Meet the experts

In a media world with countless news outlets and even more opinionated voices, finding expert sources to add perspective and depth to our coverage is more important than ever.

Richmond Times-Dispatch reporters have developed relationships with a number of people they call upon to help decipher an increasingly complex and, often, confusing world. We include their expert observations to make our stories more valuable to our readers.

These people have come to our attention in a variety of ways.

Reporters have met them when covering other stories, they've been recommended by other sources, and sometimes they approach us to offer their expertise. We maintain a source database on our Intranet that has nearly 500 people knowledgeable on topics ranging from the Civil War to drug abuse and addiction.

Today we'll introduce some of our experts and tell you why we think their insights are valuable.

Karen Cameron, CEO and executive director of the Central Virginia Health Planning Agency, is someone health writer Tammie Smith considers an important source.

"She knows the health-care industry but is not affiliated with any of the hospital systems here, so she can speak impartially," Smith said. "She is also good with data analysis. I can call and ask if my interpretation of numbers is accurate, for instance, and she often adds additional insight on what the numbers mean or why they are what they are."

In recent months, Smith has made many calls to Dr. Richard P. Wenzel, an infectious-disease expert at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine.

"He explains matters succinctly," Smith said. "He's a great resource" on swine flu, antibiotic resistance, MRSA, and smallpox. For Smith and our readers, "he helps put the headlines and developments into perspective."

George Lancaster, a recently retired basketball coach at Highland Springs, has been a good source and sounding board for sportswriter John O'Connor for 30 years. He's a successful coach and is deeply involved in the community and with high school sports. The topic could be rules, trends, changes in the game, kids, anything.

"He is very insightful," O'Connor said. "You can always count on getting two well-thought-out paragraphs from him."

Larry Sabato, director of the University of Vir ginia Center for Politics, is just one of the pundits quoted by the politics team. But Sabato brings a particular expertise, according to political editor Andrew Cain. While he is not the only source we might consult on a political story, Sabato is deeply knowledgeable about regional politics -- he has studied Virginia politics for more than 30 years and has authored more than 20 books about state and national politics.

VCU economics professor George Hoffer is a go-to source when it comes to the ever-changing world of the auto industry. Hoffer has written about and studied the industry for more than 40 years, and business writer Louis Llovio values his broad expertise. Beyond his academic work, Hoffer has consulted for U.S. and foreign manufacturers, as well as serving as an expert witness in auto industry court cases.

Christine Chmura is one of our key sources on all things dealing with the economy, according to business writer Emily Dooley, who reports on the Virginia economy.

"She has a tremendous amount of knowledge about not only what is happening locally but nationally and globally," Dooley said. "Employment numbers, gross domestic product, and consumer confidence . . . she talks about those topics and more. She also has a deep understanding of the local labor market conditions and is invaluable when it comes to providing the context behind the numbers."

Before founding what is now called Chmura Economics & Analytics in 1999, Chmura was the chief economist at Crestar Financial Corp. and was an associate economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. She has written columns on economic issues for the Metro Business section each month since 2000; beginning in August, look for her column on the first Monday of the month in Metro Business.

When it comes to legal issues, particularly state or U.S. Supreme Court rulings, we often turn to Carl Tobias, the Williams Professor of Law at the University of Richmond law school. He can succinctly explain the significance of high court rulings and judicial appointments, according to local news editor Paige Mudd.

We first started consulting him as a regular legal expert in 2004, shortly after he joined the UR faculty. Since then, we've quoted Tobias in more than 100 stories, most recently in a front-page story Tuesday in which he helped explain the significance of the Supreme Court ruling about discrimination by the New Haven, Conn., fire department.

We continue to add new experts to our internal source list. We welcome your recommendations, too. Please send them to my attention -- my contact information is at the bottom of this column.

If we learn that a source has moved away, changed careers, or taken a strong advocacy position that may call his or her objectivity into question, we will update the status or remove the source from our list.

Not only do we turn to these sources for explanations and insight, they often alert us to other stories we should be reporting. Ultimately, we want communication with our sources -- and our readers -- to work both ways. That's a reflection of trust.

Contact Sunday editor Cheryl Magazine at (804) 649-6850 or .