Journalism’s contextual collaboration
On the first Sunday of 2021, reports began to emerge about a conversation President Trump had with Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
It became that day’s lead story because the news of that call became public two days before runoff elections would be held in Georgia for the state’s two U.S. Senators. There was special interest across the country because the result of those two elections would determine which party would have the majority in the Senate.
Competition was rampant in the newsrooms of America’s national media, including in one newsroom where they worked with a reporter who had been covering Georgia’s elections for two and a half years — all the while his byline became a fixture in understanding that process, along with changes to its procedures, large and small.
There was one catch. This reporter was not a national media reporter. It was a local reporter — Stephen Fowler. Based in Atlanta, Fowler works for Georgia Public Broadcasting, the statewide public radio and television network — and the Washington newsroom he was working with was NPR.
His story on the call was on that Sunday’s All Things Considered, after conversations with network editors in DC, and stories would follow on Morning Edition the following Monday, online and elsewhere. NPR had an advantage with Fowler’s work that no other newsroom had, through a local reporter on the ground providing context for a national audience.
The relationship NPR has with its member stations is distinct — a relationship that is not only a necessity based on resources, but an emphasis on collaboration to reflect America’s communities to the country at large.
Fowler’s story is not the only example of this collaboration. Many instances occurred during this past week. When former Michigan governor Rick Snyder was charged in his role in the water crisis in Flint, Rick Pluta of the statewide Michigan Radio network filed the story.
When large cities were using sports stadiums as mass vaccination sides, Katherine Davis-Young of KJZZ in Phoenix reported on how it was working at State Farm Stadium, home to the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals.
When Tom Rice, a congressman representing the 7th district of South Carolina, became one of 10 Republicans in the House to vote this week to impeach President Trump — Steve Harrison, a political reporter for WFAE in Charlotte, North Carolina, did a story on reactions to Rice’s decision, first for his station and then for NPR.
When preparations were underway for potential protests at state capitals across the country, Abigail Censky of WKAR in Lansing, MI, Whittney Evans of Virginia Public Media and Dirk Vanderhart of Oregon Public Broadcasting went on Morning Edition Friday to talk about those from their respective parts of the country.
In all these cases, these were local reporters providing context on these stories for a national audience.
NPR’s member stations employ 1,800 journalists nationwide, and as public editor Kelly McBride reflected on how the story of Trump and Raffensperger’s call came about, she pointed to an opportunity NPR has before it. The benefits that NPR can reap from this opportunity is not just tied to the network itself, but also to the electorate and to the future of journalism.
“If the mission of public media is to sustain democracy by informing and educating citizens, bolstering local journalism may be the most mission-critical initiative at NPR.” — Kelly McBride, NPR’s Public Editor, January 7, 2021
Over 26,000 jobs have been lost in local journalism between 2008 and 2019, according to a report from the Pew Research Center cited by McBride, and a study from the University of North Carolina from this past summer indicated that the number of news deserts — communities without newspapers — stood at 1,800 — all the while journalism as a whole continues to assess how to maintain trust in a state of flux which has been exacerbated by the economics of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While most of my work has been on the national and international stage, a lot of the best journalists that I know are local journalists. They are committed to their craft and to their communities, and will stop at nothing to help their neighbors by presenting information that can help them make important decisions each day. Additionally, the impact of the work of local journalists have gone beyond their communities — they, like their national counterparts, have made an impact on the country at large, by helping Americans make the best decisions possible and helping them cope with the world around them.
While NPR’s partnership with its member stations have been at the core of bringing context through local journalists, it cannot alone cure what ails local journalism. Yet, there are more collaborative projects being done by national outlets that can boost local journalism, notably ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, which just started its third year in investing in investigative reporting by local outlets.
These partnerships signal something that can be done by others in a competitive national media. National outlets can help by investing in the reporters in communities where stories are happening. An investment in those reporters can allow for more context in a story, and can lead to the building of more trust. The benefits to both national and local outlets, and to the people, outweigh any risks.
Both local and national journalists have an equal role to play in the future of journalism, even as the industry faces so much uncertainty, and while they both deserve support, collaboration should not be seen as a dirty word — for in the end we can focus on what is the most important thing in journalism — pursuing the truth for the benefit of our neighbors near and far.
After all, if we don’t, who will?
