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Your Vote in '92 Contents Education Education After an August 1993 poll on priorities in public schools showed Mecklenberg County residents' overwhelming concern about violence and discipline (with academics a distant second), the Observer developed a five-week series touching on crime, discipline, academic quality, busing and parental involvement. To supplement the poll, reporters in bureaus outside Mecklenberg County formed focus groups to discuss education issues. The paper has subsequently formed an informal, 20-member education team that links beat reporters with those covering education in bureaus and the features department. A case study by Project on Public Life and the Press New York University Department of Journalism 10 Washington Pl. New York, NY 10003 (212) 998-3793 © Project on Public Life and the Press,1994 The Project is funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Charlotte Observer (newspaper)
P.O. Box 32188
Charlotte, NC 28232
(704) 358-3070 (phone)
(704) 358-5036 (fax) Ownership
Knight-Ridder
No. newsroom employees: 240 Circulation
232,000 (daily)
298,000 (Sunday)
Circulation Area (pop.)
13-county Charlotte metro area (1.6 million) Initiative
Taking Back Our Neighborhoods Date:
June 1994-December 1994 Lead Editor:
Rick Thames, metro editor Executive in charge
(if different from above):
Jennie Buckner, executive editor When and how did this initiative get started?
An outgrowth of Charlotte's 1992 presidential election project, the education initiative began with a poll designed to confirm editors' estimates of citizen concerns about schools. What are the goals of the initiative?
To report the views of education consumers, to increase parental involvement in schools and to build a repertoire of possible solutions to problems facing the school systems. What does the initiative entail?
A poll sampled reader opinion in Charlotte and Mecklenberg County; readers who agreed to be contacted by reporters served as sources for coverage focused on the top problems identified in the poll. The resulting project was published in August. The package stressed parental involvement and offered specific examples of solutions from other cities facing similar problems. The education team, formed to coordinate reporting efforts among staffers supervised by a variety of editors, meets at least twice a month. Reporters in four communities set up student/parent focus groups to address issues in those areas not covered by the poll. How many people are working on it?
Including editors, the education team numbers 20 people, among them two covering secondary schools, one covering higher education and two bureau staff members. What does it look like in the newspaper?
The project was published over six days; a reader-response line was highlighted to encourage citizen feedback. The paper published selected responses and devoted a full op-ed page to letters on the education initiative. Related ongoing coverage is designated with sig. Response to the Initiative In the newsroom:
Positive about focus on education and coordinated coverage among bureaus because it improves planning, helps avoid duplication of effort. Elements incorporated into regular newsroom routines and/or culture:
Poll data is used to build a list of readers who agree to be sources and who serve on citizen "truth squads" who describe conditions they know about in school. Coverage in twice-weekly zoned sections has changed; reporters are asking schools for more substantial information. Zoned sections highlight a school volunteer of the week to encourage community involvement. In the community:
About 100 readers called into the reader-response line the day the package focused on school violence; other days drew about 45 calls. Response has stayed high thoughout the school year, and when it dropped off in the summer, citizens called to ask for more in the coming year. Among political leaders:
Essentially nil. What's next:
By the end of the year, Greene plans to have in place a computer bulletin board that offers homework help for kids, general results of new education studies and a section for parent interaction. Update The education project was well received by the community and among the reporters working on it; plans are under way to continue the initiative - with some refinements - for the 1994-1995 school year. Through the summer, Greene continued to receive letters from parents and others asking for more coverage in the same vein. In mid July, the paper convened a group of 10 parents who will serve throughout the year as a "truth squad" discussing what they knew about problems facing schools and helping to shape coverage; a similar group of school-system administrators will serve in a similar capacity. The work was far more labor-intensive than traditional coverage, Greene said, and the reorganization that brought together education reporters from various regional bureaus met resistance initially. However, as time went by, "it fairly quickly became part of culture to get the education group together, to make sure everyone was going in the same direction. Once you get over initial resistance, then it fits into its rhythm," Greene said. One especially popular feature was easier than expected: adding national content to local schools coverage. When a story focused on a given problem, for example, crime in the classroom and a new disciplinary policy, the paper ran boxes describing how other school systems had successfully addressed the problem. Solutions from other communities ran as sidebar boxes. Though it took some time for the reporters to develop national sources, Green said, "Now it's like second nature and it's easy." The effort to offer online services was less successful, however, and is still in the "shakeout" phase, in part due to constraints of the local Freenet bulletin board and in part due to staff time constraints.
- LA, 7/94 Case study written by Lisa Austin, Assistant Director of the Project on Public Life and the Press, July 1994. Lisa is also a member of the CPN Journalism editorial team. More Information Project on Public Life and the Press
New York University
Department of Journalism
10 Washington Pl.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-3793 Index Taking Back Our Neighborhoods
Education
Your Voice in North Carolina
Freedom Park Conversations
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