Missouri School of Journalism
Modeling Non-crisis International Reporting
Columbia, Missouri’s Vietnamese Community
Ally McEntire, Evan Townsend & J. Evan Arnold
Journalism 4992 Reporting, Editing & Marketing Converged Media
Prof. Mike McKean & Prof. Lynda Kraxberger
Friday, May 16, 2014
Table of Contents
I. Executive Summary
i. Introduction, goals
i. Aggregated research
ii. What we did (and will do)
iii. Conclusions drawn
II. Methods; A Case Study
A. Community research
B. Content Analysis
C. Survey
III. Project Components
A. Overview
B. What’s Vietnam to a Missourian: infographic
C.Raising a Tiger: Vox-style video script
D. Vietnamese family returns home: Text piece and photo essay
E. Vietnam Veterans in new Context: broadcast-style video script
F. Continuation
IV. Conclusion
A. SWOT Analysis
B. Takeaways
V. Supplementary material
I. Executive Summary
Our team of three journalism students has spent the last semester trying to create and implement a plan to solve the problem of lack of non-crisis international reporting. We planned to challenge ourselves to choose one local, under-reported, foreign-born community; find how that community was covered in local news; establish the community’s opinions about coverage and then fill in what was missing. We wanted to do this in order to create a case study for global newsrooms. Many communities have foreign-born populations that go unrecognized by media organizations due often to lack of awareness, immersion and resources. The team set out to prove that this coverage can be filled in despite these shortcomings.
We knew that there was more information available about this topic beside our initial hunch, so we set about finding the previous research that had been done on the topic. Our purpose for this research was to discover what is already known about the subject, and to see what solutions, if any, had been proposed. There was a substantial amount of literature about international reporting in general, but we were able to pull three substantial conclusions from our review of the material.
First, international news is bad news. The frequency of international news is consistently higher in times of war and lower at times of peace (Allen and Hamilton 2010, Jones and Vliegenthart 2013). Of the topics covered, international news was most likely to be about conflict, scandal, and crime (Shaw, 2001). Second, it was expensive. Media producers were reluctant to fund international reporting because it had a relatively high cost with no direct guarantee of payoff. This risk deterred outlets from pursuing many stories (Aalberg et. al). Third and most importantly, through our research we found that there’s a disconnect between media producers and consumers. For example, Tai and Chang published a study in which they asked both editors and readers to indicate whether they thought an international story was newsworthy. They found that the opinions of the two groups overlapped on less than a third of the stories, and that audiences consistently prefered positive news to negative. Of this, the pair write “In the world of global news, audiences and journalists do not see eye to eye as to what constitutes the most important stories of the year, particularly from a long-term point of views. The longitudinal pattern offers little support for the agenda-setting function of the mass media as far as the salience of news and audience attention are concerned.” This sentiment is mirrored in another study by Hargrove and Stemple who conducted a survey of more than 1,000 Americans. They asked respondents to indicate what kind of international news they are interested in. Of the four categories, they had the least interest in accidents and disaster at 29% interest. In the middle were politics/government and economics. The category with the highest rate, at 45% interest, was stories about ordinary people. A full annotated bibliography, see page 23.
Through our research we reaffirmed the need for non-negative international reporting with depth, that is inexpensive, and fulfills audiences’ true interests in international stories. We believed that all three of these could be accomplished through reporting on local international news. While it may not be international news in the traditional since, we believed that this was one of its strengths. As we have already shown, international news as it currently stands is lacking in many areas, so this category-challenging approach could revitalize it in a way that traditional international news cannot. Because local news about international communities is more than just bad news, it is cheaper and easier to produce than traditional international news, and because it fulfills an audience desire for positive news about ordinary people, it addresses all three of the primary needs described earlier.
After completing our initial research, the goal of our project was to create a case study that could serve as a model for newsrooms interested in doing their own ‘international reporting’ within their own communities. In other words, we hoped to blend traditional international reporting with traditional local reporting by actively seeking out stories about a foreign-born population in our own community. In order to do so, we did a content analysis that looked at coverage of Boone County’s top five foreign-born populations (China, Korea, India, Mexico and Vietnam, respectively) in the Columbia Daily Tribune. Our findings indicated the Vietnamese community was the least covered and that stories the mentioned Vietnam were often not specific to the Columbia community. We then created a questionnaire that we sent out to the Vietnamese community aimed at discovering their media consumption habits, their opinions about coverage of Vietnam by local media outlets and what kind of coverage they would like to see.
