Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

How to localize state, national and international stories in community journalism

How to localize state, national and international stories in community journalism

Al Cross shows you how to take localize events and trends in your newspaper.

Transcript

  1. Bringing Big Stories Home
    Presented by Al Cross
    Director, Institute for Rural Journalism and
    Community Issues
    Texas Center for Community Journalism, Texas
    Christian University, Fort Worth, May 15, 2015

    View Slide

  2. Why Localize National Stories?
     Your paper is about local people and local
    issues, but it should also be about how
    broader issues affect them, and what they
    think about them.
     Most of your audience probably doesn’t read
    a daily, and relies on TV for national news.
    Don’t they deserve better coverage?
     Localizing national (and state) issues can help
    you build, strengthen and maintain your
    paper’s skills and brand at a critical time.
     It can serve democracy.

    View Slide

  3. View Slide

  4. Why Localize National Stories?
     Your readers need to know their place in
    the world, their state and their region –
    stories that can be told with county-level
    data on all sorts of subjects.
     Too many community newspapers avoid such
    stories because they don’t like going out of
    their way to publicize information that may
    reflect poorly on their communities.
    (Example: County Health Rankings get
    better coverage in the better counties, not
    where the coverage is needed.)

    View Slide

  5. View Slide

  6. View Slide

  7. View Slide

  8. Big national issues
     Broadband
    ◦ And what the heck is net neutrality?

    View Slide

  9. View Slide

  10. “According to broadband.gov, the most common speed for
    this area is 10 Mbps, however Internet service is provided
    by about seven different companies in the Wiregrass,
    providing differing speeds from 3-25 Mbps or greater.
    “The most underserved area within Houston County is the
    rural eastern portion of the county with speeds between
    200-768 Kbps and 3 Mbps.”

    View Slide

  11. Big national issues
     Broadband
    ◦ And what the heck is net neutrality?
     Obamacare
    ◦ How healthy is your hospital? It may have a
    lot to do with your county’s economic health
    ◦ Who’s in the “coverage gap” in your county?
     School lunch
    ◦ What do students, parents and officials say,
    and how does that compare with elsewhere?
     Pipelines and oil trains
    ◦ Oil is transported one way or the other
    ◦ BNSF slowed trains only in cities of 100,000+

    View Slide

  12. Databases, maps with local data
     Income inequality (by NYT)

    View Slide

  13. Databases, maps with local data
     Violations of Clean Water Act (by NYT):
    http://projects.nytimes.com/toxic-
    waters/polluters

    View Slide

  14. Databases, maps with local data
     County diversity indexes (USA Today):

    View Slide

  15. Databases, maps with local data
     Farm subsidies

    View Slide

  16. Databases, maps with local data

    View Slide

  17. Databases, maps with local data
     First county-level study of drinking habits

    View Slide

  18. Databases, maps with local data
     Same source has lots more:

    View Slide

  19. View Slide

  20. View Slide

  21. View Slide

  22. View Slide

  23. National stories under the radar
     Farm safety
    ◦ Agriculture is one of the most dangerous jobs
    ◦ Children are disproportionately the victims
    ◦ ATV accidents a big thing, often not on farm
     Rural mail
    ◦ How well is your mail being delivered? (This
    could have implications for your newspaper)
     Rural telephones
    ◦ As many as one in five long-distance calls to
    rural areas don’t go through

    View Slide

  24. Examples from elsewhere can be useful;
    what California’s drought could teach Texas:

    View Slide

  25. Localizing historic national events
     9/11
     First African American president
     Series of riots (not just Baltimore)
     Shift of views to favor same-sex marriage
     All are examples of man/woman-on-the-
    street stories; use social media too

    View Slide

  26. Covering the state Legislature
     Don’t just run
    columns by
    legislators; interview
    them about issues of
    local or big state
    interest.
     Get help from this
    booklet; it includes a
    legislative tracker.
     State elections: Who
    in your county gives
    how much to whom?

    View Slide

  27. View Slide

  28. View Slide

  29. View Slide

  30. View Slide

  31. Wrap-up
     You can do these things.
     Questions? Email me at [email protected]

    View Slide