2001 Batten Awards Honor Civic Turnaround Efforts
Deep Community Work Sparks Results
Washington, DC, March 26, 2001 — – The Huntington Herald-Dispatch and West Virginia Public Broadcasting swept the 2001 Batten Awards for Excellence in Civic Journalism for ambitious and interactive coverage of the single biggest issue in the state – its future without coal – and the creation of a groundbreaking database of how coal severance taxes are used.
Their “West Virginia After Coal” partnership joined two newspaper runners-up: The Eagle-Tribune in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and the Chronicle-Tribune in Marion, Indiana. Both launched courageous examinations of their deeply troubled communities that have sparked encouraging turnaround efforts.
“This year’s winners demonstrate a striking commitment to reporting on their communities in candid, unvarnished terms and engaging people in finding roadmaps for the future – futures with no easy solutions,” said Jan Schaffer, executive director of the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, which sponsors the awards.
All were characterized by deep community work, a naturalness of the civic engagement and tangible results. “The journalists were very much attuned to the silences in their communities – not just the noise,” Schaffer said.
The three top winners will share the $25,000 award, with the West Virginia news partnership receiving $15,000, and the Lawrence and Marion newspapers receiving $5,000 apiece. All the winners will be honored April 19 at the seventh annual Batten Awards Symposium. This year’s program, “Media and Democracy: Civic Journalism in a Digital Age,” will be hosted by Kent State University’s School of Journalism and Communication.
“I think people around the country have no idea how much good work is being done by many of the smaller news organizations,” said Jack Nelson, chairman of the Pew Center’s Advisory Board. “On almost all the issues, the news organizations were looking for solutions, not just problems.”
For the first time the Batten Awards Advisory Board cited for honorable mention five other news organizations for diverse and highly successful efforts at engaging their particular communities. They included:
- The Portland (ME) Press-Herald for a stunningly framed and written series about teens “On the Verge” of adulthood that broke free of stereotypes.
- St. Paul Pioneer Press for its vibrant and interactive look at how new immigrant communities have painted a “New Face of Minnesota.”
- AOL for its fun and informative “Election Guide 2000” that helped engage an apathetic election in this year’s presidential elections.
- MTV for three edgy election documentaries that went beyond some traditional journalistic conventions and framed its coverage to particularly engage its young audience.
- Minnesota Public Radio for it multi-layered “The Guinea Pig Kids” examination of the state’s proposed graduation standards requirements.
THE WINNER: The “West Virginia After Coal” project went to extraordinary lengths to involve residents in the need to diversify the state’s economy, using a statewide poll, a six-day newspaper series, a three-hour town meeting broadcast live from 10 sites around the state, ongoing public radio coverage and web chats. The Herald-Dispatch created a database that demonstrated that virtually none of the $18 million coal severance taxes distributed to the state’s 55 counties and 234 municipalities was being used for economic development. Instead, those revenues paid for such things as postage or dog wardens. The reports were offered through the Associated Press to all news media in the state, demonstrating that they were more interested in the impact on the community and less on self-aggrandisement.
The reports have led to the creation of new legislative subcommittees and proposed legislation to target economic development and diversify the economy. There has also been a greater emphasis on workforce training for jobs that will replace mining.
THE RUNNERS UP: “Unrealized Assets” was The Eagle-Tribune’s effort to bypass a tired master narrative of crime, drugs and political corruption and brainstorm, instead, on how to capitalize on the town’s assets. It aggressively solicited ideas and topics from residents, then focused on 10 assets – examining the pros, cons, benefits and feasibility of making something of such things as the riverfront, the old mills and the town’s leadership.
The project has been a catalyst for change. A new master plan is underway; 50 new police officers are on the street; a fire-gutted old mill is gone; tax incentives now help woo high-tech companies; an arts collaborative has formed and a new group of citizens has stepped up to the plate. The project also helped the newspaper build new ties to its growing Latino community that led to the recent launch of a Spanish-language weekly.
“Moment of Truth” was the Chronicle-Tribune’s unflinching 10-month, 120-page effort to “tell the whole story” of its community – not just cover the news. Its small staff of 23 full-time people examined, in-depth, a daunting number of Marion’s problems – from high school dropouts, to unwed mothers, to racial tensions and a leadership that couldn’t get along.
The newspaper rallied the community and residents are now leading some changes. Indiana Wesleyan University proposed making volunteerism a graduation requirement and partnered with the newspaper in counting vacant homes and neglected lots. Local residents cleaned up blighted areas, a local businessman donated $50,000 to help build new homes for the needy, the YWCA expanded services to teen mothers, and General Motors joined with the paper in leadership training.
