VALDOSTA — Every Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., the news staff of The Valdosta Daily Times meets for a Facebook Live news budget meeting.

These budgets don’t include sandwiches or expense reports, but what is and isn’t going to be in the newspaper for that week.

News budget meetings happen in every newspaper around the world, but most of the time the public is not privy to what goes on behind the scenes. 

Budget Live provides the public with the opportunity to see how the sausage – or, in this case, the news – is made.

Budget Live is part of Lifting the Veil, a Valdosta Daily Times initiative to increase transparency and increase public participation in newsroom operations. 

It costs nothing but a few minutes out of the morning to see reporters at the newspaper talk about what is happening in the city and county and what they will be reporting on. The news planning meetings usually last about 10 minutes.

During the meeting, staff welcomes public engagement. Reporters sometimes directly ask audience members if they have any questions, thoughts or concerns regarding anything they’ve talked about or reported on.

Both parties benefit from the engagement.

It allows the newspaper to better know its audience and readers, while giving the public a more nuanced understanding of how the paper works.

If anyone has ever wondered why one story is on the front page on a particular day instead of a different story, the Budget Live meetings are the best place to get answers. 

On the other side of the Budget Live meetings is the Video Editorial Series done by Jim Zachary, The Valdosta Daily Times editor and CNHI deputy national editor, and Dean Poling, Times executive editor.

Video Editorial sessions are usually posted on the valdostadailytimes.com website once a week and give insight into the newspaper’s editorials.

Zachary and Poling have decades of journalism experience and discuss a wide array of topics, which gives the public a window into the paper’s mindset behind editorials.

The end goal for these live meetings is to have an open and transparent newsroom, Zachary said. He explained that the efforts are part of what the newspaper is calling Lifting the Veil, bringing the community inside the newsroom and building a culture of openness, accessibility and trust. 

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256