DOWN-HOME DEMOCRACY

WHY COVERING LOCAL ELECTIONS IS IMPORTANT AND HOW

SMALL NEWSPAPERS CAN DO IT WELL

Scott SwaffordAssociate Professor, Missouri School of Journalism

Senior City Editor, Columbia Missourian2013-14 Fellow, Reynolds Journalism Institute

Basic Premises• Newspapers play an integral role in promoting local

democracy, and municipal election reporting is some of the most important work we do.

Basic Premises• Newspapers play an integral role in promoting local

democracy, and municipal election reporting is some of the most important work we do.

• Investing extra resources in election reporting is worthwhile, and you can do more with the resources you have.

Basic Premises• Newspapers play an integral role in promoting local

democracy, and municipal election reporting is some of the most important work we do.

• Investing extra resources in election reporting is worthwhile, and you can do more with the resources you have.

• Better election coverage will boost your newspaper’s standing in the community.

Goals for Today

Sharing tools and strategies for:

• Seizing upon elections as a key opportunity to foster community debate on important issues.

Goals for Today

Sharing tools and strategies for:

• Seizing upon elections as a key opportunity to foster community debate on important issues.

• Engaging citizens in helping set the agendafor election campaigns.

Goals for Today

Sharing tools and strategies for:

• Seizing upon elections as a key opportunity to foster community debate on important issues.

• Engaging citizens in helping set the agendafor election campaigns.

• Covering candidates and campaigns in much more depth.

Goals for TodaySharing tools and strategies for:

• Seizing upon elections as a key opportunity to foster community debate on important issues.

• Engaging citizens in helping set the agendafor election campaigns.

• Covering candidates and campaigns in much more depth.

• Using data, multimedia and other strategies to take your election coverage to new levels.

Local electionsare important

to people, and mostsee their community

newspaperas a primary source

of information about them.

Buthow

do we know that?

RJI Research on Election Journalism

• RJI surveyed residents of three Missouri towns in November and December 2013 to gauge their attitudes toward and use of newspapers’ coverage of municipal elections.

• The Sikeston Standard Democrat, the Branson Tri-Lakes News and the St. Joseph News-Press agreed to participate.

• We completed 1,244 surveys by phone and online, with a minimum of 400 per newspaper.

RJI Research on Election Journalism

We asked residents about:

• The levels of attention they pay to newspapers’ election coverage.

• The value they placed on that coverage and on other sources of election information.

• The level of importance they place on municipal elections and their degree of participation in them.

• What types and formats of election news they find most useful.

RJI Research on Election Journalism

• After the first survey, each of the newspapers – along with dozens of others – sent representatives to a workshop on local election coverage that we held at the Reynolds Journalism Institute during the winter of 2014.

• We then shared the results of our first survey with them, and each promised to do what it could to ramp up its coverage of the April 2014 municipal elections.

RJI Research on Election Journalism

All three significantly increased coverage

of the 2014 municipal elections, compared

to their coverage in 2013. Branson Sikeston St. Joseph

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

29

10

17

47

23

74Numbersof Election Stories

20132014

RJI Research on Election Journalism

• We then conducted a second survey in May and June of 2014 to see whether we had produced any changes in attitudes toward the newspapers’ coverage.

• Remarkably, we didn’t see any significant change in the value ratings that readers gave their papers. We’re still trying to figure that out.

• The trends, though, remain the same.

Still, what we learned is promising.

Major Findings from the Surveys

Residents indicated strongly in both years that:

• Municipal elections — for seats on local councils and school boards and for bond issues and tax increases — are important to them.

• They pay a lot of attention to newspaper coverageof local elections, particularly in print.

• Newspapers and conversations with other people ranked as the most valuable sources of information about those elections, followed closely in 2014 by TV reports.

Municipal Elections Seen as ImportantDescription of statements Average score

Elections on local bond issues or tax proposals are important to me.

4.34

Voting in municipal elections is important to me personally.

4.17

Elections for school board seats are important to me. 3.78

I do my best to stay abreast of information about municipal elections.

3.70

Elections for city council or town board seats are important to me.

3.68

Elections for other local boards are important to me. 3.61

The outcome of municipal elections has more impact on me than the outcome of state and federal elections.

3.04

Note: Responses to the questions were coded on a 5-point scale ranging from (1) “strongly disagree” to (5) “strongly agree.”

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5 Value of Various Sourcesof Local Election Information

2013 Rating2014 Rating

Valu

e Ra

ting

Major Findings from the Survey

• Residents prefer hard news about elections.

o Information about candidates’ stances on issues.

oWhether candidates’ statements are accurate.

oWhether their proposed solutions to community problems are feasible.

o Stories that inform them about local ballot issues.

Candidates' stances

Ballot issues

Candidate accuracy

Position quality

Election literacy

Candidate bios

Campaign spending

Campaign fundraising

Personality profiles

Campaign contributions

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

Rating Types of Election Information

2014 Rating

2013 Rating

Methods of Election Coverage

22

In-depth issue stories

Candidate Q&As

Charts or grids

Forum videos

Online audio or video

Campaign finance databases

Live, online chats

Photographs of candidates

0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

Usefulness of Election News Formats

2014 Rating2013 Rating

Major Findings from the Survey• We also asked respondents in both surveys

to rate the overall quality of their newspaper’s local election coverage.

• In both 2013 and 2014, each of the papers scored slightly below 4 on a 5-point scale (with 1 being “poor” and 5 being “excellent”).

• That means we have room to improve.

What doesall this look

like when weapply it —

or don’t apply it — to election

coverage?

Enough about Theory and Research…

Candidate Q&As

Audio Interviews

Video Interviews

Campaign Finance

Campaign Finance

Truth Detecting

Exploring Issues in Campaigns

Covering Bond Issues & Tax Proposals

911 Tax Coverage at Branson Tri-Lakes News

• Officials: 1 call center offers better 911 service

• 911 quarter-cent sales tax: What will be taxed?

• No citizen members for county emergency board

• Future without 911 pondered

• Group opposes 911 sales tax

• Consolidated 911 systems trending

Columbia Missourian Coverage of 911 Tax

Covering Bond Issues& Tax Proposals

• Columbia, Boone County seek 911 tax

• Crowding, understaffing, challenge 911

• Groups, residents oppose 911 tax

• 911 officials ready with facility plans

Endorsements

Examples: Personality Profiles

Voters Guide Grids

Online Voters Guide

Online Voters Guide

Election Night:

Reporting Results

Mapping Results

Additional Resources

Visit www.rjionline.org/downhome for a host of helpful videos

and tip sheets presented at our Down-home Democracy workshop.

Questions?