The Philadelphia Inquirer looked at the quality of its South Jersey zoned content to see if it measured up to readers’ expectations in the areas of knowledge of the community, relevancy, timelines and an intelligent understanding and reporting of the issues that are incorporated in the South Jersey lifestyle – a lifestyle that is distinct from the Philadelphia urban setting and demands the same type of reporting attention and respect.

Readers want to know what’s happening in their back yards and why it’s happening. Framing the stories around the “why” is an important element that we often forget. Most suburban zoned sections – and that includes the Inquirer – have traditionally used these sections as training grounds for green reporters who file stories because of zoned advertising demands. The paper-within-a-paper concept makes a statement that we must take these readers seriously, treat their interests and concerns with respect and be consistent about it. There is no excuse for anything less.

Q: Please detail the process by which you implemented the initiative.

• The revamped South Jersey includes more local news and sports.

Beginning in April 1999, the Inquirer totally remade the South Jersey edition to create a paper-within-the-paper concept, packaging all news relevant to South Jersey in one section. This includes increased towns coverage, a new commentary page, two to three pages of high school sports, local obituaries and a business report.

“The Inquirer totally remade the South Jersey edition to create a ‘paper-within-the paper’ concept, packaging all news relevant to South Jersey in one section.” – Arlene Notoro Morgan

We also created a Community Online Publishing system that offers nonprofit and government agencies free Web pages, which are linked to our in-paper’s Home Page – a calendar listing of civic events and news briefs presented in an easy-to-use geographic format.

Previously, such listings appeared in the Sunday zoned sections or not at all. There was no heads-up for readers on important civic meetings. Now readers can consult the Home Page each day under his or her township to find the important events that are coming up or to find news that does not warrant a separate story. The page also includes articles spotlighting a town’s history, profiles of community heroes, and people in the news.

We added a full-time editor to the staff to edit this five-day-a-week page and an editorial assistant to key in the information. Positive reader response is leading the paper to create these Home Pages for each of our suburban zoned sections.

• We conducted four focus groups, including one conducted by ASNE, to gauge the success of the project through loyal and occasional readers. While readers noticed the changes in the section and viewed the changes as positive, they rarely connected the entire concept to credibility. In fact, what we learned is that the Inquirer is considered the most credible paper in the region to readers. “If you can’t be believed, who can?” is the way one Burlington County reader put it. The changes were seen more as an effort to grow circulation through increased service and relevancy.

South Jersey community evets are listed on the Home Page and philly.com

Credibility issues have come up in reaction to stories the paper did on the investigation of land-use issues in two communities, Washington Township and Waterford, and in the reporting the paper has done on Camden Mayor Milton Milan. These types of stories, say readers, put us above the competition and are on par with the kinds of stories written about Philadelphia. Readers are telling us that quality creates a credible report, not just the quantity of what is on a Home Page.

• As the readership editor and project director, I’ve written open letters in the zoned Sunday sections and on the daily South Jersey commentary page inviting the public to comment on the changes and to offer suggestions on how we can further improve it.
• South Jersey Editor Julie Busby held a series of meetings with people who have written or called. She also periodically meets with officials from throughout the region to evaluate the quality of the report through their eyes.

Busby is encouraged by the response to top-notch stories. Reporter Douglas A. Campbell received about 300 e-mails, letters and phone calls about a compelling narrative series he wrote on the sinking of two fishing ships. Readers understand that the section is being edited with more vigor, is easier to navigate and is useful. Those who submit notices to the Home Page report that turnouts to their events often double.

One challenge: Reliance on a two-year internship program for staffing does not always produce the quality or in-depth report that readers say they expect of the Inquirer.

• The section has embarked on a number of investigative projects. One Gloucester County mayor who was seeking re-election to the state legislature was defeated in light of stories showing conflict of interest in a land development project he was overseeing. The second series, dealing with land use in Waterford Township, Camden County, has prompted FBI questioning of officals there.
• The South Jersey Commentary Page, under the leadership of Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer Harold Jackson, has had a significant impact with readers who repeatedly cite it as one of the most welcome changes the paper made to include and understand South Jersey issues. Jackson has a diverse array of free-lance commentary page writers who are unique in their understa nding of the region and New Jersey.

A weekday commentary page spotlights South Jersey issues.

The commentary page runs Monday through Friday. Thewriters represent a cross section of political interests and opinions and deal with issues such as educational reform, abortion, racial profiling, land use, suburban sprawl and cultural matters. The page offers from three to six letters a day from readers who are reacting to South Jersey stories and issues in their communities.

