How do we know that what we’re doing is working? Worthwhile?
At the Fredericksburg Free Press, it’s a question we ask ourselves all the time, in budget meetings and big-picture conversations about our purpose as journalists.
One promising answer: impact. From a journalism standpoint, “impact” is fairly simple to define: what effect does our work have on our readers and the communities that we serve? But, compared to other common metrics like page views or subscription numbers, impact is a little harder to measure or quantify.
On one end of the spectrum, there’s large-scale, structural impact. A story brings an issue to light, and action is taken as a direct result. A law is passed or a public official resigns. While laudable and worth pursuing, this type of impact is contingent on several factors that are often beyond a journalist’s control.
Then, there’s everyday impact. Readers often reach out to thank our newsroom for enriching their perspective on a local issue or even bringing it to their attention for the first time. A story is re-posted or re-published by another media outlet or organization, amplifying its reach far beyond our typical readership. Stories might be referenced during the public comment portion of a government meeting.
All of these are examples of impact.
Beyond merely tracking our impact, we’re trying to build a culture around it at the Free Press. We want to pursue the types of stories that don’t just recap the goings-on in our region but shape the conversation to come.
Here are five of our newsroom’s most impactful contributions from 2024, as determined by FFP staff.
Fredericksburg Free Press to hold town hall for CD-7 candidates
One of our newsroom’s crowning accomplishments from our inaugural year wasn’t a published story.
In September, the Free Press hosted a town hall-style forum for Eugene Vindman and Derrick Anderson, the candidates vying for the seat in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District currently held by Abigail Spanberger.
My most vivid memory from that night is hauling dolly after dolly full of chairs from a storage room in the Fredericksburg Convention Center to accommodate the larger-than-expected crowd. In a packed ballroom, more than 400 people heard directly from the candidates that night in what turned out to be a razor-thin race.
Everyone from our board of directors to the newsroom to student volunteers played a role in organizing an event that truly engaged the community in politics. (And it wasn’t even that acrimonious).
Teacher describes ‘chaotic’ day that led to conviction of Spotsylvania behavioral interventionist
This story that gave an inside look into the dysfunction in one first-grade classroom at Cedar Forest Elementary School in Spotsylvania County was one of our most impactful in 2024 because it demonstrated the myriad issues that arise when a school division is underfunded, understaffed and apathy takes over.
It involved a frustrated behavioral interventionist who was requested to come out of retirement to assist with disciplinary measures, a teacher who became so concerned she began to record daily interactions in the classroom, support staff who tried their best to assist, unresponsive school administrators and ultimately a young English learner who was victimized by all the circumstances surrounding him. The incident occurred more than three months before new Superintendent Clint Mitchell took office, but school safety is one of his top priorities.
Amid ‘a national crisis,’ one Virginia city came together to assist mobile home owners
We extensively covered the plight of families in the Hill Mobile Home Park in Bowling Green after the park owners decided to sell the land and a judge ordered them off the property within 10 days. But one story provided a blueprint that residents of the other 30-plus mobile home parks in the Fredericksburg area can follow if faced with a similar situation.
An interview with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville CEO Dan Rosensweig gave tangible solutions that mobile home residents can explore even before the land their trailers sit on goes up for sale. Rosensweig’s organization helped orchestrate a process that saved 66 families from being displaced, and he explained it to readers in our area.
UMW president meets with students to discuss protest arrests
This story helped flesh out the narrative of how Virginia’s colleges and universities handled widespread student protests in support of Palestine this past spring. It was widely re-circulated and cited in state reports.
A week following the on-campus arrests of nine students and three community members, a Free Press reporter was invited by students to a meeting with UMW President Dr. Troy Paino. Despite the reporter providing their name at the start of the meeting, UMW administration claimed to be unaware a reporter was present and requested that the story not be reported.
The story was ultimately reported from the perspective of multiple students who attended the meeting, which discussed the UMW administration’s response as well as the role of and guidance from state officials, including Attorney General Jason Miyares. The Free Press also was the lone source of information on the adjudication of the charges for the nine student protesters, who ultimately saw their charges dismissed.
FFP exclusive: Fredericksburg Fire Chief Mike Jones talks derailment, response
Following the derailment of a CSX freight train in Fredericksburg in July, community members had questions. The Free Press helped to provide answers in the form of a long-form interview with Fire Chief Mike Jones, whose agency responded to the incident.
Readers appreciated a thorough, methodical postmortem of the incident at a time when information was equal parts scarce and unreliable.
