Grant Application

Note: This is an excerpt from the University of Georgia Research Foundation grant that
funded this research and Web site. The grant was administered by the Office of the Vice
President for Public Service and Outreach.
The research questions we propose to answer:
Journalists rarely see poverty as news.
Sociologist Herbert Gans says journalists almost always ignore the poor when
they decide whats news (Gans, 1980). Stories about the poor consume less than 1
percent of newspaper space, according to a recent measure by the Project for Excellence
in Journalism. The poor, thus, are rendered invisible in the news (Bullock, 2001).
Perhaps the poor should be grateful.
At best, coverage of the poor is neutral in tone, portraying difficulties
sympathetically, but does little to contextualize poverty or illuminate its causes
(Bullock, 2001).
At worst, coverage is distorting: Blacks are disproportionately portrayed as poor
(Gilens, 19986). People are poor due to their own lack of effort and loose morals or
drunkenness (Kluegel, 1986). The poor are lazy, sexually irresponsible and criminally
deviant (Parisi, 1998).
And, the distortions have been shown to influence public opinion (Goren, 2004
and Grindstaff, 2007) as well as public policy (Anastasio, 2000).
But journalists can be trained to perform better. A 2006 study concluded that
training programs for journalists can have a strong and lasting impact on the
participants. (Becker, 2007)
The researchers, Lee B. Becker and Tudor Vlad, found that the training programs
provided the journalists with story ideas and that the journalists turned those ideas into
stories once they returned to their newsrooms.
The journalists stated that the programs gave them new expertise, connected
them with new sources, and made their reporting more authoritative, Becker and Vlad
reported. Interviews with the editors to whom the journalists reported confirmed these
conclusions.
Strong barriers, however, stand in the way of connecting journalists with training.
Cost, time away from work and accessibility are the strongest barriers to training,
according to studies conducted for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the
leading funder of journalism training. (McClellan, 2007)
Given all this, the research questions we propose to answer are:
RQ#1 How a training program can implant a rationale to increase news
coverage of poverty among journalists who work in persistently poor Georgia counties
RQ#2 How a training program can provide these journalists with expertise,
story ideas and sources to make their news coverage of poverty authoritative,
contextualized and undistorted
RQ#3 How a training program can be framed to overcome barriers to training
and how it will be used

We propose to conduct this research with the journalists who work in the 14
newspapers located in Georgia counties identified by University of Georgia research as
persistently poor. (CVIOG, 2003).
The contribution of this research to theory, methodology, practice or literature:
Journalists want more training. A 2002 study for Knight Foundation concluded
that journalists feel ill-equipped to cover the complexities of the modern world. Eight out
of 10 said they want more professional development. Training leads their list of jobimprovement needs.
But significant barriers stand in the way: cost, time away from work, and
accessibility.
These barriers to training are the most significant for the journalists this research
targets: All of them work in small, understaffed newsrooms, struggling to serve
economically depressed, out of the way markets like Americus, Cordele and Moultrie.
Yet, importantly, leaders of such newsrooms tell researchers they are more likely
to support training for their journalists if it deals with issues of concern in their markets
such as how poverty illuminates coverage of education, health, and economic
development (Cross, 2007)
For the last three years, weve evaluated a training program that succeeded, in
large part, because it focused on overcoming barriers. The organizers of NewsTrain
targeted newspaper assigning editors, a group widely understood to be the newsrooms
neediest workers.
NewsTrain organized low-cost, nearby, skills-intensive workshops that, to date,
have reached more than 4,500 assigning editors with these results:
95 percent said they used some of the things they learned at NewsTrain when
they returned to their newsrooms
80 percent said they shared what they learned with others in their newsrooms
37 percent said the NewsTrain experience led them to arrange training for
others in their newsrooms
The research we propose will contribute to the practice of training journalists in
two ways. First, by focusing on barriers to training. Then, by using training to change
behavior.
How this research differs from earlier research in the field:
Our work with NewsTrain focused on assigning editors and editing.
This research will focus on a wider array of workers reporters, assigning editors
and the publishers that oversee the enterprise and will focus on reporting as well as
editing.
This research will differ from earlier work in another way: its focus is research
about training around coverage of poverty a largely unexplored topic.

