Why we need community papers - follow up

A little over a week ago, I mentioned here how Ed Henninger had put out a call in defense of community media to explain why we need community papers.

He's got some comments on his blog worth reading
http://edhenninger.wordpress.com/2011/11/20/its-time-for-us-to-tell-others-why-community-newspapers-matter/#comments

and

http://edhenninger.wordpress.com/2011/11/29/why-community-newspapers-matter-in-your-words/

The theme that runs through many of them is that community papers are the glue that helps hold communities together but also that the stories get action. This is from a woman at the Catholic Herald:

Someone wrote to us once to let us know that a story my coworker at the time wrote about a fundraiser, generated an additional $1,000 donation for his cause. After an article I wrote about a program that helps couples heal after having a stillborn baby, I received an email from someone who was touched by the article. Even better, the woman in charge of that program emailed me to let me know that she received a phone call the day it was published from a family who lost a baby—the grandmother wanted to know how she could help.

And this from another comment:

On Friday, a young mother came in our office to place a thank-you ad. Her baby boy died in a tragic car accident on the family property only weeks earlier. Of course, our newspaper covered the story but the story didn’t end with the facts.

As I talked to her, she related how she couldn’t have been standing in front of me without the prayers and support of her family, friends and community. She told me how the local churches prayed for the family and how they received cards from people they didn’t know — these individuals just wanted to share their grief. Others anticipated their needs by providing meals or just a shoulder to cry on. As I looked at her written words of thanks, I started immediately to think how I would sensitively handle this situation and honor her child. I took some of the words she said describing her child and worked them into a concept. The ad hasn’t run yet, but I hope it will help in the healing process.

That’s why I like working for a small-town newspaper. There’s a certain type of person who wants to live in such a community. And in my experience, most of these people value decency, reach out to their fellow man, and are solid individuals with solid morals. They say “Bless their heart…” when bad news happens and slip a 50-dollar bill to the minster or sheriff to help with a family’s need in an anonymous fashion. Of course, our headlines carry the drug arrests and other crime stories, but for the most part, we carry the stories of someone’s engagement and wedding, what’s happening in 4-H, and the goings-on of local politics.

Editor at weekly putting heat on secretive energy projects says official struck him

A thrice-weekly newspaper's watchdog reporting about local-government support of two secretive energy projects got physical this week, as the county's energy and development director punched an editor in the arm, according to a story in today's Appalachian News-Express of Pikeville, Ky. The criminal complaint by News Editor Chris Anderson said Charles Carlton "approached me and hit me with a closed fist in the left arm above the elbow" as he opened the newspaper's front door for Carlton, who said, "You son of a bitch; what are you people harassing me for?"

"According to court documents, Anderson said the incident occurred shortly after he had sent an open- records request to Pike [County] Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford’s office, which would have been forwarded to Carlton for fulfillment," News-Express Editor Russ Cassady wrote. His story said Carlton issued a statement repeating a denial that he hit Anderson, but said "It was a reaction through frustration because it seems every time I spend considerable amounts of time and energy negotiating with large national and international companies the newspaper intervenes at critical moments and makes it very difficult for me to get anything accomplished."

Cassady wrote that Carlton "has been at the center of controversy since late last month, when the News-Express released the results of an investigation of a pair of coal-to-liquid fuel plants proposed for Pike County. Carlton, in his capacity as director of energy and community development, figured heavily in both the projects and in the News-Express investigation, which found that the county may have illegally provided equipment and labor to a private company working on private property." For that story and two sidebars, click here.

Today's story notes, "This incident is the second in less than two years in which a News-Express staffer was involved in an altercation regarding a news story." In the first, Pikeville Mayor Frank Justice hit former editor Jerry Boggs in the face and later issued a public apology. The online News-Express is subscription-only, but the pages containing today's story are posted here and here.

A call to speak up for community newsrooms

Ed Henninger, a designer, fellow consultant (though he does it professionally, while I just dabble) and designer (OK, I tell him, some things can't be helped) has put out a clarion call for the best paean to community journalism.

Here's how he puts it in "It's time for us to tell others: Why community newspapers matter": As he puts it:

IT’S TIME WE GAVE community newspapers the credibility and respect they’ve earned—and we can lead that effort. Right here.

Like you, I’m tired of community newspapers being considered the “bottom of the heap.”

Like you, I’m tired of young journalists considering community newspapers a place to learn the business before they go on the “greatness” at The New York Times, The Washington Post or USA TODAY.

It’s about time journalists understand and appreciate the value of what all of those small newspapers do for readers and their communities.

The folks with the best comments get a PDF of his book, Henninger on Design.

Surely someone from COMJIG can win a copy. Go for it! (And, yes, Ed is a pretty darn good designer.)

Harrisburg paper broke Penn State story in March; reporter calls it 'huge testament to local news'

Uncovering the story of a former Penn State football coach's alleged rapes of boys "was all local journalism," Harrisburg Patriot-News reporter Sara Ganim told Howard Kurtz this morning on CNN's "Reliable Sources."

"Its a huge testament to local news," Ganim, a 24-year-old Penn State journalism graduate told Kurtz, who initially referred to the 71,000-circulation Advance Publications newspaper as "The News-Patriot." Ganim said, "It was all local journalism, going to my sources. ... I spent a lot of time knocking on doors and getting shooed off properties."

Ganim said the newspaper "did have some pushback" to her stories that first reported the investigation, starting March 31, but "I actually expected a lot more than we got. . . . For the most part people were happy that we were bringing this out." The stories didn't get much play beyond Pennsylvania until ex-coach Jerry Sandusky was indicted this month, perhaps because they were based on interviews with people who had testified before a grand jury, reporting that was difficult for non-local media to match, Ganim said.

The story of Sara Ganim "is also the story of a family-owned media company, Advance, of a second-generation newspaper editor, David Newhouse, of a publisher, John Kirkpatrick, who understands what a newspaper means to a community, and of a newsroom that has the deep local connections and also the courage to keep going no matter what the potential cost to its own reputation," Carl Lavin writes on his 07newsroom blog.

For Ganim's original story, click here. For her latest summary, focusing on authority figures and "What did they know and when did they know it?" go here. Her last-Sunday story about why the probe took so long is here.

Les Anderson dies

A friend to many of us, Wichita State journalism professor Les Anderson has died.

It's truly a loss in journalism education. I was proud to call Les a friend. Last time he and I had seen each other for any amount of time was a few years ago at the Chicago AEJMC convention during a Tribune tour.

Les was a COMJIG member for a number of years.

Here is the Friends of Les Facebook page for more.