News media can build social capital: The opportunity and the tools are available now for news media to break new ground in building social capital. In service to their communities, news media can utilize new technology to key in on organizations — resources — in the community sector. Those organizations can provide hard data and vivid projections about community issues and trends. Citizen access to that information, through news media, could mean significant change in the way we respond to crisis and opportunity.

To find not-for-profit resources, journalists can:

• Read the Chronicle of Philanthropy or access it online.
• Subscribe to community sector newsletters like Seattle/King County Senior Services' "Access" available through Senior Information and Assistance at (206) 448-3110.
• Subscribe to some of the many listserves available online, like the Chronicle of Philanthropy's.
  
  

News media can cover the community as if it were a three-legged stool: Much to many citizens' surprise, the community is a pretty stable structure — a three-legged stool. The government is one leg, business another, and the third leg is the not-for-profit of community sector. Many citizens have the misperception that the private sector and the public sector are the only two that affect day to day life in the community. That misperception is demonstrated in confusion about some not-for-profit organizations — AIDS Housing of Washington, for example, is not a state agency; Meals on Wheels is not a welfare delivery system. The confusion may be furthered by a tendency of journalists to leave the community sector out of general news coverage.

It's a reasonable guess that Washington State Referendum 49, a "transportation" initiative, passed because citizens were largely unaware of its effect on Initiative 601 (I-601). The new referendum made it impossible to legislate change to the initiative for at least two years. Many citizens are also unaware that the spending lid put in place by I-601 has been dropping precipitously and, as it does so, dropping elderly and disabled citizens from chore services and a number of other benefits that keep citizens independent and in their own homes. The story about this governmental change needs to look at the businesses it affects. But it could also profit from citizens' perspective as provided by the not-for-profits which serve them.

Engage the third leg of the crime and violence story: Stories about crime and violence generate a lot of fear in our communities — even when the stories come from thousands of miles away. Journalists could add the not-for-profit perspective to these stories, and citizens would learn something about the cause and potentially even the cure.

Play to your strengths: Every journalistic medium has something it does better than any other. Cooperating without colluding, news media could enhance their own strengths in three-legged news coverage by supporting another medium to do the part that it does best. Journalists could:

• Add community sector web addresses to stories where appropriate
• Direct readers/viewers to radio or internet sites where call-in dialogue can be fascinating and informative
• Direct listeners/viewers to newspaper resource materials
• Share and build on stories with community input by developing civic journalism, issues-oriented partnerships like the Front Porch Forum

Push for journalism education: Practicing journalists carry a great deal of weight in curriculum development at journalism schools. Journalists could support teaching community sector coverage. No educator offered Good News/Good Deeds an example of a text for this project. Why not write one? Why not encourage practicing journalists to be a resource for today's students?

Strengthen community ties and maintain journalistic integrity: Encouraging journalists to volunteer does not have to compromise journalistic integrity. Putting themselves "in harm's way" will ensure that the news room doesn't miss the story. There are as many ways of ensuring against bias as there are news rooms.

Check out the Journalism Reform Rumble: Journalists should pay attention to reform efforts such as the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the Committee of Concerned Journalists, and the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) report on journalism credibility. Journalists can:

• Check out the above websites
• Read Brill's CONTENT magazine

Take on the job of building social capital: To paraphrase Jan Shaffer, Executive Director of the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, journalists can:

• Cover consensus as well as conflict, success as well as failure
• Look at conflicts in values rather than between people
• Examine politics in the framework of choices citizens have to make
• Examine issues in the framework of choices that are made for citizens
• Recognize that the two most extreme sides of an issue are not the only voices that need to be heard
• When government is airing important issues, invite citizens to be part of the dialogue, don't just cover the usual suspects
• Change the way we think about journalism, not just the way we do journalism
• Communicate with citizens about how we make coverage decisions

Try new ways of explaining community: Civic mapping is a great way of laying out a community's assets, liabilities, and — most importantly — resources in a graphic demonstration of "how things work." Journalists can use this tool and others like "mind mapping" and project "flow charts" to help citizens see the process of community decision-making.

Dip into the community memory: Newspaper morgues, television video libraries and story files are more accessible than ever. Journalists can use them to check out, "where have I heard this before?" The community benefits from lessons of the past.

Experienced journalists can "add value": News media can formalize mentoring programs by assigning experienced staff members to help train and advise the new kids in town. Encourage the mentoring teams to formalize agreements, "What I need to learn" and "What I am willing to teach." Then plan for the teams to gather periodically to share progress. The community wins again!