Getting Involved … from a Distance

As a student journalist, I have struggled with becoming too involved with a story, finding myself caring too deeply or wanting to use my position to accomplish more than was objectively acceptable.

After a recent trip with the University of Oregon’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, I have seen a way to overcome that frustrating journalistic challenge.

On May 27, I visited the UO’s Turnbull Center in Portland, Oregon, where journalism graduate student Ben DeJarnette and environmental news organization InvestigateWest put on a Forest and Economy symposium. At the event, DeJarnette and InvestigateWest enabled meaningful conversations among representatives from various parts of the timber industry, environmental groups and local communities.

Witnessing the success of the symposium has inspired me.

The event was the culmination of DeJarnette’s recently completed master’s thesis, which he titled, “Re-defining the ‘News Event’ — Investigative reporting and audience engagement in the shadows of Oregon’s ‘Timber Wars.’” He wrote a series that examined the challenges small-town Oregonians faced after massive shutdowns in the logging industry — and how those shutdowns affected residents of small logging towns.

But what made the project so meaningful came after the stories had been written: the symposium.

“We were looking for participation from diverse sectors,” Robert McClure, co-founder and executive director for InvestigateWest, wrote in an email. “[And] a lively directed conversation about topics that are not getting enough attention, and to develop new contacts in the timber arena.”

DeJarnette said during his thesis defense that emotionally charged issues deserve more than just the giving of information. He wanted to know what more could be said about these issues. How could the conversation be had in a way that furthered the discussion in a direction that didn’t necessarily re-hash all the knowns, and how could the unknowns be addressed in a way that directed the conversation toward a lasting solution? As he put it, “How can we present stories in a way that pushes the needle?”

He identified three levels of impact:

• Micro: How do people think about it?
• Macro: How do those people move beyond thinking about it?
• Meso: How do people change the entire conversation:

With these goals in mind, InvestigateWest and DeJarnette organized the event. It was important, however, for McClure and InvestigateWest to define the organization’s role upfront. McClure didn’t want to give even the slightest impression that InvestigateWest was advocating one way or the other.

“As news organizations increasingly are doing, we view ourselves as a convener of a civic conversation aimed at exploring solutions, and a curator of those discussions as well,” McClure wrote. “We draw the line, though, at becoming advocates for any given solution in the sense of lobbying for it or getting actively involved in the political process because that’s a process that, after all, we are covering. Standards of fairness and neutrality do not go out the window when a journalist explores solutions to a problem. That means any kind of organizing in favor of, for example, a new law must be done by others.”

The result of their efforts proved to be educational, if nothing else.

I can see the value of taking a stance on an issue, but still remaining far enough removed to be of more use than just a mouthpiece for change. By organizing an event that allows the most affected to come together and have meaningful discussions about changes, a journalist may have an even greater impact. It can be better than simply producing content that is distributed to an unknown number of readers or viewers — where it will have an equally unknown impact.

In this way, the journalist who instigated the conversation will have an opportunity to now observe that discussion and hear the myriad voices of those people whose lives he sought to affect. And he’ll have done it all without having tainted his credibility, or bringing into question his objective stance on whatever the issue was.

“One of journalism’s roles in a live event context is to be independent and objective-ish, but to be fair and as honest as you know how to be — useful,” said UO School of Journalism and Communication professor Mark Blaine, who was the chair of DeJarnette’s thesis committee. “By not having the baggage of coming from one particular organization or another, can you broker some of these deals where people come together? Traditionally, maybe it was politicians who were supposed to be doing that … but now I think we have that responsibility.”