Publications

The Pew Center For Civic Journalism

By 1993, the Pew Charitable Trusts were exploring ways to stimulate citizen involvement in community issues. They invited Ed Fouhy, a former network news executive and producer of the 1988 and 1992 presidential debates, to research the problem.

His findings turned into a proposal to create the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, the centerpiece of the Trusts' "Renewing Our Democratic Heart" initiative.

The project brings together major newspapers and television and radio stations and helps them develop ways to reconnect to their communities by making the coverage of local issues more meaningful. Indeed, many recognize that their news reports -- filled with litanies of social illness and scorecards of special-interest groups -- may be contributing to the undercurrent of cynicism and alienation detected throughout the country.

Using polls, surveys, focus groups, "living-room conversations," and old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting, these media coalitions are finding ways to include citizen voices in their coverage. In city after city the result has been both better journalism and improved civic dialogue. The lesson is clear: When journalism helps citizens get involved, community problem-solving improves. And so does the journalism.

There is no single template for these media initiatives; they are as individual as the communities they serve.

This collection of case studies describes three very different approaches. In Charlotte, N.C., the newspaper, a local television station, and two radio stations have addressed the problem of crime in some of the city's worst neighborhoods. In Madison, Wis., a partnership of five media organizations has again and again engaged people in issues ranging from elections, to health care, to the state budget. And in Tallahassee, Fla., citizens have started a dialogue to determine the public's agenda.

The Poynter Institute And National Public Radio

By 1988, election campaigns had become a ballet for the press and the candidates. Citizens, for the most part off-stage, found the performance of the politicians and the press increasingly irrelevant. First in Wichita in 1990 and then in Charlotte in 1992, editors began reforming their coverage to bring citizens back to center stage.

In 1994, their successes inspired The Poynter Institute to team up with National Public Radio in five cities-Boston, Wichita, Dallas, Seattle, and San Francisco. In each city, the leading newspaper and public radio station, and in some cases television, cooperated to improve campaign coverage by involving citizens. Involvement included:

• Polls and interviews to determine the "citizens' agenda."

• Issues forums and town meetings for citizens to discuss these issues with one another. The Kettering Foundation, originators of the National Issues Forums, provided valuable training and support to NPR affiliates.

• Public meetings to hear speakers and candidates talk about the citizen-identified issues and the possible solutions.

• Citizen advisory panels to help sharpen the deliberations and advise the media on how to make the coverage even more effective.