ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 6, 1997 TAG: 9704070097
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: From the newsroom
SOURCE: RICH MARTIN
Fifteen or so reporters, editors and other newsroom employees at The Roanoke Times gathered in a meeting room last week. We weren't there to talk about what was going to be in the next day's paper, or our next big reporting project, or how readers have reacted to the content and design changes we've made lately.
Instead, we got together to talk about a book called "News Values," the issues it raises for our profession, and how those issues play out each day in the Times' newsroom.
The book was written by Chicago Tribune publisher Jack Fuller, a former reporter and Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer. Fuller has no modest aim: He sets out, he says, to try to understand the "public values" that newspapers serve and how those values affect journalists' behavior. Among the questions he attempts to answer: What claims of truth do newspapers make in their news columns? What disciplines should journalists follow to live up to those claims of truth? How much should newspapers reflect the communities they serve?
Heady stuff, and not what you might expect to be subjects for discussion in an environment in which deadlines are always approaching and there's always more news than we're able to print.
But that's why such discussions of news values are so important. In the heat of a fast-breaking story, with presses ready to roll, there's not a lot of time for reflection. The abiding principles of a newsroom - its "news values" - have to be so ingrained that they are almost instinctive.
What are the things that those of us who gathered for last week's discussion said were our news values at The Roanoke Times? And what does it mean for you, the reader?
At the top of our list was accuracy, fairness and an attempt to be balanced and thorough in our reporting. And a willingness to acknowledge and correct when we fall short of those goals.
We also recognize a strong sense of obligation and responsibility to the community we serve. We try to reflect the life and values of the Roanoke region, but we also try to be honest about what we see as things that need to be corrected or dealt with by the community.
We try to give you the news, but we also try to put it in context and explain how it might affect you.
Rather than looking for reasons to keep something out of the paper, we recognize that our natural disposition is to tell the story. But we try to anticipate the effect our stories will have. We want to do good, but we always know that some stories will cause pain or discomfort for some. We ask ourselves if the overall benefit of a particular story is greater than any harm or pain it might cause.
We accept the fact that some of you will be upset at us for the unpleasant messages we sometimes bring. But we can't sugar-coat or trivialize the news.
We recognize that we bring to the job our own biases, attitudes, backgrounds and ways of thinking about things. We try to keep those subjective filters out of the reporting, writing and presentation of our stories, but we admit that we are sometimes not as objective as we should be.
We value good writing, good reporting, good storytelling, and we try to engage you in many different ways. But we also recognize that clarity in the telling of a story is most important. If you don't understand a story - if you don't read it at all - the story fails the basic test of journalism.
Finally, we understand that, every day, we ask you to trust us. We ask you to count on us making the right choices about what we put in The Roanoke Times and how we tell the stories about what's gone on in your world. Some days we'll make mistakes, of commission or omission. Most days, though, we hope we give you the balance, the depth, the good judgment to justify the faith you place in us.
Discussions about "News Values" - the book - will continue at The Roanoke Times over the next couple of months. The news values that we try to bring our job, however, will be there every day. We'll try to live up to them.
From the Newsroom is an occasional column in which senior editors talk about how we make decisions in the newsroom and about changes at The Roanoke Times.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB