Jan Schaffer
Executive Director
Pew Center for Civic Journalism
New trends in civic journalism and new training opportunities for journalists marked 1998, the fourth year of the James K. Batten Awards for Excellence in Civic Journalism.
The winners were notable examples of how civic journalism is evolving. They demonstrated the diversity of approaches in involving citizens in reporting difficult issues. They tackled tough public policy choices surrounding the issues. And they helped to engage the public in solving the problems.
For the first time, this year, the awards ceremony and accompanying symposium were hosted by a journalism school, the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. The symposium provided an opportunity for students, faculty and working journalists in the Chicago region to learn about new developments and the newest thinking in civic journalism.
Participants heard some of the nation’s top civic journalists explain how they were advancing their work. Symposium speakers Jennie Buckner, editor of The Charlotte Observer, Steve Smith, editor of The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Frank Denton, editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, John Miller, News Director of WFAA-TV, Dallas, and others discussed why they think journalism needs to change. And they shared some of the innovations that are changing journalistic thinking and practices in their newsrooms.
They hope, as Jennie Buckner says, to leave a legacy that is about more than enticing readers into rubbernecking. They hope to create a journalism that is meaningful for the future.
The Pew Center for Civic Journalism will continue to reach out to journalism schools around the country to make the annual Batten events major educational opportunities for journalists across the country as well as venues for discussing how to advance good journalism.
We present to you the 1998 James K. Batten Awards and Symposium, “News Futures: Civic Innovations in Reporting.”