Civic Journalism: Six Case Studies
MADISON, WIS.
“We the People, Wisconsin”
It was a Kodak moment. Clad in a vivid red, white and blue shirt decorated with stars and stripes, Dave Johnston, an ordinary citizen, turned to the television camera and quietly, but firmly, demanded some specifics from the two candidates in the 1994 race for governor of Wisconsin.
His question was beamed by satellite from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 200 miles away to Green Bay, where incumbent Gov. Tommy Thompson and his challenger State Sen. Chuck Chvala (pronounced Koala) debated in front of a live audience.
“We haven’t bought the answers on property tax that you’ve given us,” Johnston said. “And we would like a specific commitment from you tonight — both of you — that you would provide, in writing, in detail, your plan on how you are going to raise the revenues or cut the programs to meet the property tax cut.”
Then the clincher: “And we would like to see them at least two weeks — in writing — before the election.”
By the time Johnston sat down, thousands of Wisconsin residents, listening to the debate in person, on television or on the radio heard the two candidates promise to deliver the details, and deliver them in writing, by Johnston’s deadline.
The promises made front-page news around the state.
“Politicians can’t blow off a voter’s questions easily,” said debate moderator Dave Iverson. “What was great at that moment was there was no escape.”
“I don’t think a reporter would necessarily have stood up and said it in quite that way,” he said. “People would have thought that was sort of obnoxious.”
Two weeks later, Chvala delivered his written plans in person to Johnston at his Eau Claire print shop. Thompson, who had to be reminded of his pledge, released his plan a week later.
The man in the American flag shirt had shown how a single citizen, using a public forum, could demand — and receive — information in the campaign that journalists were not able to unlock.
Madison, Wis – Dave Johnston listens as the candidates for governor promise to deliver their property tax plans.
The Thompson-Chvala debate was sponsored by “We the People,Wisconsin,” the country’s longest running civic journalism initiative, a joint effort of one of the state’s leading newspapers, public and commercial television, public radio, and a public relations firm. It was the eighth in a line of major events sponsored by the project’s partners since the first “We the People” effort in the 1992 presidential primary.
Although it started as one-time presidential election project, “We the People,Wisconsin” has evolved over three and a half years into an ongoing exploration of the way politics and public policy affect the lives of every-day people, linking residents throughout the state via satellite hook-ups. Whether using citizen caucuses or citizen juries, inviting citizens to interrogate gubernatorial candidates or listen to the closing arguments of state Supreme Court candidates, “We the People,Wisconsin” has sought to bypass formulaic journalism and give citizens creative ways to get information and interact with each other and with politicians.
Through the spring of 1995, more than 2,000 people had participated directly in “We The People” town hall meetings, debates and civic exercises. Hundreds of thousands have watched telecasts and rebroadcasts on Wisconsin Public Television or WISC-TV, Madison’s CBS affiliate; they have listened to Wisconsin Public Radio or read the Wisconsin State Journal and other newspapers that covered the events.