Some folks believe New Year’s resolutions are a valuable way to focus on goals.
Others believe such an exercise is potentially harmful, particularly if expectations are unrealistic.
Acknowledging that risk, I present this resolutions list for the newspaper, based on lessons learned from readers:
1. Get the facts right. Reporters earn trust from readers and news sources through accurate writing. The newspaper loses credibility with each mistake. Rigorous verification is essential throughout reporting and editing.
2. Cover the whole story. Include all relevant perspectives and take care to include necessary background and context. Stories that lack these elements will be viewed as superficial, lacking in authority and biased.
3. Cover the whole community. Over time the newspaper should reflect the activities and views of everyone who lives in Orange County. Readers should be able to find views expressed by people who live in our communities that reflect their experiences, opinions and values.
4. Fulfill the journalists’ obligation to citizens. Be watchdogs for the public. Provide crucial information on public issues to allow readers to decide and act. Monitor how taxpayers’ money is spent, who makes public-policy decisions, how and why. Investigate. Help people understand their role as citizens who have a stake in building their communities.
5. Avoid sensationalizing. Be comprehensive, but exercise restraint. Present news in proportion to its significance. Avoid trivializing important stories and making the trivial seem important.
6. Reflect reality. Success stories are as much a part of daily life as controversies. Presenting only the most extreme views on a given issue misses the majority of people who are ambivalent and trying to sort matters out or who lean one way but are willing to consider other views. Tell inspirational stories, too.
7. Protect the vulnerable. Be sensitive to those who are not public figures but find themselves in the news because of personal tragedies. Put yourself in their shoes before you approach them and again before you write what you know. Just because the public is curious does not mean it should know every private fact and thought.
8. Involve readers. Keep inviting readers to participate in the newspaper, whether commenting on coverage, suggesting stories or soliciting thoughts and memories. Every reader is an “expert” in his or her own way.
9. Explain. When the newspaper makes a mistake, correct it quickly. Absent explanations of how things went wrong, some readers ascribe motives that reflect suspicion of the newspaper. When the newspaper considers changes to its format, explain why. While you’re at it, think about larger – and darker – type in some places where it is smaller than regular text, and don’t run type over shaded backgrounds. Don’t mess with the comics.
10. Have fun. Serious news requires a serious approach, but our world has its lighter side. The newspaper should adequately reflect the warmth, whimsy and humor, too.
These are key recurring themes from thousands of conversations with readers in the past year.
They’re not much different from themes of past years – and various readers give the newspaper high marks on some of them.
But there’s always room for improvement.
I don’t think journalists would disagree, either.
Onward and upward.
