Photo by Maggie Allen/IJNR
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IJNR Study Finds Most Western Dailies
Aren't Keeping Up with Region's Scale of Change
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| Source: Compiled
by IJNR from Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, 2002.
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| Source: Compiled
by IJNR from Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, 2002.
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| Graphics by Jennifer Savage for IJNR's report, Matching the Scenery, 2003. |
Most daily newspapers in the American West are neglecting the region's "big story" of growth and development, according to an IJNR report that was released on September 14.
The 135-page report, "Matching the Scenery: Journalism's Duty to the North American West," was based on a two-year study of Western newspapers by IJNR's Wallace Stegner Initiative. It examines causes and consequences of the widespread neglect of the West's major evolving story—the struggle with profound environmental changes spurred by growth and development.
The team of independent journalists who researched the report conducted hundreds of interviews throughout the West, carefully reviewed research literature and systematically read all 285 Western daily newspapers.
Writing that they came away "both inspired and disheartened," the report's authors found that the vast majority of the West's dailies cover just parts of the story, narrowly and sporadically, in response to specific events. Largely missing is the needed sense of context, significance and relevance, they wrote.
The study found that most Western dailies have the financial means, if not the will, to do a much better job. A large majority of these newspapers consistently make a healthy profit. Why, the report asks, isn't a greater share of the profit being invested to develop capacities to gather the news?
By keeping so much of the profit for the owners, the report concludes, most Western dailies also keep their newsrooms “weary and starved of resources.” There aren't enough reporters in these newsrooms. The reporters get too many assignments and not enough time to do them all well. In most Western newsrooms, issues-based training opportunities for reporters and editors are meager. The amount of space devoted to complicated stories is often insufficient.
Still, the team found several valid approaches to coverage, as well as numerous examples of commendable journalism and dozens of outstanding reporters and dedicated editors. Many of these people are featured in the report.
"The great need is to raise newsroom expectations and levels of effort to match the present magnitude of what is happening to the West," said Frank Edward Allen, IJNR president and principal author of the report. "In reviewing their current approaches to covering growth, development and the environment, we found that most Western dailies simply aren't keeping up with the pace, the scale, the intensity and the ramifications of profound change."
For the report, IJNR surveyed of more than 150 managing editors and other senior supervisors at Western dailies. More than half said they had no reporters assigned to cover environment, natural resources or growth more than one-third of the time.
Other deficiencies cited in the report include:
• Among the Western dailies that do have at least
one reporter covering the environment part of the time, that journalist
is typically expected to cover at least one additional major beat.
• In covering issues that connect population growth or economic
development to the environment, more than 75% of Western dailies strongly
prefer short presentations of event-driven news stories, as opposed to
broader explanation and analysis of the significance of conditions and
trends.
• Senior news executives at more than three-fourths of Western dailies
acknowledge that their organizations provide no training in how to cover
the environment, science, public health, government, business or economics.
• Reporters who have left the environment beat at Western dailies
since the mid-1990s most often cite job dissatisfaction or disillusionment
as the primary reason for their departure. In particular, they express
frustration about having been allowed too little time and space to do
justice to complicated, issue-based stories.
The report concludes that inadequate coverage of "big-story" issues by most Western dailies has harmful effects.
"Most communities and citizens in the West are being deprived of information and insight they need," Frank explained. "Information and insight are what enable communities to carry on productive conversations. How else can they make responsible decisions about the region's future? Unless newsgathering resources become sufficient, the citizens of the American West—and their society as a whole—will remain disadvantaged."
The report is available electronically at www.ijnr.org/programs/stegner. Hard copies may be purchased by using the on-line order form or by calling 406-543-3812.
High Country News featured IJNR's report in its October 13, 2003 issue. The cover story, by Ray Ring, is titled, "The Big Story Written Small."
Nine Western Dailies
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In a ceremony on the campus of Stanford University,
IJNR presented the first Wallace Stegner Awards for exemplary coverage
of the North American West.
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An IJNR research team spent more than two years monitoring and evaluating the coverage of growth, development and the environment produced by the region's dailies. As part of the work, members of the team traveled widely in the region to deepen their understanding of conditions and issues facing the West. The team also compiled extensive portfolios of coverage produced by each newspaper in order to compare quality and persistence of newsroom efforts.
"It took us many months to screen all the portfolios so we could identify contenders for the awards," Allen said.
Screening was done based on journalistic criteria shaped by the Board of Governors of IJNR's Wallace Stegner Initiative. The criteria included accuracy and clarity, significance and relevance, frequency and persistence, prominence and proportionality, and credibility and context.
