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

"We the People,Wisconsin" again spotlighted a seldom-noticed race. State Supreme Court candidates Patrick Crooks and Ann Walsh Bradley presented their case for election to voters gathered in the Supreme Court's Capitol courtroom. A seven-member citizens' panel sat where the justices usually sit while the judicial candidates occupied the lawyers' arena. This was the first live television broadcast from the Supreme Court. Originating live from the chambers instead of an auditorium gave people a sense of reality about one of the least understood areas of state government.

Lesson: During the warm-up before the event, participants were warned that the judicial candidates would not be able to answer certain kinds of questions and were given some examples. Still, that didn't stop them from asking inappropriate questions. Said Iverson: "Asking where they stand on welfare reform is not really a question that you ask a judge." Next time "We the People" tackles a judicial race, the partners will make a more concerted effort to explain the limits imposed by the code of judicial conduct.

Results: "You Be the Judge" drew attention to the need for the Supreme Court to reevaluate a policy prohibiting judicial candidates from talking about issues and prompted an invitation for "We the People" media partners and other journalists to meet with court members to open up the process.

Two- and three-hour sessions were held in Eau Claire, Racine and Madison during which participants wrestled with drafting their own versions of the state budget. The Madison working session on April 20 was followed by hour-long live broadcasts in which participants addressed the issues raised during the working sessions. The show ended with legislators from the Joint Finance Committee reacting to the participants' ideas. Once again, hand-held voting machines were used. The session was aired on WISC, Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio; it was rebroadcast on public television the following day. Public radio conducted a two-hour call-in show on the subject the morning after the live broadcast. The "We the People,Wisconsin" partners pledged to present the results of the work sessions to the state legislature.

Lesson: Scheduling the exercise at 9 p.m. nearly eliminated the number of participants who could come from other parts of the state. Pre-registration for the live event was 132, but less than half showed up. The result: too many people from Madison, many of whom were state employees with their own agenda. "There were too many people whose minds were made up before they ever got in," Still said. Changing the time to early evening or a weekend and using live satellite feeds to link sites are among the options being considered.

Adding to the problem, the partners cut some organizational corners in order to do the program before the state finance committee finished its work for the session. Usually, pre-registrants receive a confirmation and registration information but not this time. "It definitely made a difference," said Lynn Pappas.

Lesson: Partners realized they needed to do a better job of recruiting and screening the audience. Said Iverson: "As 'We the People' gets older, special interests figure out how to take advantage of you and we have to react in new ways and become more sophisticated in the way we recruit and screen the audience."