How the Seattle Times amplified the voices of sexual assault survivors on college campuses to show how colleges respond to sexual assault through a first-of-its kind statewide database.
By Jane Glazer and Ranya Salvant
Summary
In an attempt to show how issues with Title IX persisted, and a lack of reformed response to how colleges respond to sexual assault cases, reporters Asia Fields and Taylor Blatchford connected with sexual assault survivors on different college campuses throughout Washington. The reporters wove the stories of the survivors they interviewed with data from about 500 sexual misconduct investigations throughout the state. The result was a multimedia piece allowing survivors to tell their story in ways they were comfortable with alongside statewide data and resources for survivors to navigate the system when dealing with sexual assault cases.
Organization Background
The Seattle Times was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. The daily newspaper is now owned by the Blethen family and the McClatchy company. When it was first founded, it began as the Seattle Press-Times, with a daily circulation of 3,500 to 2.1 million readers and 13.5 million visitors per month in 2023. Their average print circulation is 86,406. Over the course of their history, they’ve acquired 11 Pulitzer Prizes. The Seattle Times is the oldest family-owned metro daily newspaper in the United States.
Their sections include local news, business and technology, nation and world, sports, entertainment, life, opinion, video, photography and newsletters.
They focus on “mission-driven journalism” as “The Seattle Times serves the Northwest with principled, quality, independent public-service journalism dedicated to the highest standards. We tell the uniquely local stories you won’t find anywhere else - stories that have been recognized nationally for their exceptional depth and impact.” The Seattle Times seeks to deliver solutions-based reporting in order to affect change in public policy.
They have several community-funded initiatives like the Investigative Journalism Fund, Mental Health Project, Project Homeless, and more. They also have a few community programs like Fund For Those In Need and Newspapers in Education.
Snapshot
Project Goals
The goals of this project were to highlight the voices of sexual-assault survivors throughout the state of Washington to show that issues with Title IX were still real. The mission of The Seattle Times’ investigative team is to “hold the powerful to account and expose injustices through meticulous reporting and compelling storytelling.” In doing so, the project hoped to expose these persisting injustices, despite Washington state lawmakers vowing to lead the country in changing how colleges respond to sexual assault. Students shared that they felt “abandoned” by the response from people in power when dealing with sexual assault cases. The project aimed to hold those in power accountable, give a platform for stories of this nature, and give resources for survivors in similar situations.
Project Resources
Fields and Blatchford both worked on this story for months. Other members of The Seattle Times also contributed with editing and creating visuals. The team used Google forms, as well as email, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, as a means to discover and connect with survivors.
Tools and Technology
There was software that they used to make the database and the graphics of the charts and graphs were made by a member in their team, Emily M. Eng. They employed the use of Google Forms to do the callouts and posted it on social media. That was the general extent of the tools and technology used to help create this story. When it came to the visual renderings of the handwriting, Asia mentioned that it was a person on their video team who suggested incorporating the survivors handwriting as a way to visually identify them without showing their faces.
Impact
The reporting has motivated lawmakers to seek out further information about this issue; specifically regarding the lack of uniformity in how Washington’s colleges handle these cases. Sources shared they felt the reporting process and end result were meaningful, and they like knowing that the piece is out there and will hopefully help. Over 1600 people have accessed the resource guide.
How It Happened
Asia Fields used to report on Title IX cases in the past and she’d been keeping in contact with students about their own stories. This happened around the time that students were returning to campus for school after a long-period away from campus since COVID and with the Biden administration considering changes to Title IX regulations, Fields and Taylor Blatchford decided to do a call out.
Fields and Blatchford started the callout form on September 15, 2021.
They kept the form up until a few weeks before the story was published on March 6, 2022.
They received 31 responses between September 2021 to February 2022.
They chose 5 survivors from the responses they received to be their sources for this project.
What Worked
Activity 1: Trauma-informed approaches to the reporting was an integral part of the process for Fields and Blatchford. From the moment they sent the callout to the time the story was done, they worked with the survivors who were willing to tell their story and made sure that throughout the whole process they considered what this meant for the sources to reveal a story that could re-traumatize them.
Activity 2: The sexual misconduct investigations at Washington’s six public universities were made into a database by Asia Fields and Emily M. Eng.
Activity 3: Fields and Blatchford provided resource guides and further information on policies and proceedings to help educate and supply readers with the tools necessary to know for themselves what they can do if this has happened to them or someone they know, or if this were to ever happen.
Activity 4: They held a workshop on campus for college journalists to know how to report on Title IX cases, discussing how to handle data and how to engage with the student population on the matter. There were dozens of students and advisors in attendance.
What Could Have Worked Better
Activity 1: Fields and Blatchford felt they could have done a better job at community outreach and relationship building with students on campus to widen the scope of their sources, especially survivors from marginalized communities and other identities. They feel their diverse perspectives to sexual misconduct and the investigations on campus are layered and could have provided an intersectional issue or viewpoint to the issue at hand.
Activity 2: Fields and Blatchford would have wanted to connect with more advocates, because they end up being a helpful source of information regarding policies, procedures, information and news on the climate on campuses and state-wide. If they had connected with more advocates, they would have had the ability to tell more stories.
Activity 3: Fields and Blatchford wanted to do more campus-specific outreach. Since COVID was an issue during the time they were doing this report, it didn’t give them the vast opportunity to connect with more students or the ability to be more boots-on-the-ground. So they would have been able to spread more information about the project by being more direct and in-person on campus with the students. For example, distributing flyers linking to our callout, holding office hours somewhere near campus to meet with people or planning listening sessions with students.
Activity 4: Fields discussed that they shared their project and the resources to various advocates and national groups, but feels that more could have been done to make this story and the resources accessible to the public via social media and other methods.
What Else You Should Know
Activity 1: They haven’t done a follow-up story or project since then, but hope to reconvene and continue the project to once again include the different approaches they would have taken with campus outreach for diverse student populations. They are both keeping tabs on the nation-wide conversation around Title IX legislation.
Activity 2: They worked with an entire team of people who each put in their own expertise and style to the project, to help tell it visually. The photographer who took a few of the survivors’ pictures was Erika Schultz. The videos were done by Corinne Chin, Ramon Dompor and Lauren Frohne. When it came to graphic design, Jennifer Luxton was key in that process. Fred Nelson was in charge of photo editing. Jonathan Martin, Laura Gordon and Emily M. Eng were in charge of editing.
Activity 3: Blatchford and Fields discussed the blurring of lines that they felt throughout the whole process while talking with survivors and students, because they couldn’t walk them through what options they needed to take with the university or with a specific case, but they were able to shed light on their story which they believe would allow them to maintain some level of objectivity. They brought up an excellent point that the objectivity line blurs a bit because they decided which stories mattered, which stories to prioritize they believe are worth reporting on.