Lawrence, KS: Common Ground on Growth
By Pat Ford Staff Writer Pew Center Residents of Lawrence, KS, long polarized over how the university town is growing, found some common ground during a six-month project launched last spring by the Lawrence Journal-World, 6News and World Online. Meanwhile, the three news organizations, owned by the same company but long riven by competitiveness, also learned […]
Interactive Game Totes Energy Costs
By Thomas W. Still Associate Editor Wisconsin State Journal It began with a “What if?” question that seemed like a pipe dream and well beyond the capabilities of a bunch of low-tech journalists. “What if,” the partners in We the People/Wisconsin asked, “there was a computerized exercise to help citizens make choices about the kind […]
Idaho Partners Spotlight Ailing Rural Areas
By Pat Ford Staff Writer Pew Center When four Idaho newspapers and public and commercial television set out to tell about the state’s ailing rural areas, they conducted a poll and gathered extensive facts about the economy, federal aid, public policy and population changes. But nothing seemed to bring home rural Idaho’s crisis like Dick […]
Race Conversations Blitz Cincinnati
By Rosemary Goudreau Managing Editor The Cincinnati Enquirer The Cincinnati Enquirer has launched a historic blitz of neighborhood conversations about race that hopes to reach every city, village, township and neighborhood in the region, 145 in all. The goal is to get people talking about – and maybe doing something about – racial tensions in a […]
Sept. 11: Helping People Get Smarter
By Pat Ford Staff Writer Pew Center They stand out like butterflies on the drab gray streets of St. Paul – the colorful, head-to-toe scarves worn by Somali women who have immigrated to the Minnesota capital over the last few years. But in the days following Sept. 11, the women vanished. Amid the flow of […]
E-Letters: Homeroom@pioneerpress.com
By Joyce Gemperlein Special to the Pew Center Little that occurs in the St. Paul public schools gets past Paul Tosto. His editors describe him as a meticulous reporter, a disseminator of even the tiniest bits of news that affect the nearly 45,000 students in Minnesota’s second-largest school district. This might seem to be a […]
WashPost Haiku: Micro Moments
By Joyce Gemperlein Special to the Pew Center Barbara Neustadt is spunky, which is why she agreed to allow her friend Marge to fix her up with a gentleman at a bridge party. When the date fizzled in an amusing way, Neustadt, 69, was driven by that same spunkiness to spend a day writing a […]
Civic Innovations: Building New Interactions
Civic journalism was about interactivity long before newsrooms even knew what the Internet was. Early interactivity occurred through town hall meetings, focus groups and issue polls. Panelists discussed new forms of interactivity that are connecting citizens and altering journalism. GIL THELEN Vice President and Executive Editor The Tampa Tribune We have been using database and […]
Civic Newsrooms: Building New Reflexes
Three top civic editors talked about newsroom goals, conversations and civic mapping to deliver useful news. STEVE SMITH Executive Editor, Statesman Journal, Salem, OR I promised a few of you I would open by debuting my new definition of civic journalism. Here it is: The relentless expression of professional values every news day until utterly […]
Batten Symposium: Panel Highlights Civic Connections: Getting Them Right
Three top editors discussed what civic journalism has taught them. JENNIE BUCKNER Editor, The Charlotte Observer The underlying premise is not something we always go into in journalism schools or in newsrooms. That is, if you’re really going to report a story well, start where the citizen starts. Start with the person who’s living this, […]