- mentary filmmaker on topics ranging Rush Limbaugh informed his millions istration should have obeyed the law. from international human rights to the

82 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Words & Reflections meltdown in Florida following the 2000 ies from the Federal Communications “The oligarchy doesn’t need an presidential election. (Disclosure: I’m Commission (FCC). That the FCC was educated public. And maybe the nation among his talking heads in the Florida then headed by Michael Powell, the does prefer tyranny. I think that’s what film, “Counting on Democracy.”) In son of President Bush’s first secretary worries me,” the late Hunter S. Thomp- recent years he has worked as the ex- of state, Colin Powell, only serves to son once said. Schechter reproduces ecutive editor of MediaChannel.org, a underscore this grotesque conflict of that quote in “When News Lies,” but he global, nonprofit media-watch site, and interests. And though Congress and hardly shares Thompson’s pessimism. he writes a widely read Weblog at www. the courts ultimately revolted against Indeed, Schechter is enthusiastic about NewsDissector.org. Michael Powell’s proposed giveaway, new developments such as blogging The hyperkinetic Schechter has been the corporations were not left empty- and citizen journalism, which empower especially busy since the fall of 2002, handed. General Electric, the owner of activists and ordinary people to talk when the Bush administration began NBC, which offered perhaps the most back to the established media. preparing the nation—and the news flag-waving war coverage among the Big Sadly, this might be the flaw in Schech- media—for the war in Iraq. His volu- Three networks, later received a $600 ter’s vision—the notion that, somehow, minous blogging the truth will about the war emerge from a was turned into … the cheerleading coverage of the war, especially on television, cacophony of a book, “Embed- voices. To his ded: Weapons of played out at a moment when the major corporations that own credit, Schech- Mass Deception: much of our media were seeking billions of dollars in deregulatory ter has retained How the Media his faith in the Failed to Cover goodies from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). ability of truth the War on Iraq,” to defeat false- published by Pro- hood in a “free metheus in 2003. and open en- His excellent 2004 film on how the million federal contract to take part in counter,” as Milton would have it, or media rolled over for the White House, the reconstruction of Iraq. in Holmes’s marketplace of ideas. But I “WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception,” In “The Death of Media,” Schechter suspect that if Richard Nixon had been has now been packaged as a DVD with outlines what he calls a “Media and able to tap into a network of media syco- a companion book, “When News Lies: Democracy Act,” which is just one in phants the way George W. Bush can, he Media Complicity and the Iraq War,” a series of reform plans advanced in would have weaseled out of Watergate published by SelectBooks in 2006. recent years by various progressives, with ease, justifying the break-in on There is quite a bit of overlap among both foreign and domestic. Among his national-security grounds and letting Schechter’s various projects, but per- ideas: the Rush Limbaughs and Sean Hannitys haps each will find its audience. What of his day do the heavy lifting for him. Schechter has to say is important, and • Using antitrust laws to break up the I fear that Thompson, ever the realist, it needs to be heard. media monopolies; might have gotten it right. Of course, media angst over war cov- • Devising a revenue stream for pub- But still, we have to try, don’t we? In erage is now widespread. Critics such lic broadcasting and independent “The Death of Media,” Schechter asks, as Michael Massing, in The New York producers, perhaps with a tax on “How can we convert our media system Review of Books, have painstakingly advertising; into a diverse platform for more diverse documented how the elite media—and • Updating and reinstating the Fairness expression and informed debate? How especially The New York Times and its Doctrine for broadcasters; can we work to insure that media serves then-reporter Judith Miller—failed to • Advancing a hodgepodge of public- democracy?” exercise the normal degree of journal- interest measures, from free wireless This book—as well as Schechter’s istic skepticism about administration Internet access to media-literacy other books, films and blog—is a good claims that Saddam Hussein’s regime education. place to start. I possessed weapons of mass destruction and was in league with al-Qaeda. Few, It might be unimaginable that any Dan Kennedy is a visiting assistant however, have managed to connect the of these steps would be taken in the professor at Northeastern Univer- dots the way Schechter has. current political climate, especially sity’s School of Journalism and the As Schechter observes, the cheer- given the stake the “mediaocracy” has author of the Weblog, Media Nation, leading coverage of the war, especially in making sure they fail. They are, nev- at http://medianation.blogspot.com on television, played out at a moment ertheless, commonsensical proposals to when the major corporations that own cut the media giants down to size and ౧ [email protected] much of our media were seeking bil- to provide some resources for alterna- lions of dollars in deregulatory good- tive voices.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 83 Words & Reflections

A Recurring Image in Art: The Newspaper ‘Though there is little shared cultural ground for these artists, newspapers have become a shared tool of storytelling across countries and eras.’

Press Gallery: The Newspaper in Modern and Postmodern Art Shaun O’L. Higgins and Colleen Striegel New Media Ventures, Inc. 205 Pages. $75.

By Maria Henson

While those of us who make our living at for newspapers is debatable given the newspapers endured pronouncements disheartening scrutiny of Wall Street, of our industry’s impending demise, last but this matters little as we let them year someone in Paris was celebrating. guide us through their volume of more The World Association of Newspapers than 140 full-color reproductions of art- marked the 400th anniversary of the works reflecting the role of newspapers birth of printed newspapers, credit- in art and society. “Press Gallery: The ing Johann Carolus with publishing Newspaper in Modern and Postmodern “Relation” in Strasbourg in 1605. And Art” remind us that what many of us do two writers, Shaun O’L. Higgins and for a living continues to inspire artists Colleen Striegel, went even further, to paint, to comment, to build and to declaring that “the worldwide influence assemble, often with scraps of news of newspapers is alive and thriving in clippings, metal and dirt on canvas, and the postmodern information age.” occasionally a crowd. All of us could use a bit of encourag- The authors concentrate on roughly ing news about newspapering. Whether the past 120 years, and for the most part Higgins and Striegel overstate the case they allow the art to tell the story. In an oversized book of 205 pages, they limit the narrative to 44, in which they tell us such things as how early on artists used newspapers mainly as props in their creations. Think of the fashionable ments with the paper first thing in the paintings of crowds in cafés, where it’s morning, the ritual lift-off considered easy to spot a newspaper or two. The endangered in our time. French Impressionists in the late 19th A mixed-media piece, created in century shifted the focus to the act of 1933, struck me as a fitting monument reading. The content of the newspaper to life in today’s “information age.” Man appeared to be of scant concern to Ray placed a bronze disembodied head those masters of light, though their use in a wooden box and packed it with of newspapers in art never went away wadded-up newspapers. “Autoportrait” entirely. In time, works of art featuring shows the head “not so much filled with, newspapers evolved to become purvey- as buried in, ideas from the press,” write ors of political commentary. Higgins and Striegel. Surf the Web long A 1960 painting, “Woman With enough, read all of the publications Newspaper” by American artist Richard piled on your desk and the newspapers’ Diebenkorn, is reminiscent of the early print and Web editions, and the feeling Impressionists’ work. The woman sits Ray’s piece evokes will be familiar. with a café-au-lait-sized cup of coffee in Painted words led to pasted words her right hand, her left hand firmly on and, beginning in the early 1900’s, “Woman With Newspaper” (1960), by the chair’s armrest. The newspaper is Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso—a Richard Diebenkorn, oil on canvas, 48 x draped over her lap, and the woman is loyal newspaper reader—started the art 34 inches. Used with permission of The completely engaged by it. The headlines of collage, cutting bits of newspapers Estate of Richard Diebenkorn. Photo: The are big but, for us, illegible. The image and pasting them on canvas. Art as- Estate of Richard Diebenkorn. celebrates the reader’s solitary mo- sumed an edge: Picasso’s “Guernica” all

84 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Words & Reflections but screams war is hell on earth. have become a shared tool of “The greater a movement’s storytelling across countries concern with social and politi- and eras. I see Kenneth Grant’s cal issues,” Higgins and Striegel young couple in “Looking For remind us, “the more likely Rooms to Let” in an unnamed it was to use newspaper clip- city and immediately I am trans- pings, headlines and imagery ported to South Congress Av- in its art.” enue in Austin, Texas, the famed There is in this book a selec- haunt of slackers who wouldn’t tion of art that displays what have any luck these days finding Russian artist Alexandr Rod- a cheap apartment. On a differ- chenko calls “printed matter ent page, the purses made of and revolution.” Artists employ laminated recycled newspapers the newspaper as a way to com- by Maria Capotorto would fit ment on Hiroshima, glasnost, “Newspaper Totes,” by Maria Capotorto, laminated, right in on that avenue. the kidnapping of Aldo Moro by recycled newspaper and double-stitched seams with ball Higgins, a past president of the Red Brigades, and the attack chain handle. Small: 8 x 8 x 4 inches. Large: 11 x 12 1/2 x the International Newspaper on the World Trade Center. A 4 inches. Photo: Hamilton Film and Photography. Marketing Association, and scrap of tribal newspaper from Striegel, who majored in fine the Spokane Tribe of Indians, along with rary art.” Andy Warhol was its showiest arts, have a message to pass along: a clip from the Congressional Record, practitioner; his series of “Daily News” Newspapers have been a powerful finds its way into a piece called “Buffalo paintings elevated the tabloids. “Eddie stimulus for artists and still are. That Bull’s Magic Tracks Imprint the Earth,” Fisher Breaks Down” brings those of us seems small comfort in our times, but by George Flett. from a certain generation right back into I’ll take it. I Pop Art is an essential window the grocery store line, circa 1962. through which to explore newspaper’s What appeals most about the mes- Maria Henson, a 1994 Nieman Fel- role in art. And as they do, the authors sage of this book is that no rules exist low, is deputy editorial page editor present sweeping statements about how for how artists use newspapers in art. of The Sacramento Bee. Pop Art established newspapers “as the Though there is little shared cultural symbol for mass media in contempo- ground for these artists, newspapers ౧ [email protected]

“Looking for Rooms to Let” (2003), by Kenneth Grant, oil on canvas, 30 x 40 inches. Photo: Courtesy of the artist.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 85 Words & Reflections

The Coverage of Soviet Dissidents by Western Journalists KGB memos about Andrei Sakharov reveal the government’s increasing fear of him as his ideas received press attention in the West.

