Framing the Story

Framing the story

For too long, now, the agenda for civic discourse surrounding public lands issues has been defined by conflict. An event, framed as a confrontation, impartially presenting two sides of a story this is classic journalism. Use it or preserve it? Private rights of use vs. the environment? And often the conflict in which the various debates on the management and use of public lands is framed becomes the news story, or at least the focus of public affairs analysis, rather than the issues involved or any common ground.

But when we ordinary people can hear those that are more intimately involved in public lands issues talking with each other, as they did in the FocusWest WESTERN DIVIDE production, it becomes apparent that public lands issues are much more complex than an either/or situation. If Jack Ward Thomas, former Chief of the U.S. Forest Service is right, Collaboration is the only game in town, and there are no rules." These conversations are critically important in moving beyond the current conflicts and stalemates to identify common ground.

The FocusWest project is an attempt to broaden the dialogue on issues, such as the use and management of public lands, that are distinctly important in the inter-mountain West. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the public television networks serving Idaho, Wyoming and Northern Nevada have formed a collaborative partnership with the goal of increasing citizen involvement in public affairs. The WESTERN DIVIDE is the first product resulting from the partnership. Other topics to be tackled this year include Water and Latino Population Growth.

The process of producing WESTERN DIVIDE is, itself, an interesting exercise in building a collaboration in order to expand a vision within the region, while consolidating resources and efforts to focus on local action. People in each of the geographic areas are struggling with public lands issues, through different means and with varying degrees of success. But the slate of underlying problems is very similar. Our initial aim was to share these stories about specific people and places Yellowstone, Jarbidge, Owyhee Canyonlands to stimulate greater awareness, interest, and knowledge about public lands issues. And this would lead to local action.

Curiously enough, the process of assembling some two dozen individuals, spanning the spectrum of those who are more involved in these issues, to interact with a panel that included Former Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Idaho, Cecil Andrus; Former Chief of the US Forest Service, Jack Ward Thomas; Former Congressman Helen Chenoweth; and Greg Cawley, Head of Political Science at University of Wyoming, led us to rethink the format of the project.

That this studio full of people, each with a distinct perspective on the elephant, were willing to spend an afternoon talking and listening to each other, not to mention what they ended up actually saying, was a bit of a surprise to us. And we wonder if it might even have surprised some of them! Yes, there were the usual discussions on wise use vs. preservation, and the expected questions about property rights, a way of life and the publics interest. But in the end, there was much more excitement about shared views and objectives.

Aha! we thought as we reviewed the two and half hours of tape that resulted from this exercise. It might be that emerging new technologies, like Digital Televison (DTV), will let us share these different insights and alternative frameworks for discussion and action with our citizenry in more effective ways than the usual journalistic approach to television allows. Public affairs television tends to limit us to a single program, usually no more than an hour, with a beginning, middle, and end. And what this usually allows is the presentation of a series of polar positions. If we could, on the other hand, get away from the linear experience of television, we might be able to better show the interweaving of ideas and the increased excitement about collaboration that we saw in the studio session. We could begin to approximate the enhanced television possibilities of DTV by using the web, and eventually an iDVD, to engage, inform, and move people to action. This approach offers the added advantage that the WESTERN DIVIDE is available now to people via the Web, on demand, throughout the region.

The dialogue that took place in the studio was, itself, an important result of this project. Some people most involved in public lands issues point out to me that there is only so much an ordinary person can do to have influence in this area, given the constraints of the system. Perhaps, the same people surmise, the most fruitful conversations will be those discussions between people who are more expert, more vested, in the issues. To that end, the studio session may have been a catalyst of some sort.

However, Id like to think that there is an important role for citizens throughout our region to play in public lands use and management. We need to feel that the issues are real, and that they are ours. We are the people that must build local collaborations. But we dont need to rediscover the wheel for each locale. Its helpful and informative to see how others in our region approach the problems and opportunities. We should feel inspired to act, with confidence that we, too, can make a difference. New Regional Advisory Councils, many with funding, will provide an additional tool for expanding the involvement and power of local citizens in public lands issues.

Now it is up to us to pick up on the conversational threads . . . redefining conservation; focusing on the results of good land management; recognizing the need to fix a broken system; seeking collaborative solutions rather than seeking resolution through confrontation. The power of the media is to offer, and frame, topics for public debate and action. What action? Thats up to those willing to engage in the ensuing dialogue.

Gens Johnson
January 2002

p.s. We are looking forward to the next FocusWest production, in May, which will examine water issues in the inter-mountain west. We hope to again bring people together in our studio, use our various technologies to let people watch the interaction, and ultimately frame the issues in some new ways.