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.
The citizens’ views and issues guided the partners’ election coverage through the fall and, when the election was over, the partners published a book. “Beyond the Ballot: Maine people on Maine’s future,” outlining the issues of greatest concern and proposed legislative solutions to problems, was sent to the governor, state legislature, local leaders and public libraries. The book also became a benchmark by which to assess state government, with follow-up reporting on the progress the governor and legislature were making in addressing the citizens’ issues.
Contact:
Jeannine A. Guttman (former Executive Editor, Portland Newspapers)
Editor and VP
Portland Press Herald
PO Box 1460
Portland, ME 04104
Phone: (207) 791-6310
Email: jguttman@pressherald.com
Jessica Tomlinson
Online Community Organizer
MaineToday.com
50 Monument Square
Portland, ME 04101
Phone: (207) 822-4072
Fax: (207) 879-1042
Email: Jessica@mainetoday.com