(Mary Nesbitt)

I've been on the lookout for local stories that look out for the public's interest. Most news organizations would say they do it every day, but that's not the impression news consumers have (see this study, for instance). So my search was for A+ stories that tell people about something that really matters to them as citizens; that are told in a way that's easy to understand; and that encourage participation.

I have three recent examples to share.

1. The Plain Dealer in Cleveland looked at employees in the Cuyahoga County recorder's office and reported last Sunday that the current recorder has awarded about three dozen patronage jobs. The previous job skills of many don't match the positions for which they were hired. A simple but forceful front page design featuring thumbnails of the patronage hires was matched by a wonderfully lucid, tightly-written story by reporter Joseph Wagner that begins:

Even if you have never been to the Cuyahoga County recorder's office, you will no doubt be familiar with the names of the workers behind the counters.

That's because some have appeared on your election ballots for mayor and City Council. With others, their spouses or relatives have sent you campaign fliers for congressional races, judgeships or school board seats.>

Recorder Patrick O'Malley's staff directory, you might say, is a Who's Who of the politically connected, with surnames of Mottl, Russo and Sustarsic.

Plain Dealer review of the recorder's 2007 payroll found that O'Malley has given nearly three dozen patronage jobs, with combined salaries of $1.4 million, to politicos and their kin - former mayors, the son and daughter of a judge, the wife of a councilman.

A review of applications also found people whose previous job skills don't match the work they do for O'Malley.

A $16,000-a-year teaching assistant became a $46,000-a-year department head.

A $10-an-hour construction worker is now a $40,000-a-year clerk.

Judging from the comments and tips in the online feedback, Plain Dealer reporters have leads for where next to look for juicy government payroll and hiring practice yarns.


2. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel also caught my eye last Sunday with a line story about serious health violations in almost four out of 10 local eateries. A great story that many newspapers have pursued in their own communities, always with stomach-turning results, but what especially piqued my interest was the overline: Public Investigator/Taking Tips, Chasing Leads, Solving Problems.

So I investigated further. It turns out the Journal Sentinel has built a 10-person Watchdog team and a rich online presence that includes Watchdog Reports ("Shining a light on wrongdoing, dysfunction, waste and injustice"); the Dogged Blog; Public Investigator (including a blog by team members); Citizen Watchdog ("Your one-stop center to conduct investigative reporting" with databases of campaign contributions, lobbying, crime and courts, business records, and laws and property records in five local counties); Data on Demand ("Your portal to analyze numbers and statistics" which has a host of data on areas such as public salaries, inspections, education, sports and census); and commentary from political watchdog columnist Daniel Bice.

Here's my plea to the Journal Sentinel: please market the heck out of this terrific stuff. Seize the opportunity to build your news organization's public interest brand - somewhat similar to what the South Florida Sun-Sentinel did with its Help Team. There's large potential to engage citizens in looking out for each other's interests. But without marketing – including, but not limited to, internal links, links from bloggers, links from print, links from local online networks, external marketing – important, useful work will be under-engaged and under-appreciated.


3. The Indianapolis Star is among several newspapers to provide daily interaction with readers over broken infrastructure in the community. Theirs is called Starwatch and, it being pothole season after an especially long and nasty freeze-thaw cycle in the Midwest, potholes figure large at the moment, along with litter and abandoned properties. ChronicleWatch in the San Francisco Chronicle is perhaps the first of this genre and it is still going strong. Other examples include the Sun-Sentinel Watch and the Chicago Tribune's What's Your Problem? which focuses on a broader variety of consumer issues with unresponsive or evasive authorities.

What I like about all of these "watches" is their simple story line: there's a visible problem – sometimes a danger – that can and should be fixed quickly. The problems bubble up from reader-citizens; journalists verify and push for redress. So simple and so important. So in the public interest.


By Mary Nesbitt (m-nesbitt@northwestern.edu)
Mary Nesbitt is managing director of the Readership Institute.