How this project will contribute to a significant stream of research:

This is a pilot effort that opens a new area of research.
The starting point is the 14 daily newspapers in persistently poor Georgia
counties. The potential is to widen the reach to the 30 daily newspapers in persistently
poor counties in five other Black Belt states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida,
Alabama and Mississippi.
Similarly, we center this research at the University of Georgias Grady College of
Journalism and Mass Communication, the states only AEJMC-accredited journalism
program. The potential is to create a research consortium among the four other accredited
journalism programs that, like UGA, are located in counties that are persistently poor.
They are Auburn University, Florida A&M University, the University of Florida, and
Mississippi Southern University.
4. Research Plan
What you propose to do
We propose a four-step research plan.
First, we will identify the journalism gate keepers at 14 daily newspapers located
in Georgia counties identified as persistently poor. These counties are: Clarke, Sumter,
Dougherty, Glynn, Crisp, Laurens, Troup, Baldwin, Colquitt, Bulloch, Thomas, Tift,
Lowndes and Ware.
These gate keepers are likely to inhabit the functional roles of assigning editor,
reporter and publisher though titles vary significantly from newspaper to newspaper.
We will visit each newspaper and interview each gate keeper with a view toward
answering questions in two areas:
Questions about coverage of poverty
Awareness of poverty in their county
Experience covering poverty: Frequency, topics, placement, problems, reader
reaction
Reasoning behind decisions to cover (or not cover) poverty in their county as
news
Questions about training:
Experience with training
Barriers to training
Ideal conditions for training that is, conditions that will overcome the
barriers
Second, using what weve learned from the interviews and applying recent
experience developing three training programs for journalists on other topics (see below)
we will develop a program that provides journalists at the 14 newspapers with:
A rationale to increase news coverage of poverty in their county
Expertise, story ideas and sources to make their news coverage of poverty
authoritative
A framework that overcomes barriers to training and will be used

We will seek comments on a draft of the training program from the journalists we
interviewed, and will revise the program accordingly.
Third, we will recruit one or more of the newspapers to pilot the training program.
And, fourth, we will employ a third party to evaluate the pilot, using pre-training
and post-training content analysis, as well as interviews.
Identify relevant research questions
Relevant research questions include:
RQ#1 How a training program can implant a rationale to increase news
coverage of poverty among journalists who work in persistently poor Georgia counties
RQ#2 How a training program can provide these journalists with expertise,
story ideas and sources to make their news coverage of poverty authoritative
RQ#3 How a training program can be framed to overcome barriers to training
and how it will be used
Establish the feasibility of the project
We regard this project as highly feasible for five reasons:
First, we know these 14 newspapers and counties. Each has been visited twice
under a prior research project.
Second, we are fluent with the research literature and industry knowledge on
coverage of poverty, specialized reporting and journalist training.
Third, we have recent, successful experience developing training programs for
journalists in Georgia and the Southeast. As an example, since 2004, we have conducted
specialized reporting conferences for more than 100 journalists on such topics as military
base re-alignment and closing, Latino migration, and prison labor and health.
Fourth, we are experienced with the methods and procedures the project requires.
And, fifth, one of the 14 newspapers has already volunteered to pilot whatever
training program we develop.
Detail methods and procedures, facilities, timetable
Methods, procedures and timetable
Develop and pre-test the survey instrument, by 1/31/08
Visit 14 newspapers for one day each to conduct interviews with an assigning
editor, a reporter and a publisher, by 3/31/08
Tabulate and analyze the results, by 4/31/08
Draft the training program and revise it based on comments, by 6/31/08
Pilot the training program, by 8/31/08
Evaluate the pilot (Note: We need to consult with the evaluators, but suspect
we should wait at least six months before conducting the post-testing content
analysis and interviews. If so, 3/31/09, requiring an extension.)
Submit final report, based on extension, if required
Facilities: None required

