Creating a rapid response

NLGJA shares a strategy in monitoring news coverage

by Lena-Nsomeka Gomes

Eric Hegedus is a page designer for The Philadelphia Inquirer and was recently elected as the new president for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. He was the former vice president for Print and New Media at NLGJA and a former photo editor and staff photographer at Gannett Co. What was the impetus for creating the site for Rapid Response Task Force Alert?
We put a Rapid Response button on our home page to raise the profile of our response efforts and to make it easier for anyone -- whether an NLGJA member or just someone in the public who is a concerned news reader, viewer or listener to approach us about coverage that may be problematic. We really just wanted to make sure people were aware that monitoring coverage and doing subsequent analysis is a key part of our mission work. It takes a lot of people to track coverage and to raise questions about fairness and accuracy. We wanted to ensure that visitors to our website knew they could communicate with us about their concerns. How did you get the project implemented?
We have always monitored coverage, and when we noticed problems, we worked journalist-to-journalist and talked about the issues. We put the alert button on the website and then went about making sure that our members and readers knew it was there. What has the response been?
It's been good. People are becoming more aware of its existence as a resource and using it. There are certainly still members who say, "Oh, I didn't know you had that alert button on the home page." So I think we still have some marketing to do. But overall, itís been successful, and I think it will be increasingly so. Do you believe that Rapid Response is filling a gap and making an impact?
Oh, absolutely -- there's no doubt about that. When we hear about a situation and deem that there's a problem that needs to be addressed, we contact the news organization. Usually we reach out to a particular writer and the appropriate editors, and open a dialogue. Sometimes it's simply a style issue or something about terminology. And other times, the discussion is about the framing of stories. Often journalists responding to us are thankful for our help. Again, we're working journalist-to-journalistóweíre helping each other to do better journalism, which is a constant learning process. We treat each other respectfully as professionals, and we offer ourselves as a newsroom resource. The news organizations I've corresponded with have appreciated that. And we have seen coverage improve because of it. What are you doing with the reports?
Right now, we keep track of the situations we've reviewed and the steps we've taken in each situation, because it's an important internal barometer to show that our mission work is being addressed at a particular level. We do reports about twice a year that are distributed to the national board and chapter presidents, but we don't release the reports to our full membership or to the public. I would hesitate to do that because it's a list of specific instances in which news organizations, in many cases, have produced what we consider problematic coverage. Our goal isn't to broadcast to the world about specific so-called offenders; it's to help our peers to do better coverage behind the scenes. I don't necessarily think it's fair to publicly pinpoint every single news organization we've contacted. What have you learned from having a project like Rapid Response?
Wow -- I don't even know where to start. I guess one of the most important things is that there aren't always clear-cut answers to every journalistic situation, and it's great to be a part of the dialogues taking place. We have a diversity of voices on the Rapid Response Task Force and we're learning a lot from each other. This process has been very rewarding for me, personally and professionally. One other thing, Rapid Response is an indicator of how important it is for us to be talking about how we cover all communities. Are there going to be similar projects or sites in the future?
We're always having conversations on how we can improve our programming, including Rapid Response, so hopefully the system and results will keep improving. I do think one area we'll see some good crossover is in our new and already very successful Newsroom Outreach Project. Through the project, NLGJA leaders are visiting newsrooms across the country to have informal talks with their editorial staff regarding LGBT coverage issues. The response has been fantastic. We've felt welcome in every newsroom we've visited, and the conversations have been incredibly educational and constructive. I think we're going to be able to also use Rapid Response to reach out to those newsrooms, and offer to visit and talk about the issues in person.