From there, we began our reporting. In total, we completed one infographic, two video pieces and a text piece with accompanying photos. Story topics ranged from Vietnamese perspectives on the Vietnam War to the struggles and triumphs of daily life for Vietnamese families living in Columbia. Our project will continue with two more stories and a follow-up survey that expands upon our initial questionnaire.
From our case study, we were able to determine that there is indeed a need for reporting on foreign born communities, because there is a wealth of stories waiting to be told that often go unnoticed. There were obstacles, of course—we particularly struggled with language barriers and gaining access to the community—but stories like these are much more accessible to newsrooms interested in doing their own international reporting than sending reporters abroad. These stories have depth and integrity and provide a crucial insight into a subset of the broader community that everyone can benefit from—foreign born communities can see themselves represented in local media where they are often absent and the larger community is given an opportunity to learn about their neighbors.
II. Methods; A Case Study
Before we could select a community, we had to know from which countries the foreign-born communities in Boone County emigrated. To do this we used the American Community Survey database to look up the numbers for foreign-born populations. The top five communities were China, 1,727 people; Korea, 875 citizens; India, 577; Mexico, 571; and Vietnam, 488. From this we were inclined to choose Vietnam for the reasons that we, as a group, felt we had heard the least about this community in local media. This was also the community we knew the least about in general, which proved to be a somewhat challenging aspect. Based on this perception, we conducted a content analysis in order to confirm or deny what we predicted.
To do the content analysis, we chose The Columbia Daily Tribune, for their stronger community emphasis in comparison to The Missourian or The Maneater. The Tribune had a less-limited paywall and so we were able to read stories to determine the significance of stories on communities. We also found that their archive and search capabilities were stronger than local media companies, including KOMU. Since the content was also text-based and not video, it was simpler to quickly separate significant stories from irrelevant ones. In the Tribune we found 75 stories between December 2013 and February 2014 total for all 5 largest foreign-born populations. They ranged from local and relevant to distant and insignificant. Mexico had the largest amount of coverage with 23 stories, making up 31 percent of the foreign-born population coverage. They also had the most local, non-wire, stories. Korea was featured in 22 stories. This is a 29 percent coverage compared to the other four nationalities. China, whose population in Boone County is highest of the five examined, received 17 percent of the foreign-born population coverage with 13 stories. 11 stories covered India in some manner: 14 percent of the foreign-born population coverage. The least covered country was Vietnam, as the group had suspected, with 8 percent coverage of the top five. This confirmed what we had predicted and we were able to choose Vietnam as our country of focus with confidence we were filling a gap.
After choosing the community we wanted to cover, our first step was to create a questionnaire for the community. This would allow us to gain a foundational knowledge of the community before we began reporting, and would serve primarily to gather qualitative information. We had hoped for responses from a significant portion of the community. This questionnaire was for our own purposes primarily, but it also served to let the Vietnamese community know of our existence and of our intent. The kinds of questions we asked were about general information about the community, media consumption habits, their perception of Vietnam in the news, and their basic demographic information.
A total of 18 people responded to the survey, which is less than we had hoped. 18 people is only 4% of the 448 Vietnamese living in Columbia, far too small a response to draw any significant conclusions. A few trends started to emerge, however. For example, all but two respondents indicated they felt Vietnam did not receive enough coverage in the news. Our own findings also coincided with the previous research we had done in which audience members want positive news about ordinary people. We asked the question “What kind of stories would you like to see covered in your community?” and got several responses, including the following:
“Activities. Achievement. Culture. Food. Music.”
“Cultural events, profiles of community members, philanthropic events”
“How we help each others and build a close and supportive community”
Analyzing the responses we see that a few of the words that most commonly appear are “cultural,” “community,” “traditional,” “events,” “students,” and “children.”
III. Project Components
The components of our project, as it currently stands, are an infographic, two video pieces and a text piece with accompanying photos. We chose a diverse range of media so that newsrooms of all kinds can see examples of our stories, although all can be published online as one cohesive package. The subjects of our stories were everyday individuals—exactly the kind of people our research told us audiences are most interested in and exactly the kind of people that comprise Columbia’ Vietnamese community. Two more stories are in progress.
