There are multiple challenges that statehouse reporters face, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Executive Editor Greg Borowski said. First, there’s been an “erosion” of journalists covering the statehouse. Second, we’re in a time of “raw political polarization,” he said. Here’s what he shared with NPF Statehouse Fellows in Madison, Wisconsin.
“There’s been a lot of talk about the erosion of staffing at the statehouse.”
Why it matters.
“I don’t think the stakes could be any higher for what you’re doing. Even if you simply look at the issue of elections, and all the battles over voting, and voting rights, absentee ballots, drop boxes, access to the ballot, this 14th amendment issue that’s floating out there. These are all things that have real and direct consequences, and how effectively you cover them is going to make a real difference in what happens. That can’t be understated. For all the attention that will be paid in the 2024 election, … it’s going to come down to a handful of voters, in a handful of states, with a handful of reporters who are tasked with holding those officials accountable, explaining what’s happening, and providing information that those voters need to – to really put it bluntly – decide the fate of the country going forward. And some of those reporters are in this room.”
Ask yourself who you’re reporting for.
“Nobody wakes up in the morning and says, ‘I’m going to ignore policy, ignore the impact of what I’m writing about, ignore my audience and its needs, and focus just on the horse race.’ But it happens … [but] Who are we writing this story for? Is it for the people at the Capitol, our editors back in the newsroom, or someone clicking on your story …?”
Then ask, why is it important to tell, and why tell it now, he said.
There will be days that ‘really, really suck.’
“They will be long, and they’ll be hard. There’ll be days when that story you’ve worked on for a month shows up as a scoop in The New York Times. There’ll be days when no matter how clearly you wrote something, someone out there wants to distort it. There’ll be days one of your subjects or one of their allies puts you on blast on social media, and the insults and vitriol will just pile up and wear you down. There’ll be days when your editor demands another story, and then another story. … There’ll be days when you ask yourself if what you’re doing is important, if it really matters. … [I will] tell you just that. That we need you. This work is important. You are important, and you must keep at it. We all must keep at it.”
Access the full transcript here.
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