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Public Editor Statement for May 5, 2023

Social media is a terrific way for a news organization such as WHRO to catch the attention of audiences that might not be listening to its reporting on the radio or see its online reporting on the station web site. But social media posts also cause a disproportionate amount of trouble for newsrooms, and that’s what happened with a short April 29 Facebook post promoting the station’s guide to the weekend activities at Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water festival. The post so far has generated more than 100 comments, many critical, and several people called the station to complain.

Here’s the post, in its entirety:

An estimated 25,000-30,000 people came out for the first night of SOMETHING IN THE WATER , which was the peak attendance during the 2019 festival. Something in the Water is Pharrell Williams’ replacement for College Beach Weekend when students – usually Black – came to the Oceanfront for a spring break celebration. Because of the history of College Beach Weekend and events from the 1980s, Chesapeake native Ashanti Sallee said she grew up discouraged from spending too much time at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. For information on parking, schedules and more, read WHRO’s Something in the Water guide >>>>>>> bit.ly/SITW_WHRO_Guide #WHROPublicMedia #WHRONews #LocalNews #SITW #VirginiaBeach

The complaints center around the use of the phrase “usually Black.” Readers of the post questioned why the race of attendees at College Beach Weekend was singled out, calling the inclusion of the phrase “racist.”

I understand their concerns. The phrase, followed by the quote from a resident of the region, is devoid of any context. It implies that negative things happened at College Beach Weekend and that it was the fault of the Black attendees.

Background

WHRO’s leadership asked me to look into the audience concerns and here’s what I found when I investigated how the Facebook post came to be.

The phrase “usually Black” is accurate. College Beach Weekend, which evolved into Greekfest, was traditionally celebrated by HBU students. The event ended after riots in 1989, when an estimated crowd of 100,000 people arrived at the Oceanfront. Many later reported that they felt unwelcome; some said they were harassed by white police officers. When looting of local businesses began – likely by a few local residents, not visitors -- an ill-prepared local police force called in the National Guard.

That’s from a thorough background report written by WHRO’s Ryan Murphy as part of the lead up to this year’s Something in the Water. Here’s an excerpt from that report:

“As the taunting, rock throwing and looting intensified, so did the police reaction in an attempt to restore order. These reactions were, however, viewed as discriminatory by visitors and many who viewed media coverage of the incidents,” the Labor Day Commission wrote.

The police march down Atlantic Avenue was broadcast by local TV news. The Labor Day Commission said “on television, portions of the events, actions and reactions reminded some of the civil rights confrontations of the 1960s.”

Black leaders would later criticize the city, saying heavy-handed policing touched off a race riot.

The riot became national news, described by the Washington Post in the weeks that followed as “an allegory for racial misunderstanding and hostility,” the latest in a series of racial conflicts on the streets of American cities.

A basic tenet of journalism ethics is that the race or ethnicity of news subjects should not be mentioned, unless it’s relevant to the story at hand.

In this case, race is essential context to understanding the deep history of Something in the Water. Indeed, the phrase “usually Black” that appeared in the Facebook post came almost directly from Murphy’s report (he wrote “many of them Black”).

Missteps and remedies

But here’s where WHRO made a number of missteps, in my opinion. The Facebook post itself was so short that it conveyed none of that historical context, so a reader, especially one who was not around in 1989, would not know why race was relevant. Nor did the Facebook post link to Murphy’s article, which would have given readers who clicked through that needed context. The excerpts taken from Murphy’s report, while accurate, left a false impression.

WHRO’s Facebook page is not overseen by the newsroom; most posts are written by the marketing department. WHRO’s news director, Mechelle Hankerson, told me that the newsroom did not see the post before it went up, nor does it see most of the posts that link to newsroom reports. There’s no way that a Facebook user would know that, however, and it’s a reasonable assumption to make that the post originated with the newsroom (as many of WHRO’s critics did). In an ideal world, WHRO journalists would write social media posts that refer to newsroom work, but the marketing department has historically handled WHRO’s social media, and that structure carried over when the newsroom launched in 2020, Hankerson said.

When I talked to Hankerson, she had already come to similar conclusions as I did, telling me that WHRO “understands the feedback loud and clear.”

Hankerson told me that the newsroom has not spent much time previously thinking about who should generate the newsroom’s social media, but that it is now looking into having a newsroom staff member more deeply involved in social media posts that involve newsroom reporting on sensitive topics, such as race. “Two sets of eyes is better than one,” she said, adding that the newsroom is committed to making sure another such misstep does not occur. “It’s very important that our audience trusts us,” she said. A digital managing editor was hired earlier this year and part of the job description includes working with marketing on social media, she said.

My conclusion: WHRO’s newsroom turned out solid work (ten reports in all) over the course of the Something in the Water event, including historical context. It’s unfortunate that the work was overshadowed by a condensed Facebook post. However, I did not conclude that the post was reflective of the newsroom’s values. Changes that the newsroom intends to make should improve the process going forward. Because the original post remains on WHRO’s Facebook page, WHRO should also consider updating it (with clear transparency), perhaps by adding a link to Murphy’s report.

--Elizabeth Jensen

May 5, 2023

WHRO utilizes the service of Elizabeth Jensen, a Public Editor, who stands as a source of independent accountability and strives to listen to the audience’s concerns and explain the newsroom’s work and ambitions. By design, the Public Editor is not an employee of WHRO Public Media as the intent is to elevate independence and help serve our audience.

Read WHRO Public Media's Standards of Journalism