Spring 1997
What’s Happening in Pew Center Projects
Aberdeen, WA
PARTNERS: THE DAILY WORLD OF ABERDEEN, CHANNEL 20, TCI CABLEVISION
The paper will kick off its year-long “Changing Tides” project in its 88-page Perspectives edition at the end of April.
The partners are examining the economic and environmental forces that have changed life on the Southern Olympic Peninsula. In particular, they are reporting on the death of the logging industry and cutbacks in the once-bountiful fishing industry.
In May, focus groups of citizens will talk about the changes and their input will help frame questions for a community poll to be done over the summer. Discussion groups are planned for the fall.
Myrtle Beach, SC
PARTNERS: THE SUN NEWS, COX BROADCASTING
Six key areas of citizen concern cropped up in the 350 neon yellow postcards returned in the paper’s informal survey of the community. They are roads and transportation; growth and development; more jobs and better pay; tackiness of the town’s beachwear stores; crime; and the cultural feel of the community or “cityscape.” The responses will help shape issues coverage for the project, “Boom Town Faces its Future.”
The topics were “different than we had anticipated,” said managing editor John Miller. Take tackiness, for instance. “That wasn’t on our radar screen.” Residents also cited one developer by name as a concern.
The paper plans to share the responses with the community in an initial article and report on the individual topics in issues pieces this spring. The results of the informal survey also will be used to shape questions for a formal telephone survey of residents that will be followed up with discussions in the newspaper and on the paper’s web site.
Portland, OR
PARTNERS: THE OREGONIAN, OREGON PUBLIC BROADCASTING
Oregon is one of the 10 states with the highest voting participation, but as the paper probes deeper into why some citizens don’t vote, reporters and editors are recasting some of their assumptions. “When we entered the project, we thought voting would be the most common denominator of civic activity,” said lead reporter Nena Baker. “But there are early signs that there are many other ways that people feel they can be good citizens.”
For instance, some of the non-voters are turning out to be very involved citizens. The paper hopes to take the project a step further by investigating whether — if failing to vote is not a symptom of alienation — is it an expression of something else? A reaction to negative campaigns, for instance? The paper will use focus groups to help flesh out the topic, followed by a poll of 1,000 voters and non-voters in April.
San Francisco, CA
PARTNERS: SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, KQED-FM (NPR), KRON-TV (NBC)
As part of their “Commuter Chronicles” coverage, the partners invited citizens to discuss Bay Area transportation problems in the third “Unlock the Gridlock” forum, held in San Jose in mid-March.
About 700 people have attended two earlier forums; one more is planned. The sessions have given metropolitan transportation officials citizen input as they draft a new plan for the Bay Area. Meanwhile, the Chronicle in March ran a two-day series of reports based on a poll about housing, traffic congestion and land use.
“It became obvious to us that you can widen the highways so far, and you can build so much mass transit, but the real problem is uncontrolled development,” said regional editor Vlae Kershner.
Bronx, NY
PARTNERS: BRONXNET COMMUNITY CABLE, THE BRONX JOURNAL, LEHMAN COLLEGE (CUNY)
Bronx Community Cable has developed a Spanish-language weekly news magazine, “Eyes on the Bronx,” that started airing in April. In a related effort, a 90-minute special on AIDS that can be re-run in three half-hour programs has also been produced. Underway are plans for the first community forum on police and youth relations to be facilitated by a founder of the Guardian Angels.
Meanwhile, plans are moving forward to launch this fall The Bronx Journal, a tabloid to be produced by journalism students at Lehman College that would contain special news sections in the languages of several of the Bronx’s ethnic communities.
St. Paul, MN
PARTNERS: ST. PAUL PIONEER PRESS, KARE-TV (NBC), WILDER RESEARCH CENTER, MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO.
The 14-part series, “Across Generations, What We Owe Each Other,” was published in November and December. Since then, the paper has decided to create two “generations beats” to cover some of the issues raised. “It’s a great way to keep up the momentum of the project,” said project director Brett Benson.
The series, which examined the tensions dividing different generations, has prompted some other feedback. About 70 people of all ages attended a four-hour intergenerational dialogue on Saturday, Dec. 7 at the Mall of America. “We let each generation have some exposure to other generations in an effort to combat some of the stereotypes,” Benson said.
The paper has also distributed about 2,500 of its “intergenerational tool kits,” which offer tips and suggestions for activities, such as staging an intergenerational block party or making a family history, that people can do to reconnect different generations. Readers were asked to pledge to take some specific action to receive one of the free kits.
Madison, WI
A March 25 forum allowed citizens to question the two candidates for state Superintendent of Public Instruction and to “grade” their responses in a live broadcast. Several “coffee shop” conversations with citizens were held in the weeks leading up to the broadcast. In February, the partnership invited candidates for state Supreme Court to talk with citizens.
Tampa, FL
PARTNERS: THE WEEKLY PLANET, WTVT (FOX), SPEAK UP TAMPA BAY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA, STUDY CIRCLES RESOURCES CENTER
About 350 citizens attended three-days of town hall meetings, where they organized into smaller groups and drew up a 20-page list of the community’s strengths and weaknesses. Their input was narrowed to six key areas: education; growth management and economic development; community spirit and caring; environment; families, including children and seniors; and government and public safety.
Using these as the framework of what citizens want to focus on in the future, journalism students at the University of South Florida are now writing discussion books to be used by study circles in discussing the issues. There are also plans to use focus groups and experts to help frame the issues.
New Hampshire
PARTNERS: NEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC RADIO, THE KEENE SENTINEL, THE PORTSMOUTH HERALD, UPI OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In seeking to continue its “Voters’ Voice” coverage after the elections, New Hampshire public radio has conducted several call-in shows, where citizens questioned the new governor and their congressional representatives and senators. Other shows engaged citizens in campaign finance reform, race relations, and the regulation of HMO’s. Citizens discussion groups were also convened around Gov. Jeanne Shaheen’s inaugural address and President Clinton’s State of the Union speech.
In May and June, the station plans to take its program, “The Exchange,” on the road with citizen forums around the state, co-sponsored by the newspaper partners. The forums will give citizens an opportunity to question key elected officials. A poll to establish a post-election “citizens agenda” is also planned.
Dallas, TX
PARTNERS: KERA-FM (NPR), KERA-TV (PBS), THE ARLINGTON MORNING NEWS, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, ARLINGTON
The partners launched their “We the City, The Arlington Plan” initiative on Feb. 7, with an explanation of how they hoped to track Arlington’s efforts to create a new and more participatory model of government. The city so far has invited residents in one of its six targeted neighborhoods to give them some input. It also is about to launch a civic inventory to provide a baseline for assessing the quality of life, with the help of the School of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Arlington. On March 21, the broadcast partners focused on one of the citizen’s early issues, code enforcement.
Long Beach, CA
PARTNERS: LONG BEACH PRESS-TELEGRAM, CABLEVISION INDUSTRIES INC., LONG BEACH COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP, LEADERSHIP LONG BEACH
In gearing up for “Long Beach Beyond 2000 — Unity in Our Community,” the partners are planning focus groups this spring of people in the city’s African-American, Latino, Asian and Cambodian communities. They will be followed by a telephone a survey in June. Publication is scheduled for September, and there are early plans for a summit meeting of community residents in November.