• Podcast
  • Blog
  • FAQ
  • How to Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • Take a Survey

It's All Journalism

The broccoli of media-focused podcasts.

  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • FAQ
  • How to Podcast
  • Newsletter
  • Take a Survey

#28 – Tom Jackman – The Washington Post’s eyes on Northern Virginia

1March 9, 2013 by ItsAllJournalism
http://content.blubrry.com/itsalljournalism/IAJ-2013-03-09-033.mp3

Tom Jackman, the founder and driving force behind The Washington Post blog, The State of NoVa, admits that community journalism is not rocket science.

“It is simply going out with a pen and paper and asking people what’s happening? Why? How? Who? What? Where?,” he said. “It’s really easy and it does involve, you know, getting out from behind your desk and going out and seeing people and finding out information.”

Tom Jackman

Tom Jackman, founder and reporter of The Washington Post blog The State of NoVa, talks to It’s All Journalism Producer Michael O’Connell and Online News Association Digital Manager Jeanne Brooks about the challenges of being a community journalist. (Photo by Jeanne Brooks/ONA)

But, he will also admit that just because being a community journalist is not complicated doesn’t mean that it’s not a rewarding or important job.

“Call me crazy, but I think people should and need to know about the news where they live,” he said.

Jackman launched The State of NoVA in 2011 to cover the news in the Virginia suburbs immediately outside of Washington, D.C. — the City of Alexandria and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties.

“Call me crazy, but I think people should and need to know about the news where they live.”

“I’ve been based in Fairfax County for 14 years for the Post, covering cops and courts and various other stuff, big stories, little stories,” he said. “And I grew up in Fairfax County and I know a lot of people who are actually from there. I think the target audience really is the people that are from Northern Virginia.”

Recent stories by Jackman have focused on drinking water in Fairfax and a new baseball stadium in Loudoun. These types of stories may only affect people in those particular communities, but they have a huge impact on those readers.

Read a transcript of our interview with Tom Jackman.

Some of Jackman’s other stories have a broader appeal online, even though they began as local stories, such as an interview with Northern Virginia native Dave Grohl, the drummer from Nirvana and the frontman for The Foo Fighters.

In 2011, Jackman wrote about Evan Moss, a 7-year-old boy with epilepsy who was selling books he had written to raise money to purchase a service dog. When Jackman’s story went viral, people turned out in droves to buy the books and Evan raised $60,000 to buy a dog for himself and other people in need.

“Because I have access to this website and this audience, I can have that kind of impact with stories, which is the same with the printed edition,” he said “But, in general, local stories don’t do nearly as well on the Web as world and national stories.”

Local news in an online environment

This local focus, which is the blog’s strength, is also something that concerns Jackman when he talks about the economic realities of online journalism.

The Washington Post still prints 500,000 daily and 700,000 Sunday editions of its newspaper, but those numbers are dwindling.

“The amount newspapers can charge for print advertising is way more than Web advertising,” Jackman said. “And so, the question is, even as the Web advertising rises, the rate for that is much smaller and so the money made is far less. And for The Washington Post, their online presence is worldwide, so vast amounts of readers come from overseas and from elsewhere in the country.”

Those international and national readers may not be as interested about the water situation in Fairfax County or a police shooting in Alexandria as they are about what’s happening on Capitol Hill.

“I want community journalism to continue. I do think it’s important. I do think it has impact, but the numbers are not comparable in readership, at least at our paper.”

“Stories about national politics and world politics get huge readership,” Jackman said. “When I do a story and I get a lot of readers, if I get 200 or 300 comments on a story, that’s massive for me.”

Jackman’s concern is shared by many in the industry, who are watching large newspapers fold or cut their staffs in order to survive. Smaller staffs mean fewer resources available to cover things like local news.

“I want community journalism to continue,” he said. “I do think it’s important. I do think it has impact, but the numbers are not comparable in readership, at least at our paper because we also have access to, you know, more people coming in at 2:30 in the morning from France who are reading about Obama.”

— Michael O’Connell

Read a transcript of our interview with Tom Jackman.

Share Button
If you like this post, please share it along:

Previous Post

Bethany Swain
#27 – Photojournalist Bethany Swain shares tricks and tips for visual storytelling

Next Post

Nina L. Diamond
#29 – Freelance journalist Nina L. Diamond finds her home on Twitter

Trackbacks

  1. Be jealous of AJ Chavar or at least take some of his video producing tips | It's All Journalism says:
    April 6, 2013 at 12:44 pm

    […] Tom Jackman – The Washington Post’s eyes on Northern Virginia […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply




Related Posts

  • #371 NLGJA continues to transform how newsrooms cover LGBTQ issues
  • Journalist Laura Amico spoke to It's All Journalism Producer Michael O'Connell about the challenges of launching Homicide Watch D.C.#25 – Laura Amico turns passion for crime reporting into Homicide Watch D.C.
  • Journalism Education Roundtable#151 – Journalism education reimagined
  • #219 – What’s it like reporting in a war zone?

Learn How To Podcast

Turn Up the Volume equips journalism students, professionals, and others interested in producing audio content with the know-how necessary to launch a podcast for the first time. It addresses the unique challenges beginner podcasters face in producing professional level audio for online distribution. Beginners can learn how to handle the technical and conceptual challenges of launching, editing, and posting a podcast.

Order this new book by It’s All Journalism Producer Michael O’Connell.

Take a Survey, Earn Some Swag

If you haven’t heard, we created a five-question online survey to help us assemble a toolbox for journalists that we’ll share on our podcast and website. Please take a few minutes to share the tools that help make your job easier.

We’ve also just launched a new survey on how to improve our podcast. Let us know how we could do better.

To those people who complete one of our the surveys, we’ll be sending out a limited number of It’s All Journalism coffee mugs while supplies last. Show your support for good journalism by taking the survey and get a reward in return.

Help Support Our Podcast

Promoting good journalism is essential in a democracy. By donating to the It’s All Journalism Patreon page, you will help ensure that we continue producing the weekly podcast that focuses on good journalism. You’ll also help to boost us to the next level with live events and exclusive content. Donate here.

Sign Up for Our Weekly Newsletter

Latest Posts

  • 445. Investigative reporter exposes maid abuse in Beirut
  • 444. How Documented uses WhatsApp to reach its audience
  • Better News: Use Slack to host cultural conversations in your newsroom
  • 443. Tucson newspaper proves to be a vital source for the Latinx community
  • Top 10 podcast episodes of 2020

Copyright © 2021 · Pintercast Child Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in