Great journalism is everywhere
I visited The Forum of
Fargo-Moorhead in early December for one of SPJ’s newsroom training programs.
And I learned a lot on my trip
to Fargo.
I now know what a Northern Wind
is.
It’s freakin’ cold! That’s what
it is!
Generally speaking, weather is
the top news item of the day. Now, the weather is important news in a lot of
cities, but in Fargo where agriculture is vital to the economy…it IS the news!
In the 1950s, the Forum won a
Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of a massive tornado that ripped through a poor
residential area of Fargo. One family lost six children. Only the mother, father and one son
survived.
With no phone in the house, the
mother – who worked at a local tavern – couldn’t alert her babysitter that the
storm was coming. She knew the danger, but had no way to protect her children.
The story received international attention. And it prompted Dr. Tetsuya "Ted" Fujita to visit the
city. Later, he would develop the F-Scale that is now used to categorize a
tornado’s intensity. The Fargo tornado, incidentally, was later categorized as
an F5. The strongest possible.
In the library of the Forum newsroom, which should be deemed a historic
landmark in itself, hangs a composite of the staff that covered that tragedy.
In the corner is a portrait of then editor John D. Paulson. He looks
likes the 1950s editor we all imagine: Middle aged and a little round, with
short gray hair and dark-rimmed glasses. Oh, and a 2-inch stogie clinched in
the corner of his mouth.
No kidding!
The room where the picture hangs is straight out of the 40s. Yellowish
tile on the walls and old cabinets full of clips from yesteryear. Many of those
clips are stored in a filing machine that is three stories tall. Apparently
they used to be commonplace for newsrooms, but I’ve never seen one. When
reporters need took look up a person, they push a button labeled with the first
letter of the last name, and viola!
A few seconds later, the squeaky tray rotates into position.
Forum editor Matthew Von Pinnon said the machine does break down from
time to time, and they have to track down retired mechanics who used to work on
the machines to get it fixed. Still, it does its job. Every person ever
mentioned in the Forum has a yellow clip file.
But don’t misunderstand. The Forum is not some outdated newsroom stuck in
the 1950s, although the smell of ink is undeniable (and somewhat intoxicating).
They have a dominant Web presence with few real competitors. Their
reporters are learning to collect and edit audio for the Web. Inside the
newsroom sits a radio studio. From there, their sister radio station presents
the news – much of it gathered by Forum reporters. And soon, the Forum building
plans to host a television studio, where their sister station can broadcast the
news.
But the best part about the newsroom were the people in it.
On my final day in Fargo, I was lucky enough to have a discussion about
the ethical implications of a crime story one reporter was working on.
They talked about the facts and the decisions the newspaper had made.
They weighed the pros and cons. They considered the impact their stories could
and did have.
They may not have known it, but they did exactly as SPJ’s Code of Ethics
demands.
Act Independently. Minimize Harm. Seek Truth and Report It. Be Accountable.
My trip to Fargo confirmed a belief I have held dear since my first
newsroom job.
Stellar, meaningful and impactful journalism happens everywhere.
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead is proof.