What’s Happening in Pew Projects

Myrtle Beach, SC

The Sun News, Myrtlebeachonline.com, Coastal Carolina University

The Sun News, Myrtlebeachonline.com, Coastal Carolina University
The newspaper examined the impact of solid waste disposal in June as part of its ongoing “Growth on the Grand Strand,” an in-depth look at the effect of development on Myrtle Beach. “You wouldn’t think that solid waste would make a very sexy story but it generated a lot of interest,” said Editor Trisha O’Connor. The newspaper will host a fall forum at Coastal Carolina University, where the public and experts will discuss the effect of development on transportation and the environment. An interactive game, which should be available on www.myrtlebeachonline.com by the fall, will allow viewers to participate in a “Sim City” approach to development. “By changing different variables, people will be able to see, in a relatively elementary way, what happens if you put up a high-rise, how it affects the trees and the oceanfront,” O’Connor said. Response from readers has been positive. “They especially like the fact that we’re bringing them ideas from outside the area,” she said.

Indianapolis, IN

WTHR-TV (NBC), The Indianapolis Star

The partners invited key leaders from various ethnic communities to participate in a June town hall on the “Changing Face of Indianapolis” with the focus on the growing diversity reflected in the 2001 census. They will use public input to guide their coverage of the city’s growth in population. “Changing Face” is the latest in a series of projects the partners have undertaken using citizen involvement. Earlier this year, WTHR and The Indianapolis Star developed the “The People’s Agenda” as a guide to coverage of the Indiana General Assembly. Using ballots printed in the newspaper or available online through both partners’ Web sites, about 3,400 people rated which legislative issues should receive top priority. Property taxes finished at the top of the list. Second was a measure to restrict telemarketer calls. After the list of priorities was assembled, the partners conducted a poll to establish where people stood on the issues. On telemarketing, for example, 95 percent of those polled supported a measure that would allow residents to place their names on a “do-not-call” list. The measure – defeated the previous year after heavy lobbying from telemarketers – passed this year. Although there was no action on property taxes, six of the 10 issues identified by the people’s agenda were addressed by the legislature. The partners plan at least three more projects this year. www.wthr.com, www.starnews.com.

Portland, ME

MaineToday.com, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram

MaineToday.com continues to develop its “bionic software,” which will allow greater user interaction. Currently, programmers are creating a system that will allow groups to identify themselves in two ways – as a community of interest and as a geographic community. Community groups will be able to publish information on their group (i.e. biking, books, baseball) that will appear on the highly trafficked editorial pages of MaineToday.com. Users will be able to search the news database by interest or by geographical region. The system was scheduled to launch in mid-July.

Lincoln, NE

Lincoln Journal Star, Nebraska ETV, KMTV3 (CBS)

In April, the Nebraska legislature set aside a bill that would have prohibited research using fetal tissue. Editors at the Lincoln Journal Star say they believe information from their project, “Medical Ethics: Tough Choices,” influenced the outcome of the debate. According to editor David Stoeffler, legislators quoted citizens who took part in the project. Also, lobbyists for the University of Nebraska, which opposes the bill, included the series in briefing books it gave to senators. The partners began the project last spring amid controversy over the disclosure that the university uses fetal tissue in research. The partners each ran a series of reports and sponsored a two-hour public forum, broadcast live on Nebraska Public Television and later on KMTV3. Stoeffler said the partners were complimented for their evenhandedness. One reader wrote, “Even though I do not agree with the views of those who support embryonic cell research, I got a clearer sense of their point of view.”
Stoeffler added that staff members have greatly increased their knowledge about research at the University Medical Center, which he expects will be helpful in developing coverage of other topics. www.journalstar.com.

Philadelphia, PA

The Philadelphia Daily News

The newspaper plans to launch a Virtual Home and School Association on its Web site by September to coincide with the opening of city public schools – the focus of its civic journalism initiative, “Rethinking Philadelphia Schools.” The site will be a one-stop guide to the public schools, providing year-by-year information on key issues for children as they progress from pre-kindergarten to college. The Daily News will partner with Temple University to conduct a forum in late September on the question: “Are Teachers Being Taught How to Teach in Urban Schools?” Forum panelists will include a reporter and college students majoring in education. The Daily News has designated the week of Sept. 10 as Speak Out Week and will host public forums where community members, education experts and reporters will discuss special education, public charter schools and other school issues. http://dailynews.philly.com.

Austin, TX

KUT-FM (PBS), University of Texas

A community mapping survey shows that Austin residents are very concerned about the city’s traffic problems. KUT-FM will use the results and a series of focus group interviews to help create a news program based on civic journalism principles. KUT-FM plans to house its news staff and state-of-the-art equipment in the basement of Communications Building B at the University of Texas by the fall. Last March, the staff visited WBUR-FM at Boston University and facilities for The World, a daily international news magazine co-produced by WGBH and the BBC.

