ASNE - Credibility initiatives show promise, but must be long-term

The results reflect experiments at eight "test-site" newspapers during the past year. The initiatives focused accuracy, connecting with communities, and addressing perceptions of bias and sensational coverage.

"When ASNE embarked on its Journalism Credibility Project in 1997, we knew we had a great deal to learn about public perceptions of our credibility and the research has confirmed this," said Judy Pace Christie, 1999-2000 chair of the ASNE Ethics and Values Committee and a consultant for Gannett Co., Inc.

"We hoped to help journalists better understand the underlying causes of the credibility slide and seek ways to build public trust in newspapers. We understood that the issues would not disappear overnight. There was no magic formula to fix the problems," Christie said.

It takes a long-term commitment and change is slow to be noticed by readers. The main findings detailed in the "Examining Our Credibility: Building Reader Trust" report are:

"Given no more than 18 months between the two national surveys conducted for ASNE, it’s not surprising that there were no major shifts in the structure of the public’s attitudes and perceptions of the press, further underlining the pervasive nature of these American beliefs," said Christine Urban, who conducted project research for ASNE. She is president of Sharon, Mass.-based Urban & Associates Inc.

The three-year, $1.2 million project, is funded by the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation, test-site newspapers and newspaper companies.

At every test site, readers and non-readers voiced overwhelming faith that the credibility initiatives could achieve their goals. At every test site, however, the tracking research reaffirmed that only a small percentage of the population is now, or ever could be expected to be, actively engaged in the improvement process.

The eight test site newspapers are: Austin (Texas) American-Statesman; Daily Press, Newport News, Va.; Florida Today, Melbourne; The Gazette, Colorado Springs; The Oregonian, Portland; The Philadelphia Inquirer; San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News; and the Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune.

Three newspapers, Florida Today, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the San Jose Mercury News, implemented various accuracy initiatives.

Follow-up research on accuracy initiatives undertaken by Florida Today found that about half of the paper’s market read the corrections box (47 percent) and 40 percent of Sarasota readers were aware of the Herald-Tribune’s reader advocate column.

The fact that these initiatives exist is an important signal to readers. Ninety-three percent of Sarasota Herald-Tribune readers said they notice corrections and 60 percent "feel better" about the accuracy of what they read in the paper because corrections do run.

Awareness of the efforts, however, is still low. Just seven percent of Brevard County residents surveyed were aware of Florida Today’s citizen proofreader program, and 13 percent knew of the paper’s efforts to improve accuracy. In Sarasota, 28 percent of market residents say they were aware of the Herald-Tribune’s efforts to improve accuracy.

Because the San Jose initiative was largely internal, follow-up research was not done, though anecdotal response was positive.

Two newspapers, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily Press experimented with opening the door to their audiences a little wider, and both efforts were rewarded.

The 1998 baseline national research found that the public perceives that newspapers do not consistently demonstrate respect for, and knowledge of, their readers and their communities.

The results of 1999 follow-up research on the reader connection efforts are quite similar to the accuracy results. Overall awareness of the newspapers’ efforts to connect better with readers was relatively low, but readers were very interested in the possibilities.

In Newport News, 43 percent of market residents surveyed either saw or read any of the 13 "Where We Live" community profiles that ran in the Daily Press on a monthly basis over two consecutive days. Nineteen percent were aware that the Daily Press held editorial meetings in the community and knew that the public was invited to attend. Fifty-seven percent of Newport News area residents surveyed read the Page 2A Feedback column, a daily feature in which readers comment on the news. Of those who read the column, 94 percent liked it.

The tracking research in Philadelphia was conducted only among Inquirer subscribers in southern New Jersey. Eighty-seven percent said they read the South Jersey section and just under two-thirds of section readers had seen or heard about improvements that had been made in the section. Sixty-two percent of section readers thought they now received a greater quantity of local news about South Jersey, and sixty percent thought the quality of local news coverage in the South Jersey section was better. Just over three-quarters (76 percent) of South Jersey section readers thought the section could achieve the goal of making the Inquirer better connected with readers.

The tracking research measured reactions to the two Journalism Credibility Project initiatives addressing perceived bias: a revamping and expansion of youth coverage at The Oregonian, Portland and, at the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, a "Conversations on credibility" series in which readers were invited to critique the paper’s coverage.

In broad terms, there was relatively low awareness of these efforts, with 35 percent of Portland market residents aware of the youth coverage initiative, while in Austin, less than 15 percent were familiar with either of the two specific examples of reader reaction stories. Being a more multi-faceted (and, in some cases, a more personal) issue for readers, it’s not surprising that these kinds of initiatives take some time to mature into perceptual change.

The public’s faith remains high, however, with over three-quarters of Austin adults citing their belief that this kind of initiative could accomplish the goal of getting more points of view into the paper. Over 90 percent of Portland adults said the addition of more articles about the positive accomplishments of young people could achieve the goal of making The Oregonian’s coverage of that group fairer and more complete.

Two newspapers, The Oregonian and The Gazette, experimented with ways to remedy the local version of the indictment of sensationalism.

In Colorado Springs, the community audit process involved teams of African-Americans, Hispanics, women and youth in critiquing the Gazette’s coverage. Overall market awareness of the initiative is low, but when described to them, eight in ten adults thought that such an effort would improve the quality of coverage.

Awareness of the existence of the community audit process involving teams of African-Americans, Hispanics, women and youth in Colorado Springs was low, but when described to them, eight in ten adults thought that such an effort would improve the quality of coverage.

About one-third of Portland adults were aware of The Oregonian’s efforts to emphasize trends and public safety issues in crime coverage and 79 percent thought it was a major improvement. Almost three-quarters of Portland adults believe that the effort would help make The Oregonian’s coverage of crime "less sensational."