New Pew Center Projects

Clickable Web maps that let the public chart choices around growth, reapportion their Congressional districts, track water-supply consequences and simulate family scenarios are ushering in a new era of high-tech engagement in several initiatives the Pew Center will fund in the coming year.

“Journalists are demonstrating a striking resourcefulness, inventing ways to use the Internet to involve ordinary people in public policy choices,” said Jan Schaffer, the center’s director.

“Fast emerging is a new era of interactive journalism that is opening up unique channels for direct connections with news consumers.”

Among 14 initiatives to receive some support through 2002 are four efforts to try to involve the community in conversations about race relations or cover ethnic groups. Race was the focus of one-third of the 71 proposals submitted.

Other projects selected by the Center’s Advisory Board will create new beat coverage of virtual communities and involve citizens in covering education.

“Advances in technology have sharpened newsroom appetites to find ways to engage citizens directly in tough issues and figure out some solutions,” said Jack Nelson, chairman of the Advisory Board and chief Washington correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

The Pew Center supports some of the extraordinary costs of trying to engage readers, viewers and listeners in issues of concern. The Center has allocated $210,000 for the 14 initiatives, an average of about $15,000 each.

Portland, OR

KGW-TV (NBC), KGW.com, Portland Tribune, Beaverton Valley Times, Tigard Times, Gresham Outlook, Clackamas Review

To help plan for future growth in the Portland area.
The media partners will conduct a fall survey, exploring possible options for dealing with growth. KGW.com will create a special search engine, letting people type in their addresses and view maps showing how different growth plans will affect their neighborhoods. The efforts will parallel work by Metro, a regional planning group, to re-examine Portland’s renowned growth plan and determine how people want the region to develop over the next five years. Metro will conduct 75 “Table Talks” at coffee shops and public libraries and a March “Liveability Conference” during which the news organizations will host a town hall discussion.

Savannah, GA

The Savannah Morning News, Georgia Public Radio, savannahnow.com

To help the community manage competing demands for water.
Deepening the Savannah River for shipping could leach salt water into the vast Floridan aquifer. If industries draw more water from the aquifer, residents will get less. To report on growing water-supply tensions, the media partners will hire an outside water consultant, tour the river and test water samples. On the Web, an interactive map will let users see the geology of the rivers and aquifer, determine the origin of their drinking water and estimate the costs to their tax bills of various proposals. A survey will probe for community knowledge and opinion; discussions will target key stakeholders.

Spokane, WA

The Spokesman-Review, spokesmanreview.com

To develop three Web-based beats to cover virtual communities of interest.

SR Interactive will experiment with new kinds of beats that, under the direction of interactive editors, will cover neighborhood groups, the high-tech industry and politically active, Web-savvy young people. Using targeted e-mail lists, the journalists will frame stories from their Web interactions and assist people with writing stories and commentary. The high-tech beat seeks to track better the growing number of start-up companies. The neighborhoods beat will experiment with Web-based community sections that will give readers a place to post announcements and discuss neighborhood news. To reach residents without Internet access, the paper will install computer kiosks as community listening and e-mail posts. An interactive opinion section will supplement the newspaper’s Opinion pages and generate more discussion on hot topics.

Washington, DC

BET.com, Black Entertainment TV News

To engage the black community interactively in current family issues.
As part of its yearlong Black Family Project, BET will conduct a national survey, weekly interactive polls on timely topics and weekly “Eye on the Family” television reports. A clickable map will enable online visitors to find the best U.S. places for African-American families to live, based on social, economic and political benchmarks, and let families see census “snapshots” of African-American communities. BET will develop a “Consequences Game,” an online simulation to let users select scenarios, make “choices” and see the political or social consequences. An online Photo Quilt will allow users to submit photos and tell their own family stories.

