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January 28, 2004
Readers Weigh in on Election Coverage
Calls for less 'horserace,' more 'hard questions'
By Phil Shook, special to Newsdesk.org
Ask more than 11,000 readers how to make presidential campaign coverage better connect with them, and you get plenty of ideas.
Send an average guy on the campaign trail. Go deeper on touchy subjects. Do away with exit polls. Expand letters-to-the-editor space. Practice a little quality control.
“Like the reality series, pick a Joe Schmoe to go on the campaign trail to ask the kinds of questions we would ask on the campaign trail, and keep a journal,” suggests J. Michael Lenninger of Jacksonville, Fla.
Editors got this recommendation and about 2,200 others when 35 news organizations worked with the Associated Press Managing Editors National Credibility Roundtables Project to email readers this question in mid-January: “What, specifically, can the media do to make campaign coverage more personally connected to you?”
The email queries are not a scientific poll.
"The idea is to hear more voices inside newsrooms when editors are planning coverage, to get messages with personality and passion," says Carol Nunnelley, director of the Roundtables Project.
Readers did indeed take the opportunity to talk back to the news.
“How about a story following a hypothetical ten dollars of tax money?” asks LeeAnn Fleming of Denver, Colo.
Fleming cites the difficulty of judging how fiscal policies will work, and says her approach would make things more clear.
Barry Sussman of West Orange, N.J., calls for equal-opportunity investigation: "[Media should] start covering the administration’s duplicity the way it covered a stained blue dress," he says.
Huntsville, Texas, resident Robert H. Vann says 2004 is a chance to "do away completely with exit polling and predicting … until the polls have closed that night."
According to Sarah Jacobs of Tacoma, Wash., "the media has mostly ignored Native America rights … and other touchy topics. These need to be addressed."
Carroll Kemp of Stanton, Neb., says that quality control is key, and that media should "eliminate the subjective entertainment that is passed off as news today.”
Greg Knowles of Tucson, Ariz., hopes for expanded letters-to-the-editor pages
“Quadruple the amount of space allotted for letters to the editor,” he suggests. “It's not enough to say X amount of letters were received. If ten letters say essentially the same thing, that's important for readers to know. Print five of them instead of one.”
Melissa English of Cincinnati, Ohio, wants reporters to speak up for her when out on the campaign trial.
“Ask my questions of the candidates. Be my surrogate. Ask the hard questions. Follow up,” she says, adding that reporters should not be intimidated by the threat of losing access to candidates who don't like your line of questioning.
“If more reporters would do this, you could use your power to steer debate toward the true interests of the people," she notes. "That's the media at its best.”
According to Mike Kohr of Princeton, Ill., the media aren’t aggressive enough for him: “Quit giving Bush a pass and ask hard questions. Edward R. Murrow would be embarrassed by the spineless character of national media.”
“More issues, less horserace,” would make Carter Camp of Rosebud, S.D., more connected to the campaign coverage.
Don Elliott of Midway, Utah, says the media are doing as well as can be expected in coverage of the campaign.
The problem, he says, is with the candidates: “As long as politicians continue to talk around questions instead of answering them, we will never get a true picture of their real goals.”
Newspapers and news websites surveyed readers through their email subscriber lists. Those who sign up receive occasional email messages asking about news events or newspaper credibility issues.
The newspapers and online sites taking part included the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Ariz.; The Bakersfield Californian, Bakersfield, ;Greeley Tribune, Greeley, Colo.; Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Fla.; Idaho Statesman, Boise, Idaho; The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Mason City Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa; The Manhattan Mercury, Manhattan, Kan.; The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.; Village Soup.com, Camden, Maine; Carroll County Times Westminster, Md.; Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle, Hamilton-Wenham, Mass.; The Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Mich; Free Press, Mankato, Minn.; St. Cloud Times, St. Cloud, Minn.; The Missoulian, Missoula, Mont.; Lincoln Journal Star, Lincoln, Neb.; Norfolk Daily News Norfolk, Neb.; Nashua Telegraph, Nashua, N.H.; Star-Gazette, Elmira, N.Y.; The Forum, Fargo, N.D.; Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, Ohio; The Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio; The McAlester News-Capital and Democrat, McAlester, Okla.; The Bend Bulletin, Bend, Ore.; The Daily Astorian, Astoria, Ore.; The Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia, Pa.;The Observer-Reporter, Washington, Pa.; The Newport Daily News, Newport, R.I.; The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C.; The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.; The Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah; The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.; The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wis.; Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Cheyenne, Wyo., and Newsdesk.org.
APME’S National Credibility Roundtables Project is supported by a grant from The Ford Foundation.
Readers of Newsdesk.org can participate in future surveys by subscribing to News You Might Have Missed, a weekly email newsletter of important but underreported news from around the world.
Phil Shook is a freelance writer based in New York City who works with the APME National Credibility Roundtables project. Newsdesk.org staff contributed to this report.
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