What’s Happening in Pew Projects

Portland, OR

KGW-TV (NBC), kgw.com, Portland Tribune, Beaverton Valley Times, Tigard Times, Gresham Outlook, Clackamas Review

A poll for “Your Neighborhood, Your Future” surfaced some surprises. It showed that Oregonians’ traditional growth concerns have been overshadowed by fears about the state’s collapsing economy. Worries about the current unemployment rate – the nation’s second highest in October – are prompting support for government incentives to attract new business, even as residents worry about too many newcomers and continue to support urban growth boundaries, the poll found.

Enough conflicts surfaced in people’s views that KGW did one segment of its five-part series on those conflicts. “They want to protect farmland but they want larger lots, which flies in the face of the urban-growth boundary. They want to do something about congestion and traffic but don’t want to pay for transportation projects,” said KGW executive news director Rod Gramer.

Online (www.kgw.com/metro), users can type in their address and see how regional growth plans for 2040 will affect their neighborhood. A slide show also lets users see the next four decades of projected growth.

Along with the poll stories, Metro, the land-use planning agency, was getting citizen input on future growth at neighborhood coffee klatches. In March, the partners plan to hold a town hall meeting, which KGW will televise live.

Myrtle Beach, SC

The Sun News, Myrtlebeachonline.com, Coastal Carolina University

The “Growth on the Strand” project has covered recycling, traffic congestion, housing trends and the impact of sprawl on the environment. In July, The Sun News reported on Virginia Beach’s trolley system and dedicated bus lanes that have helped ease congestion there. To document the difficulty of getting around Myrtle Beach on foot, three reporters chronicled their sometimes-perilous treks around the city. October stories examined city efforts to balance the desire for growth with the need to protect the environment. “The project has given reporters better tools to stand back from their beats and look at the broader impact of the area they cover,” said Carolyn Callison Murray, assistant managing editor.

Coastal Carolina University will conduct a January survey, seeking public input on how community leaders are managing the issues. A February forum will allow discussion.

This month, a Web game giving people a chance “to build” their own community by clicking on icons that represent different development choices and the cost of those choices is to be launched. The game will give people a visual picture of what community leaders have to weigh, Murray said.

Washington, DC

BET.com, Black Entertainment TV News

A national poll on black family life kicked off a yearlong weekly series on BET’s new nightly news show. Each Tuesday, the series, “Under One Roof,” explores different aspects of black family life, from factors that threaten its stability to new traditions that are strengthening it. Online, www.BET.com, the project invites dialogue through chats, bulletin boards and survey questions.

BET is sharing project results with the Congressional Black Caucus and other policy-makers. In the poll, 56 percent of respondents said that black men had failed their families and that “irresponsibility” was the top reason. The survey, which attracted attention nationally, also found respondents critical of rap/hip-hop music (48 percent say it is a negative influence) and of an overemphasis on materialism among African-Americans.

Savannah, GA

Savannah Morning News, Georgia Public Radio, savannahnow.com

The newspaper, with Georgia Southern University, will conduct a survey in January to collect public opinion for its examination of competing demands for Savannah River water. It will also test citizens’ knowledge of basics such as where their water comes from so that, when the project is concluded, the paper can gauge how it impacted readers’ overall knowledge. At issue is whether deepening the river for shipping might harm the Floridan aquifer and impact growth.

This fall, reporters met with experts and took a boat trip down the river with a Nature Conservancy biologist to learn about the technical and scientific issues of water use. www.savannahnow.com.

Rochester, NY

WXXI-TV, NYcitizens.org and WPBS, WCNY, WNET, WLIW, WMHT, WCFE, WSKG, WNED public television stations

NYcitizens.org, a collaboration of the nine New York public television stations, has added new Web features to engage citizens in the redistricting process. An interactive map allows citizens to look at county census data. The maps show population changes that are key factors in the redistricting. The site also includes a frequently-asked-questions section on redistricting, transcripts of statewide public hearings, redistricting links, coverage and discussion boards.

A role-playing game where users can try out different redistricting scenarios and learn more about the complex process is being added to the Web site, along with a curriculum for 12th grade social studies classes. The state’s congressional delegation and key state officials have been asked to write essays about the importance of redistricting. Students and computer users can write essays to respond on a discussion board.

Elmira, NY

Star-Gazette, WETM-TV (NBC) in Elmira, WSKG-FM, WSKG-TV (PBS) in Binghamton

The Star-Gazette’s “Living with Cancer” project has continued with monthly stories. In July, the paper explored what people don’t know about cancer and how governmental agencies decide what information to disseminate. August stories looked at the cost of medication and how people deal with high medical bills. A true-or-false cancer quiz appeared online and in
the paper in September. November stories covered secondhand smoke. A Web link to an “Ask the Expert” site lets people e-mail a lung-cancer question that will be answered in 48 hours by a certified oncology nurse.

