In praise of public journalism p. 15

By: M.L. Stein

Editors in the Northwest say such programs
are off and running at their newspapers sp.

PUBLIC JOURNALISM, AN emerging idea that encourages newspapers to exchange their traditional objectivity for an activist role in community affairs, appears to have found a receptive audience in the Northwest.
After hearing a pitch from New York University professor Jay Rosen, a crusader for the philosophy, five regional editors and one publisher reported that public journalism is off and running at their newspapers.
At a panel convened last month at the 66th annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association in Spokane, Wash., Seattle Times associate managing editor Cynthia Nash said her paper has sponsored open-ended focus groups, conducted a statewide phone poll to find out "what's on people's minds," started a weekly Forum page, and put together two senatorial candidates for a "conversation" with five voters.
"These are real people with real concerns" that include family life, financial security, health, crime and employment, Nash said.
The Times also solicits views from readers on what they read in the paper, prompting hundreds of letters.
"And there is an acceptance in the newsroom on readers' ideas," Nash said. "This is significant."
Pamela Meals, who recently left as publisher of the Olympian, Olympia, Wash., to become publisher of the Boise Idaho Statesman, said the Olympian's foray into public journalism "made editors more popular and created greater visibility" for the Gannett-owned daily.
The Olympian published two special sections in successive weeks that covered such topics as the county's infrastructure needs, new business and industrial development, and the quality of life in the area.
In seeking citizen participation in the project, Meals recalled, the Olympian learned what people wanted to improve their lives.
"Olympia is going through rapid growth, but our readers wanted less dependence on government jobs, preservation of their natural environment, businesses that help improve the quality of life and uniform health and safety regulations," she said.
"This is a marvelous role for newspapers to play ? to make these things happen. Otherwise, various groups will bicker among themselves and not come to the table to learn how to resolve whole community problems."
The Olympian and the Thurston County Regional Planning Council cooperated on a project to assess the economic needs of the county, Meals related.
Under the direction of the council's chair and Olympian executive editor Vikki Porter, a series of meetings were held throughout the county.
The Vancouver (Wash.) Columbian became involved in public journalism to the extent that it restructured the newsroom to eliminate most traditional beats in favor of "topic areas," said editor Tom Koenninger.
The paper has run a "Kids and Violence" series, in which staffers met with a cross-section of residents.
"The series had a high impact," Koenninger said. "There was a litany of problems and we also found that many people blamed the messenger for crime. But it was a gratifying way to connect with the community, and I feel very good about what we are doing.
"It's not easy, but it's a way to help the community. We want to know how people go about their daily lives. What are their successes and their failures?"
The editor said the paper also tries to aid people in penetrating government bureaucracy.
The Columbian sets up town hall meetings and editor-public sessions each quarter so the citizenry "can tell us what we're doing right and, constructively, what we're doing wrong," he said.
In the same spirit, the paper has developed 400 topic areas for reporters, ranging from "leisure/free time to community glue ? the bureaucratic things that hold a community together ? and the forgotten people, such as the homeless and high school dropouts," he added.
The Columbian, Koenninger noted, is also moving ahead with a program to provide the newspaper to the blind with a new software program.
Michele McLellan, team leader for public life at the Portland Oregonian, said the paper's interpretation of public journalism is to "add something to public life rather than just reflecting it."
In an election campaign, for example, the Oregonian attempts to synthesize the issues instead of "concentrating on the hot air," she explained.
In the current campaign, the paper has published 75 voter guides on key issues, McLellan said.
By asking readers to define "core issues," the paper, in effect, allows readers to shape coverage, she allowed.
In keeping with this action, the Oregonian has published a series of broad-issue stories based on what it heard from citizens.
"This is changing our idea of who is our audience, and by providing information we are encouraging public participation," McLellan said.
For Bremerton (Wash.) Sun editor Mike Phillips, a newspaper's decision to practice public journalism should be based on affirmative answers to two questions: Is their a public demand for it, and will there be practical results?
"Will it mean better relations between black and white schools and black and white parents? Will it raise public standards and confidence?"
He said the Sun decided the public journalism approach was right for it and plunged in.
One of its projects involved tapping into public opinion and then submitting a growth management plan to the county government, which put it on the ballot.
It got 50% of the vote but it was not enough to carry the measure.
Phillips said the Sun's move was in response to citizens' groups "who came into see us, slapped us around and said, 'You've got to do something about growth management.' "
In terms of editorial content, the encounter resulted in a 14-page report on the problem.
"You can succeed or fail in public journalism, but you are not likely to succeed if you don't try it ? especially if traditional reporting methods fail" in helping a community deal with its problems, Phillips said.
Moderator Chris Peck, managing editor of the Spokane Spokesman-Review, one of the pioneers in public journalism, suggested that one question likely to be asked by skeptics is whether public journalism is simply "boosterism." He quoted one editor as sneering at the concept and commenting, "It's just a way of making editors popular, and I don't care about being popular."
But Rosen said, "It's not boosterism. Every institution, including academia, must go through change or lose credibility."
He described public journalism as a tool that "pulls people out of their private lives and puts them in touch with one another ? everything from political meetings to ball games to adult classes at the local university."
The panelists, too, rejected the boosterism label.
Public journalism, Koenninger observed, "forces you to think like a reader, and the idea is catching on."