The Bradenton Herald, FL “Decision Downtown”
1997 Batten Award Winner “For an excellent and nimble example of the principles of civic journalism being applied in an action-oriented way…” With the Bradenton City Council on the verge of signing a contract to build a new city hall-fire-police complex on prime waterfront land, the newspaper acted on good civic journalism reflexes. […]
The Children’s Hour
1998 Batten Symposium Panel Presentation: Framing the Story in New Ways Mizell Stewart III Metro Editor Akron Beacon Journal In May 1996, we published a four-part series titled “Shortchanging Ohio’s Children,” which found that state lawmakers had, over a period of decades, siphoned away money that was to go to public schools for other purposes. […]
Heroin: On Assignment
1998 Batten Symposium Panel Presentation: Framing the Story in New Ways Heroin: On Assignment John Miller Executive News Director WFAA-TV, Dallas I’ll give you a little story lead . . . go back to your home markets and after the May sweeps are over, in another week and a half, call your stations and ask […]
Wrightwood: A Neighborhood In Transition Wrestles with Change
1998 Batten Symposium Panel Presentation: Framing the Story in New Ways Laura Washington Editor and Publisher The Chicago Reporter One of the things that we learned from civic journalism is, this is no picnic. It’s a lot of hard work. We are experts at hard work. We spend three to four months at a time […]
Changing Newsroom Cultures: The Tyranny of “Or;” the Power of “And”
1998 Batten Awards Keynote Address Steve Smith Editor and Vice President The Gazette, Colorado Springs In 1990-91 in Wichita, we worked on something that has come to be known as the Wichita Election Project. It was one of the first civic projects in American journalism. It and work done in a couple other cities helped […]
Who Said Journalism Can’t Change?: Creating a Meaningful Legacy
1998 Batten Awards Keynote Address Jennie Buckner Editor Charlotte Observer It is a very special honor to be with you as we celebrate some of journalism’s finest work, work that’s made a difference in the lives of people across this country. The stories have had impact and left a legacy: of community betterment and […]
The Baltimore Sun, MD “Reading by 9”
1998 Batten Award Winner In a clear example of activist journalism, the newspaper not only reported the devastating scores on reading ability and probed how children learn to read, it also went out and did something about it. It engaged employee volunteers to teach reading and it mobilized its own news pages in an impressive […]
The Idaho Statesman, the Idaho Spokesman-Review, the Lewiston Morning Tribune, the Idaho Falls Post Register, Idaho Public Television and KTVB-TV “A Collision Course: Prisons vs. Higher Education in Idaho”
1998 Batten Award Winner These news organizations set out to convene a statewide discussion on conflicting budget priorities, namely greatly increased spending on prisons vs. declining support for higher education. By analyzing that spending in Idaho, the initiative allowed people to understand the consequences of the choices in spending that were being made in their […]
The Asbury Park Press, NJ “House of Cards” and “What Ails Asbury: A City Searches for Solutions”
These two series powerfully demonstrate how getting out into the community and listening to citizens pays off. This determined effort stared with such civic reporting techniques as polling and extensive community conversations about crime, education, recreation and city management, but it quickly led reporters to a massive real estate fraud. By blending civic listening with […]
1998 Batten Awards and Symposium: Introductory Remarks
Jan Schaffer Executive Director Pew Center for Civic Journalism New trends in civic journalism and new training opportunities for journalists marked 1998, the fourth year of the James K. Batten Awards for Excellence in Civic Journalism. The winners were notable examples of how civic journalism is evolving. They demonstrated the diversity of approaches […]