The KGB File of Andrei Sakharov Edited by Joshua Rubenstein and Alexander Gribanov Yale University Press. 448 Pages. $45.

By Murray Seeger

During the decades of covering the until his death, Sakharov intensified Communist states of Europe, foreign his campaign to advance the cause correspondents were challenged to of human rights for all citizens of the draw conclusions, make educated Soviet Union, generating international guesses, and deliver informed con- support and a substantial internal fol- jectures on the basis of modest hard lowing until the old system collapsed evidence. and Mikhail Gorbachev took the party If correspondents in Washington leadership. Sakharov was elected to the deliver a story on 75 percent solid first parliament of the post-Communist information and 25 percent on lesser era and became the most important evidence, that’s normal. But writing political figure in the country; he was from Moscow, Bucharest, Prague or drafting a new constitution for Russia Sofia in the bad old days a reporter was when his exhausted heart collapsed at fortunate if he, or she, could show 50 age 68. percent hard information. Budapest His story percolated so many years and Warsaw were easier because of the that only the Kremlin junkies fully different nature of the ruling parties appreciate his accomplishment. He there; and East Germany was unique has been compared to many historic because West Germans had sources that figures, but my favorite association is penetrated the wall. with Nelson Mandela, the founder of This is why the newly published the modern South Africa. Like Mandela, book, “The KGB File of Andrei Sakha- Sakharov was able to sublimate the bit- rov,” is so important. Here is hard infor- terness he must have felt toward the do pretty much what it wanted with the mation from the inner machinations of cruel and stupid leaders who made his targets of its interest, especially after 20 the Communist Party of the old Soviet life miserable, destroying his health but years of watching and waiting. So why Union that answers questions for those never quashing his spirit. didn’t they squash the wistful-looking of us who stared at the Kremlin and party physicist and his strong-willed second headquarters and wondered, “What is Sakharov’s Situation wife, Yelena Bonner, a pediatrician? really going on in there?” Published They were perfect candidates for the by the Yale University Press as part of This book is not a spy story. There are definition of insanity used by KGB boss the invaluable series “Annals of Com- no revelations on how the KGB listened Yuri Andropov of individuals acting out- munism,” this book shows how the to everyone’s telephone conversations, side the norms of Soviet citizenship. activities of the mild-mannered, brilliant followed, photographed and harassed The answer is clear: The political physicist Andrei Sakharov preoccupied foreigners and domestic troublemakers, leaders of that era, led by Leonid Brezh- the ruling Communist Party politburo potential and real. Such operational re- nev, were determined to carry forward for more than two decades until his cords of the secret police were presum- their policy of detente, relaxed tension, death in 1989. ably destroyed, leaving this record of with the Western powers. They knew The tension between the scientist dry, haunted, bureaucratic memoranda from the day Sakharov issued his first and official hero and the ruling clique from the KGB chiefs to the Central Com- public appeal in 1968 in The New York played out offstage until late 1972, mittee, Communist Party of the Soviet Times that he was a special case. Moscow when Sakharov was interviewed for Union (CPSU), and its politburo. in the 1970’s was so anxious to gain the first time by a Western journalist, One assumption most accepted by economic assistance and cooperation Jay Axelbank of Newsweek. From then correspondents was that the KGB could from the West that the top leaders had

86 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Words & Reflections to hold the goons on their leashes. three of them were KGB informers, like dents, Sakharov emerged from the Detente relaxed some controls the many American Communists who shadows and turned to the foreign over the foreign press, especially the worked for the FBI. Henry Shapiro, press for help. His 1972 interview with Americans, so that our reporting about near retirement after 40 years in Mos- Newsweek was followed the next year Sakharov’s work provided a shield for cow, refused to allow his United Press with a television conversation with Olle him. The police smothered him with International (UPI) correspondents to Stenholm of Sweden. Soon after, Sakha- surveillance and harassed him and his compete with reporters from The Asso- rov reached into the Jewish community wife, but they had to keep him alive. ciated Press (AP) and Reuters in cover- to borrow a trilingual interpreter, Kirill And they had to keep him sealed up ing the dissidents. Stories on this topic Khenkin, so he could meet with a wider inside the country, because if he were were filed only on orders from UPI’s selection of correspondents. allowed to travel or emigrate, he would New York office until Shapiro retired As Sakharov generated more support have attracted an international follow- in 1973. On the other extreme, David from foreign politicians, scientists and ing antithetical to the Kremlin. Bonavia, a brilliant correspondent for writers and European Communists, the His case was different from Aleksandr The Times of London when it was one KGB memos took on a more ominous Solzhenitsyn, the remarkable novelist of the world’s most influential news- tone. Sakharov was a true hero: a de- who was forced into exile in 1974 when papers, virtually adopted Pyotr Yakir, a signer of the Soviet hydrogen bomb the KGB thought it had stamped out fat, alcoholic dissident who generated who turned peacenik; a member of the the nascent democratic underground. genuine sympathy since he spent his privileged intelligentsia who sought The police considered the two men youth in a prison camp after his father, rights for all victims of Soviet power; to be collaborators, but they were a famous general, was executed by Sta- a rich man who gave away his fortune different personalities; the writer was lin. Yakir spent long days in Bonavia’s and lived on 800 rubles a month from self-centered and a Slavic nationalist apartment, eating his food and drinking the Academy of Sciences and his wife’s and religious mystic. He disappeared his vodka, until he was arrested with an pension. into Vermont and later returned home ally, Viktor Krasin, in 1972. Bonavia was In 1975, Sakharov’s international sta- and faded from public view. Sakharov expelled in early 1972. tus was elevated when was awarded the was a humanist concerned with all of Eighteen months later, Yakir and Nobel Peace Prize. The KGB considered Communism’s victims. Krasin appeared at a KGB press confer- Reporting on Dissidents ence to denounce their previous activi- Correspondents could only guess how ties, suggesting cor- deeply these courageous men and their respondents should small circle of allies annoyed the Krem- be wary of so-called lin. We differed on how much attention “dissidents.” Yakir to pay to the disparate dissident groups urged Sakharov to that had appeared for the first time in halt his political work modern Soviet history, although there that only generated was a consensus that it was wrong to “propaganda against devote too much time to reporting our homeland.” The their activities. In resignation that there hand-typed, carbon- were limits to our reporting on the dis- copied “A Chronicle sidents, one colleague observed, “It is of Current Events” their country.” The dissidents hardly that kept correspon- constituted a political “opposition.” The dents informed of groups were not well organized, and underground activi- there were few individuals involved. ties was shut down, They were isolated across the vast land. and several other Still, the fact was that brave men and dissidents were ar- women, young and old, struggling at rested in 1974, and great risk against the suffocating con- the KGB sensed vic- trols of the monolithic Soviet system, tory. was news. Some reporters held back, citing one Sakharov’s notorious example of a dozen radical Influence Jewish youth who drew wide attention by staging a brief demonstration in As the KGB swept Andrei Sakharov and Yelena Bonner, Moscow 1973. Photo by Red Square. It turned out that two or through the dissi- Murray Seeger.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 87 Words & Reflections

