APME National Credibility Roundtables Project
APME ROUNDTABLES ASKS READERS IN 48 STATES ABOUT ELECTION COVERAGE

January 23, 2004

Story by Phil Shook

 Presidential candidates on a living-room tour of the country would find plenty of hosts with questions, many of them about the war in Iraq and other foreign policy challenges, many about health care and the economy.

That's the picture that emerged when 35 news organizations around the country e-mailed 11,495 readers last week. They asked: "If you had an informal chat in your living room with each of the presidential candidates, which issues would you discuss with them as being the most important to you?"

APME Roundtables also asked readers: "What can the media do to make campaign coverage more personally connected to you?" Story>>
Within four days, answers came from 1,750 people in 48 states. They put almost 5,000 suggestions of issues to ask about on editors' lists. More than a third of those answering had a foreign policy question. A third also said they were concerned with health care or about the state of the economy.

"What is your plan for rebuilding the nation we destroyed?" Susan Armstrong Smith of Bluff City, Kan., wants to know.

"What specific plans would you present to Congress to bring the deficit back down to late-1990 levels without compromising the mission in Iraq?" asked Bob Kovitz of Tucson, Ariz.

"(I would ask about) defending and supporting the war in Iraq," said Faith White of Lincoln, Neb. "I have some strong opinions on the war in Iraq. We have to do what is necessary to protect us and other free countries or we are not going to be free much longer. A perfect example of our not being free is our locking ourselves down in our airports."

The newspapers and online sites taking part included:

Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Ariz.: The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, Calif.: Greeley Tribune, Greeley, Colo.; Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Fla.; Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho; The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Mason City Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa; The Manhattan Mercury, Manhattan, Kan.; The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.; Village Soup.com, Camden, Maine; Carroll County Times Westminster, Md.; Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle, Hamilton-Wenham, Mass.; The Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Mich; Free Press, Mankato, Minn.; St. Cloud Times, St. Cloud, Minn.; The Missoulian, Missoula, Mont.; Lincoln Journal Star, Lincoln, Neb.; Norfolk Daily News Norfolk, Neb.; Nashua Telegraph, Nashua, N.H.; Star-Gazette, Elmira, N.Y.; The Forum, Fargo, N.D.; Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio; The Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio; The McAlester News-Capital and Democrat, McAlester, Okla.; The Bend Bulletin, Bend, Ore.; The Daily Astorian, Astoria, Ore.; The Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia, Pa.; The Observer-Reporter, Washington, Pa.; The Newport Daily News, Newport, R.I.; The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.; The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.; The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah; The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.; The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wis.; Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Cheyenne, Wyo., and Newsdesk.org.
"I would want to discuss how to get our troops out of the Middle East as quickly as possible so that no more of our soldiers get killed or injured," said Linda Spielmann of Dale, Wis.

The effort to ask readers about presidential campaign issues is part of Associated Press Managing Editors National Credibility Roundtables Project. One of the project's goals is to encourage editors to include voices of the public in conversations about news coverage and journalistic issues.

The newspapers and online sites taking part have built reader e-mail feedback systems. They find readers willing to get occasional e-mails asking their input. Editors send queries when they want to quickly hear more voices on a journalistic question or to gather a wider variety of sources for news coverage.

The e-mail queries are not a scientific poll. "The idea is to hear more voices inside newsrooms when editors are planning coverage, to get messages with personality and passion," said Carol Nunnelley, director of the Roundtables Project.

"It's like conducting 1,750 person-on-the-street interviews," said Ken Sands, chief architect of the reader e-mail project and the online managing editor of The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash. "Editors love to hear from 'real' people in their own words."

"Many politicians would prefer us focus solely on their sound bites and the mudslinging against their opponents. But our readers clearly want more than just horserace-type coverage of elections,'' said Steve Thomas, managing editor of the Lincoln Journal Star in Nebraska. "They depend on us to ensure that the issues important to them get addressed by politicians."

"Many times, the voice that gets left out in elections is that of the citizen,'' Thomas said. "If we make a conscious effort through efforts such as this (the APME survey), we can bring them back into the election process."

Last week's e-mail questions unearthed no surprise issues on a national scale. For example, a CBS News/New York Times poll earlier this month asked registered voters nationwide "which one issue would you most like to hear the candidates for president discuss during the 2004 presidential campaign." The top five issues cited were the economy and jobs ; war/Iraq/foreign policy; education; taxes/IRS and defense/military.

The e-mail queries attracted distinct voices on the issues making headlines, speeches and debates. Here is a sampling of what editors around the country were told.

"If I had the candidates in my living room to chat with me, I would be selfish and want to talk about issues that affect my family," said Darin Arnold of Le Sueur, Minnesota. "I would like to strip down their rhetoric and discuss the meaty issues-the ones that everyday working class people face such as poor highways, expensive drugs and health insurance that is becoming out of reach for the average American."

Hal Edwards of Bakersfield, Calif. had similar questions for the candidates: "First and foremost, what are you going to do to improve health care for all Americans, and secondly, how are you going to change the recent debacle over prescription coverage that does more harm than good for seniors?"

Robert Hussey of Rock Hill, S.C., asked: "What positive steps will be taken to improve the job market with livable income employment opportunities?"

Mary Stepp of Philadelphia saw a jobs problem from a different perspective: "Why are there so many people who don't work, have never worked and don't even intend to work?" she asked. "Why do they get tax dollars when there is not a thing wrong with them? Three people on my street work, one of which (is me)."

"We need to bring business back to the U.S.," said David Johnson of Corning, N.Y. "We need to make it more difficult for companies to move operations out of the U.S."

On the subject of national security, Scott Gardner of Louisville, Ky., said he would like to ask "how we can maintain our safety without losing liberties."

Ron Hutchins of Ulysses, Neb., said: "I would like to know, from the Democratic candidates, what they see as a purpose or the role of our military."

"What specific actions would you take with the terrorist issue? How would you protect America from another attack? Why would this be better for the U.S.?" Joyce Schafer, Medina, Ohio, would like to ask.

Rick Kennedy of Akron, Ohio, would ask about "War In Iraq- the lies that took us there."

Jeff Konzelman, of Burlington, N.J., like most who responded, has questions about a list of issues: Determining the proper exit strategy from Iraq, protecting U.S. borders, terrorism prevention, cutting or keeping taxes from going up, making it easier to go to or save for college.

Mark Bahti, of Tucson, Ariz., would ask about how actions match policy and wants to know now who vice president and cabinet choices would be.

Readers also raised questions about ethics in government, gay rights and same sex marriage, and environment and energy concerns.

But at least one person, Earl Gates, of Appleton, Wis., doubts the idea of his quizzing the candidates: "I can think of no useful purpose that such a chat would serve. The practicalities of running for office would overrule any announcement of principle or intent that might be made in such a venue as my living room."

Most reader networks used for last week's APME Election 2004 Issue Survey were established over the past year. Newspapers across the country invited readers to join e-mail "reader advisory networks." Those who sign up receive occasional e-mail messages asking about news events or newspaper credibility issues.

APME'S National Credibility Roundtables Project is supported by a grant from The Ford Foundation.


-- Phil Shook is a freelance writer based in New York City who works with the APME National Credibility Roundtables project.


Credibility Roundtables Home >> APME Roundtables Asks Readers in 48 States About Election Coverage