Tucson, AZ

The Arizona Daily Star, The Tucson Citizen, KVOA Channel 4 (NBC), KOLD Channel 13 (CBS), KGUN9 (ABC), KUAT Channel 6 (PBS), KWBA Channel 58 (WB), KMSB Fox 11, KTTU Channel 18 (UPN), KHRR Channel 40 (Telemundo), KUVE Channel 52 (Univision)

The partners are using an online survey and input from nine community conversations to frame an Aug. 24 town hall meeting and a series of stories on education. The conversations, dubbed “town hall warm-ups,” brought together teachers, students and parents to discuss ways to improve education. The media organizations admit that, going into the meetings, they thought policy changes were the best route to education reform. But they say they’ve changed focus after hearing from the community and now believe that stakeholders seeking common goals are the best hope for schools. Those who didn’t attend the meetings were able to contribute their views through a Web site: http://www.tucsontownhall.org. The site features three surveys – one for students, one for parents and one for teachers. All three ask respondents to rate the importance of 14 different issues in education on a scale of one to five.

Elmira, NY

Star-Gazette, WETM-TV (NBC) in Elmira, WSKG-FM, WSKG-TV (PBS) in Binghamton

The project “Living With Cancer” has attracted interest from cancer-patient and research organizations in the area. The media partners have begun working with the organizations to enrich their project, which includes a series of reports each month on various aspects of the disease. After the first installment in January, the Breast Cancer Network offered to solicit sources for the project via a form the partners created. Many who returned the form were interviewed for subsequent stories. The American Cancer Society and the Falck Cancer Research Center also distributed about 500 questionnaires to patients. The Star-Gazette published nearly a full page of comments and advice from patients with its March installment. The paper has also offered readers advice on prevention and its Web site provides a link to a Harvard University site that offers a cancer-risk calculator. The series will continue through December with installments on the economic impact of the disease and on known and suspected causes of cancer. http://www.stargazettenews.com/lwc.

San Francisco, CA

Pacific News Service, New California Media, KALW-91.7 FM, San Francisco Chronicle

YO! Youth Outlook, the Pacific News Service’s monthly aimed at Bay Area residents between the ages of 15 and 25, conducted a four-hour forum in April on “Rage in the Suburbs: Why is it primarily white, male and aimed at schools?” The event drew more than 125 high school students, teachers, funders, youth advocates and media representatives from northern California suburbs.
Seventeen youth presenters spoke on subjects ranging from “cliques in my school” to “what’s exhilarating in a mall culture?” The editor of the San Francisco Chronicle’s new Sunday Perspective section attended and solicited the first in a series of YO! reports that will now appear in the “Insight” section. The forum also kicked off a series of 15-minute radio segments produced by YO! reporters for KALW, the public radio station owned by the San Francisco Unified School District. They will air weekly as part of an hour-long show called “Up Front: Connecting Neighborhoods through the New California Media.” YO! also has created a project of young, high-tech, assembly-line workers in Silicon Valley who are producing a monthly magazine called “De-Bug: Voices of the Young and Temporary.”

Boise, ID

The Idaho Statesman, The Spokesman-Review, Lewiston Morning Tribune, Idaho Falls Register, Idaho Public Television, KTUB-TV

Rural Idaho residents enjoy a quality life that they fear may be adversely affected by urban sprawl, according to a poll released by the partners last fall. The partners are following up on the poll and on new information from the 2000 census and other sources to describe in detail the story of rural Idaho and how it’s changing. The newspapers selected five families that represent different aspects of rural life – farming, timber, mining, small business and the shift to high technology. The newspapers are in the process of reporting the families’ stories: How life has changed and what policy changes are required to ensure their future. In September, the partners expect to release the stories and a new feature on http://www.idahostatesman.com that will allow viewers to click on pictures of family members and to hear them telling their stories. A town hall and online chats are scheduled for fall.

Bangor, ME

Bangor Daily News, The Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy, University of Maine

The Daily News has compiled a database of 1,600 community leaders in the Bangor area for its project on the future of the region’s leadership. Now that the paper has identified who is supplying the time and energy to civic and community boards and local institutions, Editor Mark Woodward said reporters will begin interviewing them about the nature and quality of leadership.
The paper will also continue to build the database by asking those interviewed to nominate others who they consider to be the most influential leaders in the region. The newspaper hopes to conduct a survey to get public perceptions on civic, institutional and corporate leadership. It also plans to use its Web site to generate more input. The project has the potential to alter significantly regional perceptions of where power resides, who wields it and where the public sees strengths and deficiencies, Woodward said. www.bangornews.com.

Oakland, CA

KTVU-TV (Fox), KTVU.com, San Francisco Chronicle

The partners captured a remarkable transformation in the values and expectations of new business school graduates with the June installment of their project “After the Boom.” KTVU and the San Francisco Chronicle have been charting the reversal of San Francisco’s fortunes brought on by the dot-com decline and other economic forces. Producer Roland De Wolk said the adjustments that newly minted, 20-something business grads are making reflect larger trends in the Bay Area. The graduates entered college during the boom and planned on living in mansions and buying luxury cars, he said. Now, graduating into the bust, they are realizing that those aspirations were superficial and unrealistic. “The challenge is to document a trend while it’s happening,” said De Wolk. But he added that the project appears to be working. “The response has been extraordinary, both in volume and quality.”
The partners will use the feedback to help design a poll for later this summer and incorporate the community response into an upcoming town hall.www.sfgate.com.