this proof of a massive international chief, that a bomb attack in a Moscow portance of foreign reporting in making conspiracy against the Soviet Union, subway might have been a KGB action. a shy physicist into an international noting the award was made when Yelena That ended the truce with American hero and major cause for the collapse Bonner was traveling in the West for journalists; Krimsky was expelled in of Soviet Communism. On other hand, medical treatment and could receive the 1977, the first American kicked out if Sakharov had not used international prize and read Sakharov’s acceptance since 1970. communications to plead his cause, he speech. In November 1975, the Soviet Finally, in 1980, the KGB won its ar- most likely would have been locked up police hit the panic button: gument that Sakharov was a real danger in a mental institution and forgotten like to party control of the state, weakened many lesser-known dissidents. “The Committee of State Security now by poor economic performance, Of the several lessons from this his- [KGB] of the USSR Council of Ministers the rise of Solidarity in Poland, and war tory, one should be absorbed by those and the USSR Procurator’s Office have in Afghanistan. The politburo agreed to journalists who portrayed Andropov as reported to the Central Committee of expel Sakharov and Bonner to Gorky, an a Western-oriented liberal and politi- the CPSU about Sakharov’s anti-Soviet industrial city closed to foreigners. Still, cal reformer. This KGB record proves activities …. Recently, having embarked the pair was able to get messages to the he was an evil schemer determined to on the path of an open struggle against outside world giving details of the dirty carry on the Communist tradition of Soviet power, he is divulging state tricks played against them. At the same destroying the country’s most valuable secrets to the enemy that pertain to time, the CPSU was collapsing: Three su- citizens, in this case, one the greatest the most vital defense issues of the preme leaders died in rapid succession, public figures of the 20th century. I country….” including Yuri Andropov, the architect of the anti-Sakharov campaign. Murray Seeger, a 1962 Nieman Fel- The goons proposed a series of In 1986, Gorbachev, anxious to gain low, covered Russia and East Eu- criminal charges to be brought against credibility as a reformer, informed rope for the Los Angeles Times for Sakharov in addition to having him Sakharov and Bonner that they could 10 years. He has recently published expelled from the Academy of Sciences. return to their small apartment on “Discovering Russia: 200 Years of He and Bonner should be banished to Chkalov Street. The secret police still American Journalism,” a study of Sverdlovsk. They reacted again after watched Sakharov as he rose to become how Americans formed their opin- Sakharov talked with Hedrick Smith the most popular politician in the new ions about that country. of The New York Times and then sug- Russia. gested to George Krimsky, AP bureau It is easy to overemphasize the im- ౧ [email protected]

Delivering the News in Two Languages What’s happening in several regions of Spain with bilingual journalism offers American editors and publishers a valuable ‘case study and a cautionary tale ….’ By Seth Lewis

ention bilingual journalism, will be heard. Once smothered by journalism in Spain has never been and Miami or the Tex-Mex former dictator Francisco Franco, the easier, cheaper or more culturally ap- Mborder towns come to mind. regional languages—Catalan, Galician propriate—so why does this approach But journalism’s definitive “bilingual and Basque—have undergone a rebirth appear to be failing? How is it that Galicia belt” is an ocean away in northern Spain, since his death in 1975, claiming greater Hoxe, the only all-Galician newspaper where a ribbon of regional languages prominence in schools and society in a region of three million Galician has made the area a hotbed for linguistic and becoming symbols of the regions’ speakers, barely musters 4,000 in daily risk-taking. desires for greater autonomy. That na- sales? Why, in highly nationalistic Cata- Spanish may be the country’s official scent nationalism, combined with new lonia, has the Catalan-only and publicly language, but troll the tapas bars and translation technologies, has ushered in financed Avui faltered against the likes of eavesdrop on conversations going on the beginnings of a bilingual era in the all-Spanish giant La Vanguardia? Why are in the regions of Catalonia, Galicia and Spanish newspaper industry. these larger papers reluctant to adopt the Basque country, and other languages Or so it seems. Doing dual-language more bilingualism?

88 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Words & Reflections

Those questions are confounding completed Spanish page into Catalan ferings, most of which fall under three editors and industry experts, and they in minutes. Add a bit of proofread- categories: provide a peek into the bilingual jour- ing and presto! A 96-page edition nalism dichotomy unfolding there. has been duplicated in just a few 1. Production bilingualism: The news is Spain is a case study and a cautionary hours. produced by one staff and then dissemi- tale—a lesson in bilingual innovation • Across town, in the offices of Metro nated in two languages, usually with the but also a warning that such efforts, Catalunya, the staff is constantly mix- help of computer software that nearly however well-intentioned, don’t always ing the languages, with newsroom seamlessly translates one Romance translate into readership gains. For edi- discussions in Catalan, some phone language to another. Barcelona’s El tors in bilingual regions such as South- interviews in Spanish, then writing Periódico de Catalunya epitomizes this ern California or Texas, the message in both. The result is a popular free approach. It publishes identical editions might be this: Even as technology and daily with a front page that’s part- in Spanish and Catalan, with the latter cultural forces pave the way making up more than 40 for language-mixing journal- percent of its press run. “We ism, it might be that readers are a bilingual society,” said don’t really want their news Joan Busquet, the paper’s delivered in this way. languages director. “We said to ourselves, ‘If someone The Spanish Models can buy bread in Spanish or Catalan, why can’t they Bilingual journalism in Spain read a newspaper in either is marked by its politics and language?’” peculiarity. The politics are hard to 2. Content bilingualism: ignore, in part because so In this, the most common much of Spanish news focuses form of bilingual journal- on political posturing and ism in Spain, the newspaper carries a partisan undertone produces a single edition in and because the country’s mi- Spanish, but with a sprin- nority languages have become kling of the local language. synonymous with regional Take the case of Gara, which separatist movements. By mixes Spanish and Basque encouraging, if not enforc- as it signals the rebirth of a ing, conformity to the local Graphic by Seth Lewis. newspaper once shut down tongue in everything from by the Spanish government street signage to restaurant menus, Catalan, part-Spanish. because of its ties to the Basque terrorist local governments—particularly those • Meanwhile, in Santiago de Com- group ETA. Like other bilingual papers, in Catalonia and the Basque country— postela, a destination for Catholic Gara takes an activist approach to push- have turned language into a political pilgrims near the Atlantic coast, Gali- ing the minority language: “Sometimes tool that emboldens but also isolates cia Hoxe churns out 48-page daily we’ll publish in Spanish to reach more their regions. editions of Galician news, written people, or we’ll publish in Basque For some newspapers, this dynamic in Galician and with a bold Galician to uphold our obligation to support has made the minority languages hot to spin. In the same newsroom, a differ- Basque,” Gara editor Josu Juaristi said. the touch, almost radioactive, casting ent staff is producing different news Meanwhile, among the less politically their coverage in a nationalistic glow for the stuffier all-Spanish parent motivated, Metro Catalunya, 20 Minu- and alienating more than a few readers paper, El Correo Gallego. tos, and Qué!, three free dailies with a who prefer their news straight, undi- • Just up the road in La Coruna, the growing share of the commuter market luted—and, yes, in Spanish. region’s leading newspaper, La Voz in Barcelona, often present locally pro- As for peculiarity, consider the bi- de Galicia, mixes the languages on duced stories in Catalan right alongside lingual potpourri that nationalism has its culture pages and, in its metro Spanish copy from their Madrid bureaus spawned: section, occasionally runs a Galician and wire services. quote smack in the middle of a Span- • At El Periódico de Catalunya, the ish story. 3. Tailored bilingualism: Other papers second-largest newspaper in Barce- try targeted editions—perhaps a four- lona, a team of editor-linguists can, Confused yet? Spain is turning out page weekly section—as a nod to its with a few mouse clicks, translate a a head-spinning array of bilingual of- minority language. At the other extreme

