Thursday, May 25, 2006

Magazine details CNHI reporting project

The recent series on gambling featured in the Joplin Globe is the first in a company effort to pool its resources and work on major projects, according to an article in Editor & Publisher, the newspaper industry magazine.
"More recently," the article said, "the news service launched a new program that takes reporters from some of the chain's newspapers for a month-long 'fellowship,' during which they receive multi-media training and produce a special series on a national topic for use by each paper. Ten reporters from nine CNHI papers have been chosen for the program, which will result in 10 different projects and series.
My understanding is that the first batch of reporters did not include one from the Globe, but that will take place in the near future.
As for the gambling series, it did make for fascinating reading, but it cried out for local sidebars. How has gambling affected the four-state area? Does the money it puts into schools and other governmental entities make up for the damage it has done to lives? Does it end up costing more because of the crime and other problems associated with it? And how about the incredible amount of money being poured into the campaign coffers of our local politicians and state and district party committees by gambling interests?
Gambling would seem to be an area that would be fertile for some Globe investigative reporting.

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