Redistricting Game, Rochester, NY 2001 

Partners:

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

Nine public television stations collaborated on NYcitizens.org, a Web site dedicated to helping New Yorkers understand and become engaged in the process of redrawing congressional districts through an online game and other interactive features. The partners launched the Web site in the fall of 2001 as the state legislature began the redistricting process, including simple explanations of the politics and processes involved in the task. They found a way to give users a first-hand look at the complexities, however, in February 2002, when they added the Redistricting Game.

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First Amendment Forum, Pittsburgh, PA 2001 

Partners:

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
KDKA-TV
KDKA-AM
Pennsylvania Newspapers Association

The Pennsylvania legislature passed a new, more liberal open-records law in the summer of 2002 after a 10-month effort by the partners to encourage citizens to use public records to make government accountable and accomplish community goals. Post-Gazette editor Jane Elizabeth did not give the project full credit for the new law but she said, “We certainly didn’t hurt it.”

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The People’s Agenda, Indianapolis, IN 2001 

Partners:

WTHR-TV (NBC)
The Indianapolis Star
WFYI-TV

While lobbyists roam state legislatures, tracking bills and wining and dining lawmakers, ordinary citizens are left out of the process by the simple business of living their lives. “The People’s Agenda” was an effort to restore balance to the process by making sure legislators knew what people wanted and giving citizens updates and score cards on how lawmakers responded.

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We the City, Dallas, TX 1997

Partners:

The Arlington Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
KERA-FM
KERA-TV
The University of Texas, Arlington

The partners seized on an initiative by the city of Arlington to increase citizen participation with “We the City,” a civic approach to covering the city’s move toward a deliberative model of government. The first stories, Feb. 7, 1997, explained how the media partners’ civic approach would track and complement the government’s efforts to engage citizens, which included the convening of neighborhood focus groups to replace the more limited public hearings before City Council. Through the spring, the partners sponsored a “civic inventory” of 900 residents, conducted by the university’s School of Urban and Public Affairs, to uncover the role of informal community leaders, the importance of incidental meetings among neighbors, and the impact of absentee landlords and renters on a community. The inventory provided a baseline for assessing and comparing the quality of life in various neighborhoods. The partners did stories on issues that surfaced through the inventory and the neighborhood focus groups, including code enforcement, growth and development. Their stories also reviewed what the city’s efforts had accomplished and looked at how the city could further involve citizens in their government.

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