By Al Cross
Director and professor, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
 |
| Editorial critique session at an ISWNE conference |
Gathering in
person for the first time in three years, ISWNE members explored the history,
culture and newspapers of Kentucky’s Bluegrass region and some of the challenges
facing their craft – including the evils of social media, dealing with the
local impact of national politics, and the need for new business models – and, of
course, editorial critiques.
It’s usually
substandard journalism to report a meeting chronologically, but I’m doing it
this way (more or less) to give members and prospective members a better sense
of what it’s like to attend an ISWNE conference. It’s even more questionable to
report on an event you planned, but consider this a sharing of information among
friends – and people who should be friends.
ISWNE conferences
are always on college campuses, to save money, and we use part of the savings for
bus tours to show attendees interesting places in the region. At this conference,
we were able to weave local newspapers, issues and culture into the trips, with
some speakers who we were lucky to add to the program shortly before the
conference.
Bourbon, cannabis
and controversy
Our first bus
trip took us to the historic Buffalo Trace Distillery in Frankfort, where we learned
how bourbon whiskey is made and got a chance to taste several bourbons. The boom
in bourbon sales has the distillery looking for new places to put warehouses, and
one spot is along scenic Elkhorn Creek. Some residents don’t want warehouses and
the “distillery fungus” that puts a thin black coat on many outdoor surfaces. Transylvania
University professor Richard Taylor, who lives on the creek, explained his
opposition, but spent more time discussing the history of the creek, site of
some of Kentucky’s earliest settlements.
After the creek
tour and a spin around the State Capitol, we headed to Midway to tour Kentucky
Cannabis Co., which produces Bluegrass Hemp Oil and other products from
industrial hemp that it grows. At dinner we heard from owner Bill Polyniak, who
explained how he and his wife got into hemp production to control their son’s
seizures; from Jennifer Greer, dean of the University of Kentucky College of
Communication and Information, a former newspaper reporter; and former U.S.
Rep. Ben Chandler, publisher of The Woodford Sun, the weekly his family has owned
since 1942. The Sun now has the Midway Messenger, the mostly online news outlet
that I started with my UK community-journalism students, and is actively
pursuing the idea of converting to a nonprofit operation.
Becca, Becky, Ouita
and Claiborne
Another publisher
thinking about the nonprofit option is Becca Lawyer, publisher of the Bourbon
County Citizen, the oldest newspaper west of the Alleghenies. She owns it with
three siblings, one of whom was present for Becca’s post-lunch interview with
me, so I asked them if they would be willing to take less for their paper if bought
by a nonprofit required to run it as a public service. They immediately said yes.
We also heard from
Becky Barnes, who has spent her entire working life at one newspaper, The
Cynthiana Democrat. She won a public-service award for publishing a sample-copy
edition when her county had Kentucky’s first case of Covid-19. That was when it
was owned by Landmark Community Newspapers and had a building with a press; now
it’s owned by Paxton Media Group and is housed in a second-floor office over an
insurance agency. Becky isn’t happy about that, but she’s not sure if she will
retire next May, when she turns 65. “I don’t want to give it up, because it is
a dream job,” she said. “You get to know everybody’s business.”
Earlier, outside
the town of Paris, we toured Claiborne Farm and saw the shed where six of the
13 Triple Crown winners were bred. We saw the grave of Secretariat, and got to
pet and pose with the farm’s top stallion, War Front, valued at $80 million. We
couldn’t have had a better tour guide: Joe Peel, the stallion manager, who has
been at Claiborne for 37 years.
On the way home,
we stopped for supper in the country at Windy Corner Market, one of seven eclectic
restaurants owned by chef Ouita Michel, the frequent James Beard semifinalist
who specializes in farm-to-table food. She dropped by and said her enterprise
depends on human capital and manual labor that should be respected: “You can be
smart and work with your hands.” A member of the national-champion debate team
at UK, she advised the newspaper folks, “Tell it like it is.”
Libraries and
newspapers: Natural allies
Four leaders from
the Lexington Public Library began Friday’s professional-development sessions
by reminding us that libraries and newspapers are natural allies in the battle
for free, accurate information.