• Busby and her staff are now working on a two-year strategic plan to build on the content changes they made in 1999, to keep the momentum go ing and to find ways to improve the public’s reliance on the Inquirer’s report.
• Circulation has embarked on an aggressive marketing and sales campaign to tell the public about the changes and has been successful in stemming the circulation losses in the region.

Q: How easily did the newsroom come aboard? How did you handle communication, motivation, and commitment?

The staff came aboard pretty quickly because they did not see it as a make-work project but one that really focused on the credibility of the paper’s strategic plan for the foreseeable future – improving the coverage of the growing suburban market, bringing it up from its longtime second class status to that of the city report and making a difference in the lives of its readers.

87% of South Jersey subscribers surveyed read the Inquirer’s South Jersey section (66% read it four or more times a week, 21% read it one, two or three times a week). 63% of section readers had seen or heard about the improvements and, of those, 62% thought they got a higher quantity of local news about South Jersey (16% said “much more”); 60% thought they got a better quality of local news (16% said it was “much better”).

The advantage of working with interns is that they are easier to direct and eager to try new approaches and ideas. Most of the veterans did not see the paper-within-a-paper concept changing the way they did their work since they were not among the troops being sent out to hone in on the local story. Overall, we believe that the more senior reporters improved the quality and the intensity of their work because they were being asked to perform at the highest standards possible. They saw more of their stories land on Page One and the work they did on land and zoning use be nominated for a Pulitzer. Naysayers – and there certainly were a couple of them – left the paper.

Busby conducted dozens of individual conversations with reporters who were being reassigned to new town beats and held staff meetings that allowed full-time staff members and the two-year correspondent corps to raise as many questions, objections, suggestions, etc., as they wished. Staff also participated in all of the focus group meetings and readership forums to hear reader perspectives.

By far, the South Jersey operation, which mixes managing veteran journalists like George Anastasia and Tom Turcol with correspondents just out of college, is a challenging assignment. Given the fact that Busby does not have limitless resources and maintains coverage of three counties and Jersey shore communities, the morale and the competency of this bureau is extremely high and a testament to her leadership skills.

Q: Describe community outreach efforts related to the project.

We ran the gamut from readership forums, focus groups, the ASNE follow-up telephone survey to my columns inviting readers to comment. These efforts were supplemented by e-mail and letters from readers and at least a dozen civic events where Inquirer editors served as guest speakers or panelists.

The marketing department has been working on a separate community outreach program that includes sponsorship of a children’s literacy event, an all-day Working Women’s Workshop and sponsorship of certain charity or high school athletic events. The annual High School Sports Awards Banquet, where the Inquirer gives scholarships and recognition awards to the region’s top athletes, is a major event in the spring.

Q: How aware were your colleagues in other newspaper departments of the credibility project?

By reading the On the Press columns, every department in the building knows about this project. Certainly, circulation, marketing, advertising and community affairs on the business side are aware of the credibility project. Many directors from those departments have attended the South Jersey credibility events and have made suggestions on the overall goals.

In the newsroom, there is great awareness on the use of the South Jersey expansion as a pilot to prove that a large metro can and should produce journalism that is authoritative, dependable and credible in the suburbs – areas that are too often relegated to advertising-supplement-type soft stories in contrast to the serious journalism the Inquirer is pursuing.

Q: Did the credibility initiative spark other ideas and/or changes in your newspaper? Please describe.

Yes!

Based on the readership response to the changes in South Jersey, the Inquirer has started a paper-within-a-paper style report in its Chester County, Pa., coverage area.

The On the Press column tackles the controversies and explains policies.

The use of the On the Press column to discuss credibility issues often sparks useful exchanges between the newspaper and its readers.

On Dec. 6, 1999, On the Press for the first time offered an explanation about a controversial series while it was in the process of running. I asked the reporter about why he chose to do the story – a narrative on what led a mother to starve her child to death by keeping her locked in the basement to curb her behavior. Letters poured in, thanking us for the

story and for explaining its importance. I am becoming a Maynard Institute trainer and hope to bring its Reality Checks program to the features department in 2000 to help bring the breadth and depth of coverage in line with the demographic changes in the community.

76% of section readers aware of the improvements thought the South Jersey section could make the Inquirer “better connected” to readers by providing them with coverage that addressed local news interests and by providing journalists with more knowledge of the area. 67% of South Jersey residents felt that simply carrying more local stories from a particular area could make a newspaper a more credible or believable source of information about that area. 8% of South Jersey residents were aware that the Inquirer was holding community meetings to meet people and hear their ideas and concerns; 46% said they’d be interested in attending a future meeting with the editors (14% were “very interested”).

