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<br /> <br />EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER <br /> <br />January 14, 2010 <br /> <br /> City of Eugene <br />777 Pearl Street, Room 105 <br /> <br /> Eugene, Oregon 97401-2793 <br /> (541) 682-5010 <br /> (541) 682-5414 (FAX) <br /> www.eugene-or.gov <br /> <br />IN THIS WEEK’S EDITION <br /> <br />COMMUNITY JOURNALISM OFFERS NEW WAYS FOR THE CITY TO TELL ITS STORY <br />UNIVERSITY GREEK HOUSES UNDERGOING FIRE SAFETY RE-INSPECTIONS <br />STORYTELLING WORKSHOP FOR ADULTS <br /> <br />RECREATION SWIMS FILL THE NO-SCHOOL-DAY GAP <br />RESIDENTS INVITED TO COMMENT ON MASTER PLAN FOR PUBLIC ART <br />THOUSANDS RESPOND TO EUGENE NEIGHBORHOOD SURVEY <br />MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AWARD TO BE PRESENTED <br />LEAF PICKUP SERVICE IN EUGENE ENDS FOR SEASON <br /> <br />th <br />4 ANNUAL WALKING AND BIKING SUMMIT SLATED FOR JANUARY 23 <br /> <br />AROUND THE CITY <br />Community Journalism Offers New Ways for the City to Tell Its Story <br />One of the fast-emerging trends in news reporting is the use of “citizen journalists.” These are people who are not <br />employed by television stations or newspapers but who are able to publish news via community “blogs” and online <br />video services. KVAL-TV is an example of a local television station that has embraced citizen journalism and <br />opened the door to new ways for the City of Eugene to get information to residents that is important for them to <br />know yet, traditionally, hard to make interesting. <br /> <br />How this new technology helps Eugene tell its story can be seen in a video news story titled Eugene's sewer team: <br />'New Experiences Every Day.' (To view this story, go to <br />www.kval.com/news/local/80954167.html, or link to it via the <br />Public Works home page at www.eugene-or.gov/pw.) Two <br />University of Oregon students, Sam Abrams and Laura Fong, <br />produced a four-minute segment on the crew members who keep <br />Eugene’s wastewater system flowing smoothly and the types of <br />work they do. The segment is posted to KVAL’s community news <br />section. <br /> <br />While the story didn’t make the 5 o’clock news, it did allow the two <br />journalism students to capture interesting human interest aspects <br />of the wastewater cleaning crew and present them to the <br />community. The news-gathering process also was less <br />Maintenance worker Lloyd “Fugi” Ngariki is on crew featured <br />intimidating to the line staff, who often tend to avoid professional <br />on KVAL Community News at <br />www.kval.com/news/local/80954167.html <br />reporters looking for controversial angles to the news. The less- <br />formal approach allowed staff to “be themselves” and believably <br />explain the service they provide. <br /> <br />At a recent meeting of the Greater Oregon Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, local TV, radio and <br />newspaper reporters encouraged public information professionals to use media-based social media tools such as <br />citizen journalism to communicate directly with community members. Public information staff in several City <br /> <br />EUGENE CITY COUNCIL NEWSLETTER PAGE 1 <br />January 14, 2010 <br />