NAIIOW CIVIC REVIEW

A of

Community View of Public Journalism: League Women Voters Chapter Grades Norfolk Newspaper Project

Barbara Bahrd

magine a powerful news organization with seeming- I ly unlimited resources offering to help your com- munity solve it’s problems. It sounds too good to be true, so when the Vitginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Virginia, announced its commitment to public journalism, members of the League of Women Voters of South Hampton Road wanted to know if the newspaper would make good on its promise. We decided to ana- lyze the newspaper’s coverage of an important com- munity issue - crime - to see how community jour- nalism was working in practice.

The League of Women Voter’s interest in public journalism began in April 1995 when Dennis Hartig, Deputy Managing Editor of the Wqginiun-Pilot spoke about his newspaper’s new approach at the annual meeting of the League. Considering that the League’s mission is to encourage citizen involvement in govern- ment, public journalism seemed an excellent means to that end. League members decided to examine the Viqiniun-Pilot’s implementation of public journalism.

In the past, the relationship between local grass- roots organizations, including the League, and the Vlqginiun-Pilot had been limited to traditional report- ing of activities. Readers were not encouraged to become involved in the community issues. With the advent of public journalism, the newspaper opened itself to change. Using group discussions, some 30 League members came to a consensus on what public journalism should do for the community and what public journalists should report.

In essence, League members wanted reporting that empowered they wanted articles with information that could lead to citizen action and to solutions; *and they wanted more coverage of grasroots organiza- tions and institutions serving the community. “You can’t build a community from the top down,” said Leaguer Ginny Stringer, “you have to start with the

building blocks you have.”

1slpically, after the League completes study on an issue, the members come to a consensus on a policy position. Advocacy follows. In this case, the League took on the project of assessing the newspaper’s pro- gress. Our audit of local news covemge focused on crime because crime tied into a local study the League was already doing on controlling illegal weapons.

The League newsletter announced the assessment project and asked individuals to clip articles from the Vilginiun-Pilot. Then, at meetings, members dis- cussed the articles with a focus on how the reporting might be improved based on the goals of public jour- nalism. A two page report captured the League’s com- ments and recommendations.

Looking over a month’s worth of articles on crime, League members came up with a number of specific suggestions to empower citizens to action. One member of the group summed up their observa- tions by saying: “The feeling of being powerless against crime is reinforced when all you hear about is crime. To empower people, we have to see a complete picture of crime in the community - the crime, the victim, the arrest, the criminal justice system, rehabil- itation, and reconciliation.” To maintain a balanced picture - to be fair to readers - public journalism needs to run companion articles and inserts showing that crime happens, but criminals go to jail and, espe- cially with citizen help, people get on with their lives.

Overall, the comments of League members were encouraging, but some remark were critical of the newspaper’s approach. Most agreed that the process of involving citizens was good but more community-orient- ed reporting was still required if people were to be fully empowered. Crime statistics were not enough; some cov- erage of people working to find solutions was needed.

WI\TEh‘-SlW\G I996 29

Leaguers gave the Virginian-Pilot good marks when an article about vandals destroying trees was accompanied by another entitled, “How to Help,” that included support organization points of contact sand phone numbers. To Leaguers, companion insert$ made sense because the information needed to take action was right at the reader’s finger tips, just at the time when they were thinking about the issue. On the other hand, the Virginian-Pilot got low marks when an article simply reported the number of child abuse cases. It missed the opportunity to insert, in easy-to- catch blocks, information that could help citizens deal with such crime, for example, the signs of child abuse, or how to report it.

The Leaguers noted that an article on an ax attack victim putting her life back together could have included information on support groups. Still, the Virginian-Pilot did receive praise from the assess- ment group for presenting the sorely neglected vic- tim’s point of view. In another article, while it was good to present the grief felt by the famdy of a slain teen, when the child’s accused murderer was released due to an apparent legal glitch, the paper could have promoted community dialogue by including informa- tion on legal reform and support groups. League member Jennette Franklin praised the Virginian-Pilot for chronicling the arrest, trial, and conviction of drug dealers. It provided an education for Franklin in the true scope of the drug “business.”

