When there are grievances against a mining company, the local people want to know they can handle it locally. Concerning the responsibility of the reporter, Baumann added that it is extremely important for a reporter to have a good knowledge of the subject. Too often, reporters don't have a clue when it comes to technological matters, and it shows in their stories. I'm always looking for stories about people and their jobs, stories that put faces and feelings on things. Humanizing a story always makes it sound better.
Openness leads to a balanced story.
In a spirited give-and take between the audience and panelists, remarks from the audience generally questioned the media's tendency to misrepresent the facts. Otto Schumacher , a local mining engineer, pointed specifically to a local news story that placed the Rock Creek Mine in Montana within the boundaries of the Cabinet Wilderness Area. And sometimes I get so mad when I'm driving to work in the morning when I hear on the radio some allegation about mines or mining technologies that simply is not true. If a reporter is not sure about an item, call someone in the mining industry and get it straight before you run it. Other audience comments addressed headlines that mislead readers, reporters that editorialize news stories, stories exhibiting inflammatory and anti-mining rhetoric, the damage done to mining's credibility by inaccurate reporting, and reporters that lacked any interest in the technological side of mining.