Executive
Director Heather Dieffenbach said newspapers aren't obligated to support
disputed books, but can correct misinformation often at the heart of such
disputes, and help facilitate communication among locals. They can also help
readers understand how libraries choose materials to add to their collections.
The
misinformation can also come from foes of book bans, said Alan Wartes of the
Gunnison Country Times in western Colorado. He said when a local woman wanted Gender
Queer, which is a frequent target of objections around the nation, taken
out of the juvenile collection, defenders of the book said "This person
wants to ban books." Wartes noted in a column that the woman followed
procedure and went to the county commission only after the library didn't
respond for two months.
Those who bring
challenges often accuse libraries of being biased against conservative values,
but librarians are bound by a code of ethics that calls on them to represent
diverse viewpoints and ensure that they're bringing in factually accurate
materials, said Tonya Head, deputy director of the Lexington library. Chief of
Staff AnnaMarie Cornett, the daughter and sister of ISWNE stalwarts Tim and Bix
Waltner, said she is building a toolkit to help library patrons better
understand these principles.
She said patrons,
newspapers and concerned citizens can do much to help advance intellectual
freedom: "We can be visible and vocal supporters when censorship comes for
us; when it comes for libraries, for newspapers, for schools. This is hard and
it takes courage, especially for marginalized members of our communities. But
we have a responsibility to use our voice, to use our privilege."
Libraries
have long been seen as a symbol of resistance to tyranny, Dieffenbach noted. In
1939, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish
warned in a speech that failure to educate Americans on how to value and
preserve democracy would spur a descent into fascism. "Those of us who are
concerned, for whatever reason, with the preservation of the civilization and
the inherited culture of this nation find ourselves in a situation in which
time is running out not like the sand in a glass but like the blood in an
opened artery," MacLeish said. "There is still time left to us. But
we can foresee and foresee clearly the moment when there will be none."
After quoting
MacLeish, Dieffenbach said, "A lot of that could have been said
yesterday."
A fraught political
landscape
In a somewhat
related vein, ISWNE President Mike Buffington and I discussed navigation of the
political landscape, made trickier by the intrusion of national issues and
personalities into local politics.
Mike talked about
what it’s like to speak out against Donald Trump’s falsehoods in a county where
80 percent of voters voted for him twice. I drew from the chapter I wrote for
the recently published book, The Future of the Presidency, Journalism and Democracy.
It was based in large part on a survey of ISWNE members, which found that
weekly editors had become more cautious about political commentary because the polarization
of national politics is being felt locally.
“I don’t think we
can separate local and national as much as we used to,” Mike said. “You might say,
‘Well, you’re not gonna change anybody’s mind in a community where 80 percent
of the people disagree with you, so why do you even bother to write all that? There’s
probably a few people here and there that are kind of on the fence; maybe you influence
that 2 or 3 percent of people in the community, and that can make a difference.
“And even bigger,
just historically speaking, my grandkids or great-grandkids can look back and
say, ‘Where was my grandfather during the great schism of the early 2000s? I
kind of want to be on the right side of that when people look back. . . . If
you look at newspapers in the South throughout the civil-rights era, very, very
few were on the right side of history. . . . I think we have a responsibility
to be on the right side, and to say the right things, and to do the right
things.”
Mike said his
stands have cost him subscribers and friends but not advertisers, “and we get
nasty emails” and marked-up subscription notices, sans checks. But he said he
thinks many still buy single copies of the paper.
Alan Wartes asked
how newspapers can both speak out on controversial issues and still be trusted community
moderators.
“Tone matters,”
said Tim Waltner, retired publisher of the Freeman (S.D.) Courier. “You don’t have
to be acerbic. . . . We have a responsibility to lead by example, to try to
bring the temperature down.”
I said a
crusading newspaper needs to always have at least one continuing cause that has
broad community support, so it will be seen as an ally of community improvement.
In closing the
session, I noted that few weeklies had taken advantage of The Associated Press’s
favor, allowing them to republish its comprehensive investigation of vote-fraud
claims in the six states that decided the 2020 presidential election: “Here is
the fundamental lie that is roiling the country, misleading missions, and the
local newspapers of the country aren’t interested in printing the most factual
report, the most reliable report, available on it. . . . It shows a fundamental
reluctance to go where you don’t have to go. You have to cover the local stuff.
