By Gina Cuclis

This follows up Can Social Media Save a Local Park? Here I discuss two of the "old media" channels: television and newspapers.

June 9 Sonoma County Board of Supervisors' Hearing On the News

The controversy over Dutra Materials' proposal to locate an asphalt plant on the Petaluma River across from Schollenberger Park brought two San Francisco TV news crews, KPIX CBS5 and KGO ABC7, to Tuesday afternoon's Sonoma County Supervisors' meeting. These days, it's rare to see other news organizations besides the Santa Rosa Press Democrat at a Sonoma County supervisors' meeting. But this environmental battle is the type of story TV loves — emotional and controversial. More than 200 people attended the hearing, which was still going on by the six o'clock news. By the end of the meeting, environmentalists had won. Three of the five supervisors said they would vote against the plant. The final vote is July 21.

KPIX and KGO Take Different Approaches

KPIX covered the story as part of its Green Beat series. KPIX's 6 p.m. newscast included live aerials of the plant's proposed site. What was most interesting was how reporter Jeffrey Schaub gave all the credit to the group Moms for Clean Air. KPIX's 11 p.m. report on the hearing's outcome called the vote, "Mothers' monumental win."

We in Sonoma County know there are several groups who have been active in this fight: Friends of the Petaluma River, Save Shollenberger Park, the Sierra Club and the City of Petaluma, to name a few. But TV loves emotion. Moms battling an industrial giant to protect their children from potential air pollution makes a great story. And moms beating the industrial giant makes an even better story. Schaub's reporting approach focused on characters and their emotions.

Contrast KGO's coverage. Mom's for Clean Air wasn't mentioned. Nor was any group. Reporter Wayne Freedman used the more straight forward, "he said, she said," type of journalism. There was less sense of the personalities involved.

Press Democrat's Second Day Story Reports on the Emotion

Wednesday's Press Democrat had typical coverage describing what happened at the meeting, focusing on the vote. By late Wednesday afternoon, its online edition had a story headlined, "Dutra asphalt debate marked by sound, fury and vitriol." The story was about the emotion displayed at the meeting and observers' reactions. The article also ran in Thursday's print edition.

I recommend clicking the media links above to watch and read the coverage. You'll gain insight into how differrent reporters' approach stories.