World gets variety of reflections of city

Several international journalists have traveled to Youngstown to tell its story.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER

YOUNGSTOWN — Depending on which media from outside Ohio is doing the reporting, Youngstown is “almost a ghost town,” a model for Detroit, or has “some glimmers of hope.”

But many out-of-state reporters agree that, in the key battleground state of Ohio, Youngstown and the entire Mahoning Valley are expected to play a major role in the presidential race.

The Wall Street Journal states: “Turnout in the historically Democratic stronghold of Mahoning County will be key to victory.”

That’s why national and international newspapers, magazines, television and radio programs have come here to tell our story — the story of the Youngstown Effect , its impact on the election and its reflection of the American economic situation.

“Youngstown certainly seems like ground zero for the election,” said Mick O’Donnell, producer of “4 Corners,” a current affairs show on the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“I think that Youngstown fits the bill no matter what your level of analysis is for what’s going on in the country right now,” said Chris Cuomo, a co-host of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” which presented a live broadcast from Youngstown State University featuring an interview with John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee. “You’ve got a very vibrant population who’s looking for answers to problems that are happening all over this country.”

While Ohio is a swing state, Cuomo said “GMA” came to Youngstown because it epitomizes America.

Again, the Youngstown Effect.

“I think that everything that is great and is a challenge in the country right now you see in Youngstown,” he said. “The power of the American spirit is here. The desire of Americans to find a better way is here. The problems with the industry that we have now in this country is here: how small businesses are going to be able to grow, how big businesses are falling away, the need for a new level of energy. It’s all here. For us, it’s a no-brainer” to broadcast from Youngstown.

“Reporters,” a news show on France 24, described as that country’s CNN, also came to Youngstown to tell the city’s story.

“The town used to be a flourishing industrial center in the 1970s, when steel work was in its prime. Today, all the old factories have closed down, and the place is almost a ghost town.”

The show features two men going through scrap yards looking for “shreds of metal” in order to “survive. Feed your family, pay your rent.”

Except for a brief mention about a new mayor in Youngstown — Jay Williams has served for nearly three years — and the Youngstown 2010 redevelopment plan, the story paints a negative picture of the city.

“First impressions are pretty bleak, and that is reflected in our story,” Cyril Vanier, a reporter who spent a week in the city working on the segment, told The Vindicator. “At first sight, Youngstown looks like an abandoned city. We were expecting to see houses boarded up and buildings decaying, but what struck us was the emptiness.”

Vanier added that he and his crew were “struck by the fear and mistrust among some Youngstowners.” Vanier said some people in the city were “afraid” of him.

Another French journalist, Francois d’Alancon, senior foreign correspondent for La Croix, a national daily newspaper, was in Youngstown for two days for an article he wrote.

“It’s no big mystery,” d’Alancon said about coming to Youngstown. “I did some pre-research and a lot has been written about Youngstown.” There are cities in France, he said, facing the same challenges as Youngstown: transforming their economies and making some progress in the face of struggles.

The Internationale Youngstown Effect?

CNN has visited the Youngstown area a few times this year, including a recent one by reporter Mary Snow.

“Youngstown is obviously famous,” she said. “You hear so much about it because of the economic troubles that it has. Obviously, the economy weighs heavily on people’s minds. Youngstown is slowly recovering. There are spots of Youngstown you can see rebuilding. There’s hope, but there’s worry because they’ve been through so much already.”

As part of a project on the future of Detroit, the Detroit Free Press looked at other urban cities with declining population. One of those cities was Youngstown. The Youngstown 2010 plan calls for the city to accept that its population is shrinking and make the best of that situation.

“Detroit must do what Youngstown, Ohio, a smaller city with similar problems, is doing: making a concerted effort to downsize,” reads an editorial in the Detroit newspaper.

Other newspapers have written about the city’s plan, but the Detroit Free Press is the first to urge its city to adapt the plan to its specific needs.

When out-of-town journalists come to the Valley, many typically stop at one of two places at YSU: its Center for Working Class Studies to talk to Sherry Linkon and John Russo, its co-directors; or the political science department to speak to Paul Sracic, its chairman.

While he is interviewed by national publications, Sracic said it is the foreign press that is contacting him more.

He rattled off names of news agencies in Finland, Spain, Japan, Canada and France when asked who’s interviewed him lately.

About half of those journalists know nothing about the area except that it used to be a steel town, and are under the incorrect impression that the Valley is Republican, he said.

“You have to teach them about the area and give them a brief description of the presidential election process,” Sracic said. “Also, most come here with a preconceived notion to discuss a Rust Belt, decaying area. But they listen to what I say” about the positive efforts being made in the area.

The amount of international press coverage of Youngstown for this election is “extraordinary,” Sracic said. “Youngstown is on the map internationally.”

At least 40 journalists from outside Ohio, many of them from other counties, have interviewed Russo, who’s also coordinator of YSU’s labor studies program at the Williamson College of Business, and Linkon, also a professor of English and American studies.

“We’ve been arguing for years that Youngstown’s story is America’s story,” Russo said. “What happened in the latter part of the 20th century in Youngstown is what’s happening nationally now.”

Writing a story on Youngstown, because of its economic struggles, makes it an attractive place for journalists, Linkon said.

“A reporter knows that if you say Youngstown, it conjures up a whole lot of images,” she said. “It doesn’t take a lot of work.”

That’s why the pair say they ask journalists numerous questions about how they’re going to cover Youngstown to make sure they know about both the good and the bad.

“We do a lot of pushing back,” Russo said. “We see our job as educators. Part of what’s going on in this community right now is how the story of Youngstown is being told,” Linkon added.

“So often a story about Youngstown begins, ‘In this Rust Belt city where 50,000 people lost jobs 30 years ago,’ and it focuses entirely on that struggle. That struggle is very much what our story is. I don’t think it should be erased. I think it’s important that it’s there.”

But there’s more to the story, Linkon said.

The two talk about Jay Williams, the city’s first black mayor, as well as the employment growth at the Lordstown General Motors plant while the automotive industry is struggling nationwide, and the growth of new kinds of businesses.

“There are some people locally who would like to see only” the positive aspects covered, Linkon said. “My response to that is: If you erase that history, nobody’s going to come to Youngstown to do any reporting. It’s in our interests to have them here to talking about this community.”

The Youngstown Effect has branched out to attract national media to other parts of the Valley.

Time has a video, “Making Ends Meet in Rural Ohio,” on its Web site that focuses on Kinsman Township in Trumbull County.

The first article in a series by the Boston Globe on how voters in key Ohio communities see the presidential race is about Lordstown, also in Trumbull County.

The story contrasts the automotive industry’s struggles with the success of the GM plant in Lordstown, calling the facility an “economic oasis” in the headline.

“Everyone hears about plant closings and the downturn in the auto industry,” said Scott Helman, the Globe reporter who wrote the story, a Columbus native. “It was one place that bucks that trend.”

skolnick@vindy.com