Civic Journalism: Six Case Studies
MADISON, WIS.
"We the People, Wisconsin"

The 1992 presidential event was followed by a series of four fall town hall meetings that led to a debate between U.S. Senate candidates Bob Kasten, a Republican, and Russ Feingold, a Democrat.

And Wisconsin's "We the People" just kept planning more civic exercises. In 1993, the partnership for the first time tackled single issues with town hall meetings on the state budget and property tax relief, a "fix the federal budget" exercise, and town hall meetings on outcome-based education. "We the People" also brought civic journalism to statewide politics with a focus on the race for state superintendent of schools. Again, it used a series of town hall meetings to prepare for a debate.

"[In] each one of these programs, we learn something," Wood said. "No two are alike. Each issue is going to be different. You've got to play to the roles and skills and strengths of each of the partners."

The partners seem willing to take on any issue -- no matter how dry -- as long as they can find some way to make it interesting.

Take property taxes, a hot topic in Wisconsin. "It's a mystery, and if we can do anything to demystify that process then we'll be on to something," said Still.

Or the state budget. "Our eyes glazed over," laughed WISC-TV's Tom Bier. ". . . The actual budget message delivered by the governor is 1,200 pages. . . . So how do you do this?"

Usually, the partners search for a mix that eventually brings voters and politicians together to discuss the issue in a way that either builds consensus or moves the debate forward. The property tax forum, during which citizens acted as legislators and elected officials appeared as the witnesses, started with citizens split 50-50 on the merits of Gov. Thompson's plan for reform. By the end of the hearing, which involved Thompson as an expert witness, the vote was 70-30 in his favor.

The topics are much easier to find than the participants. Or, as Still and Iverson recently wrote, "Town halls aren't 'Fields of Dreams.' Building one is no guarantee that people will come."

Recruitment often takes two different tacks: advertising and targeting. Newspaper ads include a description of the event, locations of the town meetings and a clip-out coupon for registration. The coupon has spaces for name, address and some demographic information in addition to check-off boxes to choose a location.

Targeting is often necessary to ensure diversity in a predominantly white state and can include calls to churches or community organizations; mail-in registration forms also have a space for ethnic origin.

Diversity isn't the only problem. Organizers must constantly guard against efforts by special interests to stack the house. Some people were asked to leave the Green Bay debate because they were recognized as representatives of special interests or candidates.

Because "We the People" pre-dates so many other civic journalism projects, the partners had to start from scratch. "I would have liked to have known the most effective way to get a cross section of people to show up at a town meeting. You don't want a crowd of the same old insiders," said Still. "I think I would have appreciated a road map on how to diversify in the minority sense, too."