Soapbox: A Guide to Civic Journalism at The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, WA 1996
Partners:
One of the early innovators in developing and using civic journalism tools, the Spokesman-Review embarked on a project to foster their growth in other newsrooms. With Pew support, the paper hired an intern specifically to advance civic journalism outreach. During her year in Spokane, the intern worked with community groups, helped organize a forum to make the paper more accessible to citizens, helped edit contributors to the paper’s reader-written opinion pages and wrote opinion pieces herself.
A major focus of the internship was the production of a civic journalism handbook, “Soapbox,” which explained the paper’s decision to try civic journalism, the techniques it employed and the results it got. The handbook included a message from then-Editor Chris Peck about a credibility study by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and examples of the way the paper tried to form closer connections to its community, such as remaking the editorial page to include citizen voices and exploring public issues through informal “pizza party” discussions among small groups of ordinary people.
The paper distributed the book to other newsrooms with a letter from Peck about what a positive change civic journalism had brought to the Spokesman-Review.
Contacts:
Chris Peck (Former Spokesman-Review editor)
Editor
The Commercial Appeal
P.O. Box 364
Memphis, TN 38101
TEL: (901) 529-2390
EMAIL: peck@gomemphis.com
Rebecca Nappi
Interactive Editor
The Spokesman-Review
999 W. Riverside Ave.
Spokane, WA 99201
Phone: (509) 459-5496