Starting Monday, the USA Today Network is launching a year-long look back at a critical year in the United States – 1968. The multimedia, multi-platform project is named after that year. It will offer monthly chapters focusing on topics including Vietnam, gender, civil rights and space.
Last year, some publications the network worked together to map and tell stories from the U.S./Mexico border where the president plans to build a wall. Design of the 109 publications in the Gannett-owned chain is also getting streamlined.
Poynter spoke with Maribel Wadsworth, president of the USA Today Network and associate publisher of USA Today, via email about the project.
Tell us about this project, where did the idea come from?
Of course, the history-altering 1968 would merit considerable retrospection during this 50th anniversary year. It was clear immediately as we revisited this history in our planning sessions, that we are uniquely positioned to journey back with our readers because some of the most impactful events of that year took place in the very communities we serve in the USA Today Network. Even as the events reshaped our nation, each of these events made their lasting mark in our cities — and those singular perspectives lend a dimension to this coverage that few others could replicate.
Our team in Tennessee led the project as they were already well under way with extensive coverage plans tied to the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s death in Memphis in April.
The resulting work is a collaboration across our network of reporters, editors, photo, video and graphics journalists and developers to craft this year-long multimedia project.
What cities and events will the project be looking back at throughout the year?
Editors all over the country are excited to tell the story of 1968 from their unique vantage points, with sources and stories only they have. Each month we will look at different aspects of 1968 through the unique local lens and connect today with history.
For example: Memphis will explore the impact of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Florida Today will detail the impact of the space program from their unique position near the Kennedy Space Center. The Courier-Journal in Louisville will share how Muhammed Ali’s protest of the Vietnam War galvanized the anti-war sentiment. The Detroit Free Press will look at business and industry in the wake of King’s assassination and the Kerner Commission report; and The Desert Sun in Palm Springs offers an interview with Dolores Huerta, the Chicano civil rights activist who was standing near Robert F. Kennedy when he was gunned down in Los Angeles.
We won’t just focus on the tragedies but delve into cultural watersheds. The Asbury Park Press will tell us about the influence of the Asbury Park sound on the music scene. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and the Arizona Republic in Phoenix will team up to explore the landscape for women’s rights and its echoes today in the #metoo movement. We’ll close out the year looking ahead 50 years, to 2068.
Last year, the network collaborated on "The Wall." What did you all learn from that process?
What "The Wall" project underscored for us is that if our deep sourcing and expertise on local issues is a clear strength in serving each of our 109 markets, knit together, the strength of our local journalism surfaces a nuanced, illuminating examination of some of the most complex issues facing our nation. Our journalists start at an advantage in that they are already of a community. That local knowledge and first-hand connection to critical sources raises perspectives and angles others might miss or explore only superficially. And I am certain, it is that authentic local connection that allowed us to explore such a politically fraught issue with tremendous access and trust from our sources.