Demonstrate connectivity to existing UGA programs and competencies

The Carl Vinson Institute has agreed to provide public opinion polling, which we
expect will be a key feature of the pilot training program. The model is Northwesterns
Medill School of Journalism, which used results from a public opinion poll as a hook
for a year-long series of stories by its student-run news service.
The Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism has partnered with us on two
of the specialized reporting conferences. Given the Knight Chairs focus on health care of
the poor in Georgias Black Belt, we expect to partner with the Knight Chair on this
project, as well.
The James M. Cox Center for International Mass Communication Training and
Research is the leading provider of evaluations for post-employment training programs,
and we expect to contract with the Center to evaluate this project.
Reflect collaboration across academic and service units
We will collaborate with at least six UGA academic and public service faculty as
subject-matter experts about poverty. The collaboration will take the form of tutorials and
discussion leaders for the journalists participating in the training program.
We have experience with this form of collaboration. Eight UGA faculty from four
colleges and two public service units were subject-matter experts at the specialized
reporting conferences.
Long-term capacity building
This project will help establish the Grady College as a leading provider of
research and development of post-employment training of journalists in Georgia and the
Southeast.
6. Future support
As noted above, the potential is to widen the research in two ways: First by
increasing the reach from 14 daily newspapers in persistently poor counties in Georgia
to the 30 daily newspapers in persistently poor counties in five other Black Belt states:
North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi. And, second, by
leading a research consortium among the four other accredited journalism programs that,
like UGA, are located in counties that are persistently poor. They are Auburn
University, Florida A&M University, the University of Florida, and Mississippi Southern
University.
Three foundations are likely sources of funding. They are the John S. and James
L. Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Each
currently funds projects that like ours conduct research and trains journalists to report
about specialized, under-reported topics, often in small markets.
They include:
The Hechinger Institute at Columbia University, which focuses on covering
education

 The Fourth Estate and the Third Sector, at Marshall University, which focuses
on covering the nonprofit sector
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of
Kentucky, which focuses covering small markets
The principal investigators, as well as other leaders in the Grady College, have
relationships with these foundations, in particular, Knight.
Other sources of funding are the corporate parents of the 14-44 newspapers. They
include companies known for investments in newsroom training and the communities in
which they operate. They are:
Morris Communications
Media General, Inc.
McClatchy Newspapers
Community Newspapers Holding, Inc.
The New York Times Company
Still other sources of funding are the journalists who, presumably, would benefit
from the training. Tuition payments of $50-$100 per journalist would, in the NewsTrain
experience, cover 25 percent of the cost.
7. References
Anastasio, P., Rose, K. and Chapman, J. Can the media create public opinion? A socialidentity approach, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 64(1), 53-64
Becker, L. and Vlad, T. (2007) The Impact of Post-Employment Journalism Training on
Health and Medical Story Ideation, presented to the Professional Education Section of the
International Association for Media and Communication Research, July 2007, at Paris,
FR
Bullock, H., Wyche, K. and Williams, W. (2001) Media Images of the Poor, Journal of
Social Issues, 57(2): 229-246
Cross, A., Fielder, V., Tigas, C. and Barnes, B. (2007) A survey of training backgrounds
and needs at rural newspapers in the United States, presented at the National Summit on
Journalism in Rural America, April 2007, at Pleasant Hill, KY
Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia. (2003) Dismantling
Persistent Poverty in Georgia: Breaking the Cycle, unpublished manuscript, available at
www.poverty.uga.edu
Gans, H. (1980). Deciding Whats News: A Study of CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly
News, Newsweek and Time. London: Constable and Company

Gilens, M. (1998). Race and poverty in America Public misperceptions and the
American news media, Public Opinion Quarterly, 25(5):505-527
Goren, P. (2004). Race, sophistication, and white opinion on government spending,
Political Behavior, 81(1): 53-73
Grindstaff, I. (2007). Framing class: Media representations of wealth and poverty in
America, Contemporary Sociology, 88(3):690-706
Kluegel, J. and Smith, E. (1986). Beliefs about inequality. New York: Aldine de Gruyter
McClellen, M. and Porter, T. (2007). News, improved: How Americas newsrooms are
learning to change. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press
Parisi, P. (1998). A sort of compassion: The Washington Post explains the Crisis in
Urban America, Howard Journal of Communications, 9:187-203