The News Tribune KCTS-TV (PBS) KPLU-FM The Washington state legislature was poised in January 2002 to limit lawsuits that could be brought by victims of crimes committed by prisoners on parole until a poll commissioned by the partners showed 90 percent of the state supported the victims’ right to sue. The measure was tabled, a […]

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette KDKA-TV KDKA-AM Pennsylvania Newspapers Association The Pennsylvania legislature passed a new, more liberal open-records law in the summer of 2002 after a 10-month effort by the partners to encourage citizens to use public records to make government accountable and accomplish community goals. Post-Gazette editor Jane Elizabeth did not give the project full credit […]

Nycitizens.org and public television stations WXXI, WPBS, WCNY, WNET, WLIW, WMHT, WCFE, WSKG, WNEDWNED Nine public television stations collaborated on NYcitizens.org, a Web site dedicated to helping New Yorkers understand and become engaged in the process of redrawing congressional districts through an online game and other interactive features. The partners launched the Web site in the fall of 2001 as the state […]

WGBH radio and television (PBS) The Boston Globe El Mundo Newspaper WRCA-AM The “Eye on Education” initiative addressed such issues as character education, vouchers, charter schools and high-stakes testing. In addition to regular reports, the project featured a special week of TV programming, March 28-April 4, 2002, culminating with “A Day in the Life,” a […]

Herald & Review WILL-TV (PBS) WILL-AM “Dropping Out: Why students leave Decatur schools” was a civic journalism project that involved citizens, including those who’d never finished high school, in developing ideas to help keep students in school through graduation. In November 2001, the partners commissioned a survey of 102 adults who had dropped out of […]

The Savannah Morning News, Savannahnow.com Georgia Public Radio With the Georgia legislature expected to set statewide water policy in its 2003 session, the partners launched “Water: The Power. The Profit,” a year-long series on the Savannah River, to encourage citizen participation in the debate. A poll of 724 people in the seven counties around the river […]

The Herald-Dispatch West Virginia Public Broadcasting WMUL-FM The out-migration of young people from West Virginia was as accepted as the export of its coal until the partners explored the consequences in “Home for Good,” a project that included a six-part newspaper series, radio reports, a televised public forum and an interactive Web site. One of […]

The Orange County Register, OCRegister.com Excelsior Myoc.com Reporters developed a deep understanding of the Latino population in the Santa Ana readership area with a community mapping project that included a phone survey, an academic cultural study and a dynamic database of sources structured to stay useful even as reporters move on and off the beat. The […]

Black Entertainment Television (BET), BET.com After decades of reporting about the African-American family by white news organizations or think tanks, BET – Black Entertainment Television – tackled the subject in a civic journalism project that combined the forces of the popular cable service’s new newscast and its online division, BET.com. “Under One Roof” was a […]

The Cincinnati Enquirer, WCET-TV (PBS), WCPO-TV (CBS), WKRC-TV (ABC), WLWT-TV (NBC), Kettering Foundation, National Issues Forum A year of extraordinary racial tension in Cincinnati in 2001 prompted an extraordinary response by the city’s media, led by the Enquirer, which collaborated on a project that involved 2,000 local residents in solutions-oriented conversations about race. The paper […]

The Anniston Star The paper sought to become more interactive by creating new opportunities for reader exchanges through its online service, and it made some strides in that direction, but technical difficulties kept reporters from taking full advantage of the project’s potential. The paper gathered about 800 e-mail addresses for a “cyber-map” to complement its […]

The Spokesman-Review, spokesmanreview.com Pew support allowed the paper to experiment with interactive on-line journalism tools that improved connections between reporters and readers and users. One of the most successful tools was an automated email system that was being widely used by reporters and editors within months of being created in early 2002. The system allows reporters […]