Gannett stations on Wednesday unveiled a reporting project focused on community trust and local police–an effort that grew out of conversations between Gannett news directors who wanted to explore solutions in the aftermath of Ferguson. “It is extremely courageous of our news directors and our journalists, to say, ‘You know what? It’s not easy and this might not be politically correct, what we’re doing here, but we’re going to have this conversation because we know it’s for the best of our communities,” Ellen Crooke, vice president of news at Gannett, told Poynter.
Stations, including WUSA in Washington and WXIA in Atlanta, and KSDK in St. Louis aired their first stories yesterday, along with a social media campaign built around the hashtag #StartsWithTrust. Each station adds local content to national elements in a longform site as part of a “nationwide conversation.”