| Topics: Civic Communication The Charlotte Observer, continued Index Taking Back Our Neighborhoods
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Your Voice in North Carolina
Freedom Park Conversations
Your Vote in '92 Contents Freedom Park Conversations Freedom Park Conversations Disputes between users of a popular local park and the park's residential neighbors closed the park and threatened to spark racial tensions. The paper quickly mobilized to develop a solutions-oriented op-ed page of commentaries from parties involved. The printed conversations are credited with averting a standoff; the park was reopened the weekend following their publication. Subsequently, local leaders convened a blue-ribbon panel to study the park and also developed new activities for youth. In covering continued tensions surrounding the park problem, the paper has focused on solutions-oriented reporting. 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?
While the Observer had been covering park issues with "standback-observer reporting," the shift changed to a search for solutions after an incidental conversation between the Charlotte police chief, Metro Editor Rick Thames and Rich Oppel, then the Observer's executive editor. Because the park was controlled by the county commission, the police chief felt stymied and feared escalation of tensions. Alerted to the potential scale of problems, Oppel mobilized staffers to seek out the appropriate representatives of parties involved in the dispute, develop a series of directed questions that would create a climate for rational discussion, elicit quotes, get art and design an attention-grabbing page that would run the following day. What were the goals?
To create "a forum for rational talk" by providing space in the newspaper where people could begin to discuss solutions, rather than focus only on the problem's emotional aspects. What did it look like in the newspaper?
The full op-ed page was devoted to directed responses from representatives of the neighborhood, the black community, youthful cruisers who used the park and members of the city council and county commission. A letter from Oppel saying the paper wanted to listen to community discussion accompanied the responses. How many people worked on it?
Ten to 15 reporters and editors from news, editorial and copy desks were freed from daily assignments to work a 15-hour day. Response to the Initiative In the newsroom:
In general, newsroom staffers are somewhat baffled by and a little nervous about this kind of approach, Thames said, because reporters are used to going on their own instincts rather than "taking the temperature of the community" by engaging in dialogue with citizens. Elements incorporated into regular newsroom routines and/or culture:
In subsequent coverage of the parks issue, the paper focused its reporting efforts specifically around solutions, engaging interested parties in questions about whether the commission's recommendations would avert a future standoff, for example, and looking at long-term responses to problems inherent in the park dispute. Should there be more entertainment for youth in the community? How do popular parks and residential neighbors coexist? In the community:
The day after the op-ed page appeared, the parks director "began to melt a bit," the mayor and the chairman of the county commission began to talk about finding a resolution by the following Sunday (the most popular day for park use) and opinion leaders from the neighborhood and the African-American community began talking peace. Among political leaders:
The county commission appointed the blue-ribbon committee to study the park and to develop alternative youth activities, including a Sunday afternoon concert series in an underused stadium not far from the park. Did any outside group pick up the newspaper's effort and carry it further?
The blue-ribbon committee involved representatives of a number of parties, but tensions arose after recommendations for a $2 park-use fee. Cruisers objected strenuously, though their representatives were absent at key committee meetings. In late 1993, the community still is searching for acceptable long-term solutions. 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
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Your Voice in North Carolina
Freedom Park Conversations
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