The Arlington Morning News The Dallas Morning News KERA-FM KERA-TV The University of Texas, Arlington The partners seized on an initiative by the city of Arlington to increase citizen participation with “We the City,” a civic approach to covering the city’s move toward a deliberative model of government. The first stories, Feb. 7, 1997, explained […]

The Sun News Cox Broadcasting After the results of an informal Sun News survey showed serious community concern about rapid growth, the paper launched an 11-month project, “Living in a Boom Town.” The paper had asked readers to respond to six open-ended questions about the Myrtle Beach area. Some 300 responses showed five main areas […]

The Daily World of Aberdeen Channel 20 TCI Cablevision Political, economic and environmental forces were changing life on the Southern Olympic Peninsula and its paper decided to help citizens join together to meet the resulting challenges. Partnering with cable channel 20 – the only station in the county – the Daily World launched “Changing Tides” […]

The Bronx Journal BronxNet Community Cable Lehman College The City University of New York BronxNet community access cable TV joined forces with the unique Multilingual Journalism program at Lehman College (CUNY) to expand its coverage of this underserved New York borough that, by itself, would have been one of the 10 largest U.S. cities. Pew […]

The Chicago Reporter WGN-TV WNUA-FM The partners drew a subtle and nuanced portrait of Wrightwood, a previously white neighborhood that had become 50 percent African-American fairly quickly in the early ’90’s, as a case study in racial change in a community. The Reporter, a monthly paper that uses investigative techniques to cover race and poverty, […]

Long Beach Press-Telegram Cablevision Industries, Inc. Long Beach Community Partnership Leadership Long Beach First, 25 reporters and columnists each hosted three focus group of about 10 people each. They asked open-ended questions about what issues most concerned people, what solutions they’d propose and how government and other institutions could help. From the approximately 750 people participating […]

New Hampshire Public Radio The Keene Sentinel The Portsmouth Herald UPI of New Hampshire Inspired by the success of its election year project, “Voter’s Voice,” New Hampshire Public Radio sought citizen participation in coverage of non-election issues through a series of “Citizens Exchange” meetings in different communities, in association with local newspapers. The network began […]

The Oregonian Oregon Public Broadcasting That most fundamental of civic activities, voting, was the subject of a three-part series in the Oregonian and a special call-in show on public radio. Though Oregon had one of the highest voter turn-out records in the nation, there were still nearly a million eligible Oregonians who did not vote. […]

The Portland Newspapers WGME-TV Maine Public TV Maine Public Radio What started as an election year effort to get citizen voices in campaign coverage entered a new phase in 1997, as some 40 residents of Sanford, Maine, who’d been empaneled for the “Maine Citizens Campaign” refused to disband when the journalism project was over. The […]

The Daytona Beach News Journal WCEU-TV (PBS) WESH-TV (NBC) Stetson University At the Pew Center’s request, the partners returned their funding when the project became stalled because of newsroom changes.

The Weekly Planet Speak Up Tampa Bay University of South Florida Study Circles Resources Center The partners continued their quest to bring civic journalism to the Tampa Bay with the convening of a “framing” conference in the spring of 1997. About 350 citizens attended three days of town hall meetings with experts and journalists and […]

The Portland Newspapers WGME-TV Maine Public TV Maine Public Radio What started as an election year effort to get citizen voices in campaign coverage entered a new phase in 1997, as some 40 residents of Sanford, Maine, who’d been empaneled for the “Maine Citizens Campaign” refused to disband when the journalism project was over. The […]

The Seattle Times KCTS KPLU-FM KUOW-FM With all the Seattle area had going for it in the mid-90’s, there was a sense that the region could not sustain its enviable quality of life into the 21st Century. The “Front Porch Forum” partners saw this as an opportunity to expand their civic journalism effort beyond politics […]

Wisconsin StateJournal Wisconsin Public TV WISC-TV Wisconsin Public Radio Wood Communications The oldest, continuously operating civic journalism partnership tackled issues of race and culture in 1997 both with programming and outreach activities. With its “We the People500” effort, the partners diversified and broadened the base of citizens who attended their town hall meetings, coffee shop […]