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I think often of how reporters are told to work their way up in newsrooms by starting out on a night cops shift/covering police. Breaking news is seen as an entry level, easy to do gig. But it's not. Nor is it a throwaway beat, it's an integral part of community coverage.
Why do many newsrooms treat it as if it doesn't require a certain level of expertise? Expertise that really is required on all fronts: Not just in learning how to cover a police department but more specifically the community that the police department is supposed to serve.
It's ingrained in reporters to develop police sourcing. Makes sense to a degree. But what if we spent as much effort developing sourcing within the community, too? Police coverage isn't just covering the institution itself but rather its interactions with the community.
By making it the first gateway into reporting, we expose readers to potential errors, missteps in coverage I.E. jargon heavy, one-sided stories. So much of our industry's reckoning is focused inwardly. What about the community trust that's been destroyed because of this?
I covered crime years ago in Detroit. I'd go into neighborhoods & residents were sometimes wary to talk until they realized I grew up there, too. They told me they weren't used to reporters being from that part of the city & they only saw the media when something bad happened.
