Eastern Kentucky newspapers provide poor coverage of county budgets

By Al Cross, Director, and Chas J. Hartman, Research Assistant
Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues

University of Kentucky

This research is supported by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

A survey of newspapers in the East Kentucky Coalfieldfound that the majority of them published only one or two articles about their county’s budgetduring the budget-adoption period in 2005, and some published no stories at all on the subject.

While the quality of news coverage is not necessarily a function of quantity, and budget situations differ widely among counties, as a whole the survey shows the need for closer media attention to local issues, particularly those that are defined by a government’s basic policy document – its budget.

It also suggests a need for instruction, guidance and background information for rural newspaper staffs, on which there is often a shortage of professional journalistic training, and fresh inspiration for editors, who have seen dozens of budgets come and go.

The survey found not one comprehensive story about a county budget and how the policy decisions being made might impact citizens of the county.

For example, the Middlesboro Daily News’ only budget article included a bullet-point item about the county budget on an inside page and the headline did not mention anything related to it.

But that was still better than the other paper in BellCounty, The Pineville Sun, which is published in the county seat. It reported nothing about the county budget.

Neither did the Troublesome Creek Times of Hindman, though KnottCounty was in financial difficulty and being managed at the time by a judge-executive who had been imprisoned for vote fraud.

Study methodology

InKentucky, counties operate on a July-to-June fiscal year, and must adopt a budget by June 30. Debate on the budget typically takes place in April and May, but often extends into June, and sometimes the deadline is missed, so the survey examined daily and weekly newspapers dated between April 1 and July 31, 2005. The definition of articles included news stories and editorials.

The East Kentucky Coalfield was selected as the study area because it is a major focus of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues. The survey included the field’s major coal-producing counties, but also ranged north to Ashland, to include an additional daily newspaper, in addition to the dailies in Middlesboro and Harlan, which is a minimal daily, publishing four days a week.

Newspapers were obtained from the Young Library at the University of Kentucky and, in cases where papers do not send copies to the library, by traveling to the papers’ offices.

Major findings

In most cases, the 15 newspapers chose to report county budget information as a small part of larger stories recapping meetings of the fiscal court, Kentucky’s version of a county commission.

No more than two articles that mentioned the county budget appeared in the Ashland Daily Independent, the Middlesboro Daily News, the Harlan Daily Enterprise, the Appalachian News-Expressof Pikeville, the Floyd County Times (both published three times weekly),the Barbourville Mountain Advocate, The Hazard Herald, the Paintsville Herald, and the Mountain Eagleof Whitesburg.

The Mountain Eagle’s two budget stories ran at the top right of its first page, one 23-inch story with the headline “County must cut $1.1 million in coal-tax projects” andone 22-inch story with the headline “Fiscal court OK’s budget, list priorities.”

The latter headline and story are worth noting, because they reminded the citizens of Letcher County that a budget is a priority list – what the Fiscal Court thinks is important and how much the judge-executive and magistrates are willing to spend on it.

The most extensive budget coverage, though not on a per-county basis, was found in the Big Sandy News, which covers five counties. It published five articles, two each on the budgets of MartinCounty and Lawrence counties, and one on MagoffinCounty’s. The Big Sandy News is based in Louisa in LawrenceCounty, but has reporters in Martin, Johnson and Floyd counties. It also coversMagoffinCounty.

It should be noted that some items in the Big Sandy News and Salyersville Independent were no more than a rundown of financial figures. (See Detailed Data, below.)

The Manchester Enterprise of Clay County, the Mountain Citizen of Inez in MartinCounty and the Salyersville Independent in MagoffinCounty each ran three budget articles.

Conflict creates news

As often happens during the budget discussions, disputes between fiscal courts and judge-executives on the one hand, and other elected county officials on the other, prompted news coverage – in this case by the Barbourville Mountain Advocate and the Mountain Citizen, about sheriffs, and to a lesser degree in The Manchester Enterprise about the Clay County attorney.

The Advocate, of KnoxCounty, wrote about how transporting juveniles to a detention center strains the budget, and devoted an entire 10-column-inch story to how lack of funds prevented the county from hiring more sheriff’s deputies.

The Mountain Citizen also wrote a 10-inch story about the sheriff’s department requesting money for more deputy hires, a frequent topic in Kentucky county budget debates. However, subsequent stories failed to provide the outcome of the debate.

Only four newspapers ran at least one article that devoted 12or more column inches to a county budget. Those were the Big Sandy News, the Mountain Citizen, The Mountain Eagle and the Salyersville Independent. Following is a rundown of those articles.

The Salyersville Independent’s first story started at the bottom of its front page with the headline “Budget Passes First Reading; Includes Occupational Tax” and ran 20 inches. The follow-up story ran in the same spot with the headline “Recycling Center Reopens” and the sub-headline “Budget Passes 2ndReading.” A third article ran as the banner lead story on the front page with the headline “State Audit Cites County Deficit Concerns.”

