media maven / By Marcy Burstiner

Be Clear

The reporters start out well. All the elements of why local readers should care are in that story — 20,000 prisoners to be released, education to be slashed, parks to be closed. High up they tell us exactly which local parks will be closed. But then they take too much time space telling us about process — what it will take for the governor to get it passed — and too many paragraphs telling us how much worse it could have been.

It isn’t until the jump (paragraph 18, to be exact) that we find out that Schwarzenegger plans to cut $4.5 billion out of K-12 schools. But it doesn’t give us a per capita figure — in other words, how much Humboldt County schools must trim to make those cuts. And it isn’t until paragraph 22 that you find out that free and reduced meals in the schools will be trimmed and that 47 percent of our school kids here are eligible for reduced price meals.

When I read that I just wanted to tug at the sleeve of all three reporters and say: “Hold on now. Does that mean kids will go hungry? Does that mean some kids won’t get the meals or that all the kids will get 10 percent less food on their plastic trays?” But then the story ends and I’m left feeling ignorant.

Remember how the story began? Those early-release prisoners are all non-violent offenders. So from a get-real perspective, what’s more of a concern? Early release for non-violent offenders (and without further explanation I might guess a bunch of those are drug users or small-time sellers) or hungry kids? What’s more important to the reader, finding out what programs won’t be cut or learning how badly our schools will be cut?

Now let’s look at Greenson’s Feb. 2 story on Proposition 93. Depending on how you read the information sent out with absentee ballots, the measure would lengthen state legislator terms in office or shorten them. Until I read the T-Sstory I didn’t understand what the opponents were griping about. The way I saw it, it would result in more continuity with overall shorter terms. As a term limits proponent who understands the problems term limits have caused, this seemed to make sense.

In his story, Greenson explained the issue neatly and with nice local relevance. He showed how the measure would add years to the terms of our legislators. And he found an HSU professor to tell me what it means. After I read the story I said: “Now I get it! The fat cat lawmakers give themselves more years in office but screw future legislators.”

This time I didn’t feel ignorant. Whether I feel stupid for the way I cast my absentee vote is another story. But I do wish the article had come out beforeI mailed my ballot. Note to news editors for November: Assign election stories early and often.

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