The stories wrapped up in December with several WETM broadcasts and stories on the future of cancer and a Cornell University cancer-research program. “This project has just reinforced why I started doing this job,” said Deputy Metro Editor Louis Wilson. “We’ve thought a lot about what people want to read. We’ve given people a lot of variety, including perhaps that one piece of information that might save them.” www.stargazettenews.com/lwc.

Spokane, WA

The Spokesman-Review, spokesmanreview.com

The events of Sept. 11 have prompted Interactive Editor Ken Sands to revise Web-based beats he’s developing. Sands is now assembling a database specifically of teen-agers as one of the virtual communities the paper will cover through e-mail and bulletin boards. Young readers and Web users have a distinctly different take on the war on terrorism, Sands said. “They’re worried that it will last a long time. They’re worried about getting drafted. They’re changing their ideas about what careers they want to go into.” Sands also is gathering addresses of people in the high-tech industry to start an online beat that would track better the growing number of start-up companies. And he’s assembling names and addresses to launch a Mariners fans interest area in the spring. In establishing these online beats, Sands said he is planning to create ways for his staff to include not just names and addresses in the database but also areas of interest.

San Antonio, TX

KVDA Channel 60 (Telemundo)

KVDA has installed Web cams attached to computers in six San Antonio homes and tapped these neighborhood correspondents for comments about low voter turnout in November and city services in the wake of heavy fall rainstorms and flooding.

Next, the station plans to install Web cams in the homes of professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and college professors. Later, KVDA will add “political” Web cam correspondents, including city council members and state representatives, said Emilio Nicolas, KVDA vice president and general manager.

The station televises comments from its correspondents two or three times a week. Often a correspondent will invite a more knowledgeable neighbor to comment on a particular issue “so the homes become more like a hub for the whole neighborhood,” Nicolas said. The Web cams are video cameras with built-in microphones that send images to a large plasma screen in the newsroom. The images are transmitted to the station via broadband Internet service. “The Web cam experiment has helped to remind the news staff who their audience is,” Nicolas said. “If you’re going to do civic journalism, you have to involve people who live in the community.”

Boston, MA

WGBH radio and television, The Boston Globe, WILD-AM, WRCA-AM

Production teams descended on Dorchester’s Jeremiah E. Burke High School to film “A Day in the Life,” a one-hour documentary about a school day from sunrise to sunset. Four production teams traced the day of 12 individuals – three each. The feature, part of WGBH-TV’s “Eye on Education,” focuses on the Class of 2003 students, parents, teachers, counselors and administrators.

WGBH-FM is also working with several English- and Spanish-speaking students to record Radio Diaries, chronicling how teen-agers experience high school.

Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia Daily News, SchoolNet(PBS)

The paper’s SchoolNet Web site, launched just before a proposed state takeover of the Philadelphia schools, has become a key clearinghouse for information about the turbulent situation. A link, “State Takeover: The Latest,” provides breaking news on the talks between the state of Pennsylvania and the city over managing the failing schools. The Oct. 31 release of Gov. Mark Schweiker’s schools plan was on SchoolNet the same day, said Wendy Warren, “Rethinking Philadelphia” editor. “I definitely sense that people see this as the place to go for information about the schools,” Warren said.

For people who might not have Internet access, the Daily News held two fall forums, one on school choice and another on homework. The 60 people at the school-choice forum heard from the Black Alliance for Educational Options about ways parents can find the best public school for their children. The Daily News collected e-mail addresses from the attendees and now has “something of an instant forum that we’re in touch with by e-mail,” Warren said. “These are people who are passionate enough about school choice to come out on a weekday and talk for hours.”

Online and in-paper coverage of a November demonstration of 1,000 people opposed to a possible schools takeover by Edison Schools Inc. was “an important part of the civic conversation. Using civic journalism on a breaking news story has really resonated with people,” Warren said. http://schoolnet.philly.com.

Portland, ME

MaineToday.com, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram

MaineToday.com launched in December a community-based Web system of reporting high school sports, a precursor to its Bulletin Board, which will debut in February. Both systems are based on community members submitting content. http://sports.mainetoday.com/highschool.

The sports system allows 150 schools to publish information about every sports team and every player; coaches to submit schedules, rosters and game results; and parents and fans to send in photos and videos of games and players. Eventually, booster clubs, marching bands and cheerleading teams will be able to self-publish their news on the sports pages.

When the Bulletin Board, a self-publishing system for the community, is up, MaineToday.com will recruit other sports, teens and outdoors groups to publish news and events directly onto the Web site.

Austin, TX

KUT-FM (NPR), University of Texas, Austin American-Statesman

KUT expects to begin local-news coverage early this year that will be grounded in civic journalism principles. The station has interviewed 600 residents and, in June, held a two-day, civic journalism planning conference at the University of Texas, where participants talked about goals and values for the station. KUT and the Austin American-Statesman are organizing focus groups to discuss such survey issues as affordable housing, growth, education, health care and Austin’s growing diversity.

Defining local news in a city that is the state capital and home to the nation’s largest state university is one of KUT’s challenges, said Stewart Vanderwilt, KUT director and general manager. “There are strong global interests that play out locally,” he said. “I think we can take our coverage a step further. We can better plot what we do relative to the progress our community enjoys in solving its civic issues.”

Tucson, AZ

The Arizona Daily Star, KVOA Channel 4 (NBC)

The Tucson school district is partnering with The Star and KVOA on a March 21 forum on volunteerism. About 130 people are expected to attend. The school district’s department in charge of business partnerships – 4th R Partners in Education – is spearheading the effort, which was inspired by the partners’ “Teaching Tucson’s Children” town hall. This spring, The Star and KVOA will collaborate with Pima Community College on a workshop to involve parents in the schools.

San Francisco, CA

Pacific News Service, New California Media, KALW-FM, San Francisco Chronicle

“Bay Area Bridges,” a new Sunday Chronicle section, now brings news from ethnic and community media to the rest of the Bay Area. Pacific News Service and New California Media translate and condense articles from such papers as India-West, Pakistan Today and the Beirut Daily Star and Nichi Bei Times for the section.

Pacific News Service/New California Media also are hosting a Friday “UpFront” show on KALW-FM, which includes interviews with ethnic-media editors, reporters and news producers about the stories they are working on.
In other efforts, Pacific News Service last fall recruited 15 East Bay teen-agers to capture, in photos and words, the lives of Alameda County AIDS victims. Taking pictures in living rooms and doctors’ offices, the so-called “Town Criers” captured images that were displayed in December at the county Public Health Department.

Indianapolis, IN

Channel 13 Eyewitness News (WTHR-TV), The Indianapolis Star

The partners have continued their issues-based series of town halls with an October session on terrorism and homeland security for 400 people at the Indiana War Memorial. WFYI-TV (PBS) aired it as “War on Terrorism: Is Indiana Ready?”

A December survey of state residents will be the springboard for the 2002 People’s Agenda – a list of issues that citizens feel should be top priorities for the Indiana General Assembly. Citizens and legislators will discuss the issues at a January town hall, said Young-Hee Yedinak, Eyewitness News 13’s special projects coordinator.

The project has impacted the journalists involved. “Instead of just getting public comments, we realize the value of cultivating relationships with regular citizens who are often highly engaged and well informed. I’m a lot more attentive to what people are saying about smaller things going on in the community that add up to the bigger picture.”

Star Editorial Page Editor Andrea Neal said readers who submit letters to the editor “say that the newspaper’s pages are a lot more accessible to people now.” On some issues, such as the proposed hiring of 200 new police officers, Neal said, The Star has held off taking a stand until hearing from readers. www.indystar.com.

Miami, FL

WTVJ-TV (NBC), The Miami Herald, Ocean Drive Magazine

The partners have developed a curriculum guide on regional environmental issues for Miami schoolchildren. WTVJ has produced regular reports on coral reef preservation and dangers to marine life. Online (www.nbc6.net), an interactive Ecowatch page has features such as “swimming with whales,” which flips through pictures of various species of whales. The site also solicits EcOpinions. Clicking on a question, such as “How do you feel about protecting coral reefs?,” connects users with an e-mail form addressed to the station. Tim Geraghty, WTVJ vice president for news, said the partners hope these features will involve Miami area residents in forming solutions to local environmental problems. University of Miami environmentalist Ellen Prager also is writing a Web column.

Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, KDKA-TV (CBS), KDKA Radio, Pennsylvania Newspapers Association

About 300 people attended an October forum on how ordinary citizens can access public records and what information should be public. The forum was the first step in the Post-Gazette’s open records and the First Amendment project. Education Editor Jane Elizabeth said the paper seeks to empower citizens to examine public records for themselves and hopes broader demand might help liberalize state law on access to records and meetings.

By seeing where citizens reported trouble getting access, editors got ideas for developing more citizen resources. For instance, Elizabeth said, the paper plans to send an educational brochure to secretaries and low-level administrators who often reject public records requests without knowing the law makes them available to anyone who asks.