Temple: Newsroom measured by its values

Saturday, February 25, 2006

This is the weekend when newspaper journalists from all over Colorado gather in Denver for the annual awards ceremonies.

You'll find a story today on Page 17A about the Colorado Associated Press Editors and Reporters awards, presented last night at the Brown Palace Hotel. In the Sunday paper, another story will recount the results of the Colorado Press Association awards, which will be presented this afternoon at the same hotel.

Both contests mean a lot to the winners. I remember the excitement I felt when I was starting out as a reporter and attended my first such ceremony.

But you should know that the biggest reward for almost all the journalists I've known is the public's response to their work. Most of us have a hunger to reach other people, to touch them in some way.

There's no question that we measure ourselves against our colleagues. But the most gratifying feeling as a journalist is when readers appreciate what we've done.

That kind of journalism, award-winning journalism, takes a lot of hard work. It requires hewing to the highest standards.

I thought you might find it interesting to read examples of the conversations about standards we have in our newsroom every day. Here are a few excerpts of memos written by myself or the managing editor from the past year. Sometimes a great deal of time goes into crafting these. Other times they reflect my thoughts at the time. They haven't been polished for publication.

Children in the News: "We want to make sure that all of us are exhibiting a heightened sensitivity and extra vigilance when we deal with children in stories or photos. Especially when those children are presented in the context of a controversial subject."

Confidential sources: "A reporter's goal is to obtain information on the record. In attaining this goal, a reporter should be direct with a source, indicating the Rocky's position that statements should be made on the record. Anonymous sources should be used only as a last resort and under circumstances in which the information is deemed to be essential to the story and the source is considered to be reliable."

Reporting standards: "It's worth reminding ourselves what we mean when we say 'the News' ' standards for independent reporting. Most of us - from reporters to editors to photographers to presentation team members - are involved at one time or another in putting together channels and break-out boxes. (Channels are the vertical columns of short items on many open pages. Break-out boxes supplement stories by providing data or context that's easier to grasp outside a narrative.) In many instances this information comes from press releases or Web sites. But you should have no confusion: Our reporting standards are not lowered for these items. We double-check against other sources; we make phone calls to talk with experts; we consider whether the source of the information is biased or one-sided; we scrupulously credit the information; and we rewrite everything into our own words, unless the point is to quote another source. Information on Web sites is notoriously sketchy, often rumors or hearsay masquerading as fact. You should make a concerted effort to track down the original source. If you have any question at all, please choose something else for the channel or break-out box. As all of us are keenly aware, our credibility is precious. We need to all do our best to make sure it isn't compromised."

Use of the term "right wing": "One problem we have is that it appears nothing is 'left wing' in our eyes. But 'right wing' is a term we're willing to throw around, even in news stories. It's one thing to use it in a column. I have no problem with it as opinion. But for example, today in Spotlight we published a news story about a prominent talk-show host appearing in Denver. In that story, the words left wing never appeared. Instead, we got progressive and liberal. This even when we had the chance to label Al Franken. Yet the writer used the term 'right wing' twice, once to describe Bill O'Reilly's talk show and the other time to describe the 'rising tide' of opposition to this talk show host. We used the term a third time in a quote. That's fine. It's the opinion of the speaker. But again, I would urge you to eradicate such labels from our non- opinion copy. Such stories hurt the credibility of our newspaper. Please work with your people to emphasize that the use of right wing and left wing should throw up a red flag. That at a minimum such use should be approved by the department head. If there are any questions about a specific instance, they should be brought to the attention of the managing editor. "

In my experience, a newsroom that produces great journalism is a newsroom that talks about values and standards. I hope by lifting this curtain slightly on our daily conversation you can see how seriously we take such issues.

John Temple can be reached at editor@RockyMountainNews.com or by mail at 100 Gene Amole Way, Denver, CO 80204.