Raleigh News & Observer’s Steve Riley on Enterprise Reporting
May 6th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
by Madelyn Smith
May 6, 2011
www.newsobserver.com
Steve Riley, senior editor for enterprise reporting at the Raleigh News & Observer in North Carolina, recognizes the change happening in journalism.
Many newspapers are experiencing cuts and are moving more content online, but that has not erased the need for solid enterprise reporting, Riley said.
Riley became an enterprise reporter after first working in sports journalism and then news. He enjoys this type of in-depth reporting because he learns about countless subjects depending on what story he is writing.
“As a member of the enterprise team, I’ve developed a sort of Master’s degree in many topics,” he said.
Riley oversees a three-member team of enterprise reporters at the paper whose in-depth, well-planned stories have impacted the greater North Carolina in various ways since being published.
He is involved in every step of the detailed process.
“Editors aren’t just there to correct comma splices,” he said. “We’re involved from the very inception and we’re involved with story development, asking questions of reporters, interviews and making sure we’re choosing high-impact stories.”
One story in the News & Observer, written by enterprise reporter Dan Kane in August 2010, revealed how the government was stalling on overpaid taxes. Residents statewide were not receiving their funds, and Kane outlined the entire problem for the public. The article resulted in $2.3 million in overpaid taxes being paid to the public.
Riley described several other stories that resulted in change and more awareness for certain problems. One article looked into the lack of discipline for people who had an excessive amount of speeding tickets – some with more than 20, some who had driven more than 100 mph. This led to an investigation of a Guilford County judge who had overseen all of these cases.
“We wanted to know, why in the world was no one being reprimanded for these high-level traffic violations?” said Riley. He added that the article started when he and his team were reviewing court reports of previous traffic cases. They noticed significant trends and developed the article from there.
Riley’s enterprise team also exposed a corrupt neurosurgeon who had been practicing medicine even though he was both half-blind and colorblind. Shortly after the article was published, the doctor was removed from his position.
“He left a trail of half-paralyzed people,” Riley said. “We felt pretty good about that article.”
While enterprise stories at the News & Observer have clearly made an impact and are still needed in journalism today, Riley said he realizes the need to change with news trends.
“You have to present info in a way that can grab and maintain the attention of a different readership, one that’s used to getting information in different ways,” he said. “The challenge for the succeeding generation is to a create an adaptable market for news.”
To maintain reader interest, especially in shorter, more broken-up online stories, Riley said writing with authority is important.
“Be confident, create a fair picture,” he said. “But it doesn’t necessarily have to be a balanced report.”
Riley said enterprise reporting has the potential expose and dig deeper into long-standing issues in society, so a completely balanced article would not stress the need for change as much as an article with a bit of conflict would.
Patience is another quality that’s key to enterprise reporting. During the process, which can take months or a year, depending on the article, Riley said to not lose focus or lose the most important idea: the heart and potential impact of the enterprise story.