The Mountain Citizen’s first budget article ran at the bottom left corner of its front page with the headline “Sheriff asks for money to hire three deputies.” The next story ran above the fold on the front page with the headline “Fiscal court to hold first reading of budget.” The final story started at the bottom right corner of the front page with the headline “Court holds first reading of budget” and ran 17 inches.

In the Big Sandy News, the largest budget stores were 18 inches from Martin County, on the front of the B Section; and Magoffin County, 8 inches in the same spot, with a headline “Magoffin sticks with tax.”

The other budget coverage in the Big Sandy was much lighter. A second Martin County story and an initial Lawrence County story did not mention thebudget in the headlines, and did not get to the subject until the continuation to an inside page, where readership is generally much less than that of the front page. The fifth story ran on the front page with the headline “LawrenceCounty court approves new budget,” but was only 4 inches long.

Other weekly papers

The remaining nine newspapers that actually had stories mentioning the county budget often included only a couple of column inches to the subject.

The Barbourville Mountain Advocate’s first story ran above the fold on the front page with the headline “Juveniles strain county budget.” Its second story ran below the fold on the front page with the headline “County splits decision on hiring two additional sheriff’s deputies.”

All three of The Manchester Enterprise’s stories ran on inside pages. The first headline was “Bishop, Garrison differ on office space issue,” about a disagreement between the county attorney and judge-executive. The second story appeared in the “News In Brief” column with the headline “Fiscal Court presented with draft budget.” The third article’s headline read “Court to continue rent payments to Bishop,” thus reporting that the dispute was resolved in the county attorney’s favor.

Both of the Paintsville Herald’s stories that mentioned the JohnsonCounty budget appeared on the front page, but neither headline mentioned anything budget related.

The Hazard Herald’s only story on the PerryCounty budget ran at the bottom right corner of its front page with the headline “County passes first reading of budget.”

Thrice-weekly papers

The Floyd County Times’ only budget story ran at the bottom right corner of the front page with the headline “Fiscal court to borrow $750,000.”

The Appalachian News-Express’ only PikeCounty budget story ran at the bottom center of the front page with the headline “Fiscal Court approves $1 million grant, OK’s budget.”

Daily papers

The first Harlan Daily Enterprise story just contained a bullet point mention on a jump page. A follow-up ran down the far left column of the front page with the headline “‘Elevated’ budget approved by court.”

The Ashland Daily Independent, which covers adjoining Greenup, Carter and Lawrence counties in addition to its home BoydCounty, reported its local county budget as part of a fiscal-court story on a jump page. Its only other budget story, “Lawrence County Fiscal Court approves budget,” ran at the bottom center of the front page.

Detailed Data

Appalachian News-Express (PikeCounty):

Total Articles Found – 1

Dates of Articles Found – 6/8/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 1 (6/8/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – 7 column inches (6/8/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

“In other Fiscal Court news, magistrates voted to pass the 2005-2006 county budget. The budget for the 2005-2006 fiscal year is $48.3 million.” Four paragraphs follow on the health care portion of the budget.

Ashland Daily Independent (BoydCounty):

Total Articles Found – 2

Dates of Articles Found – 6/8/05, 6/21/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 1 (6/21/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – 1 column inch (6/8/05), 9 column inches (6/21/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

One article’s only mention of county budget was “Meeting Tuesday, members of Boyd County Fiscal Court took action on some routine court business including issues regarding the county budget and maintenance of courthouse offices.”

The second article reported that the Lawrence County Fiscal Court gave final approval to its budget. This article presented a total budget dollar amount and introduced some items covered in the budget. It did not describe any items at length.

BarbourvilleMountain Advocate (KnoxCounty):

Total Articles Found – 2

Dates of Articles Found –6/30/05, 7/14/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 2 (6/30/05, 7/14/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – 6 column inches (6/30/05), 10 column inches (7/14/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The first article was a 7-paragraph story on how juveniles are straining KnoxCounty’s budget, more specifically how transporting juveniles to a detention center is costing the county since the regular detention center shut down. The second article talks about the fiscal court voting down the hiring of more sheriff’s deputies because more money would have to come out of the county budget.

Legals – 2 (6/2/05, 6/30/05)

Big Sandy News (LawrenceCounty):

Total Articles Found – 5

Dates of Articles Found – 4/8/05, 5/4/05, 6/1/05, 6/22/05, 6/24/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 1 (6/1/05)

Length of County Budget Mentions – 18 column inches (4/8/05), 8 column inches (5/4/05), 1 column inch (6/1/05), 4 column inches (6/22/05), 4 column inches (6/24/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The first article dealt with the Martin County Fiscal Court approving budgets for the sheriff’s department and soil conservation district. The second article dealt with the Magoffin County Fiscal Court approving the 2005-2006 budget proposal. The third article contained one paragraph mentioning that the Martin County Fiscal Court was planning to hold a budget workshop.

