Batten Semifinalists: More Great Work
“The New Segregation” series was a semifinalist for this year’s Batten Awards and, with other semifinalists, indicates how robust the practice of civic journalism is. Here are some semifinalist highlights. The Big Deal: Illegal Drugs in the Rochester Region It was a bold assertion: The war on drugs has failed. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle felt confident […]
Measuring Civic Journalism’s Progress:
A Report Across a Decade of Activity A Study Conducted For: The Pew Center for Civic Journalism Conducted By: Lewis A. Friedland, Professor School of Journalism & Mass Communication University of Wisconsin-Madison Sandy Nichols, Ph.D. Candidate School of Journalism & Mass Communication University of Wisconsin-Madison September 2002 The first stirrings of civic journalism began more […]
TBON: Crime is Down, Life is Better
By Charlene Price-Patterson TBON Community Coordinator Eight years have passed since “Taking Back Our Neighborhoods” (TBON) focused on 10 of the most violent-crime areas in Charlotte, NC. The impact has been striking: Crime is down and quality of life has dramatically improved in at least eight of the neighborhoods, local leaders said in recent interviews. […]
Growth Game: Playing with Tough Choices
By Pat Ford Staff Writer Pew Center It’s all too easy for a place like sprawl-conscious Myrtle Beach, SC, to divide into stark camps – pro-growth or anti-growth – with scant appreciation for the nuances of each. To help convey those complexities, The Sun News began in April offering residents a new entry point – an interactive […]
Savannah’s “Vision 2010” Wins Batten Awards Legacy and Innovations Cited
The Savannah Morning News won the 2002 Batten Awards for Excellence in Civic Journalism, a $10,000 honor for a robust, community-driven project that targeted failing schools and triggered the creation of a civic group to raise money for education innovations. Runner-up, The Cincinnati Enquirer, was awarded $5,000 for wide-ranging initiatives that involved more than 2,000 people in community […]
Making A Difference
WHEN CITIZENS ASK THE QUESTIONS, THEY GET ANSWERS — SOMETIMES BETTER ANSWERS THAN JOURNALISTS GET. DAVE IVERSON, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF PUBLIC TELEVISION STATION WHA-TV, A PARTNER WITH THE WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL AND WISC-TV IN THE “WE THE PEOPLE” PROJECT, RECALLS HOW ONE CITIZEN MADE A DIFFERENCE — AND EVEN MADE FRONT-PAGE NEWS — AT THEIR […]
Breaking New Ground
The San Francisco Chronicle decided on a new kind of community outreach in its “Voice of the Voter” partnership last year with KRON-TV and KQED-FM. On Aug. 19 the paper announced that voter registration forms would be inserted in the 560,000 issues distributed Sept. 23. Political Editor Susan Yoachum was assigned to negotiate with the Secretary […]
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 […]