By: Marissa De La Cerda
Newsrooms can build trust with audiences by showing reporting process and inviting audiences to participate.
When talking to family or friends about the journalism industry or stories I’ve worked on, theyare always more amazed by the reporting process and less about the story topics themselves. They often ask questions such as, “How did you get this source to call you back?” “Why did you frame your shot this way?” “Can you walk me through the order in which you wrote, shot and edited the story?” I’m always happy to answer their questions because I want them to know how long and tedious the reporting process is for a story but more than anything, I want to help rebuild their trust with the media they’ve grown so skeptical of. By laying out the processes for them and allowing them to see how hard journalists work on creating stories for the public, they have learned to trust news a little more.
It isn’t just a matter of letting audiences in on the reporting process, however. It’s also about inviting them to participate. This can be referred to as engagement reporting. Engagement reporting, according to Mediashift, is when journalists combine community engagement with traditional news reporting. It isn’t as much about increasing how much audiences engage with their content as it is about inviting them to be a part of the reporting process. The goal of their collaboration is to serve the community and authentically reflect their needs and interests while also giving them insight into the reporting process itself. This transparency helps build trust (which has decreased by 70 percent over the past decade, according to a Gallup study) but it also allows newsrooms to learn from their audiences and boost story relevance by catering to their needs.
There are various ways newsrooms can successfully allow audiences to participate in the reporting process. The structure usually depends on the newsroom and the individual community’s needs but always revolves around putting the interests of the audience at the forefront of the work. Social media outreach, specifically, plays a huge role in engagement reporting. Journalists can tweet something as simple as “Chicagoans! What are some issues we should be paying more attention to?” and receive a dozen replies from community members expressing what they’d like to see reported. Outlets like Block Club Chicago and The Chicago Reader are exceptionally good at this outreach and have developed strong relationships with their readers. Since Block Club focuses on neighborhood reporting, the individual reporters ask what specific issues different neighborhoods want covered.
Aside from social media outreach, newsrooms and outlets can use social media to show the behind the scenes of their reporting process. The New York Times, for example, uses Instagram stories to lay out the process of their longer form stories in a more interactive way. It allows users to tap through their story to see the behind the scenes of stories while linking to the actual story itself. They’ve even had videos that give insight into how the paper itself is printed. All of this gives readers more of an in into the journalism industry. Another thing I’ve seen broadcast journalists do that helps build trust with the public is they post their own videos from the field or the studio giving viewers insight into what goes into shooting their packages. This may also help promote the story once it’s out.
Other methods newsrooms have used for engagement reporting are public newsrooms. City Bureau hosts weekly public newsrooms which is essentially a space for the public and journalists to gather to discuss ideas with one another. It’s “a place to find and shape stories in direct conversation with Readers,” according to the City Bureauwebsite. ProPublica Illinois has held workshops throughout the state in the past to listen to what matters most to communities. Above all, both the public newsroom and the ProPublica workshops seek to help journalists build relationships with people. This will allow them to reach out to them in the future for other stories or similar beats.
Engagement reporting doesn’t need to include an event, however. It can be as simple as sending out a questionnaire or posting a tweet. It only requires that the goal be focused on bringing the community’s wants and needs into focus and working with them on crafting stories to benefit the community, the media, and strengthen the relationship between the public and the media.
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