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Inside StoryCalifornia weekly newspaper scores by unraveling greenclaims from corporate and enviro groupsBy BILL DAWSONKera Abraham, assistant editor of the MontereyCounty Weekly in California, won the first-placehonor in the 2010 SEJ Awards for Outstanding SmallMarket Reporting, Print.Abraham’s contest entry, comprising threearticles, was entitled “Green vs. Green: EnvironmentalistsDuke it Out.” The SEJ judges praised her workthis way:“By examining conflicts in which both sides laidplausible claim to being champions of the environment,Abraham offered an unusually sophisticated andthought-provoking examination of what it means to begreen. Her pieces were thoroughly reported, engagingly told, freshand fair-minded.”Abraham previously worked at the Eugene Weekly in Oregon,where her job also involved covering environmental issues. Sheanswered emailed questions from SEJournal’s Bill Dawson.Q: The SEJ contest judges said your three stories“examin[ed] conflicts in which both sides laid plausible claimto being champions of the environment.” Did you set out to finddifferent ways to examine that aspect of environmentalpolitics, even thinking of the articles as an occasional series, orwas that common strand more coincidental?A: The common theme wasn’t planned, but stories that involveclashing shades of green tend to compel me (and my editor) morethan predictable conflicts pitting, say, developers against NIMBYneighbors, or polluters against activists.But even that age-old dynamic is increasingly becoming agreen-vs.-green fight. Developers are having more luck gettingpermits for projects with eco-friendly features. Companies areseeing the profit to be made from products marketed as crunchyand sustainable. In this crappy economy, it seems everyone’slooking for redemptive green qualities in resource-intensiveactivities that generate money.So it’s not that I go looking for stories pitting different speciesof environmentalists against one another. It's more that within theenvironment beat, it seems sources on all sides are getting better atusing green rhetoric.Q: Are green-vs.-green claims a frequent aspect ofenvironmental controversies in Monterey County and thesurrounding areas, or all over California?A: Yes to both. The California Environmental Quality Act andthe California Global Warming Solutions Act, among other laws,ensure every major project proposal is analyzed for its environmentalimpacts, including greenhouse gas emissions.Kera AbrahamPHOTO COURTESY KERA ABRAHAMGreen-vs.-green squabbles are especiallycomplex along the western border of MontereyCounty, within the coastal zone, where projects haveto pass muster with the California Coastal Commission,and often the Monterey Bay National MarineSanctuary. In one case, the controversy boils down towhether a big oceanfront “ecoresort” can ever begreen enough to build in the face of inevitable sealevel rise.Move to east and south Monterey County andyou're in ag country. The environment stories there areabout pesticides, oil leases, contaminated farm runoff— complex issues, but less nuanced in terms of who’s onTeam Green.Q: The second of your award-winning articles to bepublished was about green marketing. It grew out of yourcoverage of a conference held in Monterey where, you wrote,“a parade of PR wizards” spoke and “employers paid up to$2,595 per head, plus travel expenses, to send people … on ashared assumption: Do-goodery, if marketed right, isprofitable.” You also discussed the marketing aspects of twocontroversial projects — a coastal resort and a huge solarpower development — in the other two stories. Is greenmarketing a coverage subject you were already interestedin before these stories? Do you see it as an importantsubject for environmental journalists to keep in mind as theydo their reporting on subjects that aren’t mainly aboutmarketing, per se?A: One thing about the environment beat is that it seeps intoevery other one — business, transportation, health care, evensports. Going into journalism, I expected my environmentalscience degree to equip me to report on the environment. But ofcourse, real-world issues turned out to be much messier than I’dexpected. And that made me so much more interested inreporting them.So yes: I’d say a constant eye on the macro-economy, thepolitical power of industry and the psychological power ofmarketing is at the heart of the green marketing beat. That meansbeing skeptical of green marketing, but also open to the enormousimpacts of industry-wide change.Q: Your contest entry was titled “Green vs. Green:Environmentalists Duke It Out.” The stories about the resortand solar proposals were long, magazine-style accounts, full ofnuance and context and detail. The judges said your storieswere “unusually sophisticated … thoroughly reported … fair-8 SEJournal Summer 2011
