Project Topic: Project Topic

Leadership Challenge, Peoria, IL

 in Engagement

Leadership Challenge, Peoria, IL 1996

Partners:

Journal-Star 
WMBD-TV (CBS), WMBD-AM 
WCBU-TV (PBS), WCBU-FM (NPR) 
Illinois Central College 
Bradley University 

Noting a decline in civic leadership and community involvement, the partners embarked on “Leadership Challenge,” a project that met its ambitious goal of inspiring citizens to take leadership roles in the community.

Designed from the beginning to become a community effort, the media partners invited civic institutions to join the steering committee that framed the project. Through a series of targeted mail surveys, a random sample telephone survey of 509 Peorians and four community roundtables involving some 50 people, the partners were able to document the reasons people were becoming less involved in community activities. Read more

Maine Citizens Campaign ’96, Portland, ME

 in Elections

Maine Citizens Campaign ’96, Portland, ME 1996

Partners:

Portland Newspapers Inc. 
Maine Public Broadcasting Network
WGME-TV (CBS)

The “Maine Citizens Campaign” followed a group of about 40 residents of Sanford, ME, a neglected mill town as they deliberated the issues and interviewed candidates in the 1996 campaign. Conceived as a way for the partners to get more citizen voices into their election coverage, the project took on a life of its own as the citizens became empowered by the process and tried to become an action group. Read more

Discussion ’96, Norfolk, VA

 in Elections


Discussion ’96
Norfolk, VA 1996

Partners:

The Virginian-Pilot 
The Harwood Group

For the 1996 elections, the paper completely re-imagined and refashioned campaign coverage, moving from traditional horse race coverage to the innovative (and, later, much-copied) concept of candidate as job applicant. Pew helped fund a new kind of poll that aided this coverage. Rather than a market-driven poll, the Harwood Group conducted a deliberative poll of 672 adults for the paper, one that offered a range of choices and asked respondents the “why” behind their answers. It revealed that voters were as concerned about leadership and character as about candidates’ stands on issues. Read more

Front Porch Forum, Seattle, WA 1996

 in Elections


Front Porch Forum, Seattle, WA 1996

Partners:

The Seattle Times 
KUOW-FM Radio 
KCTS Public TV
KPLU-FM, Tacoma, WA

The “Front Porch Forum” partners solidified their initiative in their third year, hiring a project coordinator and engaging more than 2,000 citizens in forums, focus groups and polling. The project focused on the gubernatorial and congressional elections. An initial poll of 570 Washington residents, conducted in April, provided the baseline for a series of features by all the partners on election issues such as job security, morals and values, money and politics and the welfare of children. To plumb the results in greater depth, the partners convened three focus groups involving a total of 33 citizens, and used the information gathered to develop a second poll of 400 residents statewide in early October. The surveys alerted the partners early on to the issues of the 1996 campaign, particularly citizen concerns about morality and family issues, so they were able to make sure candidates addressed them. Read more

Across Generations: What We Owe Each Other, St. Paul, MN

 in Quality of Life

Across Generations: What We Owe Each Other, St. Paul, MN 1996

Partners:

St. Paul Pioneer Press
KARE-TV (NBC)
Wilder Research Center

Following up on the success of its “Safer Cities” project, the paper focused on intergenerational conflict with the eight-week, 14-part series “Across Generations: What Do We Owe Each Other?” First, a poll of 1,528 adults in the Twin Cities area showed some of the differences between people of different generations – young people, for example, were less likely to have a religious preference. Then a team of reporters explored the topic through “immersion reporting” – spending long periods of time with interview subjects in places such as nursing homes or day-care centers to create more trust and avoid superficial, sound-bite quotes. Read more

Men as Peacemakers, Duluth, MN

 in Crime

Men as Peacemakers, Duluth, MN 1996

Partners:

Duluth (MN) News Tribune
WDSE-TV public television
Violence Free Duluth organization 

The project “Men as Peacemakers” reversed the normal tendency to let men stay on the sidelines while women lead efforts to end violence and attracted the efforts of hundreds of Duluth men.

A community organization approached the media partners after a series of particularly gruesome incidents in Duluth, asking for help in promoting violence- prevention strategies. Initially, the partners agreed to finance a retreat, where about 50 men planned strategies for curbing violence. Impressed with the results, the partners launched a civic journalism project to explore the issue more fully. Read more

Facing our Future, Binghamton, NY

 in Economy

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

 in Economy

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