In 2022, Chris Coates was named executive editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. When he arrived in Richmond, he wanted to get to know the city and the people in its communities.
He spent time at Kiwanis and Rotary clubs and public spaces where locals congregated for conversations.
“I sensed we needed to engage more in underserved areas, and that came about by meeting with people and talking with them about our coverage. I thought we should enlist a panel, a group of advisers who cut across all socioeconomic levels, all sorts of stakeholders,” Coates said.
Last year, Coates convened the Times-Dispatch’s first Reader Advisory Board. It began with recruitment and an applicant survey with questions like: "Tell us about your family. Tell us about your job and position. How can The Times-Dispatch expand our audience?”
From more than 100 applicants, he selected a group of 10. They met once a month — each meeting focused on a topic or event. The discussions were meant to be both educational and aspirational, based on feedback.
“The first one was about getting to know the paper. There was one about advertising operations. One when we toured the plant. … They’re essentially brand ambassadors, so we wanted to show them behind the curtain and have them talk to reporters. Let’s humanize the people we have on staff.”
The board’s feedback proved invaluable.
“They offered a lot of story ideas, which is the currency we really value,” Coates said.
“We have tons of information from analytics and all this data, which is really important and helps us shape our coverage. But nothing beats a good story idea from a community member. That is like jet fuel for our newsroom discussions.”
The board also prompted a discussion of how to incorporate more explanatory call-outs and at-a-glance boxes to give readers past context within a current update of a story. They suggested the paper needed to invite and publish more letters to the editor.
The board’s success partly inspired the Times-Dispatch to launch a mobile newsroom initiative.
“We’re going out and putting reporters and editors in different locations once a month — primarily in underserved areas, where we’ll focus on that community for a week,” Coates said. “We wanted to reconnect with the community, and that was a direct outgrowth of the Reader Advisory Board. We got really energized by new ideas and talking to people, about expanding our brand, which is really what this whole business is about — reaching people and telling their stories.”
Coates said the newsroom subsequently produced over 30 stories and videos based on “local voices” they discovered through their mobile newsroom outreach.
“The long-term impact is that it helped the community and the paper have a better connection,” Coates said.
Other local news outlets may wish to replicate what Coates created, and the new executive editor, Encarnacion Pyle, is carrying forward. Coates is now the senior director, local news, Lee Enterprises. Pyle is in the process of recruiting new members to this year’s board.
Coates offered some advice for other local newsrooms who’d like to create a Reader Advisory Board: Start small. Having 10 people is great, but it’s ok if there are fewer members, too. Meet once a month or according to a schedule that works best for the newsroom and the board. And above all, he said, “Embrace their suggestions.”
Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.
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