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 89 Words & Reflections

is bilingualism with an attitude. Galicia In Galicia, the all-Spanish El Correo in Spain is telling—and holds lessons Hoxe, unlike its all-Spanish parent, El Gallego outsells its all-Galician sister for the American press. “The absence of Correo Gallego, unabashedly presents by 10-to-one—and good luck trying to [more] bilingualism is significant,” not- the news through a Galician lens—re- find folks reading Galicia Hoxe over ed Miguel Ángel Jimeno, a journalism writing wire copy and giving language chocolate con churros in local cafés. professor at the University of Navarre and culture concerns top billing in cov- In Catalonia, a region of nearly seven in Pamplona. “Newspaper firms don’t erage. “If we see a report that the youth million Catalan speakers, the Catalan- want to lose money, so it seems clear in Vigo are speaking less Galician, for us only Avui barely tops 25,000 in weekday they can’t make money with bilingual that’s a front-page story,” Hoxe deputy sales—largely because it’s a discred- editions.” editor Xavier Cae said. “For How then to explain the El Correo Gallego, it will be apparent success of bilingual a little note inside.” The American model is one of separation— journalism in the United States, where Spanish-lan- What Goes Bilingual? there are all-English papers and all-Spanish guage media are mushroom- papers, but few hybrids—and the model ing from California to North Such linguistic mixing and Carolina? The answer lies in matching adds a new layer works by reaching two distinct socio- at least one essential differ- to editorial decision-making: linguistic markets. By contrast, the Spanish ence. The American model In what language should a is one of separation—there story appear? Most news- model of mixing languages … likely would are all-English papers and papers practicing content backfire in the United States …. all-Spanish papers, but few bilingualism have a similar hybrids—and the model standard: The more local works by reaching two dis- an item, the more reason it tinct socio-linguistic mar- should appear in the local language. For ited, government-subsidized organ of kets. By contrast, the Spanish model papers in Galicia, where the once-rural nationalism. And while El Periódico of mixing languages—suited to a place tongue of Galician today has become de Catalunya is considered a bilingual where most people have two native the language of the elite, that means journalism success story, it gained few languages—likely would backfire in the high-brow sections such as arts and new readers when it began publishing United States, turning off both English culture appear in Galician. in both languages; a third of its Span- and Spanish readers, even in a place as At La Voz de Galicia, most local sto- ish readership merely migrated to the bilingual as El Paso, Texas. “We don’t ries appear in Spanish, but if a reporter Catalan edition. do Spanish in our main product,” said goes to an accident scene, for example, Little wonder then that Barcelona’s El Paso Times editor Dionicio “Don” and a witness responds to questions in largest paper, La Vanguardia, hasn’t fol- Flores, “because people wouldn’t know Galician, the paper will run the quote in lowed its rival’s dual-edition example, that it’s there, and it would appear to be Galician—inside an otherwise Spanish or that La Voz de Galicia, after recently tokenism. And how could we ask Span- story. “The reader understands perfectly, studying El Periódico’s model, has de- ish readers to pay the full price for only and it’s more realistic,” executive editor cided against increased bilingualism. a handful of articles in Spanish?” Bieito Rubido said. La Voz editor Rubido said market re- Even if content bilingualism remains At Metro Catalunya, where the Barce- search showed demand was insufficient. relatively unique to northern Spain, edi- lona-produced content usually appears “Look,” he told me, opening the paper tors elsewhere can learn as much from in Catalan, language choice is a fluid, to the obituaries, nearly all written in Spaniards’ ingenuity—their translation day-to-day process. “The reporter will Spanish. “Here the people have a chance techniques, their obsession with local- say, ‘Do you want this in Spanish or to memorialize their loved one, and in izing content—as they can from their in- Catalan?’” Editor Xavier Gual said. “And their pain and grief what is the language adequacies. Bilingual journalism might then we’ll decide based on what else that comes naturally? Spanish.” yet have its day in Spain and, when it we have that day. We want to provide Rubido added: “There’s nothing does, there’s certain to be more than a good mix of the two.” In seeking an more democratic than kiosk sales. one way to write about it. I 80-20 Spanish-Catalan ratio, Gual tries When thousands of people who don’t to help the many Latin American immi- know us take this”—he held up a euro Seth Lewis, assistant sports editor for grants assimilate to Catalonia by giving coin—“out of their pockets, that’s where The Miami Herald, went to Spain last them just a taste of Catalan. “We don’t we see true demand.” fall as a Fulbright Fellow in Journal- want to make it hard for the reader,” ism. he said. The American Model And therein lies the rub: Do readers ౧ [email protected] really want this kind of journalism? Whether a victim of politics or poor Recent evidence is not encouraging. execution, bilingual journalism’s failure

90 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Nieman Notes Nieman Notes Compiled by Lois Fiore Old Newspapers Lead Students to New Discoveries A valuable collection of historic newspapers is used to put ‘journalistic skills to work on news long dead.’

By Doug Cumming

ournalists learn a lot on the job, three years ago. We require ethics and archival material. But it is generally but one thing they don’t learn is law to round out the other requirements not the way history is taught in college Jgood journalism history. In news- in reporting, writing, editing and pro- and high school, where students are rooms, reporters tend to absorb a local duction. There is little room for media force-marched through predigested house history, a slapdash script full of history, since the bulk of a journalism facts and dates. legends that instruct and inspire and student’s education must be in other My university recently received a might even be true. But it’s a narrow, departments, to provide a strong lib- donation of more than 1,500 old news- parochial history. eral arts grounding. We would prefer papers, mostly 18th and 19th century When I worked at the Providence that our students learn history in the American papers. The donor, Frederick Journal-Bulletin in the 1970’s and ’80’s, history department. But if it could be Farrar, is a 1941 journalism graduate I heard folk tales about the noble cranki- squeezed in, journalism history could of Washington & Lee who became in- ness of our city editor, Al Johnson, go- inspire and instruct future journalists terested in teaching journalism history ing back four decades. I was intrigued in more sustaining ways than the paro- at the approach of the bicentennial in that two of the most skeptical critics of chial history they will pick up around 1976. An ad executive at the time, he American journalism, A.J. Liebling and the newsroom. loved newspapers, old and new, and Ben Bagdikian, began at the Providence Learning the social history of news recognized the magic of using them papers. (The Providence Journal, to its as a practice shines a whole new to spark excitement about American credit, produced an impressive official light on the so-called core values of history in high school classrooms. He history on its 150th anniversary in 1980.) the profession—objectivity, indepen- earned a master’s degree researching Later, at The Atlanta Journal-Constitu- dence, fairness and all that. Historically that idea and then for 10 years taught tion, I could trace that newspaper’s viewed, these are not commandments advertising and journalism history at house history by way of a miniature divinely revealed, or platonic forms, Temple University. Farrar’s collection brass cannon in the lobby. Editors Henry but practices that emerge and change of historic newspapers and periodicals Grady and Ralph McGill each fired that opportunistically over time. The study grew ever larger as his shrewdness and cannon in turn when the Democratic of media history shows a mass market luck at collecting became something Party retook the White House, first in not as inevitable, but an amazing evo- amazing. He was elected to the Ameri- 1884, then in 1960. Their successor lution, infinitely rich and random. And can Antiquarian Society, the mother on the editorial page, Cynthia Tucker, the firewall between advertising and lode of old newspapers in Worcester, aware of the racist background of the newsgathering is seen as the improbable Massachusetts, founded by the father era that forged the cannon, declined to miracle that it is. Or was. This under- of journalism history, Isaiah Thomas, keep the tradition in 1992. When Bill standing is the essence of a liberal-arts in 1812. Kovach was editor there in the 1980’s, he cast of mind, and it should be what we Farrar’s collection itself was nothing restored and used the roll-top desk that expect of an educated journalist. to sneeze at. He had European papers had been Grady’s and McGill’s. Such is Teaching history in a journalism as old as 1559 (a German-language ac- journalism history in the field. department can have another side ben- count of the death of Henry II of France, I’m in academia now, where journal- efit, as I learned in designing a course not considered a newspaper by most ism history is more fussy and monkish, I taught last fall called “Discovering historians because it was not a serial- resting on agate footnotes and bibliog- Early American Newspapers.” History, ized publication), volumes of British raphies. Not many journalism programs I have found, can be approached as a periodicals from the age of Johnson, require media history for undergradu- reporter would stalk a story, a search U.S. newspapers announcing elections ate majors. Here at Washington & Lee for revealing documents, tips, evidence of new Presidents from Washington to University, for instance, it was not even and anecdotes. This is the way historians George W. Bush, and offbeat publica- offered when I joined the department and their graduate students approach tions from periods of reform, war and

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 91 Nieman Notes

depression. I wanted to put this dona- of the Period,” mostly selections from it back to life. I tion to good use, so I secured a grant the newspapers themselves. Borrowing for one of my students to spend last ideas from Farrar, I made students hold Doug Cumming, a 1987 Nieman summer getting bibliographic control a press conference playing the role of Fellow, is an assistant professor of over this material.1 Next, I designed a an editor from history, many of whom journalism at Washington & Lee Uni- course around the Farrar Collection.2 were women who took over from their versity in Lexington, Virginia. I was tempted to use a good textbook jailed brothers or dead husbands. And I as a road map for “Discovering Early made them pore over the actual papers, ౧ [email protected] American Newspapers.” But I opted to strange and beautiful messages with 1 keep as close as possible to the pure the long “s” (“Yr. humble Fervant”) on The Web site the student put together is experience of encountering the hard gently washed rag paper. This is not http://journalism.wlu.edu/Farrar/ data, the earth-crusted artifacts of what just studying history. It’s doing history. ! 2The syllabus is online at http:// are called “primary sources.” So our And in a way that I hope to continue journalism.wlu.edu/J295a/J295%20 required text was David Copeland’s to develop in future offerings of this Syllabus.htm “Debating the Issues in Colonial News- course, it puts journalistic skills to work papers: Primary Documents on Events on news long dead, in hopes of bringing