Rochester, NY

WXXI-TV, Nycitizens.org and WPBS, WCNY, WNET, WLIW, WMHT, WCFE, WSKG, WNED public television stations

To involve New York state citizens in redrawing legislative districts.
The nine state public television stations will allow people to learn, through online interactive maps, the impact of different redistricting decisions. The partners will provide demographic data on each Assembly, Senate and Congressional District, report on the effect of various redistricting plans and offer Web scenarios that allow citizens to opt to eliminate a district and view the resulting districts created by their choices. House members will be invited to write online columns outlining their hopes for their districts and citizens can write essays on what is important to them about the nature of their district.

Dallas, TX

WFAA-TV (ABC)

To use video boxes to elicit stories of discrimination.

WFAA-TV will explore race relations in Dallas through a series of news reports, specials, a documentary, Web chat rooms and discussions. Video boxes, or portable cameras, will elicit public responses to provocative questions intended to shed light on how discrimination has impacted people’s lives. These responses will be posted on the Web.

Santa Ana, CA

The Orange County Register, Excelsior, OCRegister.com, myOC.com, California State University-Fullerton

To build a community map and create coverage relevant to Hispanics.

With the help of a cultural anthropologist, survey research, focus groups and community conversations, the university and news organizations will try to enhance their understanding of the growing Hispanic community, what information community members need, and when and how they need it. They seek to produce stories, a knowledge database and a list of key informants.

Tacoma, WA

The News Tribune, KCTS-TV (PBS), KPLU-FM

To explore the state parole system’s future.

Through a news series, a poll and focus groups, the media partners will examine what citizens expect from the parole system and the growing litigation costs resulting from the state’s failure to supervise parolees properly. On SouthSound.com, the paper will launch a criminal-justice resources section where people can get information on criminal records, sex offender registration and public safety.

Cincinnati, OH

The Cincinnati Enquirer, WCET-TV (PBS), WCPO-TV (ABC), Kettering Foundation, National Issues Forums

To stimulate dialogue around tensions that sparked recent race riots.

The April race riots, triggered by the police shooting of an unarmed man, have prompted the partners to try to engage the entire community in conversations about deteriorating race relations and police performance. The news organizations will probe racial attitudes in a poll, host community forums, create a race relations Web site and produce a final report or video.

Decatur, IL

Herald & Review, WILL-TV (PBS)

To explore the high school dropout rate.

With the number of high-school dropouts rising in the last 10 years, the partners will survey to learn why students are leaving school. They will invite dropouts to a community computer bank to journal their thoughts about how that affected their lives. The partners will host a summit meeting with the local NAACP and create a database of dropouts who could be contacted in the future by community agencies.

Boston, MA

WGBH radio and television, The Boston Globe, WILD-AM, WRCA-AM

To track education reform efforts.

Continuing their “Eye on Education” coverage, the partners will produce “success stories,” three- to five-minute short films to be broadcast during regular programs, profiling some of the most successful innovators in Boston schools. In “Teen Radio Diaries,” high school students and teachers will talk about what they think of the reform efforts.

Miami, FL

WTVJ-TV (NBC), The Miami Herald, Ocean Drive Magazine

To engage the community in looming environmental issues.

The partners will expand on WTVJ’s EcoWatch reports on such issues as the Everglades rehabilitation, the region’s drinking water crisis, the population explosion and the effects of global warming. In addition to news reports, the project will offer weekly EcoTips, for people to help the environment. The Web page will invite EcOpinions about a news report and offer photos chronicling environmental concerns.

Huntington, WV

The Herald-Dispatch, West Virginia Public Broadcasting

To examine the state’s exodus of young people.

The partners will explore why young adults leave, how they are different from those who stay and how the state can help those who remain become future leaders. Through a series, a poll of current and former West Virginians, ages 18-34, and a statewide town meeting of young adults, they will explore the cultural issues behind the loss of population. They will spotlight those who stayed and are making a difference and create a searchable database that will map the state’s migratory patterns.

Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, KDKA-TV (CBS), KDKA Radio, Pennsylvania Newspapers Association

To help citizens access open records.

The partners will explore why young adults leave, how they are different from The newspaper will publish a guide and stories about its community’s use of open records. A Web page will solicit reader questions about and problems with open records. It will also spotlight citizen successes using open records.