Williams’ optimism is cautious, however, and another feature in the special report, by ecologist and marine conservationist Carl Safina, provides a certain counterbalance by exploring the lingering, but undefined, threat to marine life. The third feature, by environmental activist and journalist Mike Tidwell, uses the Gulf spill to make an impassioned plea for more wind power in the United States.
Where the features were concerned, one of things that Audubon had to grapple with, like other monthly and bi-monthly magazines covering the spill, was its long lead-time for publication (the September-October issue closed in late July).
“These big picture stories have a longer shelf life than the more immediate ones,” Seideman explained when asked how the magazine planned its special report, “and one of the reasons that we ran Justin’s dispatches is that, although some of them were dated, they were sort of a historical record of what he was seeing at the time, and we thought that contrasted well with the long-view pieces.”
Indeed they do. Like Williams, however, Nobel wrestled with how he would break away from the pack. Based on input from his editors, he surmised that they wanted “color sketches of off-the-beaten-path subjects,” and decided to apply the logic he uses for his blog, The Absurd Adventurer, for which he sits in single locations for extended amounts of time in order to observe various goings on.
“I still made calls on many stories and interviewed experts at the front of the issues, but the germ of each post was this extended observation from the field,” Nobel explained via e-mail. “I sought situations that would lead to colorful scenes that might be missed in your typical newsy oil spill story. I spent time with a tiny tribe of American Indians living in marshes that were soon to be oiled and I spent a whole day in a truck stop cafeteria in Port Fourchon, a bustling oil port with a sort of sci-fi feel to it, talking to truckers who delivered parts to the rigs. The blog created the ideal venue for this type of observational writing.”
Nobel wasn’t the only one blogging for Audubon, however, and the society’s network proved to be useful for more than access and information.
“One of the cool things we discovered is that some of our scientists and environmentalists down in the Gulf could write well and actually take some decent pictures, so we had them blog, too,” Seideman said. “It was really a good opportunity to have several views expressed on the website.” (The corpus of Audubon’s spill related posts can be found here.)
Moreover, the magazine’s work in the Gulf is not over, according to Seideman. The November-December issue will contain a feature about the thousands of Audubon volunteers who have been lending a hand there. It will also contain a news item from Nobel, titled “Now Comes the Hard Part,” about long-term restoration efforts along the Gulf.
“I think most of the media, except for maybe the local media, are probably gone now, but we’re trying to step into that void because this is our beat,” Seideman said. “We want to continue this and I think we’ll be doing a lot more stories down the road. This is our niche we have to fill, and people expect it.”
The worst contamination left by the BP disaster may well have been to the press, rather than the Gulf itself. The failure of the press follows the pattern of Columbine, from which readers were left with the residue of judgmental attitudes and falsehoods, not verified information.
Journalism in America started as a literary pursuit which tired to filter and refine facts, not conduct furious competition to find ways to titillate an audience conditioned to get its emotional jollies through the creation of false rage.
There was a time when a young journalist would receive a dressing down for not establishing the authority and credibility of any person being quoted. Now the basis is to find the most outrageous and accusatory sound bites and rush them into publication.
As some of the more astute critics have predicted, the age of information would become the age of misinformation by servicing the pleasures of personal bigotry and prurience.
The legacy media that has retained its legacy, such as .Audubon, do not rush into publication and are the only sources that can inspire any trust.
#1 Posted by David Newquist, CJR on Fri 17 Sep 2010 at 01:07 PM
In the 1960s a proposal to dam the Hudson River at Storm King Mountain in the Hudson Highlands was fought and stopped. Unfortunately the Cold War had brought the nickel-cadmium contamination to the village just down the river, Cold Spring, NY, in the production of batteries for the NIKE missile defense system. It's been cleaned up twice since, the former "last use" "school book repository" broken up and with the former West Point Foundry Cove marsh, hauled up and out on the rail-bed that formerly carried bridge works a\nd building parts, in the early 20th c., the Chicago Bridge Co. In the 19th c. 2 or 3 thousand cannons and other ironwork came out on the rails of the iron industry centered in the historic West Point Foundry. The marsh there was once a part of Audubon, I read working there for the EPA, part of the Academy's only Hudson River east-side holding, Constitution Island, where a Great Chain once stretched to block the British Navy from a "divide and conquer" of the colonies and a number of, later fallen, forts built. Today the West Point Foundry Historic Site belongs to Scenic Hudson, Inc., who fought the dam, and the marsh, administered by the State of New York. Perhaps a similar course might be taken to benefit Louisiana.
#2 Posted by George Myers, CJR on Tue 28 Sep 2010 at 03:55 PM
I like the idea of pursuing unusual paths and sources. Given the size of the event, it would only make sense. Audubon's local connections certainly helped, but I think the main point here is how to build them as a non-local media professional.
While working for UNC-Chapel Hill's Powering a Nation (www.poweringanation.org), my reporter colleagues spent almost two months in Plaquemines, Louisiana, immersing themselves on the lives of local fishermen and residents at large.
As a result, they managed to outscoop major news organizations in breaking BP's worker contract containing a gag order (http://bit.ly/bPDAtb). Aside from receiving honorable mentions in the Huffington Post and Poynter, this effort shows the potential of genuine, almost ethnographic approaches to journalism.
#3 Posted by Luca Semprini, CJR on Tue 26 Oct 2010 at 03:04 PM