Pivot points

Earlier this year, when I was invited to speak to a Henrico County Rotary chapter, I was asked several questions commonly heard these days by journalists.

Do sources pay us to appear in our magazine stories? No. As an independent media outlet, we are not pay-to-play; we decide who and what we write about and who we interview. Advertising does not impact our editorial decisions, and ad sales are handled by a separate department.

What happens if we print something wrong in one of our stories? We will immediately correct the online version of the story, and we will run a correction in the next issue of the print magazine. If it’s a significant error, we will also add an editor’s note online.

How do you decide on the angle of a story? This question is a bit more complex to answer. In an age of biased 24-hour cable news channels and social media, it’s understandable that some people might think we plan every story with an ulterior, politicized point of view. However, though it might seem surprising or even quaint, that’s not how we — and most local and regional news outlets — go about our business.

Our story planning typically starts with a combination of staff research and talking with sources. We often start out wanting to write about a particular industry, such as health care or real estate, so we look for information about that industry’s latest trends, or recent related studies or news stories.

For instance, in this issue, we have a story about Charlottesville (The retail experience) that was based on a January city study showing declining retail storefront vacancies. We asked freelance writer Stephenie Overman to talk with local retailers and look into it. What she found generally confirmed what the city said — retailers there are mostly enjoying a post-pandemic bump.

But what happens when the reality is different from what we hypothesized? What about when we uncover new information that may change a story’s direction?

The answer is simple: We report what’s there and follow wherever the story may take us.

A case in point is this issue’s story about the University of Virginia (Grounds for dissent?) by Deputy Editor Kate Andrews. We started out seeing a potential story in a confluence of reports that pointed to a larger battle over the meaning of free speech as well as the political soul and direction of Mr. Jefferson’s university, particularly regarding U.Va.’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. This seemed particularly timely, given that Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s appointees are poised to make up a majority of U.Va.’s board of visitors as of July.

Youngkin and his board appointees have taken active stances at Virginia Commonwealth University and George Mason University, where Youngkin’s administration asked to review syllabuses for diversity courses at the universities, and board members voted down efforts to make the courses required. A Youngkin U.Va. board appointee, Bert Ellis, co-founded a conservative alumni organization that has been critical of university diversity policies.

As Andrews undertook the reporting for the story, however, it became clear that, while those elements were present and are mentioned in her final story, an even more timely and pressing story was to be found in how U.Va. is dealing with student protesters of the Israeli war on Hamas in Gaza and accusations of on-campus antisemitism, so she pivoted to report on that. A debate that’s taking over campuses around the nations, it has resulted in the resignations of the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania and is shaping up to be a critical factor in this year’s presidential race.

And speaking of pivoting, polybagged with this issue readers will find the second edition of StartVirginia, an annual publication devoted to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This year’s issue, shepherded by Associate Editor Robyn Sidersky, is bigger and better than its predecessor, with new charts and lists and more stories than last year. If you’re an entrepreneur or thinking of starting a business, it’s a must-read.