Connecting With Community

Transcription

Narrator: This interview was done by Reggie Royston from the Maynard Institute. My name is William Pomart; I'm with the Maynard Institute. I will be doing the voice-over for this interview.

Here we're at the Oakland Tribune with Martin Reynolds. He's been editor for about three months.

Reggie Royston: Newspapers' greatest asset is said to be its local coverage. You have readers who more and more want hyper-local, yet they're migrating away from moving away from newspapers. How does your organization hope to capitalize on what newspapers do locally?

Martin Reynolds: I think what's most important is that we have to remember who you are and understand what your mission is and be very focused in achieving that mission. In years past, the Tribune was very much a regional paper, covering all the way up from Richmond, Contra Costa County and down to San Leandro. Over time, after the purchase of the other paper in the former Alameda Newspaper Group, then that footprint began to shrink a bit. Often times, we thought about ourselves more regionally and weren't quite as quick to put Oakland news on the front page. Our lead story still may still be about China, or some big international event - one could argue that in this market any event that happens at any part of the world likely touches somebody here.
In taking over, and becoming managing editor, first thing as a Tribune editor, embracing the fact that covering and putting Oakland stories on our front page with a mix of state or regional stories, but making the Oakland Tribune really about Oakland. I think it is what would help set us apart and keep us relevant in the community.

RR: It seems like a tough thing to do considering the regional conglomerate or network that you're a part of. A big temptation might be that a great story is happening in Hayward, how does the association with ANG or Bay Area...

MR: Well, Bay Area News Group. It helps in terms of on days where maybe you want your other reporters to work on more enterprising [stories] and you have our reporters working on stuff that's about the community, but it's taking them a little bit longer to produce. Where it helps us is that we have really good content by our sister or other part of the organization that are still good stories and you could pick things up. So it helps in that regard. Where it can hurt is that there is a commonality in production and there's that fear that once you sort of become this multiheaded beast you will, but yet have a centralized production facility, because there's such an emphasis to get all the papers out sometimes editors have to really fight to maintain the autonomy and the unique quality that each newspaper really needs to have. And everyone understands that, from the top down. But to make it happen on a day-to-day basis can be a challenge. You have to not take things personally, know what your readership is, and really make an effort to work and get those stories. Also, issues and people are what we really want to focus on in that process. I think that no matter where you live, an interesting story - whether it happens in Hayward or Richmond - it still resonates with people. The key to me is don't get too caught up in geography. Let's find what binds us as people and that story will play.

2) Newspapers in a changing media landscape

RR: What is driving down readership today in newspapers today and at the Tribune in general? What are some of the challenges you see?

MR: Redefining ourselves and being relevant to an audience whose habits are drastically changing. I think people don't have the time they once had. Life is more complex. The online and ingestion habits of people and news has changed dramatically. We're trying to adjust to that, but we don't want to adjust too much because there's a fundamental role that we play. That's to provide information that's essential to people's lives.

The key is, how do we tell stories differently. Maybe we need to focus on different things to engage the community more, so we have a better sense of what it is they want. I think it's a simple concept - it isn't like, "Oh my God, that's incredible."

It's about checking in, and really knowing your community and being connected to it. That's something that sounds easy, but isn't easy to do. You have to have the desire and the right people. Reporters play a really vital role, and also editors because you go out and talk to people and you find out. But then you have to manage your time. You can't be out of the office so much that you lose touch with your own people, and your own internal dynamics that exist there.
The other part is monetizing. As those habits have changed and the economics have changed, how do you monetize because the news-gathering process is very expensive and the online product is not offsetting the losses in revenue. This is across the board that we're seeing in the print product.

So there's a lot of challenges at this time. I think what's key is being willing to try things and being willing to fail. To do things like the West Oakland Community Media Access Center and saying, 'Let's not think that we have all things dialed in and we know it's going to succeed before we do it. Let's be willing to try something and see if it works and know if it doesn't. But take a leap of faith."

3) Oakland Tribune projects

RR: You've talked about several initiatives in order to further community coverage. Can you talk about one of these programs?

MR: The one that's really right at the horizon is the West Oakland Community Media Access Center, which is pretty much all set up now. We negotiated with the city and the folks at the library in the last couple of years to create this community center inside the library, the idea being that libraries and newspapers [are] cornerstones of democracy. And the Tribune, rather than reporting from on high from the tower or from here and reporting at the community, we want to be in the community. We've been working with folks in the community in West Oakland. Some residents who helped to hatch this idea of this community center where we would have reporters there and we would foster the curriculum side of the relationship where we would have a facilitator to foster community journalism programs. Through there we would host those stories produced or multimedia stories on our Web site, and ultimately create some maybe print publication. The whole thing is we have a lease, it's set up, we will be applying for grant funds. Our West Oakland reporter will be housed there. We're also looking to partner up with other news organizations like youth radio and other ethnic media. Because it's not just about the Tribune media access center; it's supposed to be a community center that other news organizations can also feel free to participate in.

I have no idea how this thing will work out. It's definitely a ready-fire-aim kind of thing. But the company is supporting it. Places like the Knight Foundation have expressed interest. We've got other partners, like the Center for Digital Storytelling has expressed interest and helping to come in and train members of the community. So we are going to try and make it happen, see what occurs. It's very exciting. There is not enough hours in the day, but we'll see if we can make it happen.

