The Columbia Journalism Review featured USC Annenberg's Intersections South LA website in an article that explores journalism sites focusing on positive news. The article said Intersections is not a positive-only news site, but it's "a good illustration of how positive news can be an important part of an outlet’s overall coverage."
"(T)he goal is to provide a true picture of the surrounding community. South LA can be a dangerous place, and while Intersections doesn’t refrain from reporting on crime and poverty—two of the area’s biggest issues—it also emphasizes the good things that happen in the neighborhood. Willa Seidenberg, a journalism professor and the editor of the site, says people in the community appreciate the effort. 'People are just happy to have some news and coverage that isn’t all negative,' says Seidenberg. 'Journalists are trained to look for the conflict. That’s Journalism 101. You look for the tension in the story, and that’s important to know how to do. But no community is just problems. There are wonderful things happening in this community that have to be part of the conversation.'" "But when it comes to reporting these types of stories, there’s a fine line between journalism and boosterism. 'It can be hard. You don’t want to feel like you are being a PR flack,' says Seidenberg. 'We don’t want to just be cheerleaders for programs.' Walking this line requires care, and Seidenberg says she encourages her students to not only report on positive initiatives, but also analyze them. She says her motivations for making sure good news gets reported stems from what drew her towards the media in the first place. 'I went into journalism to make a difference and educate people, not just about the crime, drugs and poverty—which is all there. But there’s also a lot of spirit, too.'"
About Intersections: Intersections South LA is a community news website dedicated to covering South Los Angeles and surrounding areas, with contributions from residents, high school students and journalism students from the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Intersections represents a new approach to journalism and news coverage. Community residents are encouraged to be active contributors in shaping news content, providing news items in a variety of forms, from video, photographs, opinion pieces, on-the-ground reporting, and entries to our community calendar. Our goal is to create a two-way conversation between residents living in South LA, Inglewood, Watts, Compton and other communities south of downtown Los Angeles and the journalists covering these neighborhoods.
