COWS AND COAL: CIVIC JOURNALISM ONLINE

By: Jennie L. Phipps Newspapers Use Small Grants For In-Depth Reporting


With some help from the Pew Center, newspapers are creating in-depth online
journalism projects that galvanize readers both near and far.

Among the recipients of 2000 awards from the Pew Center for Civic Journalism were the
La Crosse Tribune in Wisconsin, and The Herald-Dispatch in
Huntington, W.Va. Both papers used small amounts of money to create impressive
online resources on topics of great interest for their communities.

Growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, Chris Hardie, local news and online
content editor at the La Crosse Tribune, had heard about stray voltage
for years. The phrase refers to low levels of electrical current that leak from
power lines. Some believe that the stray current causes cows to give less milk
and have reproductive problems. Others contend that the stray voltage could
affect human health.

The 38,000-circulation La Crosse Tribune, a Lee Enterprises daily, is
located in an area where the dairy industry is significant and even readers who
aren't directly involved in agriculture may well be employed in a business that
is. So stray voltage is a topic of broad concern, Hardie said.

Hardie began gathering resources and reporting on the issue in October 1999. He
put in hundreds of hours and created a Web site, Strayvoltage.org. The Pew Center
contributed $3,000, but none of that went to compensate Hardie, who said he
carved out "bursts of time" away from his usual duties. "I couldn't have managed
without lots of support from management."

StrayVoltage.org not only contains material from the paper, but also extensive
links to other printed material, photographs, video, and a discussion board
where people can share their concerns. Farmers from around the world have posted
information, and the site attracts about 2,000 unique visitors a month. Hardie
has some funds left from the Pew Center's contribution, which he intends to use
to buy a scanner to upload material about the issue that's currently available
in print only.

Strayvoltage.org is a finalist for the Lee Enterprise President's award and was
nominated for a Pulitzer in explanatory reporting.

Too dependent on coal

In 1999, when a federal judge stopped coal companies from removing the tops of
mountains, creating controversy and fear for the future of the industry, a team
at The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, W.Va., decided the paper should get
involved. Executive Editor Bob Gabordi said, "We decided to look beyond what was
happening [to focus on] what is possible and try to create a roadmap for the
state."

The 37,000-circulation Gannett daily sought a partnership with West Virginia
Public Television and support from the Pew Center, receiving $18,000. Beth
Gorczyca was hired as a special projects reporter with the agreement that for
most of her first year, she would be assigned to do little else but an in-depth
look at the future of coal in this beautiful but economically challenged state.
Managing Editor Len LaCara was assigned to manage what turned into a daunting
undertaking.

West Virginia Public Broadcasting kicked off the project with a televised public
meeting, while the Herald-Dispatch created a Web site, West Virginia After Coal. In order to
broaden the reach, the offer was made to every daily newspaper in West Virginia
to run the six-day series concurrently and link their Web sites to
WVAfterCoal.org. Six newspapers agreed, and the Herald-Dispatch provided
both page negatives and Quark Express files. West Virginia Public Radio
broadcast synopses of the stories daily and also broadcast the public meeting.
The Web site contains not only the reporting the newspaper did, but also an
extensive package of video contributed by West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Gabordi said the response has been gratifying even though the suggestion that
there will be a time when coal isn't a dominant industry in West Virginia is
unthinkable for many of its citizens. "It's a concept that many people haven't
come to grips with yet - especially state leaders," he said.

Gabordi's phone is still ringing weeks after the series printed. It was
mentioned in the state legislature and the state's new Gov. Bob Wise has
commented on it. The West Virginia Development Office has responded by writing
several bills they hope to have proposed in the legislature.

"For the first time, people at the grassroots level understood that it was
important for the state to diversify the economy. I don't know how you measure
the impact of that, but we think it's important," Gabordi said. "And what it did
for our newspaper was let readers know that we were their partner in figuring
out the future."



Jennie L. Phipps (jennielp@bignet.net) is an independent
writer and editor based in Farmington Hills, Mich. She writes frequently for E&P
Online.



Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.