Alot of variables must be considered in determining what is a good newspaper story. One of the more important aspects is the quality and variety of quotes gathered and then used in print. Go to too few sources, and a reporter runs the risk of presenting only one side of the story. On the other hand, too many quotes can turn a reporter into a glorified stenographer who does little to frame the issues and events for the reader.
The Cavalier Daily was up and down in this area last week. Monday's business article ("Discrimination hits local businesses") was one of the ups - it featured a range of sources that included business owners, a student, an administrator and a city official. As a result, the story moved seamlessly among the different facets of local discrimination against some minority-owned businesses.
On Thursday, however, the sports department provided a down in its coverage of football coach Al Groh's remark about Arabs ("Groh apologizes for insensitive comment"). The story was little more than quotes pulled from a press release, with just one quote from an assistant dean in charge of Asian students. The Washington Post story about Groh's comment featured quotes from offended students - by giving an idea of student reaction, the Post's story was decidedly more complete than The Cavalier Daily version.
It may not be fair to compare a business story and sports story - the business page is weekly, which gives its writers more time to plan and prepare. Sports is a daily page, and the Groh story was breaking news that could not have been anticipated. Still, coverage of breaking news is one important way to measure a newspaper, and The Cavalier Daily fell short in this instance.
The Groh story raises another issue - story placement. Just having a particular story is one thing, but deciding where to put it is important as well. The placement of a story - for example, the top of the front page versus the middle of an inside page - sends a subtle message to the reader of the story's importance.
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The Washington Post put the Groh story on the front page of its sports section. ESPN mentioned the remark in the first 20 minutes of SportsCenter and put a link to the Associated Press story on the main page of its Web site. Readers of The Cavalier Daily, however, had to find their way to page B2 before reading about Groh's comment -- a "teaser" on the top of B1 was the only sign of the story placed in a more visible spot.
The front page of Thursday's sports section had two timely stories - a field hockey game and a feature on a Clemson football player. But it had one story with no urgency at all - a feature on Roger Mason's experience in a tournament in China that ended in August. Given the national attention paid to Groh and the immediate nature of the story, it should have been on the sports section front. The Mason story should have been shuffled around to take up less space on the front, or have been pushed back a day or more - given its lack of timeliness - to give it the large amount of space originally intended because of its interesting nature.
Again, one way to judge a newspaper is its handling of breaking news. In Thursday's issue, the overall coverage of the Groh story was less than impressive.
Another aspect of a good story is getting the facts straight. I have harped on this before, but even a mistake on a minor detail can serve to undermine the credibility of the reporter, the editors and the newspaper as a whole.
In a Wednesday news story ("Gilmore releases funds for library"), the reporter described David A. Harrison III Field as "an artificial turf playing field located near University Hall." It would be hard to be more wrong. In fact, the name for the artificial turf field appeared in that same issue's sports section - University Hall Turf Field. David A. Harrison III Field refers to the grass playing surface in Scott Stadium and was named for Harrison because his donation made possible the switch from artificial turf to grass, so attributing an artificial turf surface to Harrison is a particularly egregious error.
Some housekeeping notes: First, an opinion column two weeks ago made consistent reference to the "Foxfields races." They are the "Foxfield Races." Small mistakes matter - why should I pay attention to a columnist's opinion when he cannot even refer to his topic correctly?
Second, The Cavalier Daily gets very high marks for its overall coverage of the tragedy of two weeks ago, with special praise for the front-page photography. Staying on top of a continuing story of this magnitude and covering all the non-obvious aspects of it can be difficult, but every department has combined to do an excellent job.
(Matthew Branson can be reached at ombud@cavalierdaily.com.)
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