Civic Journalism: Six Case Studies
BOSTON, MASS.
The People's Voice

Post-Primary Letdown

City editor Hanafin was also frustrated. "For some reason, after the primary I felt as though we really dropped the ball on public journalism. We reverted to the traditional way of covering campaigns - more horse races than issues."

The real culprit may have been poor planning. According to WBUR's Fleming, "We really didn't know what we were going to do after the primary." He thought a stronger initial commitment and better coordination among the partners might have averted the project's losing steam at the end. "A lot of things just happened haphazardly. It takes foresight and a constant use of resources. Looking back on it myself, I now have a clearer idea of what my commitment should have been."

His colleague Oakes felt the same way. "I think one of the things I would have tried to do was create a road map for where we were going from start to finish."

For the Globe's Mohl, it was a combination of the pressures of supervising the general election coverage and the lack of a post-primary game plan.

Hanafin was a bit more wistful. "What we did do was very good and it was a big change for the Globe. Maybe this does have to be done in stages; maybe I shouldn't expect to make this quantum leap. I just thought there was a little more potential than was realized."

"The People's Voice" was an experiment. Like most experiments, it had hits, misses, and lessons.

Among the lessons:

• Planning is important. In Boston the partners devised a way to get something started in June, but they needed a more thorough plan to anticipate the pressures of a closely contested race in November.

• Staffing requirements are always underestimated. At the Globe, the project was an add-on to the traditional coverage. As a result, it simply overwhelmed those responsible. A special projects editor or a coordinator would have helped, especially in the methodical but tough work of recruiting and selecting citizens to get involved.

• Attitudes cannot be changed overnight. Some of the participants were converts to the idea that citizens could be valuable resources in covering campaigns; others saw the idea as old wine in new bottles.

• Media alliances can be powerful tools on behalf of the public conversation on issues. To function well, however, they need to be based on a deep commitment and driven by thorough planning and organization.

• Involving citizens can improve journalism. They offer depth and perspectives that can enrich the reporting and editing.

In Boston's post-mortem, editors acknowledged flaws in the execution while holding firm to the idea that civic journalism projects can improve not only the coverage of political campaigns, but other community stories as well. And the Globe is planning a similar effort for the 1996 presidential race.

"This project taught us that not only do we not always have the right answers -- we don't always have the right questions," said Robinson.

"The greatest value of the project," Robinson concluded, "is that it gave added momentum to the Globe in its desire to change the way we cover news generally, that is, become more relevant to the lives of readers."

The Globe, he explained, is now in the process of creating a new beat system more responsive to local issues and more closely tuned to the community voices discussing solutions. The election project provided the impetus to this restructuring by demonstrating "there are important ripples well beyond the civic journalism pool."