Clickable Web Maps Involve Citizens in Public Policy Choices,
Race Relations Coverage Dominates Topics

Washington, DC, August 11, 2001 — 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 for Civic Journalism will fund in the coming year.

“Journalists are demonstrating a striking resourcefulness in inventing ways to use the Internet to involve ordinary people in public policy choices,” said Jan Schaffer, executive director of the Pew Center.

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

Among 14 initiatives to receive some support through 2002 are four efforts to try to involve the community in conversations about race relations or coverage of ethnic groups. Race relations were the focus of one-third of the 71 proposals submitted this year by U.S. news organizations.

Among other projects selected by the Pew Center’s Advisory Board were proposals to create new beat coverage of virtual communities and to involve citizens in covering education, black families and the environment.

“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 – costs not covered in normal newsroom budgets. The Center has allocated $210,000 for the 14 initiatives in 2002, an average of about $15,000 each.

Creating New Interactions

KGW-TV (NBC), kgw.com, Portland Tribune, Beaverton Valley Times, Tigard Times, Gresham Outlook, Clackamas Review, Portland, OR
$16,000
To help plan for future growth in the Portland area.
The media partners will conduct a fall survey, probing possible options for dealing with growth. Kgw.com will create a special search engine giving people the opportunity to type in their home addresses and view maps showing how different growth plans will affect their neighborhoods. The efforts will parallel regional Metro plans to re-examine Portland’s world-renowned growth plan and determine how people want the region to grow 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.

BET.com, Black Entertainment Television News,Washington, DC
$25,000
To engage the black community interactively in current family issues.
As part of its yearlong Black Family Project, the BET partners 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, 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.

The Savannah Morning News, savannahnow.com, Georgia Public Radio,
Savannah, GA $20,000
To help the community manage competing demands for water.
Deepening the Savannah River for shipping could leach saltwater into the vast Floridan aquifer. If industries draw more water from the aquifer, residents will get less. To report on these 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 water-resource proposals. A survey will probe for community knowledge and opinion; discussions will target key stakeholders and experts.

WXXI-TV and Nycitizens.org with WPBS, WCNY, WNET, WLIW, WMHT, WCFE, WSKG, WNED public television stations
$18,000
To involve New York state citizens in redrawing Congressional districts.
These 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 an 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.

The Spokesman-Review, spokesmanreview.com,Spokane, WA
$18,000
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.

Covering Race

WFAA-TV (ABC), Dallas, TX
$2,500
To use video boxes to elicit stories of racial discrimination.
WFAA-TV will explore race relations in Dallas through a series of news reports, specials, a documentary and Web chat rooms and discussions. Video boxes, or portable cameras, will elicit public responses around the community to provocative questions intended to shed light on how discrimination has impacted people’s lives. These responses will be posted on the Web. A second phase will involve the Dallas Morning News and all the Belo stations in Texas.

The Cincinnati Enquirer, WCET-TV (PBS), WCPO-TV (ABC), Kettering Foundation, National Issues Forums,Cincinnati, OH
$18,000
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 possible solutions and about 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.

The Orange County Register, Excelsior, OCRegister.com, Myoc.com, California State University-Fullerton, Santa Ana, CA
$16,000
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 not only to produce stories, but also a knowledge database and a list of key informants.

Community Issues

The Herald-Dispatch, Huntington, WV
$15,000
To examine the exodus of young people from the state.
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 involved citizens and 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 migratory patterns of West Virginia.

The News Tribune, KCTS-TV (PBS), KPLU-FM, Tacoma, WA
$15,000
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.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, KDKA-TV (CBS), KDKA Radio, Pennsylvania Newspapers Association, Pittsburgh, PA
$5,000
To help citizens access open records.
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.

Covering Environment

WTVJ-TV (NBC), The Miami Herald, Ocean Drive Magazine, Miami, FL
$15,000
To engage the community in looming enviromental issues.
The partners will expand on WTVJ’s EcoWatch reports on such issues as the Everglades rehabilitation, South Florida’s drinking water crisis and population explosion and the effects of global warming. In addition to news reports and specials, the project will offer weekly EcoTips, specific ways for people to help the environment. The Web page will invite users to send an EcOpinion about a news report and offer photos chronicling environmental assets and impact.

Covering Education

WGBH radio and television, The Boston Globe, WILD-AM, WRCA-AM, Boston, MA
$16,500
To track education reform efforts in the state.
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.

Herald & Review, WILL-TV (PBS), Decatur, IL
$10,000
To explore the high school dropout rate.
With the numbers 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.

R&D for News Content

Since its inception in 1993, the Pew Center has supported 121 civic journalism experiments that have helped develop new kinds of news content, which gives ordinary people a voice in identifying problems and building solutions. The Center shares the lessons learned at national workshops for journalists and educators and in its training videos and publications.

The Pew Center, located in Washington, DC, is an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. Based in Philadelphia, The Trusts make strategic investments to help organizations and citizens develop practical solutions to difficult problems. In 2000, with approximately $4.8 billion in assets, The Trusts granted more than $230 million to 302 nonprofit organizations.