Media Literacy Project: Editors Speak Up

Courtesy Madison County Journal

October 8, 2008

With the conclusion of the research from the Media Literacy Project, editors from the Jackson Advocate, Northside Sun, and Madison County Journal respond.

Jackson Advocate, responses from Contributing Editor Earnest McBride

• Relationship with Jackson Public Schools: Parents, teachers and principals alert the editorial staff about school events. When they receive these tips, the paper decides whether to cover the story. Piney Woods in the only private school The Advocate has contact with.

• Lack of consistent listing of ages: For small articles, such as blurbs or stand-alone photos, age is not always included, and the paper has no general policy. Writers identify youth by name when necessary.

• Opinion of Mayor Frank Melton and Councilman Kenneth Stokes’ actions toward youth this past summer: There were two or three front-page articles. The Advocate did not critically approach the job program or Melton and Stokes. McBride noted the JA does not criticize public officials unless the editorial staff deems it necessary.

• Racial Diversity: More racial diversity is not necessarily needed. If whites are at an event, they are included just like anyone else. The public schools that The Jackson Advocate covers are almost entirely black.

• Softer blurbs and stories about youth on the front page: It’s part of the editorial direction of the paper to include softer stories on youth on the front page. McBride says it’s standard procedure with many publications.


Northside Sun, responses from Editor Jimmye Sweat

• Ratio of public to private schools: The Northside Sun depends primarily on submissions from area schools for content focusing on Jackson-area youth. Public Schools don’t send near as much information and pictures about school events and student accolades as the private school paid public-relations staffers.

• Racial Diversity: The race of youth in the paper depends entirely on the pictures that are sent in to the Northside Sun. Having exclusive rights to a good photo and caption is the primary criteria when considering photos. Considering that the majority of the target audience of the Sun (in north Jackson and south Madison) are white, there are a majority of white people in the papers.

• On the possibility of increasing youth coverage: The Newspaper’s goal as a community paper is to inform the community about what is happening around them, and to ensure that the young people in their community get the recognition they deserve. The editorial direction of the paper rests primarily with the news and not feature stories. Area youth who wish to highlight their accomplishments or the accomplishments of their friends can submit a photo, the names of the students highlighted and information about the accomplishment.


Madison County Journal, responses from Managing Editor Steven Watson and Reporter Lacey McLaughlin

• Racial balance: Most subscriptions are in South Madison County in the Ridgeland-Madison area, which are known as predominantly white. The submissions that parents and public relations staffers send reflect the community’s racial imbalance.

• Public v. Private: The Madison school district has more private or parochial schools than they do public schools. Private-school representatives make desirable resources more readily available. With the restraints of a small editorial staff, easily attainable resources take priority.

• Plausibility of youth involvement in the publication: The editorial staff actively seeks high school-age youth with an interest in journalism, and they have taken interns and contributors in the past. The problem with taking contributions from youth is that often they will stop contributing once they become busy with school or other activities, and they can only contribute so much before they graduate.

• On the possibility of increasing youth coverage: While it could benefit a publication to run more and more photos or stories about youth highlighting their accomplishments, that is not and should not be the newspaper’s primary goal.

Full Jackson Media Literacy Project package:

Screw Friendship Bracelets
Eyes on the Machine: Jackson Teens Cover the Media
Editors Speak Up
'Yes, We Can'
The Mouth Of Babes
Intentional Bias
Now What?

Related:
David Molina's Blog Post on the Jackson M-Lit's genesis (+ great photos)