{"id":34723,"date":"2022-10-28T23:56:33","date_gmt":"2022-10-29T03:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/?post_type=bu-article&p=34723"},"modified":"2022-11-08T14:33:31","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T19:33:31","slug":"rescuing-statehouse-reporting","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/rescuing-statehouse-reporting\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescuing Statehouse Reporting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Massachusetts Statehouse reporting looks a lot different to Jerry Berger<\/a> today than it did when he was a reporter on Beacon Hill in the mid ’80s and early ’90s. Berger, a lecturer in journalism at Boston University\u2019s College of Communication, worked for the news service United Press International (UPI) where he rose to Statehouse bureau chief and covered some of then-governor Michael Dukakis\u2019 presidential campaign. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would cover all aspects of state government and we had a robust bureau. We would write a weekly column, we had a lively, interested publication base and it was a lot of fun,\u201d says Berger, who heads COM\u2019s Statehouse Program, which provides students\u2014mostly seniors and graduate students\u2014the opportunity to report on politics for more than 15 news outlets around Massachusetts, including the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle<\/em>, Cape Cod Times<\/em>, <\/em>Brockton Enterprise<\/em> <\/em>and <\/em>Provincetown Independent<\/em>.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a move afoot for really hyperlocal news outlets, and that\u2019s a good thing. It\u2019s just a question of can they find the resources.<\/p>Jerry Berger<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I worked in the Statehouse, virtually every publication that we now provide coverage to through the Statehouse Program had their own Statehouse reporter,\u201d Berger says. UPI and the Associated Press (AP) each had four reporters on Beacon Hill. Today, the AP has just one and most of the state\u2019s local papers have eliminated theirs because of budget cuts. In fact, COM\u2019s Statehouse Program is now the largest news operation covering the Statehouse. Berger sees the program as filling a critical gap in the journalism landscape. \u201cWhen you stop covering government, elected officials can get away with a lot more,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Berger spoke with COMtalk<\/em> <\/em>about his reporting days, his goals for the Statehouse program, covering the upcoming midterm election, the future of local journalism and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q&<\/span>A<\/h2>

With Jerry Berger<\/h4><\/div>\n

COMtalk:<\/span> How is the Statehouse Program organized?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jerry Berger:<\/span> The Statehouse Program is actually two courses. The first is JO 511: Covering Government and Politics. We go over what you would need to know if you\u2019re covering government as a beat. We talk about objectivity, social media and this year I brought in guest speaker Samantha J. Gross (\u201918), an alum of the Statehouse Program and a political reporter for the Boston Globe<\/em>, to talk about what she does. I\u2019ll also bring in someone to talk about polls and someone to talk about budgets, elections, lobbying and all that. Then we have JO 546: Statehouse Program, which is the class that involves actual reporting. Students use the Statehouse as a foundation for reporting for regional news outlets. We literally cover from Pittsfield to Provincetown.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMtalk:<\/span> Do student assignments come from you or from the publications that they\u2019re assigned to work with?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jerry Berger:<\/span> They come from both me and the editors of their publications. There\u2019s an organization called the Statehouse News Service, which covers the building stem to stern. They put out a list of things that are coming up for the week. In class, we\u2019ll go through that list and I\u2019ll suggest possible story ideas, and then they\u2019ll try and tailor the pitch for their local editor. The editor can say \u201cSure, fine, go ahead,\u201d or \u201cNo, do this instead.\u201d

Students don\u2019t have to just write about what the legislature has done. I like to think of this as covering public affairs. So it can be education, health care, arts and culture, transportation, you name it. If the editor wants something specific, we\u2019re more than happy to oblige. The student writes the story, they come back to me for editing, then an edited version goes out to the editors for their use.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMtalk:<\/span> What\u2019s the overarching goal of the program?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jerry Berger:<\/span> The number one question people want to know in terms of government is: where are their tax dollars being spent? Getting that information out has become a real problem, especially with the growth of news deserts<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMtalk:<\/span> What led to your passion for Statehouse reporting?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jerry Berger:<\/span> I\u2019ve always been a political junkie. My first job was for a daily paper in Marlborough, Mass., called the Marlborough Enterprise<\/em>. We also published a paper in the town of Hudson. And because I\u2019d always had an interest in this kind of stuff, I would see something going on on Beacon Hill, and I would call the state rep from Marlborough and call the state rep from Hudson\u2014happily, for my purposes, one was a Democrat and one was a Republican, so I got both perspectives. Then I would call the state senator who covered both towns. From there, I went to UPI. As my career progressed, I went from someone who thought covering public policy was a price I had to pay for covering politics, to covering politics was the price I had to pay for covering policy. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMtalk:<\/span> With the 2022 midterm elections coming up, what are your students paying particular attention to? <\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jerry Berger:<\/span> I want them to think a little bit outside the box. We\u2019re of course going to cover the ballot questions and people running for office. I also have a number of international students, and I would love for them to take on topics like \u201cHow are American politics being viewed in the international community?\u201d \u201cWhat is a threat to democracy? Is [the threat] real?\u201d Those are the kinds of things I\u2019d like them to cover beyond standard political reporting. I\u2019ve called myself a recovering political reporter\u2014I\u2019ve made all the mistakes that have been made, focusing too much on money and polls and not enough on the issues. That\u2019s one of the reasons why we\u2019re in this [political climate], because political journalism hasn\u2019t done its job.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMtalk:<\/span> As local news outlets close and news deserts form, how does this program help?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jerry Berger:<\/span> The bulk of the publications our students work with are regional dailies, including the Berkshire Eagle<\/em> in Pittsfield, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette<\/em> and the MetroWest Daily News<\/em>. These were all once thriving newspapers that each had their own Statehouse people. Most of the publications we work with, with the exception of the Berkshire Eagle<\/em>, Attleboro\u2019s Sun Chronicle<\/em>, the Daily Hampshire Gazette <\/em>from Northampton, the Provincetown Independent<\/em>, CommonWealth<\/em>, and Boston Business Journal<\/em> are Gannett owned. I\u2019ll leave it at that. It\u2019s a cycle: You stop covering local news, and people aren\u2019t going to want to buy it. The Berkshire Eagle<\/em> is a very good example of what happens when you get back into local ownership. They were a superb newspaper that hit the skids and then they were bought by a big media company. But more recently, they were bought again, this time by a group of local investors, and now they\u2019re thriving. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMtalk:<\/span> What gives you hope for the future of local journalism?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jerry Berger:<\/span> There is a growth now of new, online hyperlocal outlets. The New Bedford Light<\/em> is a wonderful example of that. It\u2019s maybe a year old or so. Concord just launched a paper called the Concord Bridge<\/em>. CommonWealth<\/em> is one of the hyperlocal publications we partner with through the Statehouse Program, and it provides some good coverage. So, there is a move afoot for really hyperlocal news outlets, and that\u2019s a good thing. It\u2019s just a question of can they find the resources, mainly the financial ones, to be able to pull it off? It\u2019s definitely encouraging.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Student Clips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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COM\u2019s Statehouse Program is now the largest news organization working in the Massachusetts Statehouse. Students report for local papers across the commonwealth, covering politics and policy. Here\u2019s a sampling of their recent work. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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