Changing Coverage

Are you interested in changing how you're approaching specific coverage areas? Please list the specifics you hope to achieve in the next six and in the next 18 months.

Of those responding, 84 said they want to change their approach to coverage. They want to change beats, change the way their staffers report the news; they want to report on broader issues, bring context to stories. They want to get ahead of stories, rather than being reactive. And they want to bring greater context to the stories in their communities. And they want to reach further into the community to generate listings and announcements.

Getting out and advancing stories instead of merely reacting to them. Encourage reporters to not merely talk to the most vocal people on an issue, but to seek out those who are hesitant to speak out at a public meeting. Demand reporters not merely gravitate toward the people who look like them.
-- Rebecca Collier, managing editor, The (Fishers, Ind.) Daily Ledger

For us, it's mostly a matter of building expertise.
-- David Fritz, managing editor, The (Staunton, Va.) Daily News Leader

We have made a conscious effort to seek 'good' stories to provide a greater balance in the coverage that we must do to do our jobs.
-- Kathy Spurlock, executive editor, The (Monroe, La.) News-Star

City Hall -- more of an urban issue/neighborhood social sources. Switching approach to emphasize doing good.
-- Eileen Lehnert, managing editor, Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot

We would like to perhaps 'adopt' different areas of the community, holding community forums and assigning reporters specifically to those neighborhoods where we want to intensify coverage.
-- Diane Zapata, assistant city editor, The Bakersfield Californian

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The Times, among other things, has launched its much publicized, much discussed Latino initiative.
-- Craig Matsuda, Los Angeles Times

It's awkward to have a yes or no on this one. We're a small paper, with very limited resources. We can't really shuffle beats, but we can educate and sensitize each reporter, and hope they'll do a better job of expanding their network of sources.
-- Diane Barney, managing editor, The (Vacaville, Calif.) Reporter

Become less reliant on officials and more inclusive of under-covered citizens of our community.
-- Bob Zaltsberg, editor, (Bloomington, Ind.) Herald-Times

We'd like to cover ethnic communities when they aren't in trouble -- our coverage is too crime- and crisis-focused.
-- Debi Licklider, new initiatives editor, The Philadelphia Daily News

Again, deeper discussion may lead us to such changes. We may well seek community advice by reviving a reader diversity panel. We have sent metro editors to training on how to deal better with the Asian communities in our area. We have put a greater emphasis on reader demographics that should give the staff a better idea of the fault lines.
-- Bob Woessner, training editor, (Green Bay, Wis.) Press-Gazette

'Changing' may be too strong a word. Certainly, we see a need to modify and adapt our coverage in all areas to reflect a variety of demographic changes our audience is experiencing. Does this mean reorganizing beat structures? Probably not. It does mean doing more to encourage reporters to diversify their contacts -- not just ethnically, but in terms of interest, age, religion and the vast array of activities that make up the social fabric of a community. It also means encouraging reporters to step out of their individual comfort zones when finding people to interview at events or when finding experts to comment on events in the news.
-- Jim Slusher, assistant managing editor for training and staff development, The (Arlington Heights, Ill.) Daily Herald

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We are interested in doing a better job of covering the 'social fabric' of our community -- those organizations and individuals in our communities who operate outside the government structure. " -- Bruce Gaultney, executive editor, Ocala (Fla.) Star-Banner

We need to convey to our staff that though the numbers of Asian, Hispanic and other ethnic groups are still low in metro-Atlanta, these communities are growing quickly and we need to have our paper reflect that change.
-- Angela Tuck, news personnel manager, Atlanta Journal and Constitution

We would like to embrace a 'big-picture' approach on all the beats, so we're putting the pieces of the puzzle together for readers rather than making them do the work. We've found that many of our stories need some perspective that gives readers a sense of place, history and humanity. During the next year, we will focus more on achieving that goal, so our stories, regardless of from which beats they come, give readers a bigger sense of the community at large and how the smaller pieces fit into it.
-- Deanna Bottar, deputy metro editor, (Utica, N.Y.) Observer-Dispatch

Include more inner-city coverage and feature more local people.
-- Teresa Wilson, The Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times

We are not so much interested in changing present procedures but how we can do the jobs we do now better.
-- Mervin Aubespin, associate editor/development, The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal

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We want to reflect life in our area. That means greater coverage of the people and issues in rural communities and varying socio-economic classes.
-- Noel Nash, managing editor, (Florence, Ala.) Times Daily

We are a small daily with a reporting staff stretched thin and it's a huge challenge to pick up a lot of the stories we'd like to do. Specifically, we want to look more closely at: The plight of senior citizens in our community, especially as there is no public transportation. Seniors who are forced to quit driving basically give up their freedom. Those lower on the socio-economic scale. Churches and religion. The Nez Perce Tribe. Feminism and women.
-- Jeanne M. DePaul, feature sections editor, Lewiston (Idaho) Morning Tribune

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Photo by Bob Pepping, Contra Costa Times
Features reporter Vera Chan records content observations made by colleagues during a Time-Out session at the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times

Reporters need to vary the venues where they go for news. They need to attend more community functions and fewer government functions. They need to cultivate sources on the phone that are just 'ordinary' people who are engaged in the community, but not necessarily in the political process. This requires following up on unusual angles in stories, even after the stories are published.

-- David Otter, editor, The Newport (R.I.) Daily News

We are working on this for many reasons-generally re-examining our coverage. Breaking more stories, coordinated statewide. Less officialdom, more 'what it means' coverage.
-- Melissa Jordan, managing editor, assistant chief of bureau, AP, San Francisco

We need to have our reporters focus less on what's going on inside buildings and more on what's happening on street corners.
-- Larry Olmstead, managing editor, The Miami Herald

Our paper should put an emphasis on soliciting (and finding on our own) news of accomplishments in minority communities. We should make an extra effort to look for minority concerns in some of the main government, school, judicial stories and issues we cover.
-- Curtis Coghlan, editor, The (Lafayette, La.) Daily Advertiser

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Changing Coverage