APME National Credibility Roundtables Project
"What You Learned" Roundtable Report

University of Texas - Austin, TX and San Antonio Express-News, Texas
Stephen D. Reese, professor
Terry Bertling, assistant managing editor/features

4/11/2005
9 graduate students enrolled in University of Texas journalism graduate seminar: media sociology.


What were the key issues discussed at the roundtable?

With the help of the San Antonio News-Express editors, a media sociology seminar of journalism and sociology graduate students at the University of Texas-Austin identified the coverage of religion as a topic of interest to the community in San Antonio. This decision was based on the increasing importance of national and international religious news over recent years. The 2004 elections brought religious issues and beliefs to greater prominence. More recently, the debates over the right-to-die/right-to-life coalesced in the Terry Schiavo case with religious undercurrents in the news. The pope's death and the naming of his successor brought religion to the forefront of the news media again. The religious demographics in the city of San Antonio show that, while a majority of San Antonians identify themselves as Roman Catholic, it is home to a diverse number of religious communities.

Prior to the roundtable, the class emailed confirmed participants the following questions to consider:

1) In general, what kind of job do you think the Express-News does covering religion in your community?
2) What do you think of the Express-News coverage of religious aspects of broader issues (such as the Terry Schiavo case)?
3) Is there one particular area (i.e. the diversity of sources, better contact with the community) in which you feel the Express-News could improve?


Were some issues more important to readers, viewers, story subjects and sources? If so, what were they?

The overall atmosphere of the roundtable was one of tolerance, understanding, and constructive criticism. Perhaps one of the biggest surprises was that the participants generally approved of the coverage of religion by the Express-News. They saw room for improvement but agreed that the current coverage was not beyond repair.

Survey responses to the question about how the Express-News is covering religion showed a few detractors. A couple of respondents described the coverage as "sketchy" and "OK," while one backhanded compliment read, "Fair considering the severely limited space." However, by far the responses were positive. The respondents wrote that the Express-News is "fair, unbiased," that the paper does "a good job," and the coverage is "sometimes excellent." Most described it as "good." One person wrote that "it has improved in recent years, especially in diversity, serious understanding of the faith, and better in-depth coverage of religion" while another responded that the coverage was "good to occasionally excellent."

Comments made at the roundtable matched the survey responses. "The Express-News has invested in better reporting by having someone as a religion writer who knows the community well and has a broad base of knowledge of what's going on," explained the Rev. David Garcia." I think the Express-News has been growing up for a number of years-it's not just a little hometown newspaper anymore," said Dr. Francisco Garcia, who is a professor in the religion department at Trinity University. However, though compliments were interwoven with the discussion throughout the evening, the roundtable was assembled to critique and offer advice, and the participants came prepared.


Were there important points of agreement on coverage approaches or news philosophy that would improve the newspaper's content and its credibility? What were they?

Beyond the survey responses, the roundtable discussion yielded more detailed concerns and larger themes began to emerge. With a few exceptions, most comments gravitated toward four broad ideas: the desire of the paper to educate and project understanding about religious minorities, the weaknesses embedded in journalistic routines that can damage the amount and type of coverage, the need for more coverage of religion in San Antonio overall, and the necessity of both groups (journalists and religious leaders) to communicate and interact in order to achieve a more cooperative relationship.

Transmission of Tolerance

The theme of tolerance appeared repeatedly in the surveys, during the smaller breakout groups, and in the large roundtable discussion. Religious leaders of different types expressed concern about the public misunderstanding certain types of religion and associating religious movements with dishonesty, hate, and violence. Interestingly enough, Christianity was almost completely ignored regarding this matter, which is surprising since the a majority of those attending were involved in some denomination of that faith. Most everyone who discussed this issue focused on misrepresentation of Islam and, especially due to events of recent years, emphasized the newspaper’s role of transmitting tolerance.

