{"id":45278,"date":"2024-06-21T17:03:34","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T00:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/?p=45278"},"modified":"2024-06-21T17:03:36","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T00:03:36","slug":"the-journalism-of-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newmexicopbs.org\/productions\/newmexicoinfocus\/the-journalism-of-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"The Journalism of Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Here we are again, the time of year in which\u00a0nmfireinfo.com<\/a>\u00a0becomes a regular part of our daily reading diet. As I write this, the Salt and South Fork fires stand at 0% containment, already having claimed at least two lives, chewed up more than 24,000 acres combined and damaged or destroyed over 1,400 structures \u2014 including about 500 homes. \u00a0

Many New Mexicans have an interest in learning about what\u2019s going on, and their reasons are varied, ranging from a need to evacuate immediately to concern for residents and the landscape to using the fires as a political cudgel.\u00a0

In the digital age, information about wildfires can spread nearly as fast as the flames. Not all of it is accurate, and searching for the signal amid all the noise can be challenging. \u00a0

I want to use this space today to direct you to some journalism that can help you better understand what\u2019s happening. First, I\u2019ll define journalism: vetted information that\u2019s based on firsthand observation, conversations with eyewitnesses and impacted people, comments from officials, official documents or some combination thereof. Once a journalist gathers the information and puts it together for publication, an editor or producer or news director puts the journalist through their paces to ensure accuracy \u2014 and to satisfy several other criteria, such as whether it\u2019s in the public interest to publish the story.\u00a0

I bring this up because there is an awful lot of online speculation, blaming and worse around what started the Salt and South Fork fires. It\u2019s easy enough to guess, and guessing can be attractive if the guesser can further an agenda.\u00a0Alternatively, good journalists, such as Source New Mexico\u2019s Patrick Lohmann, go through the process I described above to provide people with facts. I\u2019ve sung Pat\u2019s praises in this newsletter before, and I\u2019ll direct you now to his excellent story from yesterday,\u00a0exploring the possible origins of these fires<\/a>. Notice how Pat walks you through what he knows, how he learned it and, as importantly, what he doesn\u2019t know.\u00a0

That\u2019s journalism, not guessing.\u00a0

The crew at\u00a0Source<\/a>\u00a0has done excellent reporting since these fires first started. You\u2019ll see a pattern as you read their coverage: These journalists follow the formula to provide readers with facts. \u00a0

KRWG-Radio<\/a>\u00a0has also produced solid reporting on the fires, as have others. \u00a0Here at NMPBS, Our Land Senior Producer Laura Paskus has been posting about the Salt and South Fork fires on\u00a0Instagram,<\/a>\u00a0and you\u2019ll be able to read more about them in the\u00a0Our Land Weekly newsletter<\/a>\u00a0in the coming weeks,.Laura has been reporting on wildfires for many years, and no one centers accuracy and empathy in her journalism better than Laura.\u00a0

Lastly, I want to highlight this service \u2014 a phone line for people looking for friends and family members impacted by these fires \u2014 from Source and KUNM. There are a ton of other resources in\u00a0the piece the two news organizations published<\/a>\u00a0about the phone line, too. You can get facts from the link I posted at the top of this article and from the\u00a0Salt Fork\/Salt Fires Information Hub<\/a>. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Jeff Proctor, Executive Producer, New Mexico in Focus<\/p>\n\n\n\n