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This summer, a panel of eight Stegner Award jurors convened for nearly three days to deliberate on 16 finalists and select the winners.
In addition to the Los Angeles Times and The Durango Herald, the winners are the Anchorage Daily News, the Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff), The Idaho Statesman (Boise), The Oregonian (Portland), The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.), The Sacramento Bee and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
"These nine newspapers stand out because of quality and persistence of effort by the newsroom as a whole," Allen said. "We wish there were many more like them."
The work that led to the Stegner Awards was part of IJNR's Wallace Stegner Initiative, which has been supported by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Fred Gellert Family Foundation.
Fellows, Speakers
and Friends
Show Support for IJNR
Fundraising setbacks this summer forced IJNR to make several unpleasant adjustments, but generous contributions from Fellows and other donors are helping with the recovery.
The setbacks, which were reported earlier to members of the IJNR community through personal letters and phone calls, caused a shortfall of $365,000 in anticipated revenue for the remainder of 2003 (about one-third of the original budget) and an equal shortfall for 2004.
As one consequence, IJNR had to postpone the first Prairie Country Institute in Missouri until the second half of 2004. In addition, IJNR implemented several austerity measures, including the elimination of four staff positions and a substantial cut in compensation for the six staff members who will remain. Other steps are being taken to curtail expenses and increase the organization's financial stability.
"The fundraising climate has been especially tough this year for just about all nonprofit groups in America," said IJNR President Frank Allen. "By October of last year, we were already anticipating that conditions would get more difficult, and we took precautions. But candidly, I think everybody at IJNR was stunned by the unfavorable verdicts on multi-year grant proposals that a few major, long-time supporters had encouraged us to submit. Prior to this summer, we had been told to expect positive outcomes."
In August, IJNR began a personal-letter campaign to raise funds quickly. The responses so far have been heartening. IJNR has received cash contributions totaling $15,620 through October 21. These donations have come from 64 of IJNR's 340 Fellows, as well as from seven IJNR Speakers, three IJNR Trustees and 10 families who admire IJNR's work. IJNR also has received $8,800 in pledges from Fellows and other individuals for multi-year support, starting in 2004.
"Our whole staff and our Board of Trustees are inspired by these gifts," said Frank. "It isn't the amount being given that matters. What counts is the sentiment. The personal notes that accompany the checks are profound. They are uplifting. They mean so much to us all."
One major news organization, the McClatchy Company, sent a check in response to the direct appeal from an IJNR Fellow who is a McClatchy employee. Also, three IJNR Fellows who work at the Chicago Tribune made a pitch to that newspaper's foundation, creating the opportunity for IJNR to submit a grant proposal.
In late September, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation approved IJNR's two-year grant request for $75,000 a year. Other organizations that have contributed since the summer include the Forest History Society, the National Mining Association and Georgia-Pacific Corporation. In addition, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has committed to providing $25,000 of support to IJNR in 2004. Additional grant requests are pending with several foundations and other groups.
"All of these recent developments are encouraging," Frank said. "I wish we could say that we have turned the corner, but we haven't yet. A great deal of hard work still remains to be done."
For the past several years, he noted, IJNR has enjoyed strong funding support from a diverse group of more than two dozen contributors. All of these grant-makers have praised IJNR programs and high-quality performance. But stock-market conditions have hurt the portfolios of most grantors. Even those that have had to reduce or interrupt their support have encouraged IJNR to reapply when market conditions improve.
"This recovery won't be achieved quickly," Frank said. "To sustain itself, IJNR has to become even more persistent and even more imaginative. We are still hoping to hear from many more Fellows and Speakers, and we need to reach other individuals who care what happens to journalism. Since we started, 340 journalists from 190 newsrooms have survived a total of 25 IJNR expeditions. Will IJNR get to offer another 25 of these learning adventures? We certainly hope so."
Brown Bears and Floatplanes and Fish, Oh My!
IJNR Fellows Explore Alaska During First Midnight Sun Institute
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The 2003 Midnight Sun Institute (July 6-17) marked several milestones for IJNR, including this shocking breach of tradition: Fellows spent far more time in float planes than they did on a bus.
"This was by far the most logistically challenging program we've ever done, and the first program that didn't involve a Mother Ship," said Andrew Weegar, IJNR associate director and co-organizer of the journey. (For the non-veterans reading this, "Mother Ship" is the term that Fellows and staff use to describe each institute's chartered bus.)
Midnight Sun 2003, IJNR's first foray into Alaska, was also notable for a very close encounter with a grizzly, known in coastal parts of Alaska as a brown bear. (More on that episode in a moment.)
