Last week, our newsroom discussed the city of Dallas' plan to transform its medical district into a center for life sciences and biotechnology, the impact of the area's Hispanic physician shortage, and how dozens of congregations in North Texas are now affiliated with the United Methodist Church. We investigated the reasons why people are leaving. .
North Texas has no shortage of important issues, questionable decisions, worthy programs, and remarkable people. How we decide which topics to research and which articles to report and publish can often seem like a mystery.
Such a lack of knowledge and understanding can cause our readers, the people we work so hard to serve, to question our decisions and intentions. This can ultimately lead to mistrust.
That's not what we want.
Our mission to inform this community also includes a deep commitment to engaging you in the work we do.
After all, journalism is the act of researching, verifying, and collecting data from a variety of sources in order to inform the community. We do this by sharing with you the location where we collect the information.
Recently, we started discussing how we can take that transparency a step further and make it clearer why we choose to report and publish the stories we spend the most time on.
Starting Monday, our corporate journalism will include a “Why this story matters” box with a few sentences of context from the story's reporters and editors. What we do as a company is the journalism our newsrooms publish to explain important issues and connect the dots on what matters. Company stories often involve talking to many people and reading or requesting detailed information through public records. These stories can reveal surprising or little-known facts. And you need to more clearly explain why certain decisions by elected and government officials will affect you and your family for years to come.
We see this new feature as a way to better communicate with our customers. I hope you like it.
As always, please let us know how we can serve you better. And of course, we'd love to hear your thoughts on the “Why This Story Matters” feature.