—1943—

James Daniel died on December 26, contributed in so many ways to make MacArthur’s forces. After covering the 2005. He was 89 years old. According to Weston the wonderful town it is today,” war, he returned to the Louisville De- his daughter Nina, he died peacefully in first selectman Woody Bliss said. Bliss fender as the paper’s city editor and his sleep after suffering a heart attack at then called the Meeting Room “a last- advocated for desegregation. his home in Weston, Connecticut. ing monument to Jim’s intellect and According to his son, after Martin’s Daniel was born in Lexington, North dedication.” Nieman year, and despite his many Carolina. After graduating from the Uni- Daniel is survived by two daughters, professional experiences, he was denied versity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, four grandchildren, and five great- a job at The Courier-Journal when an he became a reporter at The (Raleigh) grandchildren. His wife, Ramona, died editor feared his staff would quit rather News & Observer, where he worked in 2000. than work with a black reporter. When throughout the 1930’s. In the 1940’s Contributions in Daniel’s name may offered a job with The Washington he moved to the Washington Daily be made to the Weston EMS, the Weston Post, he declined when he learned of News, where he served as both reporter Historical Society, or Sacred Heart their segregated restrooms and instead and city editor. Daniel later worked as Church in Georgetown, Connecticut. returned to the Louisville Defender. contributing editor for Time magazine He moved to Chicago in 1952 to cover and a roving editor for Reader’s Digest —1947— courts and civil rights as the Chicago in the 1950’s. Sun-Times’s first black reporter. In 1962, When Daniel retired he and his Fletcher P. Martin, the first African Martin became a press attaché for the wife, Ramona Teijeiro Daniel, moved American to receive a Nieman Fellow- U.S. Embassy’s former U.S. Information into an historic home in Weston, Con- ship, died from complications of dia- Agency in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Later necticut, which they “painstakingly and betes on November 27, 2005. He was positions with the agency led him to lovingly returned to museum-quality 89 years old. Kenya and Ghana. grandeur,” according to the local paper. A native of McMinnville, Tennes- Martin retired to Majorca, part of In Weston, Daniel became a well-known see, Martin graduated from Louisville Spain’s Balearic Islands, for 25 years, town historian and, in the late 1960’s, Municipal College in 1938 and quickly then moved to Indianapolis for the last was elected first selectman. In June of became city editor of the Louisville seven years of his life. last year, Weston honored Daniel with Leader, a weekly with 20 employees Merv Aubespin, a former president a reception and plaque in gratitude and 22,000-circulation that covered the of the National Association of Black of “his leadership and foresight in the African-American community. In 1942, Journalists, recalled Martin’s leadership preservation and protection of Weston’s he joined the Louisville Defender as a in a Courier-Journal obituary: “He was history,” said the paper. The ceremony feature writer and continued to cover one of the first African Americans to took place in Weston’s Meeting Room, African-Americans issues. work for a major daily newspaper. He which Daniel, dubbed curator, had He spent 22 months in the South was one of our pioneers who opened decorated with authentic colonial pe- Pacific during World War II, earning the door in the majority media for Af- riod pieces. the titles of first accredited war cor- rican Americans.” Said the Sun-Times: “Jim will be missed by the entire respondent from Louisville and first “Fletcher Martin introduced Chicago town of Weston. Over the years, he black war correspondent with Douglas to the Rev. Martin Luther King.” When

92 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Nieman Notes

Martin left Louisville for Chicago, Mayor during the years of the Civil Rights Act, Lambeth also noted that he planned Charles Farnsley presented him with the Voting Rights Act, and Immigration to use the citizen journalism section key to the city of Louisville. Reform Act. He returned to Hawaii as of the Winter 2005 issue as reading According to one of his daughters, vice president for legislative affairs for material for his students: “I’d like to the Harvard insignia was displayed at the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, use it as required reading in a session his wake in Indianapolis. Being a Nie- where he remained until his retirement of a course on Journalism, Religion and man Fellow at Harvard, she said, was in 1983. Public Life. We will explore some of the Martin’s proudest affiliation. Nakatsuka received the Asian Ameri- implications of citizen journalism for Martin is survived by a son and three can Journalists Association’s (AAJA) religion reporting, writing and editing. daughters. Lifetime Achievement Award in August “As the founder of the Civic Journalism 2000. He is cited by the AAJA as the first Interest Group within the Association —1952— Japanese American in Hawaii to work for for Education in Journalism and Mass an English-language newspaper. Communication, I believe your new Lawrence Nakatsuka, a former Nakatsuka is survived by three chil- issue is especially timely.” Honolulu Star-Bulletin reporter, died dren, a brother, and two sisters. Reports on the work of the center January 1st. He was 85. Nakatsuka was and the syllabi of the religion-related the first Japanese-American Nieman —1961— journalism courses Lambeth teaches Fellow. can be found on the Web site http://rpp. Nakatsuka was born “Kaoru Nakat- Lewis Nkosi writes: “A book about missouri.edu. Lambeth, 73, who be- suka” in Hanalei, Kauai, Hawaii. After me, with essays by international schol- came director of the center in February graduating from the Saint Louis School, ars and photographs, is just out from 2004, will step down from the position where he was called “Lawrence,” Nakat- Rodopi Publishers (Amsterdam and in July 2006. A search is underway for suka became the first Japanese American New York) titled ‘Still Beating the Drum: a new director. to join the staff of the Honolulu Star-Bul- Critical Perspectives on Lewis Nkosi,’ ed- letin and covered Japanese community ited by Professors Lindy Stiebel and Liz —1972— events and labor issues for the paper. Gunner. I finished my novel ‘Mandela’s In 1941, he was dispatched to the Japa- Ego,’ which is due to be published in John Carroll has been appointed nese consulate to cover the attack on May or June in Cape Town. In March the first Knight Visiting Lecturer at the Pearl Harbor, an assignment deemed there will be special panels at the ALA John F. Kennedy School of Government dangerous for a Japanese American. In [African Languages Association, a U.S.- at Harvard University. The position is 1946, in the job of assistant city editor, based Association of African Scholars] designed for “distinguished journalists he conducted an interview with Minnie annual conference to be held in Accra who will study, analyze and lead the Yamauchi, who had recently gradu- to celebrate my 70th birthday and liter- discussion on the future of journalism ated from Columbia University with a ary career.” in America and around the world,” master’s degree in labor relations. Two “Still Beating the Drum” is an at- according to the December 2005 an- years later they were married. tempt to organize and evaluate the nouncement of the appointment. Following his Nieman year, Nakat- work of Nkosi, one of South Africa’s The recipient of the lectureship is to suka was appointed press secretary most respected writers and critics. Part spend a year at a major university of to Governor Samuel Wilder King, and one consists of papers from scholars their choosing for reflection, research later Governor William Quinn, during around the world currently studying and teaching. The John S. and James Hawaii’s statehood admission. In his Nkosi’s work and writings; part two L. Knight Foundation is funding the last column, a 2004 viewpoint column reprints Nkosi’s key articles and some position with a $200,000 grant. in the Star-Bulletin, he recalled of this unpublished recent interviews, and part In the announcement, Carroll was time, “There were tens of thousands three is a timeline and bibliography of quoted as saying: “My topic is an urgent of Hawaii residents, like myself, who Nkosi’s life and work. one: nothing less than the fate of jour- were second-class citizens. Those were nalism. The economic underpinnings of the years before statehood, before we —1968— our craft are eroding. At the same time, became first-class citizens.” Quinn ap- the Web is offering rich opportunities pointed him deputy director of the Edmund B. Lambeth, director of the for journalism in new forms. And, in former Department of Social Services, Center for Religion, the Professions and the current scramble for market share, and in 1955 he toured Burma, India, the Public at the University of Missouri, the work of the principled journalist Pakistan and the Philippines for the writes that The Pew Charitable Trust’s is being lost in a din of marketing and U.S. Information Agency. board of directors renewed its support propaganda. Nakatsuka moved to Washington in with a $1.5 million grant and that the “As a matter of public policy, a self- 1963 to serve as legislative assistant program’s academic home will now be governing nation simply cannot do to Senator Hiram Fong and advanced the University of Missouri’s School of without real journalism. As a practical to become Fong’s executive assistant Journalism. matter, we must find ways to make it

