Displaying items by tag: Dennis Hetzel

Once again, Ohio finds itself at the forefront of national politics and a key battleground state for the 2016 Presidential race. Because Ohio is rich in delegates and an opportunity to use the diverse state to hone a political message, 30 media organizations across the state are banding together to share stories and features with the hope of encourage more honest and civil debate and to keep Ohio's issues directly in front of the campaigns.

Rubber City Radio Group, which owns 1590 WAKR, 97.5 WONE and 94.9 WQMX, is part of a 30-member coalition agreeing to share, with attribution, stories and features involving substantive issues throughout the state. The list includes the Ohio Newspaper Association, Ohio Association of Broadcasters, and local media outlets such as the Akron Beacon Journal, Canton Repository and Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Two local universities are also part of the group. The University of Akron's Bliss Institute of Applied Politics is conducting polling on behalf of the effort and Kent State University's School of Journalism and Mass Communication are also involved.

The first story appearing on outlets throughout the state today stems from a poll and focus group conducted for the Akron Beacon Journal as part of it's ongoing Civility Project in conjunction with The Jefferson Foundation. The poll measures voter feeling on the election process and the roll mass media plays in stimulating public debate.

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(Dennis Hetzel, Executive Director, Ohio Newspaper Association) Memo from Ohio news media to the public: Message received.

You deserve better, more meaningful coverage of presidential elections. That's a particularly urgent challenge for Ohio's media outlets since the Buckeye State will again occupy the main stage in 2016.

With that in mind, representatives of more than 30 Ohio media outlets and organizations met Dec. 16 in Columbus and shared concerns that too much political coverage has devolved into reporting on the campaigns while the interests of citizens disappear in the discussion.

That problem is acute in Ohio, a key swing state where campaigns often spend more money than in any other state. The public gets pummeled by advertising, telephone calls, e-blasts, mailings, staged events and too much shallow reporting. Negative advertising -- often filled with half-truths at best -- bombards the airwaves, discouraging and annoying citizens.

Scant time remains to present the voices of Ohioans or push candidates to address relevant issues in meaningful detail.

If citizens turn to news media for informed coverage, they see journalists facing more challenges than ever, including diminished resources to deliver the kind of coverage that speaks to Ohio's 11 million people across several distinctly different regions.

So, the question we addressed at our meeting was this: Can Ohio's news media collaborate intelligently to provide better coverage so that people have a sense that they're being heard?

Citizens direct anger and frustration at all involved – the politicians, their consultants and the media. They feel marginalized, ignored, stereotyped and treated like they're stupid. That was clear during a remarkable October retreat hosted by the National Institute for Civil Discourse that involved elected officials, journalists and citizens. NICD has identified Ohio as particularly fertile territory for changing the way people talk about tough issues during divisive political campaigns.

The meeting grew out of a civility project in Akron in 2012 that explored the reasons citizens are so angered and frustrated – particularly in Ohio during national election cycles. In that project, the Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron, the Akron Beacon Journal, the Jefferson Center and the Akron faith community used polling, focus groups and forums to isolate the causes, much of which pointed back to media, negative advertising and politicians.

That led to the Columbus meeting. Here is a list of what the group hopes to accomplish:

• Polling on the issues instead of the horse race that asks Ohioans to help set the agenda for coverage

• Sharing interviews of people across the state and collaborating on stories that bring the issues most important to Ohio citizens to life.

• Collaborating with national media on projects exploring negative advertising, how and where it is created and how it affects Ohioans.

• Coordinated engagement projects with young people that encourage them to think about and express themselves on major issues.

• Providing news organizations with excellent background so reporters can ask better, tougher, more insightful questions to the candidates as they parachute into Ohio for campaign stops that otherwise would provide nearly meaningless sound bites.

There is much work to be done, but the goal is clear: By working together and working smarter, Ohio's media outlets can do a much better job of helping Ohio citizens decide who will be the next president of the United States.

Newspaper participants at the Dec. 16 meeting coordinated by the Ohio Newspaper Association and who expressed interest in the collaborative were The Dispatch; Akron Beacon Journal; Cincinnati Enquirer; The Blade of Toledo; Dayton Daily News; The Repository of Canton and Gatehouse Media; Gannett's Media Network of Central Ohio representing several dailies; Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky; The Lima News; The Daily Times & Community Commons of Portsmouth; The Courier of Jefferson; Ohio Valley Publishing of Gallipolis; The Courier of Findlay; and The Clyde Enterprise.

Broadcast participants included the Ohio Association of Broadcasters; Rubber City Radio Group WAKR/WONE-FM/WQMX Akron; WCMH-TV Columbus; WFIN/WKXA/WBUK Findlay; ABC6/Fox 28, Columbus; North American Broadcasting, Columbus; WOSU public media; and WBNS 10TV, Columbus.

The Kent State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication also was represented.

Dennis Hetzel is executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association and president of the Ohio Coalition for Open Government. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Doug Oplinger, managing editor of the Akron Beacon Journal, provided considerable assistance to this article.