MANSFIELD — Richland Source reporter Tracy Geibel was honored Tuesday with with one of Hearken’s national Champion of Curiosity awards for answering a reader-submitted question about the former Westinghouse property.
Geibel’s two-part series on the former appliance factory, published Sept. 19 and Sept. 20, was chosen among more than 1,700 public-powered stories published between November 2017 and October 2018 as an example of “great audience engagement journalism” and hardest story to report.
Richland Source and the Philadelphia Inquirer were the two winners chosen in this category. The hardest stories to report category was judged by Hearken’s engagement consulting team. The Philadelphia Inquirer was also recognized in this category for the the difficulty of submitted question.
“This story was definitely a challenge for me,” Geibel said. “None of the former Westinghouse property owners would talk with me, but I had already committed to answering this reader’s question, so I had to find a different way to answer the question.”
Mansfield resident Russell Potter submitted his question about the property through Richland Source’s Open Source, a platform launched in May 2018 that allows readers to submit their questions about Richland County for a voting round or for the staff to consider. If the staff decides to answer a question, the person who asked it will be contacted and included in the reporting process.
“We think our readers have great ideas, so we want their help in assigning our stories and even in reporting them,” Geibel said. “This story probably wouldn’t have happened if Russell didn’t submit this question. He gave me a reason to take another look at the property and to ask different questions.”
In Part I, Geibel introduced Potter and explained his interest in the building. In Part II, she answers his questions, which included “What is the status of the Westinghouse property,” Can the city market the property for new development,” “Who owns the property” and “Are there EPA concerns?”
“I probably could have dismissed the first question. It would have been easy to say, ‘Well, nothing new is happening,’ but I wanted to take this opportunity to learn even more about the property,” Geibel said.
She met Potter at Relax, It’s Just Coffee to determine what he wanted to know and then began her investigation.
When she couldn’t contact the property owners or met resistance, Geibel headed in another direction. She connected with the economic development directors from the city and county to find answers for Richland Source’s audience.
“I should mention that the sources that spoke with me — the ones that are included in the stories — they weren’t difficult at all. They were incredibly helpful, and it’s only because of them that I was able to write these stories about the property,” Geibel said.
Other award categories included best investigative story, breaking news, public service, best use of interactivity, best use of video, most fun story to report and favorite story that would not have been assigned in a traditional editorial process.
