Rural editor reflects on changes, core values and a reader who came around

Rural editor John Nelson reflected on the changes in journalism and the unchanging mission of community newspapers as he was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame at the University of Kentucky this week.

"A community and its newspaper are each both plagued and blessed by the human condition, by the shortcomings and successes of their members. Only when those are revealed can they be overcome or celebrated. That's part of the newspaper's mission, and that may be the only way today's product resembles the one at which I began in the early '70s," Nelson said.

"For the most part, however, we still use the same words and write about the same topics. There is just more work and fewer people to do it. One day consumers of news will again accept that you get what you pay for, but that will first require those who hire journalists to accept the same thing. Good journalism is costly in a variety of ways. It often will offend friends, alienate acquaintances and anger customers. But when it works, you hope it makes a difference. Sometimes, you get a hint that it has, like I did in a letter I received many years ago after a particularly costly story."

Nelson then read from a letter from a reader who was horrified that his weekly newspaper would print a story with the awful details of the sex-abuse charges against a leading local citizen:

I am going to call them right now and cancel my subscription … tell them off and do everything I can to put them out of business. But, first I read it all. Oh, please Lord, I don't know about this. What do I feel? … Suddenly, it was like a great burden lifted, I was able to really face the truth for the first time. ... Nothing is ever exactly what it seems. Life is not black and white. It has many colors. I already had learned at great cost that having too much faith and trust in someone can be a great mistake… So, with all that said … I knew today would not be a good day at your newspaper … I appreciate your intentions … I feel so much better about myself and I can handle the answers that I must give to my family, my children and grandchildren, friends and political allies … Keep up the good work. You are what newspapers should be about. Facts, with a heart."

Nelson is executive editor of Advocate Communications, which owns dailies in Danville and Winchester and weeklies in Nicholasville and Stanford, and is a subsidiary of Schurz Communications. He was editor and co-owner of a weekly in Somerset after working at a weekly in Irvine, all in Kentucky. His induction citation called him "a leader for openness in government and quality in journalism" and noted his work as a leader of the Kentucky Press Association president on the state's first open-records audit and efforts to open juvenile courts.

Others joining the Hall of Fame were Akron Beacon Journal sportswriter Marla Ridenour, Bill Goodman of Kentucky Educational Television, retired news director Dan Modlin of Western Kentucky University's WKYU-FM, and the late Ralph W. Gabbard of Lexington's WKYT-TV and founder of Hazard's WYMT-TV, which might not be thought of as a community-journalism outlet, but in fact has created a greater sense of regional community among the topgraphically isolated and politically fractious communities of southeastern Kentucky.

AEJMC seeking comment on FCC action

AEJMC, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, is seeking comment on this draft statement regarding the FCC's proposal to require TV stations to put their license renewal files online. To respond to the draft, please contact kabrads@bgsu.edu by 9 a.m. Central Time Jan. 11:

