This week: Credibility

Learning from Colombo: The Riverside Press-Enterprise learns that readers want that "one more question" answered. For a look at how relentless attention to context could help us connect with readers, click here.

New format: Look for a new format for Update in 2006. Click here for more.

ALSO:

Katrina: APME distributes aid to Gulf Coast newsrooms. Click here for more.

Cooperation kudos: Members contribute to AP reports. Click here for more.

LEARNING FROM COLOMBO
Riverside learns that readers want us to drill deeper and ask more questions, even in routine coverage

By JOHN GYRKA
Managing Editor
The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

Thirty-or-so years ago America loved "Columbo," a TV show in which an LAPD lieutenant stalked the bad guys until the truth was revealed. The predictable plot was this: Someone perpetrated a wrong-doing and found an elaborate way of disguising guilt. Columbo would hang around and eventually ever-so politely hound that week's culprit with a well-placed "Oh, one more thing" as Columbo was walking out the door. That "one more thing" was usually the question that got to the hidden truth of the matter.

Newspaper readers, it appears, want Lt. Columbo back — but in real life, without the corpse or criminal, and in the form of a reporter.

Over the past several months, The Press-Enterprise has conducted four credibility roundtables in conjunction with APME. Our topic has been "How can we make local news more credible?"

One theme developed in each group of between 20 and 25 readers. The cry came from older readers and younger. Newcomers and old-timers. Liberals and conservatives. The relatively affluent and those with little money.

Their main concerns were not the type of things we hear are needed for our industry to prosper. No one asked for more celebrity coverage or splashy, colorful graphics. No one demanded that we abandon fairness to support one side of an issue. Young people did not seek easier-to-understand journalism. The busiest readers did not say they had no time for longer stories — if the story was worth it.

The readers consistently asked for one thing: old-fashioned basic journalism.

Some readers called this investigative reporting but, in fact, what they want is something many newspapers fail to consistently provide: one more question, and then another, until the story has context — and maybe the real answers.

And the readers want that Lt. Columbo-like one more question asked of the people who they most want held accountable: politicians and bureaucrats.

Any reporter who does not ask the uncomfortable question — and provide the answer or non-answer in the story — is failing the newspaper's readership, participants said.

The readers' sentiment is one that is not held by readers alone. Bob Baker is a writing coach who was a newspaperman for 35 years, including 26 at the Los Angeles Times. His Web site, www.newsthinking.com, "is dedicated to the proposition that there are only two kinds of journalists: bad ones and those who are improving." He, too, is troubled by stories that too often tell readers just enough to exasperate them:

"Reporters often delude themselves into thinking that their first draft is a finished story. Often this means that flaws in paragraph-to-paragraph synchronicity are left for the editor to repair. But just as often there are problems editors cannot fix: The story lacks the answers to questions the reporter did not ask.

"In my imaginary newspaper, the managing editor would instruct all line editors to instruct reporters to 'start taking the reader deeper,' to not merely tell them about their world but 'tell them how the world works.' This would include a reminder that the newspaper's credibility rides and falls on the reader's belief that the reporter is asking the kinds of questions an impatient reader might ask: Whose idea is this? Where did it come from? How much will it cost? What might be deferred to let this idea (or plan or law) become a reality. Where was this idea tested?

"Too often, especially at the local level, especially with less experienced reporters, stories fail to challenge the assumptions of those in power. Too often the notion of 'win-win' creeps unspoken into news stories. In my imaginary newspaper, the managing editor reminds his editors to remind their reporters that in the real world there is no such thing as 'win-win.' It may be a labor dispute or a zoning decision or the construction of a job center for day-labor workers or a feature profile of a controversial minister-whatever it is, there are myriad benefits and costs and conflicts, and if it takes two more phone calls per story or ten more phone calls per story, we will make the calls needed to discuss the story more deeply and more critically. Each reporter and editor will ask a trio of questions I once heard second-hand from a friend's old editor: 'Is it clear? Is it true? Is it fair?' Until you can say 'Yes' to each - until you can report the real story — don't hit the 'Send' key..."

As Bob says, "In this era of web-based drive-by journalism, our ability to speak with a voice of authority is our most sacred gift."