A Vilginian-Pilot series on “Democracy and Citizenship” focusing on crime especially drew acclaim. The “Democracy and Citizenship” series was perhaps the newspaper’s first attempt to draw readers into a dialogue on community issues. Crime was but one of the issues covered. The crime articles covered reasons for and against hiring more police and includ- ed readers’ views on both sides of the issue. Another article reported neighborhood crime rates and resi- dents’ concerns about crime and violence. Members of the League of Women Voters felt that the newspaper had done a public setvice by getting individual citizens involved in debating the issues.

League members were just as pleased when the Virginian-Pilot covered the mayor’s workshop on crime, again illustrating ways for citizens to become involved in solutions to problems. The editor, Cole

Campbell, also published ‘an article extensively quot- ing from a League report of comments on the crime article. Both favorable and unfavorable comments were noted. Campbell publicly acknowledged the Pilot’s commitment to cover grassroots organizations and institutions that ded with specific issues.

This willingness to take input established a rap- port between the League of Women Voters and the Vtginian-Pilot that continua to flourish. For exam- ple in July, Leaguers participated in a newspaper-spon- sored focus group to talk about the November Commonwealth of Virginia elections. And in September, the Yitginian-Pilot invited David Mathews, head of the Kettering Foundation, to meet with the newspaper’s staff and local groups to discuss ways to keep communities alive and well. The League wa one of the groups invited to attend. In December, individual members were asked to participate in another focus group to discuss the presidency in anticipation of the 1996 election.

In the earlier focus group, participants found it rewarding when their concerns were actually addressed by the candidates. Participants were delighted with the ViTinian-Pilot’s Election ’95 series. Gone was any focus on the “horse-race” of who’s up and who’s down. As early as June, the news- paper was giving preliminary lists of candidates and soliciting questions for the candidates. The election series published incumbents’ votes on relevant legisla- tion, allowing readers to decide if campaign promises matched voting records.

The Virginian-Pilot also covered campaign finance, listing Political Action Committee (PAC) con- tributions and the biggest sources of cash. This was valuable since there are no limits on campaign contri- butions in Virginia. Campaign finance disclosure laws depend on the press to publish campaign contribu- tions and on the public to decide if contributors have undue influence. Thus, the Virginian-Pilot was pro- viding a crucial link in the political process.

The newspaper’s political coverage helped citi- zens better understand the issues, candidates’ posi- tions and the election’s consequences. An election guide summarized the important issues - taxes and spending, creating jobs, public safety, and education -

NAIIO~W Cmc REVIEW

then went on to state the candidates' positions. This not only helped voters choose the candidates of their choice, but also stated, for the record, campaign promises. With the election guide, voters had the means to hold elected officials accountable. The Virginian-Pilot's coverage informed and stimulated citizen action.

In the months that followed their report, mem- bers of the League have noted significant improve- ments in community oriented focus pieces. On a weekly basis, the Virginian-Pilot now provides articles on grassroots actions. Whereas it was once reluctant to cover citizen organized study groups, it recently avidly reached out to promote The Com- munity Network Association's study, How Can We Improve Education?'.

The new partnership between the newspaper and the League of Women Voters has been positive for both parties. The Virginian-Pilot acted as a catalyst for getting the League interested in Kids Voting USA, which teaches children about voting, involving their parents as well. Additionally, the Vi?ginian-Pilot, along with other local organizations, is helping the League sponsor a State of the Community Dinner where a dialogue on regional cooperation will take place between citizens and community leaders.

This is the kind of partnership civic journalism has the potential to be: Journalists and communities working together, empowering each other to provide the kinds of programs and awareness that can make a community prosper.