AEJMC DRAFT Statement 


The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), a nonprofit, academic organization of more than 3,600 journalism and mass communication educators, students, and media professionals, is committed to “defend and maintain freedom of communication in an effort to achieve better professional practice and a better informed public.” 
AEJMC would like to respond to the Federal Communications Commission Order on Reconsideration and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in connection with “ the Matter of Standardized and Enhanced Disclosure Requirements for Television Broadcast Licensee Public Interest Obligations.” 
AEJMC supports the FCC’s important proposed rule change because this would bring closer to reality broadcasters’ transparency in fulfilling their “public-interest obligations” to communities. The rule change would exponentially expand the public’s access to the broadcasters’ “public-inspection files,” now on paper, by requiring them to make them available online. AEJMC applauds the FCC for its overdue effort to “ modernize the way television broadcasters inform the public about how they are serving their communities.” 
As Steven Waldman, the lead author of the FCC report titled " Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age ," cogently noted in his Columbia Journalism Review article of December 29, 2011, the proposed FCC rule change mandating online access will impose little additional burden to broadcasters, since broadcasters are already required to assemble these materials. 
From journalism and mass communication educators’ perspective, AEJMC believes that putting these political files online would enable educators and researchers to better teach and research how the public-owned airwaves have been used for political advertising. Equally important, investigating the broadcasters’ “pay for play” arrangements would be much easier if these records are included in online public files. 
AEJMC disagrees with broadcasters that the proposed FCC disclosure regulations could create problems for them in terms of additional cost and manpower from compliance with the regulations. Their objections seem to be more transparency-averse than cost-motivated. For putting the public inspection data online at the FCC would entail little additional cost for the broadcasters. 
Professor Jeremy Harris Lipschultz, director of the University of Nebraska-Omaha School of Communication, who for more than twenty years has been sending students in his Media Regulation and Freedom course to inspect local public files, recently said , “Some operations are downright hostile about the current obligation of public inspection during regular office hours.” 
In conclusion, AEJMC urges FCC to err on the side of more transparency, not less, on the part of broadcasters’ obligations for public-file inspections. This is all the more compelling than ever, given that off-line information about the broadcasters’ records for operating TV and radio stations for the “public interest, convenience, and necessity” is more often a case of “practical obscurity.” This should no longer be allowed in the Internet era. The media transparency proposal of FCC would be one effective way to tackle the physical inertia inherent in the files in the broadcasters’ file cabinets. 

Some thoughts about COMJIG from AEJMC

I post this to solicit comments from members about COMJIG. We recently went through an assessment process and then the top officers met with an AEJMC team that interpreted our self-assessment and they, in turn, made some suggestions. But it's the very last line that may cause some concern.

I've asked other COMJIG officers for their views and all agree that we need to do more on diversity, but then we seem to differ. Officers say the report can be viewed as either a wake-up call to do more and do it better, to keep doing what we're doing and do more reaching out, or to provide AEJMC with a remedial education on what COMJIG is all about. Please read over the following report and comment on what you think it means for COMJIG, as well as any thoughts on what we can do more of, &/or how we can do things better.

Thanks,
Joe

AEJMC Assessment of the Community Journalism Interest Group (2006-2011)

2010-11 Assessment Committee members: Tony DeMars, Council of Divisions; Marianne Barrett, Standing Committee on Teaching; Ann Hollifield, Standing Committee on Research; and Randall Beam, Standing Committee on Professional Freedom and Responsibility.


I. Overview: The Community Journalism Interest Group (COMJIG) was formed in 2004 and in its early years was quite strong. Its status was renewed in 2007 and that year, the group created a 24-page teaching booklet, “Community as a Teaching Resource” and collaborated with other groups and divisions on panels. In 2008 the group had five PF&R sessions including a mini-plenary. Currently though, the group faces some challenges. Perhaps the most significant in terms of its long-term prospects is the confusion over its mission and its ability to differentiate itself from the Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group.
Over the past five years, COMJIG has co-sponsored a number of activities with Civic and Citizen Journalism including the annual J-Lab luncheon. The two groups have discussed merging, but have decided to remain separate. When asked by the assessment team what its mission is, the group’s officers were not clear. They seemed to be defining community very broadly—ethnic, religious, geographical and other communities. The team suggested the group narrow its focus, and concentrate on becoming specialists in what it means to be a community. COMJIG, like many other AEJMC divisions and interest groups, also needs to devote attention to improving its diversity. In 2010-2011 there was no ethnic diversity among the group’s officers, panelists, moderators or discussants. Further, there is only one woman officer. Women, have, however, served as paper judges (3), panelists (3) and moderators (1).


II. Research: COMJIG has consistently struggled with research paper submissions. It received 12 in 2010, but only 8 in 2011. The difficulty in attracting submissions may in part be due to the confusion over what the group is and how it differs from Civic and Citizen Journalism. The assessment team offered the group several suggestions for bolstering the number of submissions, many of which are linked to focusing on what it means to be a community. The team also suggested the group consider participating in the mid-winter conference as a way of raising its research profile, particularly among graduate students.


