HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — In our newsroom, we have producers, photojournalists, reporters and digital staff generating content around the clock.
Have you ever wondered how we make the soup of local broadcast journalism? One of our leaders participated in a journalism panel to answer the public's pressing questions surrounding newsroom decision-making.
On Wednesday, Feb. 8, our Vice President and General Manager, Adam Chase was part of a panel entitled "Declining Local Journalism and the Risk to Democracy."
The event, sponsored by the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, was a public forum with an audience that asked the media leaders sitting on the panel plenty of questions about the current landscape of local news.
The event was organized with the intent to help the public better understand the connection between local news and decisions made by elected officials and their constituents.
Adam explained that we set a high bar for ourselves every day to earn your trust.
"Speaking of democracy and trust, one thing that we have to – have to - be better at every day is bias," said Adam. "Understanding we all have our own biases, understanding that my/our role in the world isn’t to sway you left or right. My role is to give you information and news. Your role is to consume that and make your own decision."
He also explained that our newsroom is guided by internal checks and balances, where any member of the team can question and challenge the way content is written to push the daily goal of balance.
"If you can tell we sit on left or right, we have not done our job, and that is something we talk about every day we try to have more involvement in the newsroom understanding where people sit, and having open conversations about ‘Hey, I think our story may lean left, hey I think your story [leans] right because of these couple of words, how can we do a better job going right down the middle?'" said Adam.
Adam also shared something we hope you have noticed: We're providing more in-depth reporting and investigative reports that give viewers more information about this place we call home.
And our best source is you! Share your story ideas with us right here on WTKR.com.
