Civic Journalism: Six Case Studies
MADISON, WIS.
"We the People, Wisconsin"

In a mock trial in front of a circuit court judge, a jury of eight Wisconsin citizens heard "testimony" on four national health care proposals from two congressmen, a state legislator and an economist from Washington, D.C. After questioning the four experts, the jury went off and deliberated. Their verdict was in favor of the single-payer system.

Lesson: Preceding the "trial" with a statewide poll on health care solutions helped to frame a more useful discussion. The poll also provided names of potential participants that were used to help build an audience that reflected the state's demographics.

Spring 1994
We the Young People
Approximately 165 participants.

This series of programs targeted high school students nearing voting age in an effort to give them a voice -- and an interest -- in the political process. In mid-April, students at three high schools were asked to fill out surveys about the most important issues facing them and their greatest concerns about the future. Similar surveys were sent to lawmakers to see what they thought was important to the teenagers of Wisconsin.

During late April and early May, town hall meetings were held at high schools in La Crosse, Edgar and Milwaukee, using the survey results as a guide. On June 15, a total of 50 students met in a State Capitol room in Madison for a live 90-minute broadcast. The goal: to narrow the list of concerns and issues into a short agenda that could be presented to candidates for statewide office. Several students were invited to ask questions at the fall U.S. Senate and gubernatorial debates.

Lesson: There was real value in bringing together young people of different backgrounds; they talked to each other and have carried on the relationship.

Results: The sessions opened a dialogue with elected officials, who were surprised to learn that young adults have the same concerns as their parents.

Results: While watching the town hall meeting, Kevin Miller, a consultant with the Department of Public Instruction, realized the state needed to educate students about employment options that did not require a four-year degree. Miller promised to work with state legislators to follow up on the students' concerns about getting into college, paying for it and then finding jobs.

October 1994
Campaign for Governor
Town Hall Meetings/Debate
Approximately 450 participants in six different locations.

Perhaps the most complicated event since the multistate presidential-candidate debate, the focus on the governor's race between Republican incumbent Tommy Thompson and Democratic challenger State Sen. Chuck Chvala started with October town hall meetings in Marathon County and Milwaukee. Another town hall meeting preceded the October 17 debate, held at the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay. Three smaller town hall meetings took place that night in Beloit, Racine and Eau Claire; all three took part in a post-debate discussion on Wisconsin Public Radio. Eau Claire was able to participate in the Green Bay debate through a video satellite feed. John A. Rapp, a Beloit College political science professor who served as facilitator for the Beloit town meeting, said, "Above all, people really appreciated how seriously their ideas and input were taken by the radio hosts and how much autonomy they had to jump in with their ideas."

Results: A citizen found an opportunity to ask one of the best questions of the campaign: Would the candidates deliver their property tax plans, in writing, before the election? Said Iverson: "It showed how citizens can demand a different kind of accountability than reporters can."

Results: Drawing on their summer experience, teenage participants from "We the Young People" took on the candidates. Greg Toliver, a black senior from Milwaukee, and Libby Soczka, a white senior from Edgar -- two people who otherwise might never have met -- together asked the same question about crime: How would the candidates make them feel safe in their own neighborhoods? Later, Chvala met with Toliver in Milwaukee.

Iverson incorporated the "We the People" approach into the August 19 edition of his weekly magazine show, Weekend, on Wisconsin Public Television. He invited three "We the Young People" participants to the television studio as panelists during a mini-forum with the four candidates for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.

The partners planned a full-fledged "We the People" town hall meeting/debate between the GOP and Democratic candidates, but incumbent Herb Kohl declined to participate.

Undaunted, the partners turned the proposed debate into a 60-minute election special produced live on October 28 in front of a 50-member studio audience and simulcast on Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television. The participants and callers from around the state questioned Republican challenger Robert Welch for 25 minutes. The rest of the program included voter education pieces on ad-watching and property tax plans then concluded with a 12-minute "Talk Back to Journalists" segment, featuring a political writer from Milwaukee, the editor of the State Journal   and the editorial director of WISC-TV.

Lesson: Kohl's decision not to participate prompted the partners to form a new policy: Candidates are now told a candidate forum will be held even if they decline to participate. The partners also learned that having a good track record doesn't ensure candidate participation.