The group traveled by the greatest number of abnormal means of any institute, riding in a bus only sparingly. In addition to their heavy reliance on floatplanes, the Fellows traveled by jet boat, pontoon boat, commercial fishing vessel, public ferry, private van and commercial airline. They also boarded a huge cruise ship (while it was moored in port). Several walked to the edge of a melting glacier, and a few paddled kayaks without serious out-of-boat experiences.
This program was IJNR's smallest fellowship to date, limited to only 10 journalists because of costs. Eight represented U.S. news organizations, and one each came from Canada and the U.K.
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The group traveled by the greatest number of abnormal means of any institute, riding in a bus only sparingly. In addition to their heavy reliance on floatplanes, the Fellows traveled by jet boat, pontoon boat, commercial fishing vessel, public ferry, private van and commercial airline.
They also boarded a huge cruise ship (while it was moored in port). Several walked to the edge of a melting glacier, and a few paddled kayaks without serious out-of-boat experiences.
This program was IJNR’s smallest fellowship to date, limited to only 10 journalists because of costs. Eight represented U.S. news organizations, and one each came from Canada and the U.K.
The institute covered issues across a wide swath of southern Alaska, beginning in Anchorage with discussions of Alaska's society, economy, public-lands legacy and salmon industry. The journey ended in Ketchikan with the time-honored Farewell Dinner and Highly Emotional Awards Ceremony.
In between, the Fellows explored rivers and estuaries, commercial-fishing sites and timber-harvesting operations. They examined conditions on the 20-million-acre Tongass National Forest, visited a wolf den and learned about the complexities of resource management by Alaska's native corporations. Fellows also collected samples of toxic residue from the Exxon Valdez oil spill 14 years ago in Prince William Sound. They met with commercial fishermen, biologists and fish processors during stops in King Salmon, Naknek and Cordova. During the "free time" daylight hours after 9 PM, some Fellows went fishing. Among the notable catches was Ericka Pizzillo's 40-pound chinook salmon.
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At Katmai National Park, the Fellows watched a required video about bear safety, and then witnessed tourism congestion at the peak of the bear-viewing season. "Katmai is an unusual place," Andrew explained. "That's because you have two different species that are highly solitary, work as individuals and dislike each other's company—bears and journalists."
After viewing bears from a Park Ranger-supervised platform for much of the morning, the group returned to the main camp (heavily populated by humans) for lunch. The Fellows watched as a juvenile male brown bear, running along with its nose to the ground, approached Ericka. Suddenly the bear looked up, surprised to see Ericka standing in its path. He said nothing quotable. Neither did she.
The group later speculated that the bear just wanted to congratulate Ericka on her salmon-fishing skills or wanted some tips from an expert. Whatever the case, Ericka calmly stepped aside and let the bear pass. "I've never seen anyone react so coolly in a situation like that," Andrew said. (Apparently Ericka did pretty well, too.)
In recounting this episode, we don't intend to make light of the real
and serious risks inherent in close encounters between bears and humans.
Indeed, a danger-courting bear videographer and his girlfriend were fatally
mauled in October 2003 in a more remote section of Katmai. Two bears were
consequently destroyed. Public reaction to this avoidable tragedy (including
widespread misinterpretation of its significance) is still unfolding.
2003
Midnight Sun Fellows
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2003 Great Waters
Fellows Came Prepared,
Stayed Dry
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"No neckties or pearls, please. Sturdy waterproof shoes or hiking boots and good rain gear are essential."
That advice from the "What-To-Bring" list proved useful for all 13 Fellows of the 2003 Great Waters Institute. It helped them endure bouts of heavy rain and miles of soggy turf as they explored issues affecting the Great Lakes ecosystem.
The institute, which ran May 8-16, brought together journalists from Alberta, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Ontario and Wisconsin. Like participants in the inaugural Great Waters program of September 2002, the 2003 Fellows examined timber harvesting, shipping, fishing, tourism, recreation, shoreline development and other issues in parts of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin and on the vast waters of Lake Superior.
The week started with brutal rain and a lightning storm that forced the journalists to abbreviate their first stop in the field, where biologists were checking nets for sturgeon in Wisconsin's Bad River. Later the same day, as the rain kept coming, the Fellows slipped and slid down a long, muddy path on the Bad River Reservation to observe sea-lamprey control methods.
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Periodic rain followed them for the next two days, pushing some rivers to flood stage and forcing the group to cancel a much-anticipated paddle on the scenic Brule River in Wisconsin. Fellows who couldn't swim expressed no regrets.