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 93 Nieman Notes

pay. These are some of the concerns loony left. So thank you for honoring as associate professor of journalism at I intend to explore—urgently and, I me; it will help. Florida International University (FIU). hope, realistically—in this new role at “I want to assure you that I am not The School of Journalism and Mass Harvard. I couldn’t be more grateful for an angry bomb thrower. Most of my Communication is located on the North the opportunity.” writings on foreign affairs involve topics Miami Beach Campus on Biscayne Bay. Prior to this appointment, Carroll had such as: Can the E.U. make the single Eight of the school’s graduates have been editor of the Los Angeles Times. He currency succeed; must NATO go ‘out of won Pulitzers so far, and FIU gradu- will be based in the Shorenstein Center area or out of business?’ Should NATO ates more bilingual journalists every on the Press, Politics & Public Policy. be enlarged? Should we ratify the CWC year than any U.S. university except the treaty, the ICC treaty? Whither Russia? University of Texas. —1977— And so on. … “The decision to leave a great gig at “… I think two factors caused our the Palm Beach Post was difficult; for Hennie van Deventer writes that more aggressive editorializing over the the past year I’ve been covering public his wife, Tokkie, “is 60 on 15 March. last three or four years. The first is our health and emergency responses to As a special tribute to a special woman, deeply felt belief in multilateralism. things like hurricanes and terrorism. I had a Web site created. The address John Cowles Sr., the publisher who [See her article on page 6.] While there is www.mieliestronk.com/tokkie60. started Cowles family ownership of the I was fortunate to work on Modern-Day html. Even if I do not expect that you Star Tribune, was a friend of President Slavery, a project that won a Robert F. will understand one written word, I do Dwight Eisenhower and a passionate Kennedy Journalism Award, the Harry hope that you will recognize some of the believer in the United Nations—as a Chapin Media Award, and the James K. faces! … My latest project is a so-called prophylactic, I’m sure, against a repeat Batten Public Service Award. But when ‘photo album’ of our beloved Sabiepark of the carnage of World War II. Cowles this offer from FIU came unexpectedly, in the South African bush. That will be pretty much single-handedly pulled it was just too good to turn down. my book number 11.” Minnesota out of the isolationism of “I’ve taught a couple of courses at the Charles Lindbergh crowd. So to see FIU as an adjunct and really admire —1980— all of the multilateral institutions pretty the new journalism department head, well trashed was offensive. Allan Richards, and the new dean, Lillian Jim Boyd, deputy editorial page edi- “Second, I am a Vietnam veteran. I Lodge Kopenhaver, who is an expert tor at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, went there as an Army case officer, un- in constitutional law and First Amend- Minnesota, received the 2005 Arthur dercover actually as a Foreign Service ment issues. The school is engaged Ross Award for Distinguished Reporting Reserve officer attached to Mac/Coords. in an exciting expansion into some and Analysis on Foreign Affairs, given by I worked for a young FSO named Mort specialized coverage areas I care a lot The American Academy of Diplomacy, Dworken. Last I heard he was political about, including social welfare, public “for critical, perceptive and nonpartisan officer at the Court of St. James. health and aging, so it is a good time commentary on the policies of govern- “But the kids I went through basic to make a move I’ve thought about for ments and international organizations, training with at Fort Lewis were mostly several years. reflecting exhaustive research, a willing- farm kids from around the Northwest. “The other plus is the North Miami ness to tell truth to power, and a con- Most went straight from basic to ad- Beach campus is only 60 miles from sistent appreciation for the importance vanced infantry training to Vietnam. West Palm Beach, so I’m going to con- of cooperation among nations.” About half did not come home. I cannot tinue living in my 1930 Key West-style Here is a brief excerpt from Boyd’s tell you how deeply I feel a commitment cottage near the Intracoastal in a small acceptance speech: to them and through them to today’s town just south of West Palm, Lake young men and women to help ensure Worth, which has a lot of diversity and “… The last three years have been dif- that whenever they are put in a combat old Florida feel. ficult. The pushback for our aggressive zone it is because we literally have no “Other news: My daughter Meghan, views has been intense. Radio talk-show other option. 18, is a freshman at George Washington host Hugh Hewitt organized a campaign “That’s what has motivated my writ- University in D.C. and just made the to get people to drop subscriptions; ings. Not partisanship certainly; not a honor roll. My son Ryan, 25, (Nieman we lost about 200, and it scared my generalized angry outlook, but specific kid when he was four) graduated with superiors. Bloggers like Power Line issues about which we—I—feel quite a major in Spanish from Denison Uni- harassed us continuously. A senator deeply.…” versity and, after a stint as a translator who shall go unnamed—hint: he’s no for EFE News Service in Miami, has fan of Kofi Annan—had breakfast with —1984— moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he our publisher and warned him that we is using his bilingual skills pursuing a were beginning to be associated with Jane Daugherty reports a job couple of business opportunities. He’s the loony left and that I had an angry change: “I’m happy to report that I planning to return to Spain this summer agenda. Well, you folks are not the have accepted a full-time appointment to teach English.”

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—1987— Constance Casey: “We were honored to “It would be impossible to overstate have Liu Binyan in our Nieman group. the impact of spending a year in that Doug Cumming writes: “The Nie- We knew about his distinguished career environment. And for that reason, I will man class of ’87 has probably been one as a reporter, but I think it was hard for be forever indebted to Liu Binyan.” of the most flocking in the fellowship’s us—for me, anyway—to completely take history. We’ve had summer reunions in how eventful and difficult his life had Constance Casey has retired after every two years, from North Carolina been. On thing we did know, and could five years as a gardener with the New beaches to British Columbia, roughly clearly see, was that he adored his wife, York City Department of Parks & Recre- based on the model of our one week Zhu Hong, and that they were an inspir- ation. “It has been fun,” she says. “I’m sharing a villa in Jamaica during the ing, mutually supportive couple. keeping a hand in urban gardening by January break of ’87. “I remember from our time together volunteering one day a week. But it is “The latest was a bit thin and brief, not only his dignity but also his bemused time to return to the world of words. I’ve on account of some health problems. smile. He and I were sitting together in started writing a column on gardening Still, the group gathered for a scrump- a seminar about surveillance and inva- for Slate, the online magazine.” tious long weekend at the end of July sion of privacy. (That was 1988, and our in Lexington, Virginia where my wife, speaker was sounding the alarm even —1991— Libby, and I were the hosts. [Doug is then.) I asked him at the break what the in his third year as a PhD teaching jour- Chinese word for ‘privacy’ was. Rui Araujo writes to say that he has nalism at Washington & Lee University, “He smiled and said, ‘There is no a new job: “I became the ombudsman and Libby is also on the W&L faculty, word in Chinese for privacy.’ of the Portuguese daily newspaper Pu- in physics.] Al May, now an associate “I think from his perspective, living in blico as of January 1, 2006. I had lots professor of media and public affairs China through the most trying of times, of doubts, but Bill Kovach [former Nie- at George Washington University, came he may have seen us, the American Nie- man Curator] and two other journalist with his wife, Carol Darr; Linda Wil- mans, as innocents. But he was never friends (Miguel Sousa Tavares and José son flew in from Washington State with patronizing or dismissive or superior. Manuel Barata-Feyo) convinced me to her husband, Rick Carns, and Susan When he became exiled from his home take the job. It is another challenge in Dentzer, currently covering the health country after Tiananmen Square, I ex- my career. The job seems to me to be a beat for “The NewsHour with Jim Leh- pected the Chinese government would kind of Nieman year—thinking journal- rer,” came with her husband, Chuck eventually relent and allow him to be ism instead of reporting. Alston, now a senior vice president with reunited with his children, especially “Next May, a book will be published the P.R. firm MS&L in Washington, D.C. when he became gravely ill. How in- (Oficina do Livro, Lisbon) with some of It was good food, Blue Ridge music, a nocent of me to think that.” the best reports ever done in Portugal float down the James, and golf—a little since the advent of democracy (April 25, like old times.” Rick Tulsky: “The amazing thing about 1974). I am one of the chosen report- our Nieman experience was spending ers. My specific contribution is a story I —1989— a year with journalistic heroes—Joe did for monthly newsmagazine Grande Thloloe, who had experienced police Reportagem‚ almost three years ago. I Liu Binyan died on December 5th breaking into his house to arrest him tell my lonely and silent ‘adventures‚’ of colon cancer in a hospital in New in South Africa for practicing journal- as the second in command of the fishing Jersey. He was 80. He spent the past ism; Julio Godoy, whose newspaper boat Intrujão, south of Cape Verde. It 17 years in exile in the United States. had been blown up over crusading is a story of men and sharks. Even after he was diagnosed with cancer journalism in Guatemala; Moeletsi “I am also finishing my third thriller. and given only a short time to live, the Mbeki, whose entire family had been It is a story based on real facts: There are Chinese government refused to give him dedicated to achieving justice in South two homicide brigade cops dealing with permission to return to China, despite Africa, and Bill Kovach, whose dedi- a crime connected—this time—with his own efforts and the support of his cation to aggressive and courageous cocaine.” friends. He had wanted to die in the journalism cost him his editorship in country he loved. Atlanta. But their experiences were over- —1992— Liu Binyan’s presence in the class shadowed, as amazing as that seems, by of 1989 had a powerful effect on his the courage and dedication to the truth Seth Effron writes: “On February 1, classmates. What follows are remem- demonstrated by Liu Binyan, a man of 2006, I left my job as executive editor brances from two of his classmates, quiet determination to journalism as a of State Government Radio in Raleigh, Constance Casey and Rick Tulsky. And means to expose injustice and inform North Carolina. During 18 months with the End Note, which is on page 100, is the public. Amazingly, Binyan remained the start-up, I launched its Web site, a an essay written by two of Liu Binyan’s dedicated to the truth despite decades daily newsletter, and a daily broadcast colleagues, Juntao Wang ’96 and of personal hardship as a result of his that covered North Carolina state gov- Xiaoping Chen ’98. convictions. ernment and politics, local government,