Speaking on behalf of one of the smaller group discussions, Travis Park United Methodist Church Co-Pastor Karen Vannoy said that no particular community felt left out but "given our current situation nationally there may be a need for more coverage about the Muslim community especially since they are in a different place" due to the association of the religion with terrorist and militant organizations. Vannoy’s group suggested "making it clear for the public to see the difference" between the terrorists and the religion. This sentiment was also argued by Imam O. Adib Shakir, who asked "that the media find some other way of identifying the groups that are committing these terrible [acts of terrorism]" because "people associate extremism and terrorism with Islam." Shakir said that these types of practices in the news media are "perpetuating this hatred toward our group."
"We have big needs right now," said Sarwat Hussein, Director for the Council for American-Islamic Relations. Echoing Shakir, Hussein explained that "Our community needs a lot of attention" because "right now what Muslims are going through…there are no words for it." Hussein argued that this negative experience is influenced by coverage from the media because, for some people, the Express-News "is the only way for formal education" in these matters. Hussein said, "The Express-News has been very good to a great extent but still there is improvement needed on both parts."


Were there points on which roundtable participants agreed to disagree? Where were they?

Not really an issue.


Will the newspaper consider changes in its coverage of the roundtable issue, or in its news philosophy, as a result of the discussions? What changes? (Professors should consult with their key editor contact to answer this and other questions referring to the newspaper's actions.)

In general they were amenable to beefing up their coverage, and shortly following the roundtable a major story was featured about the opening of a mormon temple in the city. Regretably, the semester ended before the class had an opportunity to meet with the staff.


How has the newspaper informed its readers of the roundtable, what happened there and what may occur because of the discussion?


Pending


INFORMATION ABOUT THE CLASS AND THE STUDENTS:

What did your students learn from putting on a roundtable?
The students who helped conduct the roundtable were surprised at the knowledge most leaders possessed of how the press works. The participants "were probably more aware of media routines and limitations than I," joked student Robert Handley. When making calls for confirmation of attendance, a number of the religious leaders were found to have voicemail messages that told journalists to leave the name, number, and the media outlet’s deadline. It was a media-savvy group, and often when the conversation began to veer toward what many would consider unrealistic goals in regard to coverage, one of the leaders would speak up and steer the conversation back toward aiming for more achievable standards.

Students in general were pleased with how responsive the editors were to the issues. As with most things, the reality of how journalism works is always more fine-grained and complex than as viewed from the classroom.


What worked well in having the students organize and facilitate the roundtable?
From the professor's viewpoint?

The project gave an important focus to theoretical concepts covered in class. It provided an excellent blend of theory and practice--of real world news consumers with their own thoughtful views. The selection of an out-of-town paper also worked in our favor. The long-distance communication was handled by phone and email, with two van trips to San Antonio. We were able to treat the community as a sociological object of study, not a familiar environment that we took for granted.


From the newspaper's viewpoint?

I think the editors were pleased with how smoothly things were organized, and how generally positive the participants were about coverage. The religion writer received some good praise in the presence of his editors, always a welcome result for a journalist.


What would you do differently if you had another class work on a roundtable?

I would schedule the roundtable earlier in the semester to ensure time for review with the editors as an important third leg (in addition, to planning and conducting the roundtable).


INFORMATION ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NEWSPAPER:

What was important for the university to offer to gain the newspaper's cooperation?

Time to meet for planning, and cooperation in identifying stakeholders. That and a champion on staff to act as a point person.


What was important for the newspaper to provide to help the university and the professor?

It was simply necessary to find a willing editor. No other inducements would have worked in the absence of this. I was rejected by three newspapers before obtaining the cooperation of Rob Rivard and Terry Bertling. Actually, the Express is to be commended because, in retrospect, it took a leap of faith for them to entrust such a potentially volatile issue to a group of untested students and a professor in another city.


Do you have any other advice for professors who would like to do a roundtable? If so, please include it here.

Make sure you have a t.a. or staff support if possible. Otherwise, be sure to anticipate lots of clerical work and phone calling that should be built into the syllabus. I was fortunate to have a t.a. to assist a few hours a week; otherwise, it would have been much more difficult.



Contact information
Steve Reese: lcm@cisunix.unh.edu
Terry Bertling: dsolomon@cabinet.com