NewsBeat

July 2023 NewsBeat 9 who provide direct services more than they trust news outlets, because those entities offer them help when they need it. In most markets, we hear frustration from people who notice their local outlets are often run- ning or airing stories about news in other places—a phenomenon resulting from the consolidation of media ownership, cost cut- ting, and advertising models that require content catering to broader, more general audiences. And in larger cities, we've found that when people talk about "local" infor- mation, they're often talking about neigh- borhood-level information that connects them to happenings in their communities. 2) People want a shared, trusted source of facts. Many people are acutely aware of, and alarmed by, the misinformation swirling around their communities and social cir- cles. When the subject comes up, people say they wish local news were more robust so they could have a central place to point to for verified facts whenever something is in question. In the many markets where political polarization is an issue, including in re- gions of Indiana, Kansas, Texas, and Ohio, residents say this doesn't work when news outlets seem to cater to one side of the aisle, even subtly. They say they wish news outlets would put less emphasis on contro- versy and more emphasis on basic, factual information, and let their audiences decide on their own opinions. 3) People want the full story of their communities to be told. Residents of lower income neighbor- hoods, and Black, Brown, and immigrant communities in every market we study have varying levels of anger that reporters from mainstream outlets only appear in their communities when there's a sensational crime story to be told. In every market, many say they perceive the local news as painting an imbalanced, negative picture of their neighborhoods or cities, without solutions or helpful information. It's not that people don't care about pub- lic safety. In the same neighborhoods where residents complain about too much nega- tive or sensational crime coverage, people also frequently cite public safety as a top concern. What people want to know about local crime, however, aren't the gory details and sensational headlines—they need facts and follow up on cases to help keep their families safe, or to hold law enforcement accountable for continuing searches for missing people, etc. Aside from wanting more useful public safety coverage, people say disproportion- ate focus on crime in their communities creates a wholly inaccurate depiction of what it's like to live in their areas. They say they can't trust journalists who show up for negative stories if they don't see them coming around for the positive stories as well. The call for more "positive" coverage is familiar to those of us who've worked in local news. We know that our so-called "negative" coverage is often driven by a combination of our natural instinct to expose wrongdoing and the knowledge and assumption that negative stories are often more popular on a per-story basis. But this feedback from residents shows that the full body of our work matters; and when jour- nalists have a role in shaping the narrative of a place, we have an obligation to ensure that narrative reflects reality. 4) People want to know about deci- sions before they're made, and they want decision makers to be accountable for outcomes. There is little ambiguity among the people we've spoken to that journalists are supposed to play an accountability role in their communities. People want journalists to show up to meetings, to scrutinize pub- lic statements, and to force transparency through their work. People in a few markets have said they feel the loss of proactive journalism in their communities, because they read about government decisions for the first time when those decisions are announced or made official in public meetings. They say they wish journalists would report on issues when there's still an opportunity to do something about them, not just repeat announcements and record what happens in public meetings when it's too late. People in larger markets where there are multiple municipal, county, and state government agencies controlling resources say they know journalists aren't covering most of what these agencies do, and are fearful of what that means. People also say they wish journalists would do more follow up. They note that journalists do pay attention to big stories in their communities (and often, only the big stories, which is another complaint they have), but only for a short time before mov- ing onto something else. They want journal- ists to continue asking their questions and drawing attention to their problems, until the problems are resolved. 5) People want to see themselves in the news, and in the newsroom. People say they don't just want to be informed, they want to be represented. They want their needs and perspectives considered in the angles and approaches to stories, from inception, not just in obliga- tory quotes, and point out that even when critical topics are covered, the perspectives through which they're reported do not acknowledge or fully represent those most affected. Residents say that coverage of local business or economic development stories, as an example, are often reported from the perspective of investors or corporate leadership. Big scandals may be an ex- ception, but the day-to-day developments in business communities aren't typically covered from the perspective of workers or consumers. Spanish-speaking residents in markets without strong Spanish-language media say local outlets consider translating stories to be addressing their needs, when in fact they would prefer if journalists incorporat- ed their perspectives in the stories before they were written and published. Mean- while, in all the markets we've studied, immigrant communities tell us that both English and in-language outlets neglect the fact that their communities are diverse, and that they care about a wide variety of local topics, not just immigration. And across every market, many Black, Indigenous, and people of color, members of LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities, youth, and residents of lower-income com- munities tell us it's important to them that local newsrooms include staff who under- stand their experiences first hand, and that the reporters who cover their communities spend time in their communities. See JOURNALISM: Page 10

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