Project Topic: Project Topic

The New City, San Francisco, CA

 in Race Relations

The New City, San Francisco, CA 1998

Partners:

San Francisco Examiner 
Maynard Institute for Journalism

After months of ground level reporting, the paper published the first story in the series on April 26, 1998. It was a 175-inch, front page centerpiece that jumped into four inside pages. That first installment also launched a feature called “First Person” that gave people a chance to talk in their own voices. Over the course of the year, the paper published 19 major stories in the series, plus sidebars and “First Persons.”  Read more

Multi-lingual News Programming, BronxNet, Bronx, NY

 in Race Relations

Multi-lingual News Programming, BronxNet, Bronx, NY 1998 

Partners:

BronxNet Community Cable
The Bronx Journal
The Multilingual Journalism Program at Lehman College of the City University of New York

In their ongoing and multifaceted effort to give voice to the Bronx’s underserved ethnic communities, BronxNet and the Multilingual Journalism Program at Lehman College launched a multilingual news show and a series of special programs on issues of particular importance to the borough’s residents.  Read more

Special Report on Wrightwood, Chicago, IL

 in Race Relations

Special Report on Wrightwood, Chicago, IL, 1998 

Partners:

The Chicago Reporter
WBEZ-FM
WNUA-FM

The Pew Center provided additional funding to allow the investigative monthly to complete its portrait of racial change in the Chicago neighborhood of Wrightwood. The story appeared in the April 1998 issue. For more details, please see Year Four (1997) projects.


Contact:

Laura S. Washington
3750 Lake Shore Dr., Apt. 8-C
Chicago, IL 60613
Phone: (773) 327-4025
Email: lauraswashington@aol.com Read more

Commuter Chronicles, San Francisco, CA

 in Quality of Life

Commuter Chronicles, San Francisco, CA 1996

Partners:

San Francisco Chronicle
KQED-FM (NPR)
KRON-TV (NBC)

The partners in the two-year-old “Voice of the Voter” project decided to join forces for a non-electoral effort in 1996 and took on the issue of traffic congestion in “Unlock the Gridlock.” Some 1,500 people participated in five public forums held between May 1996 and April 1997, exploring the various factors in the Bay Area’s choking traffic jams. The forums gave citizens the chance to question elected officials and transportation executives about the lack of coordination in mass transit and search for solutions. Citizens could also ask questions through clip-and-send coupons in the Chronicle. Coverage also included live broadcasts on KQED and stories on KRON.  Read more

PBS Livelyhood

 in Quality of Life


PBS Livelyhood 1998 

Partners:

The Working Group
KQED-TV
Public Radio’s “Marketplace”

The critically acclaimed “Livelyhood” project, a four-part, public television series on the changing nature of work in the United States, used a national poll, town hall-style discussions, the Internet and a specially devised “tool kit” to encourage working Americans to confront and discuss emerging challenges and issues in the workplace. The Pew Center helped to support some of that outreach. Read more

Changing Tides, Aberdeen, WA ’98

 in Economy

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

Tax Reform, Muncie, IN

 in Governance


Muncie, IN 1998

Partners:

The Muncie Star-Press
WLBC-FM 

When Indiana legislators met in 1999 to begin restructuring the state tax system, they had a good understanding of what their constituents thought about the issue, thanks to a booklet called “Hoosiers Talk Taxes,” the culmination of a yearlong project to inject citizen voices into the debate over tax reform.

The first effort in the project was to educate journalists themselves about the complex issues surrounding tax reform. Economics professors from three Indiana universities held a seminar that attracted 20 journalists, in June 1998. The session aired live on WLBC and was broadcast later on cable.  Read more

Civic Discourse, Tampa, FL

 in Engagement

Civic Discourse, Tampa, FL 1997

Partners:

The Weekly Planet
Speak Up Tampa Bay
University of South Florida
Study Circles Resources Center

The partners continued their quest to bring civic journalism to the Tampa Bay with the convening of a “framing” conference in the spring of 1997. About 350 citizens attended three days of town hall meetings with experts and journalists and generated a 20-page list of the area’s strengths and weaknesses. 

The project suffered a setback, a short time later, when the lead partner, WTVT, dropped out after a change in leadership, leaving the alternative, entertainment-focused newspaper, Weekly Planet, scrambling to keep the momentum going. Editor Ben Eason launched a more serious alternative paper, a quarterly called Public Life, which carried news from neighborhood associations and civic groups and explored issues such as the media’s responsibility to the community. Eventually, with additional Pew support in later funding cycles, Eason used the network of civic organizations he’d connected with to start an email based wire service, helping the groups connect to each other as well as get wider circulation for their concerns and events among media organizations. Read more