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Dishing more local news, less state

By Mike Mack
UW-Eau Claire Journalism Seminar Student
Wednesday, May 15, 2002

Coverage is one of several facets of the newspaper industry that has changed significantly in recent years. The rise of corporatization has led to shifts in the amount of emphasis journalists place on various types of news, in terms of both scope and topic.

A survey conducted this year by a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire journalism class asked journalists from the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, the Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minn., and a number of Wisconsin papers about changes in coverage. 

The survey contained questions related to seven types of coverage -- local, state, national, international, sports, business and arts and entertainment. Respondents were asked if the amount of emphasis their paper places on each type of coverage today is much greater, somewhat greater, the same, somewhat less or much less than when they first started working there.

According to the results, local news is on the rise, along with sports, business and arts and entertainment coverage. By contrast, journalists are devoting less time and energy to state affairs. National and international coverage has remained about the same, although international coverage likely would have declined if it weren't for Sept. 11.

Going local

Stewart Rieckman

Journalists are well aware of the fact that they must be chiefly concerned with thoroughly covering the community around them if they want to attract readers. 

Recent figures indicate a surge in the amount of local news content found in newspapers. 

Thirty-nine percent of the 585 survey respondents said there is more local coverage at their paper today than when they started working there, compared to 21 percent who said local news coverage has decreased. The remaining 40 percent said it has stayed the same.

Stewart Rieckman, managing editor of the Oshkosh Northwestern, has seen a lot of changes in his 32 years with the paper. From 1998 to 2000, the paper had four different owners. 

But Rieckman said local news has always been the top priority at the Northwestern, and why it's even more important now.

“It’s the one area where it’s difficult for people to get with other media,” Rieckman said.

Papers compete heavily with other news media outlets, mainly television, radio and the Internet. Readers in Oshkosh or any other city can get an update on the War on Terrorism almost anywhere. But if they want to read about a local diner that’s closing or yesterday’s city council meeting, their options are limited.

“People always want to read local news first,” said Jeff Ash, assistant sports editor for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. 

The Press-Gazette and Northwestern are owned by Gannett, a chain with a reputation of being intensely focused on local news. 

But it seems independent papers, such as the Janesville Gazette are also intent on packing as much local news into their paper as possible. Gazette editor Scott Angus said one the paper's mottos is “when in doubt, go local.”

Dan Flannery

The state of state coverage 

Newspapers throughout the United States have received criticism lately due to a lack of sufficient state coverage, particularly at the Capitol. Many papers have de-emphasized state government coverage, despite the fact that major decisions are made at the state level that greatly affect readers.

Charles Layton and Mary Walton discussed the decline in state coverage in a 1998 American Journalism Review article titled “Missing the story at the statehouse."

The article states, “In the daily crush, state news loses out to crime stories, light-hearted features and lifestyle reporting..."

According to the UW-Eau Claire survey, 39 percent of the respondents said there is less state coverage at there paper now than when they started, compared to just 13 percent who said it has increased.

Most journalists realize state coverage, especially of government affairs, is extremely important. But that doesn't mean people will read state stories. That's why they frequently get bumped out by something else, such as local stories.

“If I had to choose between the two, I’d sacrifice state reporting,” said Mark Baldwin, editor of the Wausau Daily Herald.

According to Rieckman, there are two types of news – news people want to know about and news people need to know about. Statehouse news often falls into the latter category.

“Sometimes it’s not very sexy, but it’s stuff that directly affects their lives,” Rieckman said. 

Because of the fact that government stories can be dull, the biggest challenge for journalists usually doesn’t involve simply getting them into the paper. What’s more difficult is making them relevant to readers.

“The most pressing issue for us is presenting stories in a way readers want to read them,” said Dan Flannery, managing editor of the Appleton Post-Crescent. “I’m not sure we can do more, but we can do a better job with our execution.”

Beyond borders

National and international news are generally at the bottom of the newspaper pyramid.

Obviously, circulation plays a tremendous role in determining a paper’s national and international news content. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will always have more national and international stories than the Marshfield News-Herald. Papers with higher circulations generally have larger news holes, and therefore more space to news outside of their city and state.

The national and international stories in the majority of newspapers are taken from The Associated Press or other wire services. Large papers, however, are often able to send their own reporters to cover some national and international happenings.

According to the UW-Eau Claire survey, neither national nor state coverage has changed significantly over time. When asked about national coverage, 27 percent of the respondents said it has increased while 23 percent said it has gone down. Similarly, 30 percent noted a jump in the amount of international coverage, while 28 percent said it has decreased.

Some readers who didn’t pay much attention to international news before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks are doing so now. A lot of newspapers, such as the Northwestern, have responded by including more international stories.

“Up until Sept. 11, we had put international news pretty low on our priority list,” Rieckman said.

Papers that aren’t necessarily increasing the amount of international stories, are nonetheless giving them more weight.

“We’re not as reluctant to put (international news) on our front page as we used to be,” Flannery said.

As is the case with state stories, reporters are striving to make national and international stories relevant to readers, which usually means localizing them as much as possible. Ash said the Green Bay Press-Gazette is working at finding fresh angles on international stories.

“Our coverage of the world has been a lot more sophisticated and focused lately,” he said.

The big three

Three areas of coverage that have received increased emphasis in the newspaper arena are sports, business and arts and entertainment. 

The UW-Eau Claire survey shows a significant jump for each type of coverage. Fifty-two percent of the respondents said business coverage has increased, while only 10 percent said it has gone down. The findings for arts and entertainment were nearly identical, with 52 percent citing an increase in coverage and 8 percent noting a decline. When asked about sports coverage, half of the respondents said coverage has increased, compared to just 3 percent who said it has decreased. 

Although many newspaper analysts believe business coverage has shot up solely because of the fact that more corporations are in running newspapers, Mark Baldwin, executive editor of the Wausau Daily Herald, thinks there’s more to it than that.

“People today are a lot more serious about business,” Baldwin said. “The Generation Xers are very into personal finance.” 

One area in today’s business sections that’s not nearly as detailed as it was is stock listings, which people can easily obtain via the Internet and TV. 

Arts and entertainment coverage has increased mostly because of the wide variety of entertainment options available to the public.

Flannery said arts and entertainment will be a huge area of emphasis for the Post Crescent when a new $45 million Fox Cities Performing Arts Center opens in Appleton. 

Rieckman doesn’t think the Northwestern is doing enough in terms of arts and entertainment coverage, but said the paper will launch a special tab in about six months.

Sports has long been a high priority for Wisconsin newspapers. Ross Evavold, editor of the Chippewa Herald in Chippewa Falls said it has long been one of the paper’s “bread and butter” sections.

Most papers today are emphasizing prep sports, outdoor recreation and, of course, the Green Bay Packers. 

Few Wisconsin papers have been able to do enough to satisfy the state’s rabid Packer fans. Ash said even the Press-Gazette has to do more.

Sports editors and reporters also are trying to do a better job of attracting female readers due to the rise in popularity of women’s sports. La Crosse Tribune editor Chris Hardie said his paper is working hard to balance the number of men's and women's sports stories.

According to several editors, readers aren’t as interested in college sports or professional teams other than the Packers as they once were. The recent struggles of the Milwaukee Bucks and Brewers probably have a lot to do with this change.

Hudson Star-Observer editor Doug Stohlberg said he doesn’t think the paper’s general readership is all that interested in sports, but he hasn’t decreased content significantly for fear of losing subscribers.

“There might only be 30 percent of the readership that cares about sports,” he said. “But that 30 percent would complain a lot if we didn’t cover sports as thoroughly.”