The fourth article featured three paragraphs about the Lawrence County Fiscal Court giving final approval to its budget. The fifth article was just four paragraphs explaining that budget with big numbers.

Floyd CountyTimes:

Total Articles Found – 1

Dates of Articles Found –7/20/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 1 (7/20/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions –9 column inches (7/21/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The article states that the Floyd County Fiscal Court will borrow $750,000 because of budget shortfalls, but never mentions whether second reading was approved.

Legals – 1 (6/10/05)

Harlan Daily Enterprise (HarlanCounty):

Total Articles Found – 2

Dates of Articles Found –6/17/05, 6/24/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 2 (6/17/05, 6/24/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – 1 column inch (6/17/05), 11 column inches (6/24/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The first article’s very last paragraph mentions that work on the county budget continues. The second article leads with “After weeks of planning and wrangling, the Harlan County Fiscal Court approved a new $20 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year.” Ten paragraphs follow with a brief summary of the budget.

Legals – 2 (6/15/05, 6/30/05)

The Hazard Herald (PerryCounty):

Total Articles Found – 1

Dates of Articles Found – 5/25/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 1 (5/25/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – 7 column inches (5/25/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The article has two paragraphs stating that the Perry County Fiscal Court approved first reading of its budget, followed by a “partial list of funding appropriations” with eight items listed.

Legals –1 (6/8/05)

The ManchesterEnterprise (ClayCounty):

Total Articles Found – 3

Dates of Articles Found – 4/28/05, 5/5/05, 5/19/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 0

Length of CountyBudget Mentions –1 column inch (4/28/05), 2 column inches (5/5/05), 2 column inches (5/19/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The first article debates whether the fiscal court should continue paying rent for the county attorney’s office with money allocated in the county budget. The second article is a three-paragraph brief about the fiscal court receiving the draft budget. The third article is a follow-up to the county attorney story and says the court will pay rent.

Middlesboro Daily News (BellCounty):

Total Articles Found – 1

Dates of Articles Found –6/15/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 1 (6/15/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – .25 column inch (6/15/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The article has a one-sentence paragraph at the end that states, “Approved second reading of Fiscal Court budget 2005-2006.”

Legals – 2 (5/30/05, 6/16/06)

Mountain Citizen (MartinCounty):

Total Articles Found – 3

Dates of Articles Found – 6/2/05, 6/8/05, 6/15/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 3 (6/2/05, 6/8/05, 6/15/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – 10 column inches (6/2/05), 8 column inches (6/8/05), 17 column inches (6/15/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The first article talks about MartinCounty’s sheriff requesting more money in his budget to hire three deputies. The second article is a preview of an upcoming meeting to hold first reading of the budget and consider the sheriff’s request. The third article is a recap of the first reading, but it fails to mention the outcome of the sheriff’s request.

Legals – 3 (6/15/05, 6/22/05, 7/6/05)

Mountain Eagle (LetcherCounty):

Total Articles Found – 2

Dates of Articles Found – 5/11/05, 6/15/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 2 (5/11/05, 6/15/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – 22 column inches (5/11/05), 23 column inches (6/15/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The first article recaps the fiscal court’s first reading of the budget and talks about the county’s priorities. Minor budget changes were explained and quotes described areas under financial strain. The second article talks about an expected shortfall of $1.1 million in coal-tax projects. Since the budget had already been sent to the state for approval, the fiscal court planned to hold a special meeting concerning necessary budget changes.

Legals – 1 (6/1/05)

Paintsville Herald (JohnsonCounty):

Total Articles Found – 2

Dates of Articles Found – 4/13/05, 6/15/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 2 (4/13/05, 6/15/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions –1 column inch (4/13/05), 9 column inches (6/15/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The first article had two paragraphs about fiscal court holding first reading of the budget and money being designated for road resurfacing. The second article contained a small mention of the court holding second reading of the budget.

Pineville Sun (BellCounty):

Total Articles Found – 0

Dates of Articles Found – N/A

Number of Front Page Articles – N/A

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – N/A

Synopsis of Articles Found – N/A

The Salyersville Independent (MagoffinCounty):

Total Articles Found – 3

Dates of Articles Found –5/5/05, 5/19/05, 6/23/05

Number of Front Page Articles – 3 (5/5/05, 5/19/05, 6/23/05)

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – 20 column inches (5/5/05), 8 column inches (5/19/05), 1 column inch (6/23/05)

Synopsis of Articles Found –

The first article, interestingly enough, coincided with publication of the legal and says the fiscal court just conducted first reading of the budget. The second article included a few paragraphs about the fiscal court conducting second reading of the budget. Finally, the third article focuses on a state audit that cited several cases of overspending.

Legals – 1 (5/5/05)

Troublesome Creek Times (KnottCounty):

Total Articles Found – 0

Dates of Articles Found – N/A

Number of Front Page Articles – N/A

Length of CountyBudget Mentions – N/A

Synopsis of Articles Found – N/A