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Austin (Texas) American Statesman: Bias
Major initiative
With a substantial percentage of its population that can
be classified as belonging to some ethnic or politically active community,
Austin, Texas, is a market that appears to present a wealth of raw material
for the JCP’s investigation of bias. The Austin American-Statesman will
begin its project with a series of "audit panels" in which members of these
communities (focused on race/ethnicity as well as social class) will be
invited to discuss/comment on bias that they perceive within the paper.
The major project, however, will be the selection of at
least 16 specific stories (twice a week for two months), which the staff
will take out the next day (to breakfast spots, other community venues)
to solicit opinion and commentary from readers.
These interviews will be scripted as far as possible (e.g.,
do they think the paper did a good job on this story? Is there anything
missing, anyone else that should have been contacted for comment? Do they
think the story was fair, complete, balanced, etc.?).
This will ensure that JCP topics are addressed, and a
package of reader comments and photos will be published "the day after"
adjacent to a précis of the original story for context.
Different than "man on the street" quotes or letters to
the editor, this "Day After" review will be published in whatever news
sections the story originally appeared, to make it as integral a part of
the story’s coverage as possible. In addition, the plan is to include in
the 16 stories tested a wide range of stories (e.g., metro, national, sports,
features) as well as photographs, headlines and presentation (placement/play).
Import to the JCP
Because the "Day After" project employs real stories as
stimuli for discussion of bias, it provides clearer insights into craft
specifics than generalized survey responses could generate. Further, the
commitment to actually publishing the package of reader reactions to a
specific story should stimulate conversation in the market, and perhaps
encourage a wider variety of readers to contact the paper to express their
opinions and points of view.
JCP test method
Besides the potential for in-depth analysis of the kinds
of bias and coverage deficiencies readers notice in the 16 "Day After"
packages, after completion of the series a telephone survey will be conducted
in Austin to measure readers’ awareness of the initiative and their reactions
to it — specifically, whether they believe this approach helps to limit
any bias they find in the paper. A survey within the newsroom is also planned,
codifying "what was learned" from the project.
Supporting initiatives
In addition to the major initiatives described above,
the paper plans to:
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Take editorial board meetings out to branch libraries.
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Hold a series of community forums to teach non-profits and
service organizations how to get information into the paper, and therefore
increase the number of "small" events in the paper’s listings, church coverage,
Celebrations page, etc.
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Use all of these points of interaction to enrich the paper’s
source list with more than "the usual suspects."
For more information, contact Kathy L. Warbelow, managing
editor, at 512/445-3683; e-mail: kwarbelow@statesman.com
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