Civic Catalyst: Elections

Summer 2002

On the Road: Candidate Mystery Tours
The "We the People/Wisconsin" news partners came up with a new way to cover the gubernatorial campaign - they took the state's candidates for governor on blindfolded day trips to meet with state citizens. By Tom Still.

Spring 2002

Anchoring the People in TV News Coverage of the Political Campaigns
Dave Iverson of Best Practices in Journalism rounds up examples of innovative ideas television stations and partnerships will use to cover upcoming elections.

Winter 2001

The Election Civics Lesson: Sharpen Your Number Two Pencils
Author of "The Good Citizen. A History of American Civic Life," Michael Schudson points out six civics lessons from the 2000 election.

Summer 2000

Did the Media Do the Right Thing? Has the primary coverage been useful to voters?
Batten Symposium panel highlights featuring: The Nieman Foundation's Bill Kovach, Mary Jo Meisner of the Community Newspaper Co., WBUR-FM's Sam Fleming, Boston Globe's Yvonne Abraham and moderator Lance Morrow.

Meeting Citizens' Needs: What's Next? Can the news media do more to inform citizen choices?
Batten Symposium panel highlights featuring: the Boston Globe's David Shribman, Joe Sciacca of The Boston Herald, Jeannine Guttman of the Portland Press Herald, Candy Altman of Boston's Channel 5, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Chris Satullo and moderator Robert Zelnick.

The Presidency and the Media
Batten Luncheon speaker, Boston University presidential historian Robert Dallek, looks at how the relationship between presidents and the media has evolved.

Campaign 2000: Pressure is on the Traditional Press -- Will We Reform Coverage? Or Will We Continue Our Old Ways?
Batten Award Keynoter Pam Johnson of the Arizona Republic looks at the 2000 election process and finds encouraging signs for citizens.

Spring 2000

TV Election Initiatives Seek New Ideas
Pilot partnerships in 11 major markets are a part of the innovative election coverage ideas coming out of the Best Practices 2000 project. By Walter Dean.

NY Senate Race Triggers Public TV Connection
A statewide coalition of nine public television stations in New York has formed to look at the 2000 election. By Gary Walker, WXXI-TV, Rochester.

Covering Elections, Making it Worthwhile
The Telegraph of Nashua, NH, is building on its 1994 election coverage to find more innovative ways to get voter's voices onto the news pages. By Managing Editor Nick Pappas.

Winter 2000

Broadcasters: Rethinking Elections
Highlights from the Best Practices 2000 workshop held in Washington DC, Dec. 10-12, 1999 "Thinking out of the Ballot Box: Reinventing Election Coverage."

Fall 1999

TV: Building Innovative Election Coverage for 2000
Wisconsin Public Television's Dave Iverson introduces the cutting-edge mission of Best Practices 2000, a collaborative effort focused on innovative approaches to election coverage in 2000.

Spring 1999

Beyond the Ballot in Maine
Portland Press Herald AME Eric Conrad tells how the issues on the minds of Maine citizens in the 1998 gubernatorial elections turned into the "Beyond the Ballot" guidebook

Summer 1998

Out of the Pressboxes; Onto the Field -- Again
North Carolina's "Your Voice, Your Vote" partnership is back and better than ever in 1998 with 14 print and broadcast organizations contributing to some joint coverage of this year's US Senate race.

Spring 1997

Making a Difference: Covering Campaign '96
Cultural change in the newsroom has impact in the community, reports Deborah Potter of the Poynter Institute. Poynter's election study examinied election coverage at 20 news organizations across the country to see what kind of citizen-based coverage they were doing and how it was working.

Winter 1997

Beware of Issue Myopia
Bill Felber and The Manhattan Mercury try to give the campaign back to the voters and learn some lesson about using civic journalism wisely.

Fall 1996

Inventing New Election Coverage
For this year's elections, media organizations form Seattle to St. Petersburg, FL try new approaches to covering capmaigns, including framing the election as a job interview and running forums and town-hall meetings.

"Negative Campaigns: What Can Journalists Do?"
Reflections of a self-described "skeptic, curmudgeon and grouch" on a journalists' retreat convened in September by the Pew Center and the Nieman Foundation.

Summer 1996

Hot off the Primaries: Citizens Election Project Case Studies
An in-depth look at the six partnerships in four states that experimented with new ways to focus on citizens' issues during the primaries.

Spring 1996

N.H.: "It's Still the Economy"
The Boston Globe's Don MacGillis talks about the value of listening to the community in Derry, New Hampshire, to help determine what issues would be important for the presidential primary.

Confessions of a Sinner
Stan Cloud confesses the sins of a political reporter and offers an alternative.

North Carolina: An Unprecedented Partnership
Over a dozen print and broadcast partners are teamin up for a joint effort focusing on the 1996 Presidential and Senate elections in North Carolina.

Winter 1996

Citizens Election Project
Project Director Stan Cloud reports on current developments with CEP projects in Iowa, New Hampshire, California and Florida.

Fall 1995

Covering Politics Civic Journalism Style
Rick Thames discusses the Charlotte Observer's techniques for covering elections from the citizen's standpoint.

Teddy White Would Have Approved
The Citizens Election Project seeks to break the "horse-race" model of election coverage and replace it with a voter-based model for the 1996 primaries, reports Project Director Stan Cloud.

Stan Cloud Directs Pew's Citizens Election Project
Former newspaper editor and Time Magazine's Washington bureau chief Stan Cloud directs the Citizens Election Project through 1996.

Poynter Focuses on Election Coverage
The Poynter Institute's Deborah Potter offers assistance in coordinating your 1996 election coverage.

Summer 1995

Some Editors are Saying "No"
Overcoming the "orchestra-pit" instinct of political journalists and placing substance at the center of coverage is the goal for the future of these editors.

New Hampshire Mission Statement
A partnership of New Hampshire media organizations lays down its civic journalism goals and priorities for covering the 1996 elections.

Spring 1995

Planting the Seeds for 1996
Groundbreaking ideas to center election coverage on citizens grow out of a Boston brainstorming session in March.