Measures of Success Part 1: Coverage

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Some studies have criticized community news projects for not replacing the kind of news no longer covered by downsized news organizations. But we aver that one of the most important contributions of all of the New Voices projects is not that they replaced coverage that has been constricted, rather they added coverage that did not exist before. They have not only covered news but also addressed information needs or provided connections that were missing.

In several instances, they even juiced mainstream media to add coverage or link to their reports.

The Appalachian Independent, which reports news for the little-covered rural community around Frostburg, Md., has written about difficult racial issues never before reported. Greater Fulton News covers minority communities that got little news coverage in Richmond, Va. Intersections: South Los Angeles, USC Annenberg’s effort to cover a once riot-torn area near the school, has built news and mentoring entrance ramps into the community.

New Castle NOW’s coverage of a controversial high school schedule change “had much to do with its modification a year later,” said managing editor Christine Yeres.  But if the site had been operating before the controversy began, “we could have helped people to know the details of the largely hidden decision process of the Board of Ed ... and residents could have expressed their opposition more effectively,” she said.

“People tell us,” said Hartsville Today’s Doug Fisher, “they come to [the site] for news they don’t get in the [semi-weekly local] paper.”

In many cases, stories that appeared on New Voices news sites generated significant “legs.” Often, New Voices sites served as listening posts for mainstream media, causing other news outlets to increase their coverage in New Voices communities or elevate the topics of individual New Voices stories to metro or regional coverage (not always with attribution). More recently, New Voices sites have begun directly sharing content with other media partners as they found themselves positioned at the forefront of the latest trend to cast off competition and embrace media collaboration.

Deerfield, N.H., for instance, was largely ignored by distant dailies but soon after The Forum launched in 2005, the Union Leader in Manchester created a zoned edition, Route 101 East, to cover the Deerfield area twice a week. The edition was frequently informed by story tips from The Forum. The Concord Monitor and Foster’s Daily Democrat newspapers also ramped up coverage of nearby towns.

Madison Commons broke a significant story on brown water in one of the neighborhoods that the local paper developed into a major report on deteriorating pipes.

Green Jobs Philly stories have been picked up by Philadelphia newspapers. The Austin Bulldog has been referenced in other Austin news outlets. A recent story on the rise of Caesarian sections in Appalachia by Appalshop’s Community Correspondents Corps is being re-cut for public radio, and Great Lakes Echo stories are appearing on many environmental websites.

The University of Miami’s Grand Avenue News now has a formal partnership with the Miami Herald. And Cal State’s 10 Valley is now regularly sharing content with the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Sentinel neighborhood newspaper, Youth Radio, and the USC Annenberg site, Alhambra Source.

In one of the more surprising developments, the University of Montana spun off the Dutton Country Courier to the weekly Choteau Acantha newspaper, which is partnering with the community to maintain it. Originally, Montana newspapers had objected to students creating competitive hyperlocal sites in their coverage areas.

KBUT community radio in Crested Butte, Colo., aired a 90-minute documentary and several 90-second pieces on immigration in its central Rocky Mountain community. That project is now inactive. Nevertheless, reporters from two original partners, the Gunniston Country Times and Crested Butte News, have continued providing the station with five local stories week as contract reporters.

When storms caused massive power outages in Chappaqua, N.Y, town officials reached out to New Castle NOW to blast information that citizens needed via the site’s email list. Chappaqua is one of New Castle’s hamlets.

When April 2007 floods paralyzed Deerfield and surrounding towns, only The Forum was able to get out the word on what streets were open when town systems were shut down.

“We were there when our communities needed us,” said Maureen Mann, Forum founder. The town’s Board of Selectmen took notice with a special commendation:

“In recognition and appreciation of a job well done ... The Forum was a perfect solution to getting information to the residents of Deerfield.”

In many of the New Voices grant proposals, a common refrain was that the same people have been running town affairs for years with a high degree of entitlement and a low degree of transparency. They are re-elected because no one else runs - or even knows how to sign up.

In Chappaqua, good schools are a central focus. New Castle NOW’s founders knew that not many residents paid attention to local elections. They invited the community to consider new candidates for school board. The community paid attention, and a newcomer was elected. 

In New Hampshire, The Forum was initially viewed as having a Democratic bent in a largely Republican area, and early on Republican candidates resisted the site’s invitations to appear at candidate forums. Now the site is the place for candidates to explain their positions and for reporters to explain what things mean. The site has excelled in explanatory, rather than conflict-driven, coverage of government.

“The Forum shines a strong light on political doings that are never reported anywhere else,” said regular reader Tom St. Martin in a March 2010 survey of readers.  “I daresay Forum readers are better educated than the average readers of the state’s larger newspapers regarding the workings of the state legislature and the state’s Executive Council.” (See The Forum: All-Volunteer Sustainability.)

While it is difficult to ascertain cause and effect, the site early on tracked an increase in voter turnout since its launch. It also reported a decrease in empty ballot positions. For the first time, the site was spotlighting positions that needed to be filled.

Leigh Robartes, news director of KRFP’s Radio Free Moscow in Idaho, launched a regular nightly newscast with New Voices funding. It has excelled in covering issues such as the arrival of a Wal-Mart as well as local elections.
Based on MP3 downloads, “there is anecdotal evidence that many people tuned in, and our reporting on local elections has moved residents to vote and otherwise become involved,” he said.

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