Spring 1995
Twelve initiatives funded this year
The Pew Center received 30 civic journalism proposals this year and funding will go to 11 media partnerships and to Public Radio News Directors to help create a radio documentary on civic journalism.
Civic journalism efforts funded this year range from studying children beset by violence in Detroit, to holding a community conversation in Grand Forks, N.D., to exploring citizen willingness to end traditional school boundaries in Rochester. Here is a recap.
The Bergen Record
HACKENSACK, N.J.
Glenn Ritt, Editor
David Blomquist, Project Director
The Bergen Record is embarking on a two-year “Quality of Life Project” to stimulate public dialogue about the choices its citizens face as Bergen and Passaic Counties strive to maintain their best characteristics. “The vast majority of Bergen’s residents. . . recognize the county is at a crossroads,” Ritt said. “Highways are increasingly congested, property taxes are too high, crime is rising, housing is too expensive, the job market is changing, family life is under stress and government services are being axed to meet dwindling budgets.”
The newspaper has polled 600 residents and asked 200 county leaders to identify threats, opportunities, strengths and weaknesses facing the region. Then it asked readers to fill out a survey about their quality of life; the Record got more than 1,200 responses. The paper wants to organize as many as 10 task forces to initiate ideas about high-priority concerns of citizens. The task force studies will end up as stories or special sections; some will be agendas for county-wide workshops, conferences and town meetings.
The Record has teamed up with Caucus Educational Corp., a New Jersey producer of public television programs that air on WNET in New York, and New Jersey Network in New York and Philadelphia. The newspaper is also talking with local cable operators about providing air time. And it plans an interactive component through audiotex and an Internet home page.
The Charlotte Observer
CHARLOTTE, N.C.
Jennie Buckner, Editor
The Observer is expanding its successful “Taking Back our Neighborhoods/ Carolina Crime Solutions” examination of city neighborhoods beset by crime. “With each article, the reaction builds. We know this is not a project we can walk away from,” said Buckner. “We have begun something that must be continued.”
With partners WSOC-TV (the ABC affiliate) and radio stations WPEG and WBAV, the project has examined five at-risk neighborhoods; four more will be profiled this year. Then the Observer will report several overview articles on issues that are cropping up in all the neighborhoods and examine how city agencies and non-profit organizations are dealing with them. The partnership will also sponsor a major forum, with national speakers and workshops for neighborhood residents, to explore models for change.
Greater Dayton Public Television
DAYTON, OHIO
Marty Steffens, News Manager for Public Life
Sandee Harden, WPTD station manager
The Daily News and WPTD, the public television station, are about to embark on “Reinventing Dayton,” an exploration of key issues related to the future of the community. They will partner with WYSO-FM public radio in Yellow Springs, Ohio, the Miami Valley (Ohio) National Issues Forums and the Montgomery County Historical Society.
The initiative will poll the community to assess strengths and help set an agenda to build on assets identified by citizens. The partnership will then produce a one-hour documentary to coincide with the start of Dayton’s Bicentennial in 1996. The program will focus on how the city faced various historical challenges and how citizens can leverage the community’s capabilities as Dayton reinvents itself for the future. It will include a public discussion segment that will set the stage for public forums.
Detroit Free Press
DETROIT, MICH.
Neil Shine, Publisher
Jane Daugherty, Associate Editor
The Free Press will work with WXYZ-TV, the local ABC affiliate, on a joint print and television project, “Children First, Making Young Lives Safer.” It aims to put the issue of violence against children on the public policy agenda and foster solutions to improve the lives of Michigan children. The project is an evolution of the paper’s 1993-94 Children First editorial and community campaign. This year’s project will kick off with a poll of 600 Michigan children. The newspaper will report a major series of stories about children’s needs and work with the television station on three prime-time specials. The first two specials, 30-minutes each, will focus on children as the victims of violence and as the perpetrators of violence. The third TV special will be in a town-meeting format with discussion and debate led by Shine and Channel 7 news anchor Guy Gordon.
Grand Forks Herald
GRAND FORKS, N.D.
Mike Jacobs, Editor and Acting Publisher
The Herald has teamed up with WDAZ-TV, the ABC affiliate and market leader, and the University of North Dakota School of Communications and its public radio station KFJM and student television station, to conduct a “Community Conversation.” Grand Forks, population 60,000, is the site of a threatened U.S. Air Force base. Its university is facing budget cuts, its retailers are affected by changes in Canadian policy, and its farmers are facing changes in federal agricultural policy. “The city must react to circumstances that are largely beyond the control of local people,” Jacobs said. “This breeds a sense of alienation and helplessness that pits the ‘people’ against the ‘interests’ and poisons attempts to create a community vision.” The Community Conversation will use a community poll, background reporting, focus groups and forums to try to bridge those divides and identify common issues and potential solutions.
The Manhattan Mercury
MANHATTAN, KAN.
