Issues meeting notes

4/21/2011

Kevin McCallum, Reporter, The Press Democrat

Our guest today was Kevin McCallum, reporter for the Press Democrat whose beat is city government and politics. He took over Mike McCoy’s job when Mike retired.

We discussed the structure of the PD’s staff, which is likely to be a common pattern in newspapers. The reporters, editors, special section writers, and many others are on “the second floor’, separate from the two big guys upstairs – the editorial writers. One of our members, Denise Hill, made herself known as a PD advertising staff person, and emphasized that advertising is necessarily separate from reporting.

Questions were around these areas:

1) How much independence does a reporter have in writing stories? Kevin said that, while there are obvious responsibilities for each reporter, they can suggest certain themes to editors. He has a list of potential story ideas that he can bring forward. Reporters also will respond to leads sent in by the public. Emails help, especially those that have appended files with background information.

2) Who writes the headlines? Editors do, but reporters have some input just by the way they write a story.

3) The Internet has had a huge impact on reporting and the public’s response. There was much discussion about the online Watch Sonoma County, in which anonymous postings can be made. Kevin said that Ted Appel, the editor in charge of this, can remove very objectionable (violent, racist, etc,) postings, but that this opportunity for public input has proved to be very stimulating for discussion. Reporters might take some themes from online postings, but then do the research on their own.

4) Corrections to stories might be made in online stories because it’s so easy, but in the published paper, it’s usually just in the little “Corrections” column. Unfortunately, if errors aren’t corrected, they enter the archive as correct, and might be used as background for future stories.

5) Kevin said that he generally avoids reading the Letters to the Editor and the editorials, as they have the potential to introduce bias in his mind, and that he is committed to staying neutral.

6) Denise suggested that in the new Towns section, the PD could offer readers the agendas of Council meetings for each city, and highlight important meetings coming up.

We expressed our thanks to Kevin, who had to return to work to offer his knowledge about Jess Jackson, who died today. Before his current beat, Kevin was the Business reporter, which included the wine industry.

There was much more said between the lines, but you had to be there.

Anne E. Seeley