You don’t have to cover the national stuff. But . . . your readers are citizens
not just of your locality. They are citizens of your state, and citizens of the
nation, and from time to time you have the responsibility to tell them the truth
when it comes to the state and the nation.”
Help from
colleges and philanthropy
Allison Frisch of
Ithaca College and Gina Gayle of Emerson College discussed how weekly
newspapers can collaborate with college journalism programs, and use that as
the basis to seek philanthropic funding, first locally, which can build credibility
with larger philanthropies.
Their paper on the
topic won the annual Huck Boyd competition and scholarships to the conference,
in which they actively participated from start to finish. At Paris, Gina
remarked that she is hearing more students concerned about misinformation,
which was encouraging.
Their research is
continuing, and they said they plan to assemble “a consortium of local news
champions and stakeholders to create tailored case-studies for communities and
news organizations based on factors such as location and coverage,
collaboration and funding opportunities.”
Later in the day,
I gave a report on new business models for weeklies, based on presentations at
the National Summit on Journalism in Rural America. Since ISWNE has already published
my report on that, I’ll just refer you to it: https://irjci.blogspot.com/p/national-summit-on-journalism-in-rural.html.
Voices from
Canada, and government’s role
Ken and Christine
Waddell, owners of the Neepawa Banner in Manitoba, attended the conference on
the Brian Mazza scholarship, named for the late Canadian editor who was a
leader in ISWNE at a young age.
When the Waddells
started their paper, they were dairy farmers, and Ken said there are “three or
four legs to the milking stool of journalism: news, ads, editorials,” and one
he’s recently added: paper. He believes it’s valuable to have a printed paper
because it offers total accountability, unlike digital material, which can be
changed. “If ever there was a time when we needed permanent, accountable news
records, it’s now.”
Ken said his
paper doesn’t accept subsidy for reporters that the Canadian government offers through
its Local Journalism Initiative because he doesn’t like the conditions.
That set the
stage for a discussion a bit later with incoming ISWNE President Gordon Cameron
about the role of government in the news business in the U.S. and Canada.
Gordon said that
in addition to the Local Journalism Initiative, non-daily Canadian newspapers
and magazines with paid circulation get government aid that replaces a subsidy Canada
Post gave until 2010. The money is divided among those who qualify by competing
a 70-page application. Sometimes the money or the decisions are delayed for months,
which can play havoc with budgets.
Gordon said LJI
is very much like Report for America, except that it’s government money.
Available for all news media by 12-month contracts, it is managed by News Media
Canada, the national trade association. Any content produced by an LJI-paid
journalist is free for any news organization to use, and content must be
uploaded weekly.
Canada has passed
but not implemented a Journalism Labor Tax Credit, which is refundable, meaning
that if you owe C$10,000 in taxes and have a C$13,000 credit, the government
will pay you the difference. The government has also put aside C$40 million for
additional aid to papers that haven’t qualified for other forms of help, but
that money hasn’t been allocated. Some people (especially newer, digital-only
outlets) have insisted that government subsidies mean the government is buying
out the paper and forcing them to print whatever the government wants.
I noted that the
role of the government in the news business is hundreds of years old, dating to
the days when public-notice advertising was essential to newspapers. Now it is
again, with the migration of advertising to digital platforms, but in most
states local governments are lobbying legislatures to cut back on public
notice. That has already happened in a big way in Canada; Gordon said papers
there would be much happier with the old public-notice insertion orders than
with direct subsidies.
Because those digital
platforms prosper from sharing of news that they don’t pay for, the News Media
Alliance is lobbying Congress for a limited-time exemption to anti-trust laws
to negotiate payment deals with Google and Facebook. The National Newspaper
Association, the main lobby for papers that use the mail, has formed a lobbying
alliance with NMA; many small dailies now use the mail.
NNA’s big success
this year was getting into the Postal Service reform bill a revision of the
1909 law that allowed newspapers to send up to 10% of their annual circulation
to non-subscribers in their home counties at subscriber rates. The new limit is
50%, thanks to Rep. James Comer of Kentucky and one of his constituents, Sharon
Burton of the Adair County Community Voice, who lobbied him at NNA’s behest. Comer
was key because he is the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight
and Reform, which handles postal matters.
