Recent Writing

Attention newsrooms: It’s time to get serious about 2024 elections coverage. I hear the collective groan. The reaction is likely shaded by the strident national contests and their seemingly never-ending campaign cycles.

Editors are routinely challenged with making uncomfortable news decisions. To be certain, there is no universal right or wrong call on whether to publish a story and in how much detail. Several factors may be in play including community norms and longstanding newspaper policy.

A reader complains that a youth sports story was too negative. Someone questions why a particular quote wasn’t included in a report of a contentious public hearing. Your newsroom brainstorms how election coverage can be more substantive and meaningful. A reporter is rightfully embarrassed for basically writing a press verbatim that charges a local official with unethical conduct without contacting the accused for a response.

Newsrooms collectively cringe at the obvious errors when an edition rolls off the presses or is posted online. A misspelled word in a headline, especially on page one. A wrong score in a sporting event. An incorrect date of an upcoming event.

The city council concludes debate and acts on an issue at community forefront. You record the quotes that highlighted a lively exchange and the final vote. Your story is ready to roll.

A reporter monitors the livestream of a city council meeting, taking advantage of the opportunity to multitask on assignments.

The subjects naturally raise two questions: What constitutes these items as news? Why is there such a delay in the report?

Newspapers regularly report items that are unflattering to the newsmakers. You have a responsibility, for example, to identify businesses cited for selling tobacco or alcohol to underage youths, especially if fines are assessed at a public meeting. The reports still will likely draw wrath from the businesses and their employees.

Preserving and promoting the public’s right to know was a priority during my tenure as an editor. We regularly jousted with public officials, educating them on the letter of the law in circumstances of open meetings and public data.

We’re halfway into 2023, and many local governments are well involved in exploring 2024 budgets. Are your newsrooms aware of the process? Are you keeping readers abreast of the dynamics?