A Collision Course, Idaho Falls, ID 1998
Partners:
Idaho Falls Post Register
Lewiston Morning Tribune
Idaho Spokesman-Review
Idaho Public Television
KTVB (NBC, Boise)
This unique partnership sparked a statewide conversation on Idaho’s runaway prison spending with “Collision Course,” a five-part series that revealed the hidden cost of building more jails and engaged hundreds of people in the search for alternatives.
As a point of comparison, the partners chose declining state spending on higher education to illustrate how escalating prison spending was affecting Idaho’s quality of life. A poll of 804 residents in October 1997 showed 73 percent disagreed with the state’s spending priorities. A series of focus groups in six communities explored the reasoning behind the opinions the poll surfaced.
Each paper focused on one part of the overall story. The Spokesman-Review, for instance, coordinated polling and took the lead role in writing the kick-off segment while the Statesman created a database on prison population trends and wrote the bulk of prisoner profiles and articles on higher education. All four papers ran the series from Nov. 16 to 24, 1997. KTVB produced a four-part series of stories that week. Idaho public television broadcast a live town hall meeting Nov. 24.
The series prompted a noticeable change in elected officials’ approach to the issue, which had been dominated by law-and-order, lock-’em-up rhetoric. After the series, legislators explored sentencing reform proposals that would reduce the number of non-violent offenders incarcerated.
The partners seized the momentum of the project to launch “Idaho Speaks Out,” a civic approach to their 1998 election coverage. A statewide poll in May, the largest ever taken in Idaho, revealed four major issues-federal debt, health care costs, taxes and schools-as voters biggest concerns. A second poll in September refined the findings, showing that education was the issue that would most influence voter decisions. The partners shared the information and analysis; then each partner used it to develop stories tailored to local readers and viewers.
“Collision Course” shared in the 1998 Batten Award.
Contact:
Dennis Joyce (formerly with Statesman)
Asst Managing Editor
Arizona Daily Star
PO Box 26807
Tucson, AZ 85726-6807
Phone: (520) 573-4224
Fax: (520) 573-4200
Email: djoyce@azstarnet.com
Dean Miller
Managing Editor
The Post Register
P.O. Box 1800
Idaho Falls, ID 83403
Phone: (208) 542-6766
Email: dmiller@idahonews.com