Washington, D.C., July 14, 1995 – The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Pew Center for Civic Journalism today announced creation of the James K. Batten Award for Excellence in Civic Journalism to be presented annually to recognize the nation’s most successful civic journalism initiatives.The first $25,000 award will honor Mr. Batten’s own leadership and his early advocacy of civic journalism. The award will be presented at a dinner following a symposium to discuss the role of journalists in renewing civic life to be held in Washington on September 13, 1995.
“The Pew Trusts and the Pew Center could think of no better person to receive the first award and to have the award named for him than Jim Batten,” said Edward Fouhy, Executive Director of the Pew Center. “Our only regret is that he did not live to personally receive an honor he so richly deserved.” Mr. Batten, former Chairman of Knight-Ridder, Inc., died on June 29, 1995.
“Jim Batten’s vision of the role the news media can play in reengaging our citizens in the democratic process has guided The Pew Charitable Trusts in establishing the Pew Center and supporting its civic journalism projects,” said Rebecca W. Rimel, the Trusts’ President and CEO. “I hope the Batten Award and symposium will not only recognize his contribution, but also move us further toward his goal of reinvigorating our civic life.”
“Jim Batten was outspoken in his belief that newspapers could play a role in community affairs,” said Mr. Fouhy. “In a speech given in 1989 at the University of California, Riverside, Jim Batten really launched the concept of civic journalism as a part of a newspaper’s fundamental mission.”In that speech, Mr. Batten said, ‘We need to challenge editorial-page editors and political editors and writers to invent new ways to make the public’s important business rivetingly interesting–and much more difficult to ignore.’
“Under Mr. Batten’s leadership and cooperation, seven Knight-Ridder newspapers in Charlotte, Tallahassee, Wichita, San Jose, St. Paul, Detroit and Grand Forks have started civic journalism projects with the Pew Center since its beginning in 1993,” said Mr. Fouhy, “and now several of those projects are well underway, eliciting the kinds of energetic responses from their communities that Jim Batten envisioned.”
In March of 1995, as a way to acknowledge Mr. Batten’s vision and journalistic ideals, The Pew Charitable Trusts established the awards program to go along with a symposium to be held in September to educate journalists and spotlight some of the best civic journalism in the country.
An advisory board headed by Thomas Winship, Chairman of the Center for Foreign Journalism and Editor Emeritus of the Boston Globe, is now working on establishing award criteria, entry rules and a time line for next year’s award. Members of the board include Mr. Fouhy, Katherine W. Fanning, Chairman, Board of Trustees, Kettering Foundation; Teresa M. Hanafin, City Editor, The Boston Globe; Bill Kovach, Curator, The Nieman Foundation; Amy McCombs, President of the Chronicle Broadcasting Company; W. Davis Merritt, Editor, The Wichita Eagle; Rich Oppel, Editor, Austin American Statesman; Gene Roberts, Managing Editor, The New York Times; and Mizell Stewart, III, Public Affairs Editor, The Akron Beacon Journal.