“We all LOVE the Immokalee Bulletin at The Shelter for Abused Women & Children, Immokalee Outreach Office. Not only does it provide our community with information about events that happened or future events, we get to read about local heroes. Neither the Naples Daily News nor the News-Press can provide that 'hometown' news that the Bulletin does. Thank you so much.” Mary Ann Green/Collier County Shelter for Abused Women & Children
“I am exceptionally pleased with
our Collier County Health Department’s relationship with you and the Immokalee Bulletin. We feel the Bulletin is the primary source of media information for residents and visitors to Immokalee. Our public health messages are usually very important messages dealing with the health and safety of our community; knowing the Bulletin is always willing to help us share our messages is invaluable to us in public health! Thank you for your ongoing service to our community!” Deb Millsap, Director of Nutrition/Health Education Collier County Health DepartmentThe above quotes give testament to the vibrant and active role the Immokalee Bulletin plays in the life of this rural southwest Florida community. Our paper is a 3,500 circulation free weekly serving this unique agricultural community on the edge of the Everglades and 35 miles inland from the affluent city of Naples. Due to its remote location and limited economic base, we have learned that our old models of full time staff in the community are not possible in Immokalee. In fact, it has been quite some time since we have had any employees actually stationed in Immokalee. Yet, as seen in the comments above, we are producing a news product that is vital and useful to the community. How do we do it?
The piece below by Dee Hamilton (along with editor Katrina Elsken) tells how, and offers some lessons for covering communities remotely. Dee works in Okeechobee, over 100 miles from Immokalee, but keeps in close touch with community sources and contacts via email and phones. My perception is that it works very well. In my visits to Immokalee, I find that some folks in the community actually assume Dee actually is in the community since she is so dialed into what’s going on.
Working with Caloosa Belle news editor Patty Brant who is stationed 30 miles from Immokalee, Dee proves that that you don’t always have to be physically present in a community to be ‘high touch’. In a time when we are actively searching for more sustainable journalistic models, there are some things emerging from our Immokalee experience that we can hopefully all take away. Read on.
Tom Byrd
Florida VP
How to Influence Contacts and Embrace a Community
Getting new contacts – and keeping them
By Dee Hamilton
INI FL News Department
Immokalee Bulletin editorial desk
The Immokalee Bulletin looks like many other weekly newspapers. The front page usually features a photo of a local event -- photos that include lots of faces are popular page one items. The inside pages are packed with local news and photos.
What's unusual about the Immokalee Bulletin is that many weeks the entire paper is filled by community submissions. The newspaper has no editorial staff on site. Yet, despite the fact the Immokalee Bulletin does not have a local office and does not have any onsite staffers, the people of Immokalee embrace it as "their" newspaper.
Getting people to respond to requests for submitted materials is a tricky task. People are busy with work, school and other responsibilities and everyone counts on "the other guy" to do it.
Nearly every agency, organization and club has some need to "get the word out" at one time or another. The best way to do that is to show people (readers) what they missed. Some organization funding counts heavily on attendance to events or functions and letting their local news publication know about it can help.
Well written articles speak to a local audience when describing what an organization can do for a small community, but photos speak loudly.
The question is, "How to get them to send them in?" The most obvious answer is to just, ASK. Once isn't enough. Ask often.
Key people in any community can really help get the ball rolling. Local club and business members are for the most part, involved in their local community. They stay active in volunteer organizations, school events, civic committees and even local festivals, fairs, etc. There is always someone at every event and club meeting with a camera and/or taking notes.
Email is the choice of communication these days and just like the days of using the phone to make contacts, people are waiting for a return phone call. Return emails just the same.
The copy desk in Okeechobee first started working on the Immokalee Bulletin in May 2006.
After nearly 15,000 emails, sent out since May 12, 2006 to anyone submitting photos, stories, news of events, etc., we've focused on communication, consistent follow up, appreciation and respect.
COMMUNICATION: If you want people to send in local news, you have to ask. Local members of the key organizations including: Rotary, Kiwanis, School Board, Churches, etc. within the local area can be great contacts. Town and county Web sites can be a great help. We searched the internet for web site for or about Immokalee and compiled a list of email addresses. We called all known community contacts, those who had previously submitted news to the paper and asked for their email information, and for that of any other community organizations they might know. Then we "shot-gunned" emails to every address we could find, asking for submissions to the Immokalee Bulletin.
CONSISTENT FOLLOW UP: Every email from a community contributor must be answered. Sometimes we respond with follow-up questions. Sometimes it's simply a "thanks!"Every response also includes a request for more submissions.
APPRECIATION: People who take the trouble to submit news want to know that you appreciate it and that you will use it.
When emails are received, answer every single one and invite them to submit more for future editions. Be sure to let readers know that the time that they took to submit something is appreciated. And...if you say that something will be used, be prepared to use it in a timely manner. Trust of a contact can be either lost or strengthened. People just want to know if you received whatever it was that they took the time to submit. Sometimes just a simple "Thank you" is enough, however, depending on what is sent in, a simple request for more will bring on lots of great input for current and future editions.
If for some reason you can't use what they send, let them know why. For example, "Thank you for the photos. However, the resolution is too low to reproduce well in the newspaper. Can you please resend at a resolution of at least 180 dpi?" Developing good, dependable local contacts takes consistent follow up. Without annoying your contacts, a simple "All Call" for local stories, photos, etc. by way of email, invites the community to make the paper their own. Let anyone submitting material know that their story or photo are always welcome, especially when replying to an email.
Many emails that we get have contact information at the bottom of them, especially if they are from a local government office, school or organization officer. Record this information from the emails along with a note on what they send in (ie. photos, events, etc.) to develop a resources file. Although editorial is technically not a position of "sales," we do have to help in encouraging community members including local business owners, to believe in what we deliver. That’s where only quality input comes in.
Small communities such as we service, seem to be more than happy to hand in photos and stories that they write. We just need to "ask" for them.
Communication with sources is also an opportunity to promote our website. Each time you reply to an email, remind them they can post their news online.
With the new compact format, a recent concern is having room for everything. It would be easy to fill up a page with one long item. The editor's job is to provide a balance of news. Submitted items must often be edited down to the essential information so that a greater variety of items can be in the paper. When you have to shorten an item for the paper, remind the sender that Post Your News on newszap.com does not have the same space limitations. You can post as much as you want on Post Your News.
RESPECT: Our community contributors help us because they care about their community. It is important that we respect them enough to care too, and to give the paper the same care and consideration that we give papers in larger communities.
Executive Editor, Katrina Elsken also contributed to this article
