APME National Credibility Roundtables Project

2. What role should a newspaper play in a community?

3. Do you believe the newspaper had any goals or objectives in its coverage of Christ Church?

4. Did the newspaper's coverage facilitate healthy community dialog and debate?

5. Was the newspaper's coverage clear? Was adequate and accurate information provided?

6. Were all parties allowed fair opportunities for rebuttal? Did the newspaper provide a broad spectrum/points of view, or did the coverage focus on the extreme views?

7. Did the selection and usage of quotes affect the tone or frame of stories and coverage?

8. Did the newspaper, in its coverage, perpetuate stereotypes? Did the newspaper play any role in the polarization of the community?

9. Could/should the newspaper have done anything different in its coverage?

What can the newspaper and community do to heal philosophical and intellectual wounds?


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

Participants spent more time talking about the following issues:

1. The difference between editorial and news. The Daily News traditionally has run featured columnists at the bottom of the front page. Readers felt this was misleading because it came across as newspaper policy, not individual voice.

2. Participants felt the newspaper was redundant throughout the coverage, that too many facts were repeated and repeated and repreated. Once readers had the basics, they either wanted new information or no information. Participants felt the newspaper was "beating a dead horse" over and over and over.

3. Participants felt ther was too much focus on Doug Wilson, the minister and leader of Christ Church and his individual comments and opinions, which were not always representative of the membership of the church (which has about 1,000 members).

4. Many participants demonstrated a lack of understanding baout how newspapers work -- but wanted the information. One example: One participant was appalled that a direct quote from an opponent was changed in the newspaper from how it was heard on radio. He believed the quote changed the context of what the individual had said (it did). The newspaper, however, had parphrased the statement.

5. Participants felt the newspaper played a significant role in the community, despite not always agreeing with coverage. There was a respect for the newspaper as an institution and an understand it did not have an easy job.

6. Finally, participants felt the complexity and nuances of some stories deserve thoughful coverage from experienced reporters and editors. This, some believed, is a problem for the Daily News (a training newspaper) as it generally employs journalists right out of college who stay a year or two and move to a larger newspaper.


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?

Participants enjoyed hearing the diverse opinions of others and felt the discussion of the topics was constructive. One panelist found it valuable to be able to discuss the role of the newspaper in the community and to better understand how reporting is done and what the reporter is trying to get across. Suggestions for future Roundtable issues included credibility, the line between editorial and news, the lack of female town criers at the Daily News, Wal-Mart and the role of citizens, business development and community issues. Participants uniformly agreed:

- The paper should not print columns on the front page. The front page is predominately for news stories and when columns appear there it can confuse readers.

- Doug Wilson should have been distanced from Christ Church. Wilson is such a charismatic figure his opinion seemed to be the opinion of Christ Church, which is most likely not the case.

- Many people said the stories kept presenting the same thing and they grew tired of reading about it. While certain information was needed for clarification in every story, the paper should have tried to present other viewpoints and tell the story from different perspectives.

- If possible try to do quote checks before a story is published and when covering controversial topics with follow-up prepare a form to send out asking for input and to see what people are thinking.

- Consider role as civic journalist and newspaper and partnering on community issues.


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

Generally, those on the extreme sides stuck to their beliefs, but this might have been the first time in the debate process that the extreme sides acknowledged the other's poitn of view as possibly relevant and real. This, I believe, came from the fact the debate was moderated with specific goals and objectives and included many voices in the middle as well as the extremes. The process was carefully planned and as a result was very effective.


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.)

Yes.  See columns.

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


Yes. See article.


INFORMATION ABOUT THE CLASS AND THE STUDENTS:

What did your students learn from putting on a roundtable?

One of the obvious things they learned was how to plan, organize and facilitate a roundtable, discussion, focus group. But, more importantly, they were exposed to trying to understand some of the issues in coverage and how you can establish best practices -- before they enter into the workplace. They learned more about issues of public affairs -- the focus of the class. And they learned to be aware of, understand and articulate credibility problems and possible solutions, and and the value and boundaries of connection as a newspaper to the community and readers.


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

Giving them as much freedom to be in charge as possible, only to direct them and re-focus them when they went off course. My students were juniors and seniors (one graduate student) who had taken basic reporting courses. This would be much more difficult if they had not had past journalistic courses, internships and experiences in out student publications and daily newspaper.


From the newspaper's viewpoint?

The newspaper had to do very little in the process. They could concentrate on putting out a paper, yet they got the benefit of the process. This newspaper, also, was very open for the information. They are to be commended for opening themselves up, accepting commentary and thoughfully considering how or what they could change. Their attitude had a great deal to do with regain some community credibility.


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

The major problem area was having too many students -- 29. With 12-15 each student would have a more meaningful roles and experiences. A secondary are that needed some focus would be reducing the number of questions. Twelve were proposed, and it was made clear to the facilitators they did not have to get to all of them, especially if the participants wanted to continue on-track discussion on a specific topic, but the facilitators still felt they ahd to get to all of the questions so some interesting discussions got cut short.


INFORMATION ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NEWSPAPER:

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

The idea of learning what readers thought. The newspaper was very interested in the idea of someone else -- the university -- soliciting the information. That's it. Of course they were happy when I suggested they would have very little to do except sit back and listen (with a thick skin), evalute and go forward.


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

We really didn't need anything other than their sincerity in wanting the information.


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

First, don't worry about what can go wrong. Something always will, but most of the time it can fixed relatively easy and wiothout any significant damage. Planning is the key. This roundatble was planned and polanned and planned. Then rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed. The day of the event went Everything went smoothly at the event, with only a few hitches. APME provides all of the pieces thorugh primary and collateral materials. One final piece of advice: Just do it!