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economic development, and education. ries, plus the editor and the executive Thrity Umrigar has a new novel out, I achieved all I think I could and have producer. Magistad is the Beijing-based “The Space Between Us,” published by given the operation a reporting and Northeast Asia correspondent for “The HarperCollins: journalistic foundation. World,” and reported the China-based “There are two major female charac- “I did not stay unemployed for long. segment of the series. The program is a ters in ‘The Space Between Us’—Sera Starting on March 1, I became the deputy coproduction of Public Radio Interna- Dubash, the upper middle-class Bom- press secretary to North Carolina Gov- tional, BBC World Service, and WGBH bayite, and Bhima, the servant who has ernor Mike Easley. Easley, a Democrat, Radio Boston. It is the only American worked in the Dubash household for is serving his second four-year term. I’ll radio program focusing exclusively on many years. The character of Bhima be helping oversee all communications global issues, and it was chosen from is based on a real person. She worked with the news media and work with over 620 radio and television news in the house I grew up in Bombay, a the governor on policy development entries. For access to the series, go to shadow flitting around our middle-class and his efforts to communicate policy www.theworld.org and follow the link house, her thin brown hands cleaning initiatives.” to the series. furniture she was not allowed to sit on, cooking food she was not allowed to —1994— David Molpus is now executive share at the family dining table. editor for WVIZ/PBS and 90.3 WCPN “But despite these obvious divisions, Jerry Kammer, of Copley News ideastream, a multiple-media public there was another reality, one that I Service, won a George Polk Award for service organization in Ohio. In making also noticed when I was a child: I saw political reporting for uncovering the the announcement, Kit Jensen, COO of servants trusting their meager savings to scandal of U.S. Representative Randy ideastream, said “David’s skills, abilities their mistresses as a way of protecting Cunningham, a Southern California and experience provide editorial direc- their money from the grasping hands Republican who admitted accepting tion and leadership that is essential of drunken husbands; I saw Bhima and $2.4 million in bribes from defense to the continued development of our the females in my household working contractors. Kammer won the award journalism as we leverage technology peaceably together in the kitchen in a with Dean Calbreath, of The San Diego to provide greater service.” Molpus kind of domestic shorthand. Union-Tribune, and Marcus Stern, also remarked that ideastream is “a vibrant “I have always been fascinated by this of Copley News Service. The awards, organization with the ambitious goal intersection of gender and class—how given by Long Island University to me- of becoming an indispensable resource the lives of women from the working morialize a CBS correspondent killed for northeastern Ohio. I am especially class and the middle-class seemed at while covering the Greek civil war in impressed with the vision for building once so connected and so removed 1948, will be presented at a ceremony community-based journalism and the from each other. in New York in April. desire to expand partnerships with “It is a theme that has interested other service-oriented organizations.” me—haunted me, even—for as long as —1999— Molpus had worked at NPR for 28 I can remember. One of the reasons I years as senior correspondent, news- have always loved Bombay is because Susan Reed has received an Alicia caster and producer. He cohosted it is a city riddled with contradictions Patterson Foundation grant, one of NPR’s “All Things Considered” Weekend and paradox. In an apartment in a small eight journalists selected to spend time Edition for two years and often was a corner of the city, I grew up experiencing traveling, researching and writing ar- substitute host on “Morning Edition” a microcosm of this larger paradox—this ticles on a particular project. Reed will and “Weekend Edition Sunday.” On strange tug-of-war between intimacy investigate why significant numbers of leaving NPR, he was the regional “All and unfamiliarity, between awareness women and minorities have failed to Things Considered” host at Minnesota and blindness. rise to the highest levels of the richer Public Radio and was news director for “‘The Space Between Us’ is an at- corporations. WMRA, the NPR station serving Char- tempt to understand, through the lottesville and the Shenandoah Valley illuminating searchlight of fiction, para- —2000— of Virginia. doxes that I could never make sense Molpus was NPR’s first national corre- of in real life. I began the novel in the Mary Kay Magistad has been spondent to cover the American South, spring of 2003. But, in fact, I have been awarded part of a duPont-Columbia the first defense correspondent, and the writing this book forever.” silver baton for “The Global Race for first workplace correspondent. He has Umrigar has been a journalist for 17 Stem Cell Therapies,” a series about won a number of awards, including a years, and has written for The Washing- stem cell research in the United States, National Headliner Award for a report ton Post, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, Britain, Israel and China. The series was on the impact of gambling on Atlantic and other national newspapers. She broadcast on “The World,” a nationally City, New Jersey, and a Clarion Award also regularly writes for The Boston syndicated news program. The award for reports on catfish workers in the Globe’s book pages. Umrigar teaches went to the three reporters on the se- Mississippi Delta. creative writing and journalism at Case

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Western Reserve University. She is also the author of the novel “Bombay Time” and the memoir “First Darling of the Morning: Selected Memories of an Indian Childhood.”

—2003—

Ann Simmons will be moving to New Orleans for the Los Angeles Times to cover the many issues involved in the rebuilding of that city after Hurricane Katrina. She’ll begin the assignment in March and expects to be there for about a year. She has been the Times’s roving state reporter since 2004 and has been with the paper since 1997. She writes, “I spent several weeks in the region following hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the experience was most exhilarating. The rebuilding of New Orleans is an important and compel- ling story, and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to pursue it. Having spent While visiting Shanghai to be with family for the holidays, Bob and Nancy Giles went to a lot of my career as a foreign corre- Beijing for an evening’s gathering of Nieman Fellows. The group had a lively discussion spondent—most recently as the bureau over a traditional Chinese dinner at the Gui Gong Fu Restaurant, which is housed in an chief for the L.A. Times in Nairobi and ancient building known as the house of the brother of the famous Ci Xi Queen in the Johannesburg—I am looking forward Qing Dynasty. In the photo from the left are Jingcao Hu ’01; Philip Cunningham ’98; to getting back into the field and doing Bob Giles ’66; Dai Qing ’92; Nancy Giles; Ying Chan ’96, and Yuan Feng ’02. more on-the-ground people reporting and less desk reporting. I also see this as a great opportunity to explore yet some of the main trials and behind- hood of 10 a.m.). But it’s kind of fun another new culture and learn yet an- the-scenes intriguing judicial plots, the to see the sunrise.” AP’s office is on the other new ‘foreign’ language.” book gradually opens to a somewhat 24th floor of the Centennial Tower, “so disturbing analysis on how justice is the sunrise reveals a grand view every —2004— rendered in an international setting. It morning,” according to Don. also attempts to define how the Rwanda Carol Bradley, class scribe, submit- Tribunal has been different from any David Stern is currently working ted the following notes: other international criminal court. It as the Caucasus trainer/editor for the is the first independent account on the Institute for War & Peace Reporting Thierry Cruvellier, after having, workings of this international tribunal (IWPR), a nonprofit organization that in his own words, “embarrassed him- and offers a timely point of reference concentrates on reporting in conflict self during his whole Nieman year for while the International Criminal Court, zones. IWPR started out in the former abusively claiming he had come to the first permanent world criminal Yugoslavia and now runs projects in Lippmann House to write,” has “finally” court, is about to open its first cases. Afghanistan, Central Asia, Africa, Iraq completed his book on the genocide tri- and the Balkans war crimes tribunal als held before the International Crimi- Don Schanche, after more than 20 in The Hague. The philosophy behind nal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The cumulative years with Knight Ridder, left the organization is simple. Its founders ICTR was set up in 1994 by the United The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph in Decem- believe that objective, responsible local Nations and located in Arusha, Tanzania, ber to take a job as the day supervisor journalism, which adheres to interna- where Thierry was the only international in AP’s Atlanta Bureau. Don reports tional standards and reflects all sides of journalist to cover it permanently from that “the job is stimulating and the col- a dispute, can play a part in bringing 1997 to 2002. Under its French title “Le leagues are first-rate. The hours—7:30 these conflicts to an end or preventing Tribunal des Vaincus—Un Nuremberg a.m. to 4 p.m.—are a shock to the sys- other conflagrations from breaking out. pour le Rwanda?” the book will be pub- tem after years of working a morning As part of his job, David helps teach lished in April by the publishing house newspaper schedule (beginning each journalists in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Calmann Lévy. Through the stories of workday somewhere in the neighbor- Georgia the basics of good journalism

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 97 Nieman Notes

and helps edit their articles at IWPR’s story of how fiber optic technology—the honoring the quality and accuracy of online publication (www.iwpr.net). He technology that makes the Internet his journalism. He is the only television can be reached at loydstern@hotmail. possible—was developed.” The award producer ever to receive the presti- com or [email protected]. ceremony will be held in May. gious Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence A veteran of both U.K. and U.S. in Medical Writing and is three-time —2006— television, Palfreman has made over 40 winner of the American Association for BBC and PBS one-hour documentaries the Advancement of Science science Jon Palfreman, an independent including the Peabody Award-winning writing prize, three-time winner of the documentary film producer, had one of series “The Machine That Changed National Association of Science Writers his productions, “Light Speed,” win the the World,” the Emmy Award-win- “Science-in-Society” Journalism Award, 2005 American Institute of Physics Sci- ning NOVA “Siamese Twins,” and the and a winner of the Writers Guild Award ence Writing Award. “Light Speed” aired Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University for best script. Palfreman has written in WNET’s Innovation series in 2004. Silver Baton-winner “Harvest of Fear.” two books and is an adjunct professor The program, Palfreman says, “tells the Palfreman has received many awards at Tufts University. I

