COMM 386: Of Brits, raccoons, stereotypes, journalists and politics in Roanoke, Va.

Gary Younge, a correspondent for The Guardian, has been reporting on the presidential election from Roanoke, Va., a city slightly smaller than Springfield but located in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains ... the foothills of Appalachia. He's black, he's British and he's -- obviously -- a good reporter. This gets at things we don't see in the national papers' coverage of the campaign.

When he first went to Roanoke last month, he did a profile on the town and its politics that some local readers thought stereotyped -- especially when his crew filmed a raccoon caught in a storm sewer. His response made some observations on the nature of journalism that are worth quoting in detail:

First things first. Journalists do have a responsibility to avoid caricature and stereotypes (although I wonder how many of these Democratic readers would have complained if I had gone to Alaska and done a piece on clueless beauty queens).

They have to balance that with the responsibility to tell the truth, be interesting and be fair.

That's not always as easy as it sounds. We are looking for the most interesting quotes, the most arresting moments and the most engaging characters.

By their nature, they are not always the most representative - but when the story is told in the whole, you'd hope to do a place, issue or person some kind of imperfect justice.

When you're dealing with places or people that receive either little or bad coverage, that responsibility should weigh particularly heavily.

Few people write about the Caribbean, where my parents are from, other than if they're writing about holidays.

When they do, they usually feel compelled to mention laidback people smoking spliffs, horny rastas and reggae. It's annoying, and speaks far more about what they are looking for than what they might see if they were slightly more curious.

Similarly, I have seen journalists report on black British attitudes to fatherhood entirely from a McDonald's in Brixton. It's lazy and, in terms of feeding popular misconceptions, quite dangerous.

But none of that means you won't find black British people in McDonald's, or that reggae, horny rastas and spliff smokers are absent from the Caribbean.

In the words of the black intellectual and civil rights activist, WEB Dubois: "Our worst side has been so shamelessly emphasised that we are denying that we ever had a worst side. In all sorts of ways, we are being hemmed in."

It's also true that no two people in the Caribbean, black Britain, or anywhere else will have the same view about a place. Instead, they will have their own sense of what makes it authentic.

Which brings us back to Roanoke and that pesky raccoon. ...

My problem with stereotypes is that while they have truth in them (otherwise they wouldn't be stereotypes, right?), they don't surprise. And and like small children and readers, I like surprises. Younge suggested the raccoon bit was good journalism because: (1) it really happened; (2) it caught the flavor of Roanoke; and (3) it was a cute bit. But it would only work once. "And the next time I see a raccoon in the street, I promise to look the other way -- it wouldn't be funny second time around, anyway."

Surprise. I said I like surprises. Here's one: Watching a local debate at a pub in Roanoke between local supporters of John McCain and Barack Obama, Younge found evidence that "Americans are far more fully engaged in their political life than most Europeans."

Footnote> The Roanoke Times covered the international coverage as reporters for The New Yorker magazine, British Broadcasting Corp. and The Toronto Star, as well as Younge, came to town. Here's a description of Younge at work:

So this British newspaper reporter walks into the Texas Tavern and eats a cheeseburger with a fried egg on top. His name is Gary Younge, a fellow with a pirate's hoop earring and a friendly chuckle who has worked all over the world but has never met a Cheesy Western.

Welcome to Roanoke, capital of Southwest Virginia, the corner of a state that looks like it will cast a crucial vote for the next president.

I'm not sure what a Cheesy Western is. But I'll bet in Roanoke, they don't know what a horseshoe is either.