"By this time in the program, just about every journalist on the bus had thanked us for making sure they all brought good rain gear and footwear," said Peter Annin, IJNR associate director, who organized and led the institute. "But by mid-week, the weather turned for the better. We enjoyed beautifully seasonal weather the entire time we were on Isle Royale, including placid seas on the way over to the island, as well as on the way back."
As the institute unfolded, Fellows toured the inside of an ore freighter's ballast tank in Duluth, visited a waterfront Superfund site, and hiked Stockton Island in the Apostle Island chain, now under consideration for federal wilderness designation.
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They also considered the connection between forest health and water quality throughout the region, examined trends in Great Lakes forest ecology and timber management, discussed wolf populations and considered potential water diversion from the Great Lakes Basin. Other issues included invasive species, the implications of global warming, Great Lakes fisheries and water quality.
A highlight of the journey was a day of hiking through Isle Royale National Park with Rolf Peterson, a biologist at Michigan Tech University. For almost three decades, Peterson has studied the interactions between wolves and moose on the island. He led the Fellows in search of a dead moose, and they found one. Peterson analyzes moose and wolf bones to find clues about what killed the animals and how such fatalities affect the fragile balance of the predator-prey relationship.
The 2003 Great Waters Fellows churned out several imaginative post-Institute stories. Among them were a piece by Ron Meador of The Star Tribune (Minneapolis) about the rapidly expanding Asian carp and a series of Great Lakes editorials by Barb Arrigo for the Detroit Free Press. Anita Weier, a state-government reporter for The Capital Times in Madison, wrote about the Wisconsin tax breaks afforded to Plum Creek Timber Company, a real estate investment trust that recently acquired vast timberland holdings in the state.
To reach a new geography, IJNR plans to move the "footprint" of the Great Waters Institute slightly to the east in 2004, shifting the "hub" to Green Bay from Duluth.
2003
Great Waters Fellows
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IJNR Bids Farewell to Pamela Rockland
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After eight years of exceptional service to IJNR as director of development, Pamela Loren Rockland decided this summer that it was time for a big change in her life.
Pam is a devoted single parent. She has done a wonderful job of bringing up her two daughters, Alana and Jessica, who were very young when Pam began working for IJNR from her suburban home in Potomac, Maryland, in 1996. Both girls have grown into responsible and self-reliant young women since then. Alana started college this fall, and Jessica will soon follow.
For Pam, remaining a "work-alone-from-home" Mom had begun to lose much of its original appeal. She decided that she would be happier—professionally and socially—in the bustling work environment of downtown Washington DC. During the summer, she considered several job offers. On September 8, she started her new position as assistant vice president and director of development for the American Forest Foundation.
"This is an excellent opportunity for Pam," said IJNR president Frank Allen. "We wish her all the best, but I have to admit that we will miss her greatly. For eight years, she has made an extraordinary contribution to our organization's growth and strength. Her hard work produced a solid and diverse roster of more than two dozen loyal funders for IJNR."
Pam has a degree in communications from Rutgers University. She is former executive director of the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation. In her farewell note to the IJNR staff and Board of Trustees, she thanked everyone for their friendship and for sharing their wisdom over the years.
"I have enjoyed immensely the honor of working and growing with each and every one of you," she said. "Please know that IJNR will always have a home in Maryland and each of you, a place in my heart. I hope that our paths will continue to cross frequently and that you won't ever hesitate to let me know how I can help."
Krishna Roy, an accomplished development specialist for nonprofits in the field of conservation education, is now working with IJNR as a fundraising consultant. Krishna's background includes substantial experience with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Center for Marine Conservation, now known as The Ocean Conservancy.
Pam's new office number is (202) 463-5170; email is PRockland@ForestFoundation.org.
Krishna can be reached at (703) 242-1287 or Krishna@IJNR.org.
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At
IJNR, Bill has played several valuable roles, most recently
as a mentor and as co-organizer of the Prairie Country Institute.
He joined the IJNR staff in January 2002 after 13 years as a
science and environment reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In 1995, Bill "survived" the original High Country
Institute, earning the nickname of "Wild Bill" for
his whitewater-rafting antics. He also served on the Council
of Advisors for several years. 
In
October 2003, Thomas Dunne Books published a new book by Thomas
Goltz (HC '97), Chechnya Diary: A War Correspondent's
Story of Surviving the War in Chechnya.© 2003 Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources. All Rights Reserved.
Address: P.O. Box 1996, Missoula, MT 59806; Phone: 406-273-4626; Fax: 406-273-7868
www.IJNR.org