June 19, 2006

By DWAYNE BRAY
Deputy managing editor, The Dallas Morning News

Dwayne Bray

Do we really think the pages of our newspapers reflect the communities we cover? And if newspapers don't accurately reflect our communities, how does that affect our credibility with readers?

In my six years in Dallas, I've always been proud of the way The Morning News covered the so-called Metroplex. In the large sense, most readers would say we're a great regional newspaper – research supports that. But in a more-critical sense, we often miss some of the essential stories that speak to the everyday lives of readers. And that means we have a credibility gap to close.

We are not the only newspaper with this dilemma. Many papers, large and small, are faced with these same credibility issues. Editors around the country often hear this complaint, "You only cover the sensational news. You don't cover stories about people like me."

To start addressing these issues, we began increasing our daily zoning three years ago, including an emphasis on minority areas that might not carry the economic clout of some of the wealthier portions of town or some of the newer suburbs.

In the past year, we have shuttered our weekly community sections in favor of publishing five distinct zone editions. We now have zones that cover our area to the north, south, west, east and central. As part of these sections – some appear daily, others four days a week – a group of senior newsroom managers led by Editor Bob Mong has visited many of our neighborhoods and met with any reader interested in talking to us – not just elected officials and other leaders.

One recent field trip took us to Oak Cliff, which is a large swath of Dallas to the south and west. It's an old and historic area with communities inside of communities. It's largely tri-racial – whites, blacks and Hispanics. It has old money, the middle class and the very poor.

Over and over, we heard that our newspaper has been too quick to cover breaking news in Oak Cliff, usually about crime. And our readers there told us we have been quick to promote stereotypes – such as the newest grocery story will "save" the community, as if one food store has the ability to do such a thing.

Those readers said that we had not written often enough about regular life in these communities. They said that minorities disproportionately were the victims of some of the crimes in the poorer sections of Oak Cliff, and we chronicled those stories well, leaving the impression that the area was overrun with crime victims. They said we hadn't done a good enough job of showing the wide range of racial, age and economic diversity of Oak Cliff.

With increased zoning, we assured them, we are trying to remedy these problems. We were aware, somewhat, of the how readers perceived us. But for me, these meetings have been a real eye-opener. The greater emphasis on zoning – with its goal of placing more reporters closer to specific communities – should help us re-connect with these readers. We have increased the reporters covering neighborhoods, especially in the older parts of Dallas.

These neighborhood reporters are writing strong stories, too, that appeal to a wide range of our readers inside and outside of places like Oak Cliff. For instance, we have covered attempts to restart a street-car line through Oak Cliff. We also have written about the survival of the South Dallas Café, a favorite eatery in a predominantly black section of Dallas. Prior to our latest zoning efforts, those stories would have had a difficult time making it into our newspaper.

Readers are responding. I recently received an e-mail from a young African American man I met during one of my trips through South Dallas. He said he had more confidence in the newspaper now that he's heard from some of the journalists.

"Its not everyday you get to "chop it up" with news guys about some of those issues in the African American community," his email said.

You can reach Dwayne Bray via e-mail at dbray@dallasnews.com