One way to hear the good, the bad and the unexpected about a newspaper is to invite a dozen readers in and ask them a few questions.
Questions such as, how have your habits of consuming information changed in the last five years?
Questions such as, when you have been close to an event or knowledgeable about a topic, and the newspaper reported about it, how accurate was the story?
The questions were asked by Kelly McBride, a faculty member at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, who helped lead a recent two-day seminar on ethics in journalism. Among the dozen was Nelson Cuba, a Jacksonville police officer and head of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.
“They put in some facts, but they leave certain things out,” Cuba said.
His beef was with the stories about increases in the sheriff’s budget, which he said needed to explain that so-called increases will pay for vacant positions as opposed to creating additional positions. “We haven’t had one new police officer on the street since 9/11,” he said.
Sandy Faraldo, a consultant, grant writer and avid newspaper reader, expressed amazement about a confusing chart comparing charges for payday loans.
“I don’t see how it got through the editing process,” Faraldo said of the chart. A subsequent correction didn’t clarify much, she said.
Cynthia Grissett, assistant principal for seventh grade at Jean Ribault Middle School, said the newspaper should “dig into issues,” and reveal and celebrate more success stories.
“We need more positive news coming out of places like Ribault,” she said, promising readers would be amazed if they only knew more about the good.
Then the moderator called on Kay Ehas, a civic leader and chief of administration for the Property Appraiser’s office.
“I find a lot of stories to be fairly superficial,” Ehas said. “You don’t dig enough. Why is that?”
McBride, the moderator, fielded that question and others as about three dozen journalists looked on.
“There is a constant tension between the number of topics to be covered and the depth that can be provided on any one topic,” McBride said.
Some of the journalists clarified some things, such as headlines are not written by reporters. Mostly the journalists listened to what real readers had to say. Some of what they heard were compliments from people who obviously care deeply about the newspaper.
How have reading habits changed for this group of 12? Most are getting a lot more news and information from the Internet, including blogs. Nearly all mentioned their reliance on cable news channels; some mentioned talk radio and National Public Radio.
Only about half had read that day’s printed paper prior to the mid-afternoon discussion. Some planned to read it later. Some had read it online, including Pat Duerfeldt, who doesn’t subscribe for environmental reasons; she thinks newspapers kill too many trees.
Baranton Whisenant Jr., a 28-year-old attorney who works in the State Attorney’s Office, rarely reads the printed edition. He gets a lot of news and other information on his PDA, often while in meetings.
It is one thing to know about changing customer habits and quite another to sit and listen to real people tell about the variety of sources and platforms they choose in this digital age – other than the printed newspaper.
Near the end, McBride asked panel members what they had learned during the 90-minute session.
Several expressed mild surprise that the newspaper wants readers to call reporters or others when they see mistakes or have questions about content. Several were effusive with their appreciation for being asked their opinions. Clearly, they enjoyed the exchange.
There are seldom “aha” moments during sessions such as these. Seldom do editors rush from the room to make big changes. But most journalists leave with the kind of altered impressions about reader needs that can lead to incremental changes.
If you would like to participate in a discussion about the Times-Union, please let me know. And if you aren’t inclined to participate but would like to observe, I will try to arrange that as well.
My guess is you will be surprised at some of what you hear.
And we will, too.
