Twelve news organizations from 11 cities have been selected to participate in this year's Harwood Civic Mapping Seminars, a training opportunity to help journalists tap different layers of community life and expand their Rolodex of sources and voices, the Pew Center for Civic Journalism announced today.
***The Straight Talk from American’s 2000 National Poll can be found under the Research Section of this sight. Link to Poll.
Mapping Your Beat
By Pat Ford
Pew Center
Before she got her electronic database, Dianne Whitacre used to hang out in a lot of gas stations. They were one place she could find commuters to comment on stories about the region’s highways. Now, she hits a few keys on her computer and sources come tumbling out– without those nasty exhaust fumes.
Whitacre is the alter ego of “Dr. Traffic,” one of the Charlotte Observer’s most popular Sunday features. Readers send her questions ranging from “When will the new stretch of Colony Road open?” to “Why don’t drivers practice high-beam courtesy?”
Savannah’s “Vision 2010” Wins Batten Award
Civic Legacy and Innovations Cited
Washington, DC, March 21, 2002 — The Savannah Morning News won the 2002 Batten Awards for Excellence in Civic Journalism, a $10,000 honor for a robust, community-driven project that targeted failing schools and triggered the creation of a civic group to raise venture capital for education innovations.
The runner-up was The Cincinnati Enquirer, awarded $5,000 for wide-ranging initiatives that involved more than 2,000 people in community conversations about race relations since last April’s riots.
A Forum for All
By Pat Ford
Pew Center
Editors, publishers, webmasters, California Highway Patrolmen and California Assemblyman Dean Florez all came together for the first live bilingual forum on fresnobee.com, Dec. 8. But in the end, it was reporter Daniel Rodriquez who made it all possible.
Two fingers zinging across a keyboard in his self-taught typing style, Rodriquez simultaneously translated-English to Spanish or Spanish to English as required-and pounded out more than 30 questions so that the 1,500 people who “hit” the forum could learn how to make the ride to work safer for the poor and underrepresented farm workers of the San Joaquin Valley.