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Local Coverage
also offer raw data and raw footage.
People comment on what we report,
often immediately and anonymously
and without the fuss it takes to meet
the rules of a standard editorial page.
There are merits and drawbacks in this
arrangement, but there is no doubt that
these features let us connect with local
residents in ways we never had before,
at least to this degree. And often in
these exchanges we pick up new leads
for advancing the story.
Recent examples of solid reporting
on the environment, which can serve
as examples of the kind of work that
can be done in nearly every locality,
include these:
• James Bruggers of The [Louisville]
Courier-Journal reported about serious
air pollution in his city.
• Dan Fagin, when he was at Newsday,
delved into questions about possible
environmental causes of Long Island
breast cancer cases.
• The Los Angeles Times’s landmark
series, “Altered Oceans,” reported
on details of ocean pollution problems,
meshing local concerns with
global circumstances.
• Both The Times-Picayune in New
Orleans and The [Baton Rouge]
Advocate examined oxygen-starved
waters where animal and plant life
struggle to survive.
• Several years before Katrina hit, The
Times-Picayune warned its readers
in New Orleans about the devastation
that would befall their city when
a powerful hurricane like Katrina
hit—and the levees didn’t hold.
It’s certainly the case that since 9/11
public documents can be tougher to
get. But using our skills as reporters
to get those records onto our Web
sites helps our readers and viewers
detail threats in our communities. The
records can help residents find out
what businesses store chemicals that
might, under certain circumstances,
pose a great risk to them. People can
use our Web sites to find out which
cities, factories or farms routinely
violate permits issued by the state or
by EPA under the Clean Water Act that
are meant to ensure that streams are
fit for fishing and swimming. Our Web
sites enable people to also find out
what officials in state government are
doing, if anything, about these offenses.
(Answer: Many do little.)
Reporters who cover the environment
have a great resource in searching
for local stories. The Society of
Environmental Journalists (SEJ) has
an incredible Web page that includes a
database of top breaking stories about
a variety of environmental issues and
a library of top stories from the past.
Much of the Web site is available for
public use, but SEJ members also have
a private listserv that allows them to
ask their colleagues at other media
outlets for advice about sources, story
angles, and recently released reports.
Within minutes a query will bring in
multiple responses.
Information about local issues is
already being delivered via cell phone
and RSS. And though these technologies
enable news to travel around
the globe faster than we can deliver a
newspaper, the real value of the Web
for us seems to be its ease in getting
local readers the kind of information
they want and need. When they have
data in front of them, all sorts of new
directions in our reporting can develop.
Local angles are inspired by
readers’ desire for information relating
to their daily lives, and coverage is
often informed by comments readers
make via blog-like entries under the
story displayed online.
News about environmental issues
can be local, national and global, all
at the same time. Wire service stories
and big national papers tend to provide
the broader view on these global topics,
but for every national and global
story, a local angle is waiting to be
told. These stories are among those
news organizations like mine need to
be telling.
Perry Beeman is environmental reporter
at The Des Moines Register. He
served on the board of the Society of
Environmental Journalists for eight
years and as president for two.
Going Far to Explore a Local Story
‘The currency common to these assignments was the thread of local connections
stretching from Indiana to overseas and back in news stories we broadcast.’
By Kevin Finch
A
giant military cargo plane rumbles
to a stop on a dry, windswept
runway in Iraq’s embattled
capital city. A U.S. cabinet member,
a congressman, and their entourage
ease their way off the noisy aircraft. A
television news crew who tagged along
also jumps into the sun, dry air, and
120-degree heat—not to mention the
expected gunfire and explosions—in
this foreign land. The reporter and
photographer had traveled 12,000
miles on five planes, including this
military transport, to get here.
This could be a crew from CNN, Fox
News, ABC, NBC or CBS, but it isn’t.
They are from WISH-TV in Indianapolis—a
local TV station that has sent this
team far from home to report on a story
that has strong local roots. In fact, this
was WISH’s second trip to Iraq, and this
20 Nieman Reports / Winter 2007