Project Topic: Economy

West Virginia After Coal, Huntington, WV 2000 

Partners:

The (Huntington) Herald-Dispatch
West Virginia Public Broadcasting

The partners made economic revitalization the dominant issue in West Virginia legislative and political debate with “West Virginia After Coal,” a far-reaching exploration of the state’s prospects if it continues to rely solely on coal for its economic well-being.

The project provided a number of features to educate citizens and generate discussion including a newspaper series, a live town hall meeting and a dedicated website. Read more

Target Transportation, Springfield, VA 1999

Partners:

Newschannel 8

The 24-hour, all-news station conducted a phone survey of 1,000 Washington, DC, area residents and found that traffic congestion is the most-often cited problem that impacts daily life. The survey also showed residents preferred developing more mass transit to building new roads as a way to deal with congestion but were generally pro-growth and optimistic about finding solutions.

The Pew-funded poll was mailed to 600 government and community leaders and became the focus for coverage of the issue throughout the year. Special programming included, in February 1999, a 2 1/2-hour live prime-time broadcast bringing together almost 100 citizens in three Washington area jurisdictions (Northern Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia) with elected officials and transit leaders including three congressmen, two state Secretaries of Transportation, two County Executives and executives of the Metro system. Read more

Changing Tides, Aberdeen, WA 1998

Partners:

The Daily World Channel 20
TCI Cablevision 

In year two of their “Changing Tides” project, the partners attempted to bring together citizens and community leaders to craft solutions to the political, economic and environmental challenges the region faced. 

A March 1998 mail survey of 130 traditional community leaders – elected officials, educators, union leaders and others – turned up marked differences from an earlier poll of 400 area residents. The survey found traditional leaders more pessimistic than the general public about their ability to solve the region’s problems. They also preferred private-sector solutions while the general public thought government should be more responsible. Four out of five community leaders thought local government represented the people well; less than half the public agreed. While both groups agreed the economy was the top priority, there was no consensus on how to improve it. Read more

Boom Town Faces its Future, Myrtle Beach, SC 1997

Partners:

The Sun News
Cox Broadcasting

After the results of an informal Sun News survey showed serious community concern about rapid growth, the paper launched an 11-month project, “Living in a Boom Town.” The paper had asked readers to respond to six open-ended questions about the Myrtle Beach area. Some 300 responses showed five main areas of concern: traffic, growth, elected officials, schools and culture. A five part series exploring each of these topics began April 27, 1997. Each package included a “primer,” giving background on the issue, comments from readers and additional resources for more information. The paper also set up a phone line for more reader comments and started a discussion forum on growth issues on its Web site. It followed people’s concerns through ongoing coverage of one neighborhood, Socastee, which was wrestling with all of the issues involved. Read more

Changing Tides, Aberdeen, WA 1997

Partners:

The Daily World of Aberdeen 
Channel 20
TCI Cablevision

Political, economic and environmental forces were changing life on the Southern Olympic Peninsula and its paper decided to help citizens join together to meet the resulting challenges. Partnering with cable channel 20 – the only station in the county – the Daily World launched “Changing Tides” in April 1997, a two-year effort to chart a new course for the region.

The series debuted in the paper’s annual “Perspectives” edition, with nearly 100 pages in six inside sections on the region’s logging and fishing history and how that history related to present day issues, when environmental laws had reduced opportunities in those areas. Then the paper engaged citizens in discussing the changes and their impact through a series of three focus groups with 30 people chosen randomly from three separate areas of the region. The paper covered the focus-group discussions in front-page stories in August 1997 and also invited readers to add their input to the citizens’ comments. The paper printed responses in a Sunday feature, “It’s Your Call,” which became a regular weekly feature. The paper also used the input to develop questions for a telephone poll of 400 people. Poll results were published in December and were discussed at community forums. A final survey of 130 people recognized as community leaders – elected officials, educators, union leaders and others – was conducted by mail in March 1998 and showed the officials struggling to arrive at a common vision for the region’s future. Read more

Facing our Future, Binghamton, NY 1996

Partners: 

Press & Sun-Bulletin
WSKG Public TV and Radio
WBNG-TV (CBS) 
SUNY-Binghamton

With the Binghamton economy severely depressed and public spirits virtually crushed by the loss of jobs and services, the partners in 1996 launched “Facing Our Future,” a solutions-oriented journalism project with a built-in action component. Two years later, citizen action teams were still meeting and the economy was rebounding. Then-Press & Sun-Bulletin editor Marty Steffens gave the media partners at least partial credit for the turn-around. “We weren’t just lucky,” she said. Read more

The Sun News Asks You, Myrtle Beach, SC 1996

Partners:

The Sun News

The partners proposed a project on race relations but found during the planning phase that racial division was just one of the problems facing the community as a result of extremely rapid growth. Broadening the focus of the project to “reconnecting,” the paper decided to seek reader input in determining what issues the community cared about most. In late summer of 1996, the paper distributed 3,000 neon yellow postcards, asking six open-ended questions, such as: What would you change about your community? What is going well in your community? What really makes you mad right now?  Read more

Shaping the Next Century, Dayton, OH 1995

Partners: 

Dayton Daily News 
WPTD public television 
WYSO-FM 
The Miami Valley Issues Forum
TheMontgomery County Historical Museum 

Marking Dayton’s 1996 bicentennial, the partners launched “Shaping the Next Century” to encourage public conversations about directing the city into the future. The Daily News ran a series of stories in late 1995 that looked at Dayton’s history as well as challenges yet to be met. In January 1996, public television station WPTD and WYSO simulcast a 90-minute documentary and live panel discussion, inviting the public to phone-in questions and comments about where Dayton should be headed.  Read more