Host:  Sandra Fish, Journalism Instructor, Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Colorado

Attending: Plenty of students from University of Denver, along with three South High students participated in the session.

Discussion
What are we talking about when we talk about underserved/underinformed communities? Some said those who don’t have TV. Those who are rural. Impoverished communities that can’t afford to pay for media, especially Internet connections.

Some of those underinformed communities don’t see themselves in popular media coverage. Students from South noted that their school is rarely covered in Denver media except for sports. They said more affluent schools get more coverage in news pages.

The South students’ parents – mostly African – watch news on Ethiopian television, for example, because they’re more concerned with their home countries.

DU and South students noted that social media such as Facebook and Twitter are essential to learning about news. But they noted that they don’t always seek out news they might need to know – they get it from friends instead, and that may limit their exposure.

South students say they want to know things quickly, when they happen – and social media meets that need.

Some conclusions: Journalists need to show how news impacts underserved/underinformed communities in a real way. Nonprofit news outlet OaklandLocal.com does a good job of this. Is there a way to create a student news corps in Colorado to serve rural or other underserved communities? DU students said they would like to participate in such an endeavor. Group leader Sandra Fish and DU professor Lynn Schofield Clark plan to discuss this idea in coming months.

Host: Emily Guerin

Participants: Sue Salinger
Caitlin Alexander
Jennifer Lehman
Sarah Ford
Ted Anthony
Kevin Frey
Barbara Meghen Smith
Greg Smith
Sarah Gelder
Rob Williams

Emily: Read High Country News’s mission statement, emphasizing second sentence: “Its mission is to inform and inspire people–through in-depth journalism–to act on behalf of the West’s diverse natural and human communities.” Said organization has internal strife over whether it sounds too advocacy-oriented.

Ted: Said the mission statement is vague enough to be OK–his beef would be what you’re acting on behalf of.

Greg: Raised the difference between empowering people to act and advocating for what they should do.

Ted: Wondered if people are stumbling over the word “inspire.” Inspiring advocacy versus advocating.

Sue: Doesn’t think you can inspire advocacy in others without pushing a position.

Peggy: InvestigateWest looks for solutions

Sarah: explains solutions-oriented journalism, which is what Yes! Magazine does. Says people can name 1000 problems, but no solutions. Showing a solution to a problem is not advocacy. But she wishes they could be more critical of solutions and assign a reporter to look into each one.

Ted: it depends how the solutions are presented

Greg: Is Politifact advocacy?

Peggy: writing about something we all agree on–say, the well-being of our children–is not advocacy

Sue: but there are some things people would say threaten our children, like fracking, that not everyone agrees with

Barb: references Kelly McBride’s talk from earlier in the day. A principal of journalism: to tell the whole truth, not just your perspective.

Emily: gave an example of a story where the reporter went in wanting to undermine a politician. wrote a long, well-researched, excellent story, but didn’t disclose his intentions.

Ted: starting with a conclusion should be showed up front–worried the reporter had “confirmation bias,” i.e. he found what he went looking for

Greg: gave a counter example from RI, where reporters didn’t cover a corrupt politician

Ted: just not liking someone is not bias. you have to want to undermine them in some way or dig up dirt.

Greg: wonders if advocacy has to be conscious.

Sarah: perpetuating the dominant worldview without questioning it is advocacy. i.e., all economic growth is good. says a lot of reporters write as if that is always good.

Emily: back to her example. if the reporter in question had started the story with no assumptions and ended up in the same place as the one that was written, does it matter?

Ted: appearance of conflict of interest is as bad as an actual conflict. the reason you go into a story matters.

Barb: said the reporter should have backed up the story and explained why he wanted to undermine the politician’s campaign, how he’d reported on the guy for years and began to distrust him.

Sue: says advocacy’s purpose is to create social change

Ted: prefers the term “unbiased” to “objective.” said it’s important how you come to conclusions, and questioned whether the reporter should have continued to cover the politician once he had a strong opinion.

Sue: journalism already has an advocacy-oriented mission: to create a more-informed democracy

Greg: you can inspire advocacy without advocating by showing success, which will inspire people to act

*** 

If you haven’t signed in yet, look up to the grey bar above to sign in via Facebook or sign up directly to Journalism That Matters.  

****

Post your Session Notes here.  Include:

• In the small text box at the top, enter your Session Title
• In the larger box, enter:
  • Session Host,
  • Reporter,
  • Participant Names (from paper notes), and
  • Discussion 
• Optional: in the small box at the bottom of the posting form, describe your session in Tags

Some thoughts about your notes:
• Capture what was discussed by participants in a way that can be understood by someone who wasn’t there
• Use whatever form works best for you: words, visual images, photos or others