minded,” which seemed to me like an excellent description.Nonetheless, these are highly contentious issues. Didyou receive much or any criticism or complaint fromproponents or opponents of those projects, who thought youweren’t fair or that you shouldhave taken their side? Related tothat, do you think environmentalpolitics is a tougher subject tocover in an environmentallyattunedplace like MontereyCounty than it might be someplacethat’s not known as beingparticularly green?A: Surprisingly, not so much.The solar farm developer and theleader of the opposing citizen groupboth sent nice notes after the storyran. The “eco-resort” piece got someheated letters from readers on bothsides, and a few of the pro-resortsources were slightly chillier in latercommunications. The organizer ofthe Sustainable Brands conferenceremained cheery with me, but madea valid point that one of thecompanies I’d depicted as genuinelygreen, Tom’s of Maine, is actuallyowned by Colgate.Q: To what extent have you followed up on the resort andsolar issues, reporting developments after you did detailedexaminations? Has either of them come to a decisive junctureor point of resolution, or are they still being fought out?Generally speaking, how much does your paper — analternative newsweekly — pay attention to breaking-newsdevelopments, whether or not they’re tied to issues you’vewritten about in long-formstories? I notice your websitehas a News Blog. Is this where alot of the breaking storiesappear? Is competition withnewspapers and broadcast outletson breaking news an importantaspect of your mission?A: I’ll admit that follow-upcan be a challenge as a steadystream of new stories rushes ontomy plate. I keep a follow-upreminder list, but it helps whenthe sources check in. Both thesolar farm and the eco-resortcontroversies are still beingfought out, but they haven’t beenin the paper lately.At Monterey County Weekly,Award-winning Monterey County Weekly cover story byAssistant Editor Kera Abraham about a planned coastaleco-resort development project that claims it would be theworld’s greenest. PHOTO: COURTESY MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLYArtis’ts conception of a proposed dual-use solar farm to be developed onexisting agricultural land in California’s Panoche Valley, from another awardwinningMonterey County Weekly cover story by Assistant Editor KeraAbraham.PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: SOLARGEN / PV2 ENERGYwe try to stay on top of breaking news within the scope of what wecan do with our staff, now up to three news reporters. Weprioritize the stories we own — the ones we’re uniquelypositioned to tell in a more nuanced, colorful, quirky and/orinvestigative way than our mainstream competitors.9 SEJournal Summer 2011The News Blog at www.montereycountyweekly.com is forthe tapas of the news world, the small bites that don't take long towrite: the quick updates, the breaks that won’t hold until ourThursday publication, and sometimes story tangents that had tobe cut for space in the paper.Monterey County Weekly’s mission is“to encourage independent thought andconscious action, etc.” That “etc.” isintentional, and the news team clearlyunderstands it to mean breaking local news— which we do every week.Q: You’ve worked at the Weeklysince January 2007, starting as a staffwriter and becoming assistant editor inJanuary 2010. An online profile says yourresponsibilities include “reporting on fivegeographical beats, along with environment,oceans and water policy; writingnews articles (weekly) and cover stories(about monthly); occasional contributionsto arts, culture and opinionsections; spearheading and editingsome special issues; assisting with planningand editing [the] weekly newssection, including edits on InCopy;posting web stories and updates atmontereycountyweekly.com; compilingbriefs of web stories for [a] weekly printcolumn; some editing of freelance assignments; [and] proofingof editorial copy.”That sounds like a lot of work. Um, do you typically work80-90 hour weeks? Seriously, are all of those duties still onyour plate? How do you generally apportion your time? Howmuch of your time is devoted to environmental coverage,would you say? I guess there must be considerableareas of overlap between yourenvironmental and geographicalbeatduties?A: Ha. No, for my first fouryears at MCW I’d say I averagedabout 45-50 hours a week — pullinglate-nighters at the office when coverstory deadlines loomed, and takingshort Thursdays when I felt burntout. But my baby's birth in lateDecember forced me to take a stepback. I just returned from maternityleave in late April, and I’m nowworking 80 percent time. I still havemost of the duties listed above, withthe exception of the web story briefs.It’s manageable thanks to the divinecoming-together of the paper’s bestand biggest news team yet, includinga fantastic and very understanding new editor. Having a tiny,amazing person to get home to helps with efficiency.I’d say I spend about half my time reporting and writing forthe paper, 30 percent editing and proofing, 10 percent writing webstories and 10 percent at meetings. Maybe a little over half my
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