How a small Colorado paper tackled tough a topic by working with the community - Entrepreneur Generations

Poynter takes a deeper look at how a small Colorado daily took on a difficult topic -- youth suicide -- with innovative community partnerships.

The Durango Herald wanted to apply for a reporting grant but were required to check with the community first as part of the application process. "That check-in helped reshape the direction of the project," Kristen Hare reports for Poynter. "Several local organizations that work with youth suicide prevention came to the newsroom. Some were hesitant be there at all because of the Herald’s past coverage, which many worried created a contagion effect."

The paper asked the local organizations what they needed that they didn't have, and discovered their preconceived ideas about what was needed were off-base. Claudia Laws, audience development manager for Ballantine Communications, which owns the Herald, told Hare that the youth suicide prevention community needed a central place to connect, and to maintain and update information. Laws realized that the newspaper's expertise in providing updated information put them in a unique spot to help.

"The project, 'Creating Connections,' is a solutions-based youth suicide prevention project in print, online and audio that ran in partnership with local radio stations. The Herald also created a standalone resource website, which it operates and maintains, and took a thoughtful approach to commenting," Hare reports.

Staff writer Mary Shinn spoke to a grief counseler to help her better cover suicides in a way that wouldn't retraumatize readers who knew someone who died by suicide. Using a $5,000 grant from the Solutions Journalism Network, she partnered with freelance broadcaster Sarah Flower to bring new stories to new audiences, Hare reports.

Shinn's partnership with Flowers opened doors for the Herald. "While some organizations and groups, including the Southern Ute Tribe, didn’t have a good relationship with the Herald, they did have a relationship with Flower," Hare reports.

The newsroom also created a resource site called Durango Cares, which Laws updates monthly. "Durango Cares is a resource, she said, but more importantly, it’s a way to show readers and stakeholders in the community that the newsroom cares about the community it covers," Hare reports. "It didn’t drive pageviews, Laws said; it’s not news, but it’s done much more to build trust that she ever imagined."

from The Rural Blog http://bit.ly/2VClWGm How a small Colorado paper tackled tough a topic by working with the community - Entrepreneur Generations

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