Sample-copy
editions are usually seen as an advertising vehicles, but I said they are also good
vehicle for editorial matter, such as special sections on health or elections.
Dealing with
social-media evils
Brad Martin,
editor-publisher of the Hickman County Times of Centerville, Tenn., described how
he handled a local controversy that was inflamed by social media.
When some teenage
girls complained to school officials that a local boy had sexually harassed
them at school, they became impatient at the slow pace of the administration's
inquiry and announced on Facebook that they would hold a public protest. The
Times reported that, then went to the protest and interviewed students and
adults – some related to the situation, some supportive of the quest for
action.
School officials,
claiming Title IX requirements, wouldn't discuss the case, beyond saying the
full process could take 55 days – and even then, there would be no public
announcement of the outcome. Local police provided reports from girls who
claimed harassment; touching without
permission was the thread, the most notable a touch on a thigh. The Times
provided context by reporting that records for the previous year showed 30
bullying cases in the school system.
The father sent
the Times a letter saying that the accusations were false, and that his son chose
to do his senior year in a dual-credit online program. The letter also revealed
that the mother, a teacher, stopped teaching because students threatened her
several times. It said there needs to be some kind of regular discussion at the
school about how to deal with conflicts, and communicate, before they become problems.
Brad’s story shows
the importance of paying attention to local social media. I noted a ProPublica story
about a Black teacher who was run off by parents in north Georgia; the local
paper didn’t write about it until the teacher was already gone, and I wondered
what would have happened if the paper had been on the ball and watched what was
happening on social media.
Mike Buffington
noted that, before social media, the news media could “gatekeep the sludge.” At
least we still have editorial pages so journalists can battle misinformation
while elevating the discourse.
Editorial critiques
The hallmark of the
conference, the roundtables critiquing editorial pages and editorials, was held
Saturday morning. With a videographer, I sat in on the session moderated by the
great Bill Haupt, a retired editor from Wisconsin. It was testimony to the value
of editorial leadership in weekly newspapers.
The significance
of the critiques was driven home by Molly McRoberts, the only person at the Potter
County News in South Dakota: “I did not have an editorial page until I came to
ISWNE.” She said the fact that she grew up there may make readers “more
appreciative of what I have to say.”
Kyle Troutman, editor
of the Cassville (Mo.) Democrat, is not from the town of 3,200, but said he has
been doing a column for two years, and “It really has helped different people
in the community see me in a different way. . . . You build a relationship with
the community as a whole.”
Much of the
discussion in the session was with Editor Stacie Barton of The Leader-News in Central
City, Ky., who won praise for an editorial that questioned that lack of rape
and incest exceptions in the “trigger law” banning most abortions in the state
when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Paul MacNeill of
Prince Edward Island told Barton that her editorial was well-written, and “a
leadership editorial . . . That was a courageous piece to write.” But he said
she downplayed it, putting it below a column on the topic from the local state
senator, “ceding ground to someone who doesn’t deserve to be at the top of an
editorial page.”
Troutman said, “I
don’t run politicians’ columns. If you run one, you gotta run ‘em all.”
Some politicians
can be guided. Haupt said he told then-U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold that he wanted
to run columns that were informational, not promotional, and Feingold started
sending columns that acknowledged differing opinions: “Pro, con and how I view
it.”
Barton said she told
the local state representative that she would no longer run her column, mainly
because it was too long, but had to keep publishing it when the politician told
the publisher that she would no longer advertise with the Leader-News, which is
not the only paper in Muhlenberg County.
“I probably would
have written about it if I had met you all,” Barton said.
Editorial critiques
also include the design of editorial pages. Haupt told Barton that her editorial
pages are too gray, and encouraged her to use pull quotes. “You’re on a sales
mission,” he said. “Sell it.”
We are processing
the video of the editorial critique and will make it available soon, along with
a trailer that will give prospective participants an idea of what a critique is
like. We hope that will encourage more participation, and more and better
editorials – and more attendance at a conference that never fails to inform and
inspire.
Finally, I should note that we were honored by the attendance of Enkhbat Tsend, chair of the Press Institute of Mongolia, who plans to write about it for a future newsletter. But he told us at the awards dinner, “It was a very valuable conference for me.” And hopefully for all.
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