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Newspapers team up on political coverage
From staff reports
Twelve daily newspapers have announced plans to pool their resources in a partnership that will provide comprehensive coverage of the Georgia political scene.
Just in time for a primary season with contested races in both parties for governor, attorney general and other statewide offices, the newspapers will be teaming up to provide deep, shared reporting to a readership that exceeds 2.2 million on Sundays through the Georgia Newspaper Partnership.
Members are the Athens Banner-Herald, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Augusta Chronicle, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Georgia Times-Union, The Macon Telegraph, Rome News-Tribune, Savannah Morning News, Statesboro Herald, The Times of Gainesville and The Valdosta Daily Times.
"This partnership helps put an end to the idea that there are two Georgias," said Bert Roughton Jr., managing editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "The work that these partner newspapers do will go a long way toward providing the state's voters a more unified voice."
Over the next several months the partnership will deliver coverage of the gubernatorial and congressional races and support three statewide polls conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, the only large-scale nonpartisan polling effort in the state, according The AJC. The first polling is scheduled to appear exclusively in the newspapers on July 11.
"We opted to be part of this consortium of newspapers because we feel it is important for voters to have access to as much information on candidates and issues as possible," said Charlotte Atkins, editor of the Rome News-Tribune. "The editors of several newspapers decided we could do that more thoroughly by sharing our elections coverage."
Atkins said the partnership would provide a wider view of the candidates as they campaign. "This way readers can compare what a candidate said in Savannah with what he said in Rome and elsewhere," she said. "It will make candidates more accountable to voters. We feel strongly this is an added value for Rome News-Tribune readers."
"As a small newspaper in southeast Georgia with very limited resources, the Georgia Newspaper Partnership will allow us to give our readers much more in-depth coverage of the governor's race and every statewide race than we could possibly have produced on our own," said Jim Healy, executive editor of the Statesboro Herald. "Also, it will hold candidates much more accountable than in the past."
The AJC also announced its election coverage plans, which call for production of a Voters Guide with personalized ballots, in-depth background checks of people seeking office and a new effort called PolitiFact Georgia, a truth-testing system where claims made by candidates are submitted to fact-checking tests and graded for accuracy.
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Rome News-Tribune |
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