This year’s winners were selected from 117 entries. The Batten Awards are named in honor of the late James K. Batten, former chief executive of the Knight Ridder newspaper chain, who pioneered some of the earliest civic journalism thinking. The awards are funded by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts, based in Philadelphia.
Semifinalists included: The Times-Picayune’s environmental justice series “Unwelcome Neighbors: How the Poor Bear the Burdens of America’s Pollution;” “Promises to Keep,” a look at end-of-life issues by WKMS-FM in Murray, KY; “Reclaiming Chapman Avenue,” a chronicle of a neighborhood’s clean-up efforts by The Roanoke Times; The Charlotte Observer’s“Desegregation and Student Reassignment,” covering unfolding choices following the landmark legal ruling; The Jackson Sun’s “October 1960 – The Untold Story of Jackson’s Civil Rights Movement”; “Growing Up … Growing Older” a multi-media look at health by the Wisconsin State Journal, WISC-TV, Wisconsin Public Radio and Wood Communications Group; and “Invisible World,” one community’s battle against poverty by The Herald, Rock Hill, SC.
Also: “Vision 2010: A Learning Odyssey” a collaborative effort led by the Savannah Morning News to build a community vision to improve failing schools; The Idaho Statesman’s breaking civic coverage of the wildfires; The Augusta Chronicle’s community “Solutions 2000;” “South Carolina and the Flag” bringing citizens into the statehouse Confederate flag debate by WIS-TV in Columbia, SC; “Rethinking Philadelphia” by The Philadelphia Daily News; “Rebuilding Tucson’s Families” a media simulcast on youth and violence by the Arizona Daily Star, the Tucson Citizen, KVOA, KOLD, KGUN9, KUAT, KWBA, KMSB, KTTU, KHRR, KUVE, City Cable 12 and KJLL AM; and “Crisis at Our Doorstep,” the Cape Cod Times‘ look at the affordable housing crisis.
FOLLOWING ARE THE 2000 JAMES K. BATTEN AWARD CITATIONS
To the To The Herald-Dispatch, Huntington, and West Virginia Public Broadcasting
www.wvaftercoal.org
For “West Virginia After Coal,” an ambitious and interactive effort to engage the entire state in confronting the realities of a declining coal industry. It built multiple entry points and had a strong online component that fostered wide community involvement. It also demonstrated the potential of moving beyond simple publication towards application of the journalism.
To The Eagle-Tribunein Lawrence, MA
www.eagletribune.com
For “Unrealized Assets,” an energizing10-part series that lifted a city’s struggle with crime and drugs and political corruption beyond the realm of hopelessness and into the world of possibilities. It demonstrated a real sense of affection for the community that bypassed boosterism and instead focused on doable solutions.
To the Chronicle-Tribune of Marion, IN
www.chronicle-tribune.com
For “Moment of Truth,” an unflinchingly honest airing of a larger community narrative that grew out of an embarrassment over routine New Year’s Day journalistic convention. The small staff never let the scope of the challenge deter them. Their courage and leadership was inspirational.
FOLLOWING ARE THE 2000 JAMES K. BATTEN AWARD HONORABLE MENTIONS
To The Portland (ME) Press-Herald
For “On the Verge,” fresh and compelling look at teen life that broke free of stereotypes about teens and resisted adult influences. Using pizza parties, disposable cameras, hours of conversations with the teens it reflected the authenticity of a group of citizens not traditionally heard from.
To The To the St. Paul Pioneer Press
For “The New Face of Minnesota,” a vibrant and interactive chronicle of the immigrant experience in Minnesota. It included polls in five languages and useful things to do, such as book clubs, community discussions in two dozen communities that attracted over 3,000 attendees.
To America Online
For its “way cool” Election Guide 2000 one-stop election shopping site with local voter guides organized by ZIP code, polls, virtual candidate debates, issues charts and a “Presidential Matchmaker” that matched voters and candidates on the issues. The guide was done in partnership with CBS News. Twenty million families visited the web site; 165,000 registered to vote.
To MTV
For “I’m a Candidate” and “Choose or Lose 2000:Where were you at 22?” and “Choose or Lose 2000: Sex Laws,” fun and provocative pieces on what the presidential candidates did when they were young, at sexual policy issues and the cost of running for Congress. Done, in part, with TIME magazine, they modeled how journalism can reach a new generation of news consumers.
To Minnesota Public Radio
http://news.mpr.org/features/200002/07_newsroom_guineapigkids/index.shtml
For “The Guinea Pig Kids: An Inside Look at Minnesota’s Graduation Standards Experiment,” radio documentaries that used thorough reporting, sophisticated layering of stakeholder voices and an active web site to produce a conversation that helped delay implementation.