Our readers couldn't have said it better themselves.

A NEW UPDATE FORMAT COMING SOON
Just as our newspapers strive to change and improve daily, APME is working to bring you an improved Update electronic newsletter in 2006. Logan Molen of the Bakersfield Californian is taking over as Update chairman and will be organizing Update with a new format.

Look for the new issues to start hitting your e-mail after Jan. 1, with newsy items from more APME committees and indepth articles on topics that can help you lead effectively in these times of change.

APME DISTRIBUTES KATRINA RELIEF TO GULF COAST NEWSROOMS
The Associated Press Managing Editors has distributed $18,000 in donations to the newsrooms of 15 newspapers hit hardest by Hurricane Katrina. Immediately after the hurrice ripped through the Gulf Region Aug. 28-29 the association began collecting donations from editors around the country. Gifts of as much as $3,000 were sent to the severely affected newspapers, which APME worked with the AP to identify. Former APME President Deanna Sands encouraged newsroom managers to use the money for the emergency personal needs of the news staff "or perhaps some morale boosting as the holidays approach."

AP COOPERATION KUDOS: MEMBERS CONTRIBUTE TO AP REPORTS
Member newspapers and broadcast stations, and their online operations, are AP's eyes and ears on the ground when news breaks. Their contributions — tips, background, updates, stories, photos, sound bites — are essential in helping the news cooperative provide fast, accurate information for all AP members to deliver to audiences around the world. The Associated Press Managing Editors Association recognizes outstanding cooperation with APME Instant Citations. These members are among those cited for recent help:

— The Forum, Fargo, N.D., where photographer Bruce Crummy shared images, widely used, from a post-Thanksgiving snow and ice storm. Two weeks later Crummy also contributed photographs when a major fire hit downtown Jamestown.

— The Republican and Herald, Pottsville, Pa., for quickly sharing the latest development in a national story when a judge ruled county officials should retain custody of a baby boy because his father once served prison time for sexual offenses.

— The Sentinel, Carlisle, Pa., for quickly sharing its stories and photos when a construction worker fatally shot his boss, wounded a state trooper then committed suicide Nov. 9.

— The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa., where photographer Todd Berkey readily made available a widely-used image of U.S. Rep. John Murtha at a news conference after he called for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

— The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa., where photographer Chris Knight shared images of a missing 14-year-old girl, whose parents were shot to death in Lititz Nov. 13, and her 18-year-old boyfriend, a suspect in the shootings. The Lancaster (Pa.) Intelligencer Journal is cited for sharing its photos by photographer Dan Marschka, as is WHTI-TV, Terre Haute, Ind., where Doug Runyon alerted the AP to the couple's capture in Belleville, Ind., Nov. 14. Runyon's quick work enabled AP to quickly confirm the capture and expedite the story.

— KMRS-KKOK Radio of Morris, Minn., where news director Paul Schwarz alerted the Broadcast News Center when fans pulled down a football goal post after the University of Minnesota-Morris' homecoming win, killing a student Oct. 22. Schwarz also gave the AP the story a month later when the prosecutor declined to bring charges in the death.

— The Southern Illinoisan, Carbondale, Ill., for providing photographs on several occasions, including images to accompany an AP story on christening of a Lewis and Clark monument in Cairo, Ill.

— The Owatonna (Minn.) People's Press for promptly sharing dramatic images from a traffic accident near Medford in which a giant roll of aluminum fell off a semitrailer truck, killing two people Nov. 18.

— The Brazil (Ind.) Times for sharing its story of the court appearance of a man accused of killing his wife and her two children.

— The Lima (Ohio) News for contributing the shot of Ohio State running back Antonio Pittman scoring a touchdown with 24 seconds left to lead the ninth-ranked Buckeyes to a 25-21 win over No. 17 Michigan at Ann Arbor. The Nov. 19 win gave Ohio State a share of the Big Ten conference title.

— WMIX Radio, Mount Vernon, Ill., where staffer Craig Warmbold gave AP first word on an accident at Mount Vernon Speedway that left two people dead.

— The Rock Island (Ill.) Argus and the Moline Dispatch for helping AP cover a high-profile murder trial in the Quad Cities.

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