There's the professional media that will play a part of being accessible to the community, which I think is really important, and then there's the program side of it, where all of it - the outgrowth of these training programs, young people coming in, college students coming - where that all takes place and germinates. My ultimate dream is that the community and paper are combined on some sort of project. One of the big issues in that community is the environment because there used to be the heaviest zoning in the city. You could have slaughterhouses and there was a lot of industry there. So that's a big issue, and asthma in that community. What I would like to see is an investigative project or stories about how people are dealing with those health issues, partnering with the paper and the community doing their own story. Or oral history of really historic parts of Oakland - the oral history of most senior members of the community, told by them, maybe by young people doing the interviews. I think the sky's the limit.

4) An editor's responsibilities

MR: Don't just go into someone's copy and start making changes just for the sake of making changes. You should be there to make it get better. Some people need more editing, others just need a sprinkle here and there and it may be very subtle. Turn a phrase or word flipped around a little bit to flow better.

I think what people need to know about what it means to be an editor is our responsibility now, the biggest thing we're here for, is our judgment and to protect the brand, the name of the publication - to make sure that we don't do anything that's going to put it at risk.

In judgment, it's determining the course the paper should take. Within that, you don't lead by dictation, you lead by inspiration. You lead by also having other people help craft the vision as well. Because I think when other people craft the vision or participate in crafting the vision, then they have ownership. One of the things in my leadership style I like to think about is people should participate in crafting the vision because then you're responsible for making it happen. It can't only come from here [raises index finger up]. There needs to be a meeting between the people on the street and those in positions of authority.

5) Diversity

MR: I was at [the American Society of Newspaper Editors] this year and the numbers of editors of color in newspapers, certainly in major publications, is very small. When I was at [the Associated Press Managing Editors] the same could also be said. It was a very homogeneous environment at a time that the demographics of the country are so quite the opposite. I think that's another problem about our relevance. When we sit back and talk about how to be relevant in the community, we have to have more people of different backgrounds making news decisions and making judgments. There are so many times when things happen that mean nothing to me, but somebody else in the room says, "That's really important." I'm like, "Oh, really, let's go with that then." That speaks to that equilibrium in understanding the need of having other voices and other perspectives in the conversation. Without that we run the risk of being irrelevant to our community because we're not talking to the community or with them, we're just talking at them.

Understand what your readership is based on demographics that your marketing department has for you, and you want to serve those. But then there is also trying to go after those people who don't read you now because you're not talking to them. So there's a dual mission that has to go on. In order to achieve that you have to be focused and understand and talk a lot with your reporters. Also your reporting staff - you need different kinds of people. You need weird people, straight-laced people, people of different colors speaking different languages, weirdos, dark, moody brutish people, and there's many I'm missing, around the table. It could potentially create a hostile environment. It creates a challenge managerially. But, man, imagine what it creates with the stories you tell.

My belief of that comes from the other side of my life as a musician. In the band that I was in, Mingus Amungus, where we were combining jazz and hip-hop - the music of Charles Mingus with the generation of hip-hop. We had people who were 27 years old rapping and then we had cats on keyboards who were 55 years old. You could imagine the dynamics of each element of the band or genre trying to find its place in the whole. That created a lot of creative tension, but it was that creative tension that was phenomenal on stage. I think a news organization should also reflect that.

6) Maynard's influence

RR: You attended the Maynard Media Academy 2005. What did you take away from that?

MR: More like what did I not take away from it. That academy and that whole experience set me up in the position that I'm in here. I don't say that because you guys are here or because Dori [Maynard]'s my neighbor and she would throw a brick to my window - just kidding.

What I came away from that experience, being holed up in Chicago in Northwestern with a bunch of other great journalists in this whole program, it taught me about myself, my strengths and weaknesses. One of the most valuable lessons, that's passing now, to make a really strong leadership team oftentimes you need people who you don't really jive with. It's not an easy thing to manage through. If you had a bunch of your buddies it doesn't mean you'll put out the best newspaper. There may be people who are really anal, and you're like, chill out, but they're really paying attention and watching over that. An essential part of the team. Then there's another person who is really cerebral, doesn't get bogged down with details, but has ability to come up with great ideas. All of those things play in having a strong management team, and that was something I learned at Maynard.

Rob Brown in how to acquire power - that power isn't a bad thing, it's just something that helps you if you have power in an organization you can get people to adhere to your preferences. Not very sinister, is it?

Someone in an organization might want you to pick a side, and you're going to have to pick a side. I've had situations where that comes up, and how do you deal with that?

What was brought in has served me. I've been able to reference it, as well as the mentor that I have, Mike Days, from the Philadelphia Daily News - a person who I can call and has been through it all.

It's just the experience is so important. Newspapers do a poor job in training. A reporter becomes an assistant city editor because they were a good reporter, not because they could be a good manager. The two can't be more different.

The big lesson I learned at Maynard was if you don't like dealing with people's problems, then don't go into management. The other part is that your successes are not governed by what you succeed but what others succeed.

All those nuggets, aphorisms, came from my experience at Maynard as well as a great group a people who I keep in contact with and who I call my friends. One of them I've invited to my wedding. Just a great experience. It's so valuable and beneficial to my career. I wouldn't be where I'm at without it.