Stray Voltage, LaCrosse, WI 2001

Partners:

La Crosse Tribune

This project examined the hazards of stray voltage - electrical current that leaks from power lines - for farms and livestock through a series of newspaper stories and a dedicated Web site that drew comments and questions from around the world.

The stories, looking at causes, effects and possible solutions of stray voltage, were denounced by utility companies, who tried to pressure the Tribune by going directly to the editorial board to complain and even questioning the Pew Center about its support of the project. But the project was embraced by farmers and some public officials. The Michigan Attorney General included several of the stories as evidence in legal action against the state's second largest utility. The Wisconsin Rural Energy Management Council invited reporter Chris Hardie to display his story and answer questions on the subject as part of its research for the state legislature.

The project won five Wisconsin journalism awards and the Web site www.strayvoltage.org generated daily traffic for years.

Contact:

Chris Hardie
Local News Editor
La Crosse Tribune
401 North 3rd St.
La Crosse, WI 54601
Phone: (608) 791-8218
Email: chardie@lacrossetribune.com

We the People/Wisconsin, Madison, WI 1997

Partners:

Wisconsin StateJournal
Wisconsin Public TV
WISC-TV
Wisconsin Public Radio
Wood Communications

The oldest, continuously operating civic journalism partnership tackled issues of race and culture in 1997 both with programming and outreach activities. With its "We the People500" effort, the partners diversified and broadened the base of citizens who attended their town hall meetings, coffee shop conversations and other listening sessions. Those sessions had generally reflected Wisconsin's overwhelmingly white population so the partnership reached out to news organizations in seven cities with larger minority populations to join in sponsoring some events. The new partners included print and broadcast media in Milwaukee, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Wausau, Hayward, Superior and Beloit. The partners also held focus groups to learn how minority citizens get their news and how "We the People" could be more involved in reaching those citizens and reconnecting them with public life.

The