Nieman Reports Heads to Journalism Classrooms

In our new outreach to journalism have 14 emissaries, six of whom Ellen Hume, Center on Media professors and students, Nieman are Nieman Fellows. Of course, and Society, University of Massa- Reports initiated an effort to help we would welcome others among chusetts, Boston teachers use the content of our you to join us in this effort so Carolyn Johnsen, College of magazine in their classrooms. that more professors can learn Journalism and Mass Communi- To do this, we invited friends about what appears in Nieman cations, University of Nebraska- of Nieman Reports—those who Reports and look for ways to use Lincoln contribute to its pages and those its content as part of their teaching Joel Kaplan, Newhouse School who read it—who are faculty tools. If you would be willing to of Public Communications, Syra- members at college departments become an emissary for Nieman cuse University and graduate schools of journal- Reports, please contact our edi- Lynda McDonnell, Urban ism to serve as “emissaries” for torial assistant, Sarah Hagedorn, Journalism Workshop, University Nieman Reports. at 617-496-2968 or by e-mail at of St. Thomas Each emissary received a wel- [email protected]. Philip Meyer, School of Jour- come packet of nine magazines— I —Melissa Ludtke nalism and Mass Communication, two years of quarterly issues plus University of North Carolina our special science issue—to set Nieman Reports emissaries and Gretel Schueller, Department up a mini-library in their office, their schools are listed below: of Journalism, State University of thus creating an accessible place New York-Plattsburgh for Nieman Reports to be found Rosental Calmon Alves, Jeff South, School of Mass and used by other faculty and Knight Center for Journalism in Communications, Virginia Com- students. A three-ring binder of the Americas, University of Texas monwealth University Table of Contents pages was also at Austin Will Sutton, Scripps Howard sent, and this will be updated Sharon Black, Annenberg School of Journalism and Commu- with each issue we publish and School for Communication, Uni- nications, Hampton University then sent as an addition to this versity of Pennsylvania Diane Winston, Annenberg faculty-corridor library. Emissaries Jim Detjen, Knight Center for School for Communication, Uni- will also become a member of an Environmental Journalism, Michi- versity of Southern California e-mail list that will be notified of gan State University William Woo, Graduate Jour- any online publications of sections John F. Greenman, Grady nalism Program, Stanford Uni- of Nieman Reports. College of Journalism and Mass versity We are heartened by the re- Communication, University of sponse this idea has received. We Georgia

98 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 Nieman Notes

The Atlantic Leaves Boston By Robert Manning

ast December the January-February issue Under Bradley’s ownership, The Atlantic has of The Atlantic Monthly went to press. It taken on new vitality, publishing many block- L was the last one to be published in Boston buster articles, such as William Langewiesche’s of the 1,771 issues of The Atlantic published play-by-play series on the 9-11 disaster. Circula- since the magazine was founded 149 years tion has zoomed from the magazine’s historically ago over a dinner of Brahmin intellectuals at small numbers to more than 450,000, meaning Boston’s Parker House hotel. The magazine perhaps 1.5 million readers. So it was doing very has been transported to Washington, D.C. by well. So why move it into the Beltway bunker its new owner, David Bradley, publisher of the of spin and spam? The Atlantic has always been National Journal Group of small-circulation but privileged to look at the world from its different profitable Washington-insider publications. perch. Why put it in with all those other birds For all those years The Atlantic focused on and risk the onrush of Potomac flu? literature, art, science and politics from its van- The answer seems to be the crass one, finan- tage point among some of the world’s leading cial. In the only interview to which I am privy, intellectuals, educational, scientific and medical Bradley suggests that it makes financial sense to institutions as well as a vibrant community of bring all his publications under one roof in the writers and poets. Now it has moved to a city Watergate complex. Only a handful of the staff is that may be the seat of global power but is not going to D.C.. Bradley needs to build an entire by any measure the seat of wisdom. I think the staff almost from scratch, including a new editor move is a bad one for one of America’s most to replace the estimable Cullen Murphy, who is distinguished journals. not leaving Boston. The magazine has already I know from my own experience as both a relegated literature, one of its four pillars, to a Washington correspondent and government once-a-year ghetto issue devoted to short sto- official how living and working in the nation’s ries. As one who devoted 16 years of his life to capital blurs one’s vision and makes one some- The Atlantic, I can only wish it well and pray for times oblivious to reality. The reporting from its success. It may well survive, even prosper. Washington by The New York Times on the sup- I hope so. But it won’t be the same magazine posed presence of WMD’s in Iraq is only one that has served Americans with intelligence, recent example of how the incestuous Beltway prescience and honor for 149 years. I climate can induce severe misjudgment. It is interesting to note that some of the very best Robert Manning, a 1946 Nieman, is a Bos- reporting and analysis of Washington affairs ton-based editor and writer who was editor during the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s came from the in chief of The Atlantic from 1966 to 1980. late Richard Rovere in The New Yorker. He lived and wrote in a small town on the Hudson and ౧ [email protected] made only occasional visits to D.C.

Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 99 End Note

Journalist Liu Binyan: China’s Conscience

By Juntao Wang and Xiaoping Chen

n December 5, 2005, the news model for journalists in reform China, Binyan’s 80th birthday gathering held that 80-year-old Liu Binyan, encouraging them to take risks to de- in Princeton, New Jersey. As a token of Oa 1989 Nieman Fellow, had fend the weak and oppressed. their respect, they constructed a per- passed away saddened Chinese, both Because of his significant influence, sonal homepage, “Liu Binyan,” at www. in China and abroad. Numerous con- Liu Binyan once again was targeted by liubinyan.com, and published a collec- dolence letters and memorial articles the authorities. In 1987, during the tion of articles entitled Eternal Exiles. praising Liu as “China’s conscience” antibourgeois liberalization movement An artist also made a bronze statue in were sent to his family and the news that attacked liberal intellectuals, para- his honor. On December 17, 2005, a media. mount leader Deng Xiaoping expelled memorial service was held in Liu Bin- Liu Binyan made unparalleled contri- Liu from the party and banned his yan’s memory at Princeton University. butions to the profession of journalism writings. A moment of silence was held for this on mainland China. As a reporter for In 1988, Liu Binyan won a Nieman “great citizen of China, distinguished China Youth Daily, in 1956 he penned Fellowship and traveled to the United writer, iron-willed journalist, guardian a number of articles insisting that the States. The next year, 1989, when the of truth, and indefatigable advocate role of the journalist was to serve as a Chinese government cracked down on and friend of the downtrodden and the watchdog of society. Among his many the democracy movement, Liu bravely aggrieved.” Among the many eulogies, articles, “The Inside Story of Our News- and openly condemned the slaughter in a young journalist in China said that paper” denounced press censorship, Beijing. As a result, his name appeared Liu Binyan had enlightened his entire and “On the Bridge Construction Site” on the Chinese government blacklist, generation and had encouraged him to exposed the dark side of life under the and he was not allowed to return to become a journalist. Another memorial Communist regime. China. lamented that Liu Binyan had departed By 1957 Liu was labeled a “rightist” In exile, Liu Binyan continued his just when the poor and oppressed in and was expelled from the Communist work as a journalist. In 1990, he was China need him the most. Despite the Party. It took 20 years before he was elected chairman of the board of the ban on his works, Peking University rehabilitated. He later recalled, “As exiled newspaper Press Freedom Her- selected his works as exemplary writ- a rightist, at the bottom of society, I ald. From 1992 to 1999, he published ings from the last century. Liu Binyan’s learned about the true reality of Com- a monthly English-language newsletter, wife, Zhu Hong, said that Liu Binyan’s munist life.” China Focus, and from 1993 to 1996 wishes for his own epitaph were that it After his “rightist” label was removed, he also published a Chinese-language would read: “Here lies a Chinese person in 1985 Liu became a reporter for the monthly, The Road. In 2002 he cooper- who did some things that it was right People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the ated with other independent writers to for him to do, and said some things that Chinese Communist Party. Liu’s articles establish the Chinese Pen Association, to were right that a person say.” She has once again targeted social wrongs, which he was elected the first president. said that his family members will bring corruption and oppression. Two of To the very end of his life, he remained him home. I his most famous works are “People committed to exposing the injustices in or Monsters,” which describes a case Chinese society. Juntao Wang, a 1996 Nieman Fellow, of rampant corruption in northeast In September 2002, when he was is a PhD student in political science China, and “A Second Kind of Loyalty,” diagnosed with cancer, he hoped to at Columbia University. Xiaoping suggesting there are higher values than spend his final years in his motherland. Chen, a 1998 Nieman Fellow, is a obedience to authority. He also became However, worried about his great so- student in the Doctor of Juridical a vice chairman of the China Writers’ cial influence, the Chinese authorities Science program at the University of Association. His many readers, the never replied to any of his requests to Wisconsin Law School. ordinary people in China, called him a return home. “qingtian,” an historical term referring On February 27, 2005, hundreds of ౧ [email protected] to someone to whom the people can journalists, writers and friends came [email protected] turn to seek justice. He became a role from all over the world to attend Liu

100 Nieman Reports / Spring 2006 N IEMA NIEMAN REPORTS

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