News & Observer, Raleigh, NC The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO Fredericksburg Freelance Star, Fredericksburg, VA The State, Columbia, SC “Project Reconnect” teamed four daily newspapers with four journalism schools to close the distance that had grown between the papers and certain groups of readers (or ex-readers). In Raleigh, The News and Observer wanted to reconnect […]

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle WXXI-TV (PBS) WXXI-FM WOKR-TV (ABC) The partners sought to shake up “business as usual” election coverage by engaging citizens in producing a set of grassroots legislative proposals for candidates that would rival the agenda set by special interest lobbyists. “The Citizens’ Agenda” was crafted through a statewide poll, eight forums […]

California Voter Foundation In the fall of 1998, the California Voter Foundation (CVF) produced the state’s first online database of campaign contributions received by candidates for state office and by ballot measure campaigns. CVF also produced its first annual Online Voter Guide, which received 50,000 visits and 450,000 page views over a six-week period around […]

The Muncie Star-Press WLBC-FM When Indiana legislators met in 1999 to begin restructuring the state tax system, they had a good understanding of what their constituents thought about the issue, thanks to a booklet called “Hoosiers Talk Taxes,” the culmination of a yearlong project to inject citizen voices into the debate over tax reform. The […]

The Daily World Channel 20 TCI Cablevision In year two of their “Changing Tides” project, the partners attempted to bring together citizens and community leaders to craft solutions to the political, economic and environmental challenges the region faced. A March 1998 mail survey of 130 traditional community leaders – elected officials, educators, union leaders and others […]

Idaho Falls Post Register Lewiston Morning Tribune Idaho Spokesman-Review Idaho Public Television KTVB (NBC, Boise) This unique partnership sparked a statewide conversation on Idaho’s runaway prison spending with “Collision Course,” a five-part series that revealed the hidden cost of building more jails and engaged hundreds of people in the search for alternatives. As a point […]

The Chicago Reporter WBEZ-FM WNUA-FM The Pew Center provided additional funding to allow the investigative monthly to complete its portrait of racial change in the Chicago neighborhood of Wrightwood. The story appeared in the April 1998 issue. For more details, please see Year Four (1997) projects. Contact: Laura S. Washington 3750 Lake Shore Dr., Apt. […]

San Francisco Examiner Maynard Institute for Journalism After months of ground level reporting, the paper published the first story in the series on April 26, 1998. It was a 175-inch, front page centerpiece that jumped into four inside pages. That first installment also launched a feature called “First Person” that gave people a chance to […]

KVIA-TV (ABC) In this largely Hispanic town on the Mexican border, the media partners opened a conversation on race, immigration and language with a series built around a poll of 1,008 residents in English and Spanish. The first step the partners took was to convene a panel of academic and civic leaders, who met almost […]

Orange County Register Riverside Press Enterprise KCET-TV (PBS) KCRW-FM in Santa Monica KPCC-FM in Pasadena Orange County News Channel The partners, who’d been working together since the 1996 “Voice of the Voter” project, called their third joint effort “The Election Connection” to emphasize the goal of helping voters feel connectedto the electoral process. The project […]

Portland Newspapers Central Maine Newspapers WGME-TV (CBS) Maine Public Television “Beyond the Ballot” not only dramatically changed the way major media in coastal Maine covered the statewide 1998 elections, it set the course for their coverage of politics and government for the four years that followed. Beginning with a poll of 1,106 Maine residents in […]

The Working Group KQED-TV Public Radio’s “Marketplace” The critically acclaimed “Livelyhood” project, a four-part, public television series on the changing nature of work in the United States, used a national poll, town hall-style discussions, the Internet and a specially devised “tool kit” to encourage working Americans to confront and discuss emerging challenges and issues in […]

The Seattle Times KCTS KPLU-FM KUOW-FM Following up on the 1997 mock trial on growth in the Puget Sound, the partners confronted longstanding assumptions about the issue with a series called, “Growth: Enough already?” The mock jury in the 1997 “Puget Sound 2020” project had startled the partners by ignoring the common wisdom about growth […]