Bill Felber, Executive Editor
The Mercury has teamed up with KQLA-FM radio to do a series of in-depth stories over the next year on local issues and invite citizens to discuss possible solutions. In “The Public Mind” project, the newspaper envisions devoting one page per week to an issue, first giving a status report, then looking, via case studies, at how the issue affects people in the community. Next it will bring in experts to talk about the issue and possible solutions. Finally, members of the public will be asked to discuss the issue and to try to publish an agenda on how it might be addressed.
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle and Times-Union
ROCHESTER, N.Y.
Mark Wert, Public Affairs Editor
The Democrat is teaming up with WXXI public television and radio to explore residents’ attitudes toward elementary and high school education and their willingness to eliminate artificial government boundaries to improve schools. Rochester was in the spotlight of a national education reform effort in the late 1980s that hiked teachers’ pay 40 percent. But today, tests scores remain largely unchanged and schools are in a perpetual financial crisis, prompting many city residents to flee to the suburbs. In April, the partners plan to poll residents on their attitudes about their schools and their receptivity toward working with other school districts. Town meetings will be held to examine the state of education. The partners will also explore how other cities have tried to improve their schools or consolidated government functions, and what kinds of property-tax alternatives are available for financing schools.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
ST. PAUL, MINN.
Ken Doctor, Managing Editor
“Francis Hartmann stood before our group… and said: If you want to talk to your readers about crime, ask them about safety. Ask them how safe they feel and what would make them feel safer.”
St. Paul in its “Safer Cities” project is undertaking a “listening and enabling” exercise to tune into what people are saying about crime and safety. Teamed up with a local television station, the year-long project will launch with a major poll asking citizens such things as: Do you lock your door at night? Where do you let your kids go at night? Do you own a gun? The partners will involve the community in meetings, forums and roundtables and strike alliances with church and school groups, and weekly newspapers that reach more diverse communities. In addition to front-page stories on the poll and citizen sessions, the paper plans to create a weekly column on crime. “In an ongoing way, we hope to use what we learn to redefine our crime and security coverage,” Doctor said.
San Jose Mercury
SAN JOSE, CA.
Jonathan Krim, Assistant Managing Editor
The Mercury is teaming up with an area television station on a Legislative Education Project designed to remedy ignorance about the state legislative process. The paper in January published the results of a year-long investigation of how money controls the state legislature. At the end of the series, the paper put out a call for citizens interested in addressing issues raised in the articles. The Mercury got 200 responses. The paper will sponsor an initial town meeting to bring in experts to teach the basics of the legislative process. Then they will ask the citizen volunteers to design a plan or create an agenda for addressing topics they select. The paper will publish regular forums, written by the citizens, reporting on their experiences and the progress of their efforts. The year will wind up with another town meeting to evaluate what worked and what didn’t.
The Seattle Times
SEATTLE, WASH.
Mike Fancher, Editor
“From Boeing to Microsoft, from Starbucks coffee to Pearl Jam, Seattle is setting America’s economic and cultural menu,” said Fancher. In a city that still has a chance, the Times and its partners, public radio stations KUOW-FM and Tacoma’s KPLU, want to help residents assess a series of decisions that are crucial to the city’s future. Voters or their elected representatives this year will decide whether to build a new rail system, replace and renovate deteriorating schools, develop a light industrial area into a residential-retail-recreational “Seattle Commons,” build a new retractable-dome baseball center, and convert a downtown pedestrian plaza into an automobile thoroughfare. The Times and its partners will use polls, focus groups, live and electronic town halls to air the issues and get public input. The reports will appear under the banner “The Front Page Forum,” which the partners launched last year in working together on National Public Radio’s Election Project.
The Tallahassee Democrat
TALLAHASSEE, FLA.
Lou Heldman, Editor
The Democrat is moving into the second year of “The Public Agenda,” its three-year effort to foster a community dialogue on key issues. With partners WCTV (the CBS affiliate), Florida State and Florida A&M Universities, and its research component, The Harwood Group and Kerr & Downs Research, the project is continuing community discussions led by moderators trained in National Issues Forum techniques. More discussion leaders are being trained and collaborations between citizens and their elected leaders are being encouraged. The newspaper is presenting special reports on issues identified in the community dialogues and inviting citizens to voice opinions and submit questions to public officials via e-mail, fax or Tallahassee Free-Net. More living-room conversations will be held with participants. Two telephone surveys will determine whether The Public Agenda is affecting citizens’ views. And focus groups will be held with people who have not participated.
Public Radio News Directors Inc.
KLCC-FM, EUGENE, ORE.
Tripp Sommer, President
The 1995 PRNDI Project will focus on civic journalism, giving young journalists an opportunity to learn more about using civic journalism techniques to develop stories. Young journalists will learn writing, editing and production skills in an interactive setting. Participants create a radio documentary that is broadcast over public radio stations across the country.
