Dallas Morning News
“The We Decade, Rebirth of Community”

A cutting edge reporting effort on civic re-engagement, a new national trend that is crucial to the revival of public life.

“In March of 1995, the Dallas Morning News ran an eight-day series on coming together, on how people in communities all across the country are collaborating, cooperating, solving problems and finding hope in it,” said Nancy Kruh, staff writer for the Dallas Morning News.

“…Those conversations and the impulses and stirrings of change will not go forward without journalism. I urge all of you to keep working to listen in new ways and then be amazed at both the stories that you will hear and the change that you will effect by telling them.”

Wisconsin State Journal, Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Public Radio, Wood Communications Group, and WISC-TV (CBS)
“We the People Wisconsin”

A groundbreaking partnership that works to foster public deliberation on issues important to the people of Wisconsin.

“We the People, first and foremost, has been a partnership,” said Tom Still, associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal. “I figure because we’ve been at this about four-and-a-half years, which is something of a lifetime in civic journalism, we’re at the point in the evening where — at the Oscars, at this point Jimmy Stewart comes up and gets a lifetime achievement award. That’s us.

“Over time now we’ve done 15 projects, about half are election-based, half are issue-based; 36 town hall meetings, about 2,500 participants in those town hall meetings; I think about 1 million viewers over time. And we’ve killed an entire forest of trees with the newsprint for this project. Fortunately, we live in Wisconsin so that’s not a problem. Over time we’ve also had some spin-offs, kind of the sons and daughters of We the People, Wisconsin. There have been other media alliances in Wisconsin, Iowa, many other states…”