Beyond the Ballot: Maine’s Issues in the New Millennium, Portland, ME 1998

Partners:

Portland Newspapers
Central Maine Newspapers
WGME-TV (CBS)
Maine Public Television

“Beyond the Ballot” not only dramatically changed the way major media in coastal Maine covered the statewide 1998 elections, it set the course for their coverage of politics and government for the four years that followed.

Beginning with a poll of 1,106 Maine residents in the summer of 1998, the partners let voters decide which issues determine which issues candidates should address and the partners should cover. The poll uncovered a divide between prosperous southern Maine, where taxes and sprawl were most troubling, and the rest of Maine where jobs were the major concern. The partners then organized and covered a series of six day-long meetings in different areas of the state to probe deeper into the findings. Some 1,500 citizens contributed their input to the partners’ understanding of the issues. Other media also took an interest in the citizens’ views. Daily papers in Lewiston and Bangor, along with more than a dozen weeklies and local radio stations, covered the forums or wrote about the project. 

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The Election Connection, Los Angeles, CA 1998

Partners:

Orange County Register 
Riverside Press Enterprise
KCET-TV (PBS) 
KCRW-FM in Santa Monica 
KPCC-FM in Pasadena 
Orange County News Channel

The partners, who’d been working together since the 1996 “Voice of the Voter” project, called their third joint effort “The Election Connection” to emphasize the goal of helping voters feel connectedto the electoral process. The project began with a poll of 600 voters to determine which issues were their highest priorities. Reporters from each news organization then spoke with respondents for stories on the poll and on each issue. Coordinated coverage among all the partners began March 16, 1998 with an overview of poll results. Issues stories ran every two weeks through the June 2 primary. 

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The Voters’ Voice, New Hampshire 1997

Partners:

New Hampshire Public Radio
The Keene Sentinel
The Portsmouth Herald
UPI of New Hampshire

Inspired by the success of its election year project, “Voter’s Voice,” New Hampshire Public Radio sought citizen participation in coverage of non-election issues through a series of “Citizens Exchange” meetings in different communities, in association with local newspapers. 

The network began the project in early 1997, with a series of call-in shows from its Concord studios, where citizens asked questions of the new governor, their congressmen and senators and engaged in discussions of campaign finance reform, race relations and health care issues.

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Maine Citizens’ Campaign Documentary Video, Portland, ME 1997

Partners:

The Portland Newspapers
WGME-TV
Maine Public TV
Maine Public Radio

What started as an election year effort to get citizen voices in campaign coverage entered a new phase in 1997, as some 40 residents of Sanford, Maine, who’d been empaneled for the “Maine Citizens Campaign” refused to disband when the journalism project was over. The group began a second year exploring issues and meeting with public officials in hopes of taking action for positive civic change.

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Oregon Electorate Survey
Portland, OR 1997

Partners:

The Oregonian
Oregon Public Broadcasting

That most fundamental of civic activities, voting, was the subject of a three-part series in the Oregonian and a special call-in show on public radio. Though Oregon had one of the highest voter turn-out records in the nation, there were still nearly a million eligible Oregonians who did not vote. Through a survey of 733 people and three focus groups, reporters learned that voters and non-voters had a great deal in common and that not voting was not an indication of detachment or alienation. In fact, they found 80 percent of non-voters were active in their community, with many involved in three or more civic activities.

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Maine Citizens Campaign ’96, Portland, ME 1996

Partners:

Portland Newspapers Inc. 
Maine Public Broadcasting Network
WGME-TV (CBS)

The “Maine Citizens Campaign” followed a group of about 40 residents of Sanford, ME, a neglected mill town as they deliberated the issues and interviewed candidates in the 1996 campaign. Conceived as a way for the partners to get more citizen voices into their election coverage, the project took on a life of its own as the citizens became empowered by the process and tried to become an action group.

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Discussion ’96
Norfolk, VA 1996

Partners:

The Virginian-Pilot 
The Harwood Group

For the 1996 elections, the paper completely re-imagined and refashioned campaign coverage, moving from traditional horse race coverage to the innovative (and, later, much-copied) concept of candidate as job applicant. Pew helped fund a new kind of poll that aided this coverage. Rather than a market-driven poll, the Harwood Group conducted a deliberative poll of 672 adults for the paper, one that offered a range of choices and asked respondents the “why” behind their answers. It revealed that voters were as concerned about leadership and character as about candidates’ stands on issues.

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Front Porch Forum, Seattle, WA 1996

Partners:

The Seattle Times 
KUOW-FM Radio 
KCTS Public TV
KPLU-FM, Tacoma, WA

The “Front Porch Forum” partners solidified their initiative in their third year, hiring a project coordinator and engaging more than 2,000 citizens in forums, focus groups and polling. The project focused on the gubernatorial and congressional elections. An initial poll of 570 Washington residents, conducted in April, provided the baseline for a series of features by all the partners on election issues such as job security, morals and values, money and politics and the welfare of children. To plumb the results in greater depth, the partners convened three focus groups involving a total of 33 citizens, and used the information gathered to develop a second poll of 400 residents statewide in early October. The surveys alerted the partners early on to the issues of the 1996 campaign, particularly citizen concerns about morality and family issues, so they were able to make sure candidates addressed them.

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