III. Teaching: Over the last five years, COMJIG has largely focused on Teaching and PF&R, alternately between the two one year to the next. It has occasionally devoted some of limited programming slots to research. Most notably, in 2006-2007, COMJIG participated in a mini-plenary in which its contribution was “Community as a Resource.” As noted in the overview, the group compiled a 24-page booklet that provided teaching tips. In 2010 COMJIG co-sponsored three panels on teaching. The group has as one of its goals a syllabus sharing clearinghouse. Outside of the convention, the group produces a blog and each officer is responsible for posting to the blog at least once a month.


IV. Professional Freedom and Responsibility: As noted above, because of its limited number of programming slots, COMJIG focuses on PF&R and Teaching in alternating years. In 2011, it concentrated on PF&R with a particular emphasis on public service. Among its activities was co-sponsorship of the J-Lab luncheon, something it has done for the last several years, and was sole sponsor of a panel on community newspapers’ efforts to move content online. The group also launched a survey of state newspaper and broadcast associations and ethnic community news organizations to get input on how COMJIG and the academy could better serve the industry. Although the group is to be commended for its efforts in this regard, the assessment team wondered about the efficacy of the survey especially given the group’s limited resources. In its 2010 report, COMJIG noted its “orientation as a bridge between the academic and professional worlds means much of what we do has PF&R aspects. . .” That orientation is clearly reflected in the group’s activities.


V. General Comments and Suggestions:
The Community Journalism Interest Group seems to be at a crossroads. It continues to struggle with attracting paper submissions, has seen turnover in its membership, although its membership seems to have stabilized somewhat in 2011, and is having difficulty clearly defining its mission and differentiating itself from the Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group. The group recognizes the need to recruit new members who can help revitalize the group. The assessment team suggested narrowing what the group is trying to do and focusing on becoming specialists in what it means to be a community. The group should also make an effort to reach out to women and people of color. The team suggested finding a place in the group’s officer ranks for everyone who volunteers to review papers or perform other tasks during the year. To date, except for its blog, the group does not participate in any out -of-convention activities. The team suggested the group consider participating in mid-winter as a way of raising its research profile and attracting paper submissions, especially from graduate students. Given the group’s challenges, particularly with respect to its mission, AEJMC should closely examine whether the group’s status should be renewed.

Leveraging the job market

I spend a lot of time checking job sites such as Editor & Publisher online, mediabistro.com and journalismjobs.com, not because I'm looking for work, but because I'm looking for hard evidence as to why my J-school should focus its curriculum more on community journalism. Every time I hear a colleague bemoan the layoffs at large media companies, I can dig up scores of job openings at smaller-market media, especially at community newspapers.

A recent post by Mark Glaser on his Mediashift blog has made note of that very trend, suggesting that even the bigger media that have made recent layoffs are hiring in their online divisions. But not all of the jobs are in "new media" -- in Glaser's post, Dan Rohn of journalismjobs.com said, "“Right now we have 628 newspaper job openings in the U.S., from Alaska to Massachusetts to Florida to Indiana ... It’s in small towns, and I think that’s because they’re owned by families or small chains that are successful and not being hit as hard."

As sometimes the only voice for community journalism on our faculties, COMJIG members should take on the task of regularly keeping their colleagues aware of where the jobs are. Our students are scared enough as it is, and the predominant media message adopted by many of our colleagues is that "old media" are dying. I plan to send my faculty a regular summary of the job market to counter the bad news from the big media, and, over time, maybe I will be able to get more of them to talk favorably about careers in community journalism.

Uruguay takes steps to help CJ broadcasters

A recent report notes that the Uruguayan legislature is working on a law that gives special status to "community media," which is defined in the draft legislation as broadcast stations that are "public interest services independent of the state, provided by not-for-profit civil bodies." The law would give community broadcasters more access to available broadcast frequencies and create a special panel to review applications and renewals of broadcasting licenses.

If any COMJIG members can shed any light on the CJ movement in Uruguay (or any other country besides the U.S.), please e-mail me at reader@ohio.edu, and I'll post your comments to this blog.

— Bill R.