The first of our components was an infographic. It can be viewed by clicking here (Supplement 3: This infographic is intended to be shared on social media, similar to projects that have been done for the Outreach team at the Columbia Missourian, for example. It is a long, vertical graphic ideal for scrolling. This graphic would serve as an introduction to the project as a whole by answer the question “Why should we care?” Since it will be on social media, it will also get people talking about the project and lead them back to our other components. The infographic begins by explaining its purpose, then moves to a comparison of Vietnam and Missouri by population and landmass. Next, it talks about Vietnamese Americans, including the region where they are currently living and their country of origin. Final it talks specifically about the number and location of Vietnamese Missourians. After working with this component, we learned its strengths are that it is visual and easy to read. It’s colorful and simple, so readers will quickly and easily be attracted to it because it doesn’t take much time investment to understand. It’s also versatile. Since it is designed to be shared on social media, any news outlet can publish it regardless of whether their a magazine, print, broadcast, or online establishment. It’s weaknesses however are that it lacks depth. It doesn’t tell a story as much as any of the other components do. As such, it also relies on the other components of the story. This graphic wouldn’t have much purpose without the other components, so it doesn’t work well as a standalone piece.
To find what became the text piece (Supplement 4) and photo essay (photos: contact was made with the Vietnam Institute on the University of Missouri campus. Though this was most likely to produce sources associated with the university, it was a valuable resource that led to other information and sourcing down the road. Parents Cuong Nguyen and Thi Ho are planning on returning to their native country of Vietnam and have to make the difficult decision to split up their family. Their two daughters, Dzung and Thao, are very close but the family decided Dzung would be better served to continue her American education while Thao comes home with them. This story allowed in-depth reporting that required multiple visits. The story was also very visual so a photo essay was chosen to highlight these aspects. Instead of a video, the photo essay is able to capture specific moments and activities that are meant to highlight specific things that vary from the Vietnamese culture. More information is provided in the captions to illustrate these differences. This story proved challenging in a couple of ways. Language created a barrier between reporter and the parents. Often the parents would defer to their children to explain and verbalize an answer to a particular question. This is problematic because with quotes only from the children, the story appears to lack emotion and authority through the main figures in the daughters’ lives from an audience perspective without that piece of context. The challenge of invasion was also present. Multiple trips to activities and the family home helped with immersion, but at a point there existed a feeling of obligation. Because the family had already agreed to the story, they may have felt obligated to continue it. This may or may not have changed their attitude and answers in some situations, especially towards the end. The issue of timeliness also exists. The family does not leave until the summer of 2015, making the story seem less urgent, even though paperwork like obtaining a visa often takes a long time. Alongside these disadvantages, though, were positive aspects of the story. Everyone involved was very cooperative. Working with Grant Elementary school to get access to Thao’s class, joining Dzung for her swim team banquet and speaking with the soon-to-be host family were all made very simple. The visual elements of the story made it easy to choose a photo essay as one component to the story. Third, the use of education and immigration data supplemented the story with some of the authority it lacked in human voice. The story was created with The Missourian or The Columbia Daily Tribune in mind and can be pitched to them as a stand-alone text piece and photo essay, separate from the rest of the components of this project, if necessary.
The third of our components was a video piece called “Raising a Tiger.” It can be viewed here (Supplement 5: The piece is a soft feature with a magazine style approach. At about three minutes long and with no voice over, this piece is similar to what you might see produced for a publication like Vox. The story centers around a young Vietnamese family in Columbia— a mother facing impending graduation with her PhD, a father who is still trying to learn the American language and culture, and a their three-year-old son who was born here in the States. The son, whom the parents named Mizzou, is the focus of the story. The piece tells the story of his struggle with the language, and his conflicting identities as American and Vietnamese. What we learned from this piece is that kids are cute and fun no matter what their language or country of origin. Mizzou made this story enjoyable to create and watch. It also directly meets audience wants. This story is positive and about “ordinary people.” “Children” was also one of the most common words mentioned in survey responses to the question “What kind of stories would you like to see covered in your community?” Like with the other pieces, one of the disadvantages was the language barrier. Neither of the parents spoke English as their first language, and it made it difficult to get concise soundbites that are easy to tell the story. As a result, a lot of work had to be done in the editing process to tighten up the quotes. Subtitles were necessary to make the entire video understandable.