Inside local news with Editor Kevin Riley

By RACHAEL CUSHARD

ATLANTA – News in this digital era is widespread and often the center of a lot of controversy, according to guest speaker Editor Kevin Riley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“A source of information matters. I believe being the newspaper in town is an enormous amount of responsibility to me, and to you,” said Riley.

Traditional methods of news reporting have changed drastically. Now, reporters are able to cover stories from their mobile devices. Riley has embraced the AJC by using a “digital audience-first” approach to coverage, including more focus on the local community and government.

Newspapers are still alive. Production costs for print and delivery subscriptions will be greater than a digital subscription. It’s reader preference. Advertising in newspapers aren’t disruptive like they are online or on television, mentioned Riley.

“The readership of the AJC is greater now than it’s ever been in our history. With our current readership, we could fill the stadium eight times,” said Riley.

Riley started his career in journalism during college and started with Cox Enterprises in 1983 at Dayton Daily News in Ohio. As the editor of the AJC since 2011, he has revitalized the paper by focusing on investigative and watchdog journalism.

“What im going to do today is have a fairly blunt conversation with you about the state of local news and the newspaper,” said Riley.

Riley believes that the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution ins one of the great ideas of western civilization. This freedom gives journalists the freedom of the press. This amendment separates our country and our democracy from all the others around the world.

He explains some of the challenges journalisms face with the first amendment. It’s complex because that freedom of the press gets in the way of other rights. This is a conflict that all journalists struggle with.

“It isn’t a perfect science,” said Riley.

People often ask Riley how much labor and resources are devoted to covering a story. Reporters are sent out every day. It’s a demanding job.

“That’s a big part of what we do and how journalism gets made. You gotta be there. You have to see it to tell the stories of the people who are affecting the community and you also have to be trusted,” said Riley.

Riley recalled the story that was covered by his reporters stationed at Atlanta City Hall when 1.5 million pages of documents on the contracting scandal was published. He described the process as not being an easy task, but taken very seriously.

“I can tell you we went through every page. That’s what we do. For you,” said Riley.

Riley and his team are aware that if they don’t cover certain stories, they won’t be covered at all. Some other examples Riley had mentioned were stories the AJC had published medical malpractice. This story paved the way for their national news story that investigated how widespread this problem really is.

“Do our readers really care about women in prison?” asked Riley.

As an editor, it is Riley’s priority to determine if this story is worth our time or if there are other stories that readers will be more interested in. He gave this example to show a time where he was overruled in the news room.

“Because when you work and lead a good news room, you have spirited employees who don’t just sit around waiting for you to tell them what to do. And they don’t agree with you all the time either,” said Riley.

‘Doctors & Sex Abuse’ marked AJC as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting in 2017.

People feel strongly about power struggles among the unequal. When people who have no power to defend themselves are mistreated. “That’s part of what we bring to light,” said Riley.

Reporters on this story discovered through their research that close to one-third of doctors in Georgia were accused of sexual misconduct and still have their licenses and practices. Doctors who face these allegations aren’t seen in the public eye. The medical board processes the claims.

Already aware that Georgia is a fairly easy state to just pop in and obtain a medical license, the AJC pressed on with their national investigation. The reporters had gathered over 100,000 records from each state and had to transcribe them. The team uncovered the fact that there were thousands of doctors who faced these accusations and thousands of patients who never received any justice from it.

“These are the stories in this town that would not have been told without us,” said Riley.

The Monday morning after that story had published, Riley and his reporters had received several phone calls from readers who recounted their own experiences.

“We don’t do that work to win awards. Our reward is bringing things like that to light and letting the people know they have recourse. They are not alone, and things that are wrong in this world can be right and should be right. That’s what we do.”

Riley believes much of their success is from being a part of the community and knowing that they do things that other people won’t do. “We live here, we go to school here and we work here. Hell, there might even be one of these ‘journalists’ living down the street from you,” said Riley.

The last thing Riley mentioned was a story of running into an old colleague. He was at another speaking event where he had bumped into an investigator who worked on the cheating scandal in the public school system of Atlanta. He told Riley that all of his investigators began their shift reading the articles written in the AJC. All of the information was accurate.

“Thank you. If you’re a subscriber or reader you’re apart of making this all work,” said Riley.