Wichita Reverses a Trend
By Sheri Dill Associate Publisher Wichita Eagle Can the way a newspaper covers elections actually affect voter behavior? Can it be effective in getting citizens to vote? Having completed the third biennial election where the Wichita Eagle tried to do exactly that, our experience seems to indicate that, over time, a newspaper can indeed influence voter […]
Does Civic Journalism Work?
Can civic journalism, working in an innovative, focused effort, cut through public ennui and alienation from politics? Can it pull ordinary citizens into caring about candidates and issues — and even into voting? Early results from a Wisconsin experiment clearly say yes. “We the People/ Wisconsin,” a three-year-old civic journalism project, has found that a […]
Still Learning After All These Years
It was D-Day (D as in debate) minus two, and Bill Clinton’s campaign team had come down with a case of techno-jitters over our multi-state “We the People” forum. Then again, so had we. If ever there was a high-tech house of cards waiting to tumble, this was it. In late 1991, a Minnesota media […]
Charlottle: Helping to Lead
The Charlotte Observer and its media partners have recently finished an 18-month project, “Taking Back our Neighborhoods,” of in-depth reporting on crime in nine central city neighborhoods. The project, which teamed The Observer with ABC affiliate WSOC-TV and radio stations WPEG-FM and WBAV-AM/FM, met with a number of successes. In the first neighborhood, Seversville, violent crime […]
Seeking Common Ground
For the past two years, the Tallahassee Democrat and WCTV (CBS) have been engaged in a civic journalism project, “The Public Agenda,” to get citizens talking and deliberating about key issues. The lessons of that undertaking prompted the city desk to think about using some civic journalism techniques when citizens on Oct. 17 decisively rejected […]
Hope that Sustainable Change is Possible
By Ames Alexander Staff Writer The Charlotte Observer Just two years ago, Charlotte’s Seversville neighborhood was in trouble. Its crime rate was four times higher than the city’s. So many crack dealers clustered on Katonah Avenue motorists had to honk their horns to get by. Without a park, a recreation center or much of anything […]
The Public Agenda Tallahassee, FL
On Nov. 14, 1994, more than 300 Tallahassee citizens crowded the galleries and chamber of the Houses of Representatives at the Florida state capitol to launch “The Public Agenda” project’s first Community Dialogue. The Tallahassee Democrat newspaper and WCTV, the CBS affiliate, helped publicize and cover the effort as a civic journalism partnership. The purpose […]
House of Cards Tumbles Out of Asbury Park Civic Journalism Project
By The Asbury Park Press Civic Journalism Team “Boosterism” a New York editor called out when he tried to characterize civic journalism at a recent high profile media luncheon in Manhattan on the credibility of journalists. While the same smug stereotype still exists in other elite metro newspaper circles, it is in our opinion more […]
Democracy in Action:Political Newcomers Take Back Bradenton
By Wayne Poston Wayne Poston accepting the 1997 Batten Award with reporters Shelly Sigo, left, and Pam Radtke Russell. The Scene: The summer of 1996. A mid-sized community on the west coast of Florida. A strong mayor and his city council are on the verge of signing a contract to build a new city hall-fire-police […]
Civic Journalism: Experimenting with Hand-Offs
By Jan Schaffer One year ago, we at the Pew Center asked a simple question: Is there a way to help news organizations “hand-off” successful civic journalism projects to the community? Born was the Community Change Project. Under the umbrella of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, it awarded $20,000 in one-year grants to help […]