Being the news editor at the Greenfield Recorder means catching a lot of important emails alerting us to local news, but also hastily deleting an abundance of spam emails from public relations and marketing firms across the country that have nothing to do with Franklin County.
Recently, though, one of these emails caught our eye. It came from Digital Third Coast, a digital marketing agency based in Chicago, and the subject line read, “(Study) How Americans really feel about news coverage during COVID-19.”
Intrigued, we opened the email to discover that the organization surveyed 2,030 people — 51% male and 49% female, with the average age being 39 — to learn about their news intake during the pandemic. An analysis of the study’s results, which can be found at bit.ly/2AeVzNN, shows that 66% of the people surveyed are consuming more news than usual, with 50% having introduced new sources for their news since the health crisis began. But, despite these figures, 54% of those surveyed also feel that news coverage has caused confusion.
We should be dismayed to hear this statistic, right? That more than half that group of people don’t feel they can turn to the media to have facts presented to them in an easily digestible manner?
And yet, we couldn’t agree more with their assessment.
Covering the news amid the pandemic has been unlike anything those currently working in the news industry have experienced before. The number of unknowns is staggering, and even the sources that we would consider credible — such as the Department of Public Health (DPH) at the state level, or, more locally, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments, the individual boards of health and other officials tasked with making decisions on behalf of the hundreds of people in their city or town — don’t have the answers that we long for.
That being the case, journalists have stumbled along the way. We’ve struggled to adapt to a sense of truth that seems to change within minutes, especially at the beginning of the crisis when the response was changing so rapidly, the moment-in-time snapshot of the world that is the print edition of the Recorder could not properly capture that evolution.
As we’re sure was the case for many other newspapers, especially in Massachusetts, where personal privacy routinely trumps the public’s right for information, we fought to get positive COVID-19 case numbers. Once DPH decided to release those numbers broken down by municipality, the discrepancies began to emerge.
We’ve visited two different pages on DPH’s website, and found two different numbers representing total COVID-19 cases in the state. We’ve viewed FRCOG’s numbers, and found them to be different from those on the Greenfield city website. And reporting styles have changed along the way, with presumptive COVID-19 cases now being included in the tally of virus recoveries, as was recently explained by Mayor Roxann Wedegartner’s Chief of Staff Danielle Letourneau.
Outside of numbers, we’ve sought answers to questions like, “Will school be back in session in the fall?” “Will school districts save money through building closures and lack of transportation costs?” and “How much help can the towns expect from the state in fiscal year 2021?” While some officials have had fairly concrete answers, more often than not, the answer is “We don’t know” or “Only time will tell.”
In many situations, our local officials, like us, are simply waiting to hear more concrete information be passed down from the state level. They need more guidance before making decisions, just as we require answers from our sources to do quality reporting.
So yes, the media is confused. The world is confused. As a newspaper is a reflection of the world around it, this comes as no surprise.
Now, don’t get us wrong. We’re as committed as ever to accuracy and bringing our readers meaningful coverage that informs their decisions. But the truth feels murkier than ever, and has taken on greater complexity.
It’s because of how vast the realm of unknowns is right now that we continue to believe in the importance of journalism to keep residents informed. If 66% of people surveyed are consuming more news than usual, and 50% have introduced new sources for their news, it stands to reason that we’re not the only ones who feel that way, even if the news is a bit unclear. We’re thrilled and inspired by figures like that, and hope they hold true locally as well.
That being said, we always welcome ideas for coverage, as our residents are the eyes and ears of Franklin County. If you have a story idea, the best way to reach out is by emailing news@recorder.com.