Myers: Working to better cover and reflect the Sioux Falls community

Over the last few years, I’ve written to you in this space pledging to ensure the Argus Leader’s coverage better reflects our community. We need to continuously adjust the way we cover the news, from every part of our newsroom, to be more inclusive of Sioux Falls’ diverse and ever-changing population. 

We also need our news team to reflect that diverse population. And both of those efforts are ongoing.

I’m here today to share with you some of the work that has been done, as well as to speak candidly about this process –– one that will make our journalism as urgent, essential and inclusive as possible. 

Evaluating our breaking news coverage

Last year, we shifted our crime coverage. We publish fewer crime stories that name suspects. We run mugshots only with homicide cases or when a suspect who is a danger to the public is being sought. And if we name a suspect, we follow the case through the court system.

Our guidelines focus on reporting serious crimes such as aggravated assaults, rapes and homicides. Every day, we have a discussion in the newsroom on whether the police reports we review are worth writing about. Our main questions: Is this something that we will follow up on? What is the public interest in this case? Is the public at risk? 

Another important component of our new guidelines is connecting with neighborhoods and communities that in the past mostly received coverage when a crime occurred there.

We were going to some areas of town only when bad things happened. We failed to write about those neighborhoods' successes, the people who live there and the broader issues. We're still writing about major crime, of course, but we need to do a better job of covering the stories that encompass the full neighborhoods.

More: Gannett newsrooms making steady progress in overall diversity

Combined, these changes are a series of steps that we hope result in better reporting and improved interaction with our community.

Hiring new reporters

We’ve hired three new reporters this year: Trent Abrego, a native of Benson, Minnesota, who previously reported on both business and sports for the Aberdeen American News, joined our Sioux Falls Business Journal team. Symmone Gauer, an Aberdeen native and South Dakota State graduate, also joined the SFBJ team this summer. And Dominik Dausch, a Rapid City native and veteran of the KEVN and KOTA television stations out west, is our new agriculture reporter and edits the weekly Farm Forum publication for us.

With that infusion of talent, the Argus Leader newsroom is at nearly full staff. We’re still working to make sure our team reflects our community's demographics. All but three on our team are white. At 78.6%, that is lower than Sioux Falls' 83.5% white population in the 2020 Census.

2022 Data: A diverse newsroom is essential for us to tell Sioux Falls stories. Here is the Argus' team

The Argus Leader team has seven women and eight men. Our management team of three has one woman. We are close to parity on gender overall, but still have work to do. 

Reboot on perspectives columns

Beyond staffing, we know we need to better lift up marginalized voices in our community. Working with community leaders like Taneeza Islam, executive director of South Dakota Voices for Peace, we created the Perspectives writing group. This group comprises South Dakotans who are African American, Latinx, Indigenous, South Asian, U.S. citizens, immigrants and the children of refugees.

These columns highlight various aspects of our lived experiences in South Dakota — some familiar and some not. This project was recognized by the South Dakota Newspaper Association in its annual awards ceremony.

It’s been a joy to work with this group, and we are working through ways to continue this work and reboot the regular columns.

No quick fix

As I emphasized before, there is no quick fix. This will be a process. I’m proud of the work we do every day, but I know much more must be done.

Sioux Falls is thriving and growing because of the city's diversity, and the Argus Leader’s coverage and staffing must reflect our dynamic community.

Please continue to hold us to account.

Cory Myers is the news director for the Argus Leader, and can be reached at ctmyers@argusleader.com and 605-951-3689.