Q: What were the most important lessons learned about credibility?

That credibility and competence aren’t always linked to circulation. Some people will buy the competition simply because it’s the local paper. Yet in the long run we believe that making the local report more credible will lead to gains. We have learned that we are holding on to readers and regaining subscribers in South Jersey and Chester County, Pa., through the paper-within-a-paper concept. This is why we are going to use this format – better design, more local/local news, more regional enterprise stories – in all six suburban zones.

In general, we don’t have a credibility problem in terms of accuracy and trust issues. We have a performance problem relating to providing readers with a consistently good local report that is relevant to their concerns. We think the paper-within-the-paper concept meets their needs in terms of usefulness, ease of use, better local stories keyed to the major townships in this circulation zone and a higher quality of enterprise story that puts South Jersey into a regional context. You only get these stories with more shoe leather. The fragmentation of the governing in the communities we cover – there are 99 so-called “must cover” townships in South Jersey alone – is itself a problem in being seen as credible. It’s almost impossible to implement 100 percent of our original plan in South Jersey within the limitations of the current staffing and the scope of what we have to cover.

Q: What were the toughest lessons?

That no matter how good you are, there is still a level of mistrust within the public regarding authority and institutions that is surfacing in a disdain for the press. Newspapers are and will continue to bear the burden of that.

The public is more aware than ever of the choices it has and is using those choices to hunt around for the level of journalism that fits its needs. There is no more one-stop shopping in a newspaper that we used to take for granted. With Web sites emerging on every cause and so many conflicting voices on TV, talk radio and the Internet, it’s hard to imagine newspapers regaining the level of trust or use they once had in America. Those days are over, and it is dangerous for the country in terms of the community conversation and bonds newspapers once represented. We hope the paper-within-the-paper idea meets the ever-demanding needs of our readers in the suburban communities and helps us to remain competitive in this market. We think the format serves this and ultimately will improve the paper’s credibility in terms of reliance and consistency.

Q: If you had it to do over again, what would you do better or not do at all?

We have learned a great deal about what the readership in New Jersey thinks of the paper and the credibility of its report. It helped us establish a benchmark for coverage in our other suburban areas, raising the level of correspondents we need to hire and the overall management of the staff. There is a much improved readership aspect to the coverage.

But looking back, we would have added the Citizen Voices Election project on the Philadelphia mayor’s race to the mix in 1999. This was a yearlong project, run by the Inquirer editorial board with 500 citizens, to determine the important issues of the election. They covered everything from ridding the city of graffiti to race relations to how the schools worked. Working with The University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School of Communications and the Philadelphia Compact Election Project, Editorial Board Editor Chris Satullo facilitated dozens of workshops across the city for a cross section of volunteers who became the paper’s advisory group on the mayor’s race. The citizens ran their own debate, wrote issue-oriented commentary pieces and helped frame the election coverage. The result was one of the highest turnouts the city has had in years in a mayor’s race.

As a public service project, Citizen Voices represented an important breakthrough for the paper in establishing connections with the readers and the citizens. In hindsight, the way we handle such stories goes to the very essence of what the credibility project is about.

Q: How can newspapers continue to build credibility and increase public trust in the future?

Respect what the public says but understand that in the end, it’s the journalist who needs to be trained better to reflect those needs in his or her everyday work without prodding from the public – if journalists were more careful, if journalists were paid better, if corporate owners understood that coverage issues should dictate resources rather than vice versa, if we were just doing it better.

What staffers say Julie Busby, South Jersey Editor “The Inquirer’s local news initiative and its participation in the credibility study revealed to me that our readers have multiple definitions of local news and multiple expectations of what a newspaper should give them. These readers do not expect the Inquirer to be the local news source for school lunch menus. They expect a commitment by the paper for consistent coverage of issues that directly impact their lives, such as education, taxes and the environment. When these time-crunched readers turn to a newspaper they expect to be educated on a topic, not only as it relates to their own community, but how it affects surrounding municipalities.”

What readers say Marguerite Le, Camden, N.J. Excerpts of a letter: “People really do like to read stories about people in their own communities and what is happening in those communities. For example, the annual school report was interesting. My 16-year-old daughter grabbed it to see how her high school stacked up. However, more detailed stories on schools would be even better – a day-to-day scrutiny! “I often use your articles when teaching English as a second language in the elementary school, especially if it’s an article about South Jersey. I run a Saturday program for ‘language-minority’ kids, and I often cut out an article and copy it and go over it with the kids for a current events/reading/English/ vocabulary, etc., lesson. The kids often ask for pieces of my paper to take home to read. They are Inquirer fans now!”