February 2007 Update
By Tanya Ott, News Director/WBHM, PRNDI NewsWorks trainer and MEGS local journalism consultant.
When pressed to describe public radio journalism to someone who's never listened to a public radio station, phrases like "in-depth", "issues-oriented", and "compelling storytelling" immediately jump to mind - the Core Values we all have tattooed on our foreheads. Our listeners are inquisitive. They have a love of lifelong learning, and we respect that by offering nuanced reporting and compelling storytelling.
But do we deliver on that promise? And do we deliver in the program which is the most important in our line-up: Morning Edition? Our journalism analysis for Morning Edition Grad School confirmed that while there are many talented and dedicated producers in the system, there are some very basic tenets of journalism - and, specifically, public radio journalism -- that seem to get short shrift during morning drive.
We examined 45 stations in all during our pilot project; 12 of these were examined in greater depth. That didn't constitute a scientific sample, but it had a decent variation by size of audience, budget and news staff. Here are some of the significant findings:- Overall, the Morning Edition hosts/news anchors sound professional. They've got good vocal instruments and they know how to use them in a way that's authoritative, yet conversational.
- Soundbites are a mixed bag. While the soundbites we heard were generally well-chosen, conveying emotion and important facts, there was a noticeable lack of sound in many newscasts and none at all on some stations. For instance, the 12 stations that attended the MEGS workshop in Atlanta produced a total of 48 stories within the hour we analyzed. Just 13 stories contained voices other than the anchors'. And there was great variance. One station included tape in every story it produced. Another station had no tape at all. The rest fell in the middle, with roughly a quarter of their stories containing soundbites or reporter's voices.
- If in-depth reporting is our specialty, how come we didn't hear any? To be sure, the sampling method the MEGS project used (randomly choosing one 7 a.m. hour of Morning Edition for each station) means we could easily miss a stellar work of long-form journalism that aired the day, week or month before the day we sampled. But, the fact that we heard no in-depth features from the 12 stations that we closely analyzed should be a red flag. In-depth reporting is what sets public radio apart from other media. But we heard repeatedly from producers that they don't get enough time to focus on feature reporting because they are constantly feeding a daily beast of newscasts. It's enough to spark a dialogue about the best use of resources - spot news or features.
- Core is "core" for a reason. When we talk about the "core values" of public radio we're talking about that which is the innermost or most essential part of what we do. And I'm sure we'd all agree that car crashes, house fires, and PR fluff stories aren't what define public radio journalism. Yet, we heard a disturbing amount of this kind of reporting in the newscasts we analyzed. Why? Perhaps because there's a five-minute news hole to fill and the AP wire is pretty thin in the morning. Or maybe because most stations only staff one person on the Morning Edition shift, so there's no system of checks and balances on what constitutes news. Where are the editors?
- Editing is a must. While some of the newscasts we analyzed had engaging leads, strong transitions, and clear and concise writing, too many buried the leads under yesterday's headline, lacked focus, or failed to offer any new information. NPR's Local Station News Survey indicated that 36% of respondents say their news reports never, rarely or only sometimes go through an edit. This is an issue our stations and the system as a whole must address because without solid editing we're not delivering the best product for our listeners and we're not encouraging the professional development of staffs.
- What you can do. All of our findings resonate with the LNI/PRPD "Sense of Place" research project which crafted a set of "action items" based on feedback from hundreds of listeners in nine markets around the country. The "Ten Commitments of Programming" gives you a great framework for a discussion in your own newsroom about your station's local news programming.
