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.
They included a lack of time, a feeling of being unwelcome and a fear of being criticized. But the surveys also showed that getting involved gave people a sense of satisfaction and more people would get involved if asked by a relative, friend or employer. A series of stories laying out and exploring the findings began on Jan. 21, 1996.
The series included weekly profiles of ordinary Peoria residents who took on leadership roles. It culminated in a Nov. 18 town meeting, in which 120 people participated in a search for solutions and generated 147 ideas for reversing the trend. Some of the ideas were picked up and put into practice, as hoped, by a member of the steering committee, the director of the Center for Non-Profit Excellence at Illinois Central College (ICC). ICC received funds from the Pew Center for Civic Change to extend the work of the journalism project and trained several neighborhood activists in skills needed to lead organizations. The resulting Neighborhood College continues to train emerging leaders.
The series also inspired a local businessman to run for mayor and, when he took office, prompted him to develop a Neighborhood Development Commission that tapped new segments of the community for leadership roles.
Contacts:
Jack Brimeyer
Managing Editor
Journal Star
1 News Plaza
Peoria, IL 61643
Phone: (309) 686-3121
Email: jbrimeyer@pjstar.com
Terry Bibo-Knight
Columnist/Special Projects Director
Journal Star
1 News Plaza
Peoria, IL 61643
Phone: (309) 686-3121
Daily Civic Journalism Initiative, Charlotte, NC 1996
Partners:
The Charlotte Observer
WSOC-TV (ABC)
WPEG-AM
WBTV (CBS)
After the success of their major crime project, “Taking Back our Neighborhoods,” the media partners spent a year trying to incorporate the civic journalism principles they had learned into daily reporting. Applying such tools as polling, public forums, listening posts and community partnerships on a quick-turn-around time frame, the partners found ways to improve coverage of breaking news.
For example, on March 24, 1996, the paper and WBTV published the results of a super-quick, random-sample pool – conceived on Thursday and published on Sunday – about nudity in the play “Angels in America.” A touring production of the play stirred debate when a group of citizens demanded that an actor who appeared nude on stage be arrested for indecency. The poll found most people supported the director’s right to include the scene and the controversy diminished.
A month later, the paper joined with WPEG to cover a dispute between local residents and young drivers who cruised in a neighborhood park. The paper covered a flare-up on Friday, April 26, with a package of explanatory stories and people suggesting solutions. The following Sunday, it co-sponsored a 90-minute broadcast forum at the radio station that included WPEG reporters taking questions from cruisers in the park.
One of the most successful experiments in civic coverage of breaking news was the partners’ reporting on a new state law requiring schools to increase parent participation. In addition to the straight reporting, the paper published a graphic that listed the kinds of things volunteers could do even if they were available for short periods or only at night and a phone number to call to sign up. More than 300 people called a special phone bank, manned by local school districts, to volunteer.
Contacts:
Jennie Buckner
Editor and Vice President
The Charlotte Observer
600 S. Tryon St.
Charlotte, NC 28202
Phone: (704) 358-5001
Chuck Clark (Former government editor, The Observer)
City Editor
Orlando Sentinel
633 N. Orange Avenue
Orlando, FL 32801
TEL: (407) 420-5468
EMAIL: cclark@orlandosentinel.com
Fannie Flono
Associate Editor
The Charlotte Observer
P.O. Box 32188
Charlotte, NC 28202
TEL: (704) 358-5079
FAX: (704) 358-6166
EMAIL: flono@charlotteobserver.com