Combating Subversive Inactivity

Rebecca Rimel, president and CEO of The Pew Charitable Trusts, was stranded at an airport, unable to get to Chapel Hill. Don Kimelman, project director of Pew’s Venture Fund, delivered her prepared remarks. Highlights:

Over the last 10 years, I have been interviewed and challenged more on civic journalism than on any other issue the Trusts have been involved in. That includes campaign finance reform, global warming, saving the oceans and 15 other policy issues combined.

Some question the motives of the movement. Some wanted to debate the tools and the techniques. Still others just didn’t – or wouldn’t – get it. But never was the idea of civic journalism dismissed out of hand. Its guiding principles have remained steadfast: embracing journalism’s responsibility for public life by advancing high-quality reporting on issues relevant to readers; empowering citizens to act by giving them accurate, useful, compelling news; accepting accountability, whether on the part of the public officials, citizens or the fellow journalists; renewing civic engagement and creating a more vibrant democracy.

To be fair, there was learning on both sides. Civic journalism advocates grew to understand some of the pitfalls of the practice. The movement’s opponents came to see civic journalism’s benefits to newspapers and to communities. To quote Ed Fouhy, “It’s been a heck of a ride.”

Like many of us, Ed and Jan Schaffer have both fond and forgettable memories of the Pew Center’s trailblazing days. They epitomize what author Robert Half meant when he said, “Persistence is what makes the impossible possible.” Ed and Jan, we owe you a debt of gratitude for launching us on our way, for helping civic journalism find its voice, for shouldering the burden of controversy, always with composure and candor about our efforts and an understanding that the movement benefited from experimentation and from debate.

Now civic journalism has arrived. It’s regarded with acceptance in growing circles among journalists. Frank Denton, who is here today, the editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, says civic journalism has so woven its way into the fabric of American newsrooms that it has proven its way, even to the critics. There’s more than a nugget of truth to that statement.

And then we have Zack Stalberg, editor of The Philadelphia Daily News, who came to the Batten Awards a couple of years ago wearing a feather boa. You don’t see that a lot in journalism. Zack says, “I’ve become a true believer in civic journalism, and my conversion was a surprise to me.” And if you knew Zack, you’d understand that.

Rosemary Armao of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune refers now to the way that civic journalism reaches out to ordinary citizens who are often the expert sources of opinions and realities facing their communities. For the record, back in 1995, Ms. Armao called civic journalism lazy, crude, naive and dumb. Those were the days.

I would like to share one of my favorite civic journalism memories, a prophetic one it turns out. Early on I asked Ed and Jim Batten how we would measure our success with the civic journalism initiative. The response was quick and clear. In 10 years, the techniques and tools of civic journalism and the profession’s commitment to this practice will find its way into most newsrooms across the country. It will shape stories, becoming second nature to reporters who practice this approach in their service to the public. Civic journalism will be recognized as a valued and important tool for the profession, even if the label changes or just fades away. I have to ask, “Ed, do you always see so clearly into the future?”

Since 1993, we have traveled a long, exciting and occasionally rocky road, but we’re all wiser and better for it. More importantly, so is the public. It’s better informed, more engaged, and has higher expectations of the press. This, of course, is in communities where civic journalism is practiced.

The public is a true barometer of success and the measure of the power of the press. At its best, journalism motivates citizens to lift their voices and cast their votes. It combats what J. Howard Pew, a founder of the Trusts, calls – and this is a phrase he coined during the McCarthy era – “subversive inactivity.” That is the lethargy of citizens who fail in their civic duty and in service to their country.

Civic journalism is an arrow in our quiver in fighting subversive inactivity. We see examples every day of its power to motivate citizens to change their communities and improve their lives. At the Trusts, we feel privileged to have helped in some way in supporting the work of civically committed journalists, enabling them to become catalysts for citizen engagement and democratic renewal.

Now we can look back with pride on the accomplishments and contributions of many citizens and communities nationwide. And yes, the press that informed, motivated and engaged them in their civic work. The debate about civic journalism’s approach, tactics and impact will continue. But the role of the press in giving the public news they can use to become more civically engaged citizens will, I trust, never seem naive or inappropriate.