Here are some campaign story ideas from participants in a recent conference presented by Poynter and Drake University. Below them, I’ve added four tips of my own.
Jamie Loo is a reporter at the South Bend (Ind.) Tribune. She wants to do stories on ethanol and immigration:
“WSBT-TV reporter Jim Pinkerton and I have discussed doing a convergence project on ethanol, alternative energy and where the candidates stand on those issues. South Bend has had an ethanol plant for the past 20 years, and we … want to take a look at how it impacts our economy locally: from the corn farmer who has a contract with an ethanol producer, to a family that has seen the price of milk go up because of it. A local investor is also trying to open up the county’s first alternative fuel station and hybrid car sales shop.
“In March, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided a local plant and detained 36 undocumented workers. I would like to revisit what has happened to those workers in light of what immigration reform is on the table (especially since some of them may go to court while changes are happening).
“I also want to profile local families who recently immigrated here or are descendants of immigrants. This city was built by German and Polish immigrants, and it’s a presence that’s still strongly felt today. These profiles will be a reminder to readers that immigration covers more than Hispanic communities. It would also likely show that there is more of a middle ground in opinion on the issue than most people think.
“I think I might get interesting reactions from these families on how they feel about the presidential candidates and their views on immigration reform. Writing about it from this lens will personalize the issue as people think about who to vote for.”
Reid Forgrave works for The Des Moines (Iowa) Register and wants to write about “the disenfranchised independent voter.”
“I’ve been having the damnedest time tracking down a name/phone number for ‘Larry the Ethanol Guy’ (a Des Moines resident who asked a question during the conference’s opening-night panel discussion). But I aim to track him down and write a profile on him as symbolic of a bigger demographic: the independent voter who doesn’t feel the media is representing his wants/needs during the primary season. He seems to be pissed at the media for taking on a role of ‘kingmaker.’ And he seems to feel the way primaries are set up doesn’t necessarily get the best president for the entire country (instead of just the party).
“It’s a touchy thing to try and profile one person and have him/her represent ‘the common independent voter’… but … I think this could be a powerful, important story that would remind people that this election isn’t about the horse race, it’s not about intra-party bickering, but it’s about which president is best for ALL American people. I think every town has a Larry the Ethanol Guy (or 20 Larrys).
“A project (or occasional series of stories with a general theme) I aim to chip away at during the next several months is how this election will affect the working class and/or lower-middle class and/or the impoverished. I aim to do this by crunching our local data, figuring which issues matter to this population, and profiling their daily struggles. It seems Edwards is the only candidate who is really nailing the poverty issue now. But it’s important, whether it’s on the candidates’ radar screens or not.
“I’m not sure where this project/series will go. But I’m going to start with local ‘poverty experts’ to identify the important issues in this upcoming election related to the lower quarter of the economic spectrum. Then I’m going to crunch some data (with the help of our investigative team). Then I’m going to find the people who illustrate whichever issue.”
Greg Borowski is a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He sent me this list of ideas:
Wisconsin contributors. My thought is to create a database of state givers to the presidential candidates, in order to see where the early money in Wisconsin is going — and to measure changes later. This could include profiling some of the major givers, in terms of their issues of interest and reasons for backing one — or more — candidates.
Issue stories. This is more of a general election thought, but the concept is to really home in on five or six issues in which Wisconsin has a particular stake. Obviously, we’d have to cover the waterfront to a degree (health care, Iraq, etc.), but there are issues that are more relevant here than in many other places (e.g., dairy and farming, stem cell research, Great Lakes water usage, etc.). By highlighting those issues, the paper could serve local readers as well as add to the national debate.
Interactive calculators. We’ll likely do a variation of an online ‘candidate selector’ we did for the governor’s race last year, in which readers were given the candidate positions side by side on a series of issues and asked to check the one they most agree with. At the end, they were given a score — for example, agreed 13 of 15 times with candidate X. We’d certainly aim to make that tool more useful and more user friendly. One thought would be to expand it to create ‘calculators’ for things such as tax and health care plans, where the reader could punch in his or her own circumstances and get a bottom-line number back on what the plans mean for them.
None of these reporters approach their ideas with a long history of covering national politics. Loo and Pinkerton are not experts in alternative fuels; Borowski does not know as much about stem cell research as some of his readers do. All three, however, are willing to learn, in part by finding the people in their communities who are “experts” in those areas. And all are determined to frame their coverage of those issues in ways that will be relevant to their readers.
If you already have assigned reporters to cover your audience’s unique perspectives on this campaign season, congratulations. Don’t let any third- or fourth-quarter revenue shortfalls deter you from your plan. If you haven’t started yet, it’s not too late. Here are four steps for getting started:
- Listen to the public. Send your staff — reporters and editors alike — to talk with residents of your community about this upcoming election: the questions they want answered, the issues they want explained, the candidates they want to know better. Here’s a tip from Chris Satullo, editorial page editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer: Find or create opportunities in which you can listen as members of the public talk with each other about these questions. Their conversations are great sources of insights and information.
- Identify your local experts. Assemble a source list that addresses the issues your local residents are talking about. Find the sociologists, the health care economists, the medical researchers, the people who interact most frequently with your immigrant population. Ask yourself this question: Who in my community knows more about this subject than anyone on my staff?
- Assign issues. This can be a staff project. Lots of reporters can play. Assign a group of reporters and editors to each get smart about an issue and produce occasional stories over the next year, while continuing to work their regular beats. You’ll build new sources of expertise throughout the newsroom. (Bonus: Getting smart about an issue can lead to a very good story list — one that might tempt you to replace your old beats with some new ones.
- Go online. From Day 1, use your Web site to serve that steadily growing portion of your audience that is turning to the Internet for news and information. With every story you do, create a steadily growing source of information about the campaign. But don’t stop there. Use links, archived documents and interactive features to create a place where the public can come to learn about candidates and issues, as well as a place for interacting with you and with each other. Check out The Des Moines Register‘s Iowa Caucuses ’08 site and WHO-TV’sIowa Votes 2008 site for two approaches to that state’s presidential coverage. If you lack technical savvy to create some of the interactive features you want, make learning at least one new technical skill a priority.
