The Next Wave As The World Changes, Our Vision Of It Changes, Too. Now, Journalism Is Evolving To Better Reflect Your Views

Mark Mesenbrink always worked alongside his dad, always. At 6 years old, there he was pitching in at his family’s sawmill in Moyie Springs, Idaho. He loved the feel, the smell, the back-breaking work. He grew up with this assumption: “When I am a man, I will take over this sawmill from my father.”

He became a man and one day two years ago, Mark’s father, Herman Mesenbrink, said: “To be honest with you son I don’t think this sawmill will be here to support you.”

Mesenbrink Mill won’t last another generation, father and son agree, because of government regulations and competition from the lumber industry in other countries.

At age 26, Mark has witnessed the death of his lifelong dream. He says he’s changed forever. “I’m a lot more cynical. I don’t trust things as much. I never expected or planned for the worse. Now in life, I expect the worst.”

Assumptions that we all grew up with are dying every day. Think to your own life. What were you sure that you would always do or always be? What outside forces killed that assumption? And how did it change the way you view your job, your community, your life? Today’s newspaper contains a special report titled “The Ragged Edge.” Today and Monday and in next week’s Sunday and Monday newspapers, you will meet dozens of men, women and young people who are angry, frustrated and disappointed with government, mostly the federal government. They all grew up with assumptions about their government that have been dashed. Some have turned this anger into withdrawal. Others, into belligerence. Still others have joined militias.

You will also meet people who have turned this disappointment into action and are involved in their communities, hoping to change them for the better. In today’s section, for instance, you’ll read the words of Mark’s parents, Carol and Herman Mesenbrink, who used their life savings to satisfy EPA requirements at their sawmill. They still feel bitter about it, but that hasn’t stopped them from contributing time and energy to their Boundary County community.

And you’ll read an article written by Shelley Padilla Taylor of Colville who believes our votes for president don’t count a bit, but she fervently thinks she can make a difference on a local level.

We found these people through a form of journalism known as “civic journalism.” You’ve seen civic journalism in action the past two years on the Opinion and Perspective pages. The Your Turn columns and longer opinion pieces written by community members are both examples.

But here we’ve combined both traditional and civic journalism in a major reporting project. Seven reporters and three photographers spent months interviewing and photographing hundreds of people for this report in the traditional way. And we added a non-traditional, “interactive” component.

In Bonners Ferry and Colville, we held community dialogues with more than a dozen people in each town. These were “off-the-record” sessions and none of what people said there will show up directly in this project. Many of the people we met at those dialogues won’t even be mentioned or quoted, but we used their valuable information for background as the reporting progressed.

Some of those we invited to the forums were mistrustful of us. In the past two years, we have held about 20 dialogues in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene on various topics. The usual “phone call of invitation” lasts five minutes. When we called to invite people to the dialogues in Colville and Bonners Ferry, the calls sometimes lasted an hour. Suspicions about the newspaper surfaced. Why are you doing this? What’s your hidden agenda?

Several people never returned phone calls or failed to show up at the dialogues, even after they assured us they’d attend. The dissatisfaction people feel toward government has also spread to the media.

Those who did participate helped us - we hope - ground this project in the reality that people are living. We wanted to avoid stereotyping towns and people. We wanted to avoid labels. We wanted to avoid some of the sins the national media commit when they sweep into communities and then leave.

As Bob Pace of Bonners Ferry so eloquently put it: “Whenever something newsworthy happens here, such as the Ruby Ridge thing, the news media arrives and the people they choose to interview are those gathered at a local bar or the protesters and sympathizers at the roadblocks. Some coverage!”

Each forum participant was also asked to hold a “pizza paper” discussion with three to six other people in October.

The newspaper bought them $15 pizza certificates and asked them to answer questions such as “What do you value most about your community?” and “What are your frustrations?” and “What would you like to see happen in your community in the next five years?”

More than 100 people participated in these discussions, including David Gray’s government class at Bonners Ferry High School.

In addition, six of the people we met were asked to write first-person essays, explaining their views on different issues. The essays will run throughout the project.

Journalists are often accused of piegonholing or labeling people, painting everything as black and white, or highlighting only the conflicts.

Some of the accusations are based in reality, because it is easier to write about black and white, rather than the gray. It’s easier to write about conflict, rather than what people go through to reach consensus. And it’s easier to label, rather than explain beliefs and how people arrive at them.

Most of us, however, do not live our lives at the extremes of opinion. We live in what’s been called “the mushy middle” of beliefs, ideas and opinions. The goal of “The Ragged Edge” project, through both traditional and civic journalism, is to explore the range and the depth of dissatisfaction with government from the extremes to the mushy middle.

You will meet people at the extremes: Some who no longer pay taxes, some who belong to militia groups and some who believe government as we know it is doomed.

You will also meet those who dislike one part of government and applaud another. You will meet people like Mark Mesenbrink.

Mesenbrink is still so angry at the EPA that he says he could punch out the official who cracked down on his parents’ sawmill. But the day his father told him the sawmill wasn’t going to last into the next generation, Mesenbrink, who studied electrical maintenance in college, said yes to a job that had been offered to him.

His employer? The Bonneville Power Administration, a federal agency.

“I love my job. I wake up every morning and look forward to going to it,” Mesenbrink said. “The people I work with had nothing to do with what happened to my parents’ sawmill.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: We want your input We’d like to hear your thoughts and your reactions to “The Ragged Edge” project. You can call Cityline in Spokane at 458-8800 or in North Idaho at 765-8811. Punch in category 9882. Or you can send e-mail to Richardw@spokesman.com or write: Ragged Edge Reaction, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210-1615.