Nine Daily
Newspapers in the American West Win Awards
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Winners were selected at the conclusion of a two-year, independent study of all 285 English-language dailies in the North American West. The Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources (IJNR), a nonprofit journalism-education organization based in Missoula, Montana, conducted the study.
"These awards are unorthodox," explained Frank Edward Allen, IJNR's president, who was an editor at The Wall Street Journal for 14 years. "Unlike the Pulitzer Prizes and other time-honored standards of the news craft, there was no contest to enter for the Stegner Awards. Instead, IJNR chose the winners after studying all the dailies in the West. We used our own methods. Week after week and month after month, we actually read the papers."
Allen said the IJNR research team spent more than two years monitoring and evaluating the coverage of growth, development and the environment produced by the region's dailies. As part of the work, members of the team traveled extensively in the region to deepen their understanding of conditions and issues facing the West. Meanwhile, the team also compiled extensive portfolios of coverage produced by each newspaper so that quality and persistence of newsroom efforts could be compared.
"It took us many months to screen all the portfolios so we could identify contenders for the awards," Allen said. To do that job, he said, the research team applied journalistic criteria that were shaped by the Board of Governors of IJNR's Wallace Stegner Initiative:
- Accuracy and Clarity
Reporting clearly, factually and without serious omissions about events, trends and issues of growth, development and the environment. - Significance and Relevance
Choosing to emphasize those events, trends and issues that clearly stand out as significant and relevant to the community and the region. - Frequency and Persistence
Examining regularly and often the significant and relevant events, trends ands issues of growth, development and the environment. Making a sustained effort to pursue this coverage as important stories continue to evolve. - Prominence and Proportionality
Demonstrating consistently sound judgment by reporting and displaying stories about growth, development and the environment in proportion to their significance and relevance. Refraining from sensational or trivial treatments of trends and issues. - Credibility and Context
Providing a consistent and credible range of viewpoints in coverage of growth, development and the environment. Incorporating sufficient context in coverage, thus helping audiences to increase their awareness and to reach responsible conclusions.
This summer, IJNR convened a panel of eight jurors to deliberate for about three days on the relative merits of worthy "finalists" for the Stegner Awards.
"These nine newspapers stand out because of quality and persistence of effort by the newsroom as a whole," Allen said. "We wish there were many more like them."
IJNR's research shows that citizens of the American West need a much better understanding of the powerful demographic, economic and environmental changes that are under way throughout the region. Yet the vast majority of Western daily newspapers aren't keeping up with these changes.
"Most Western dailies overlook the larger pattern," Allen said. "They neglect the whole. But these nine Stegner Award-winning newsrooms are shining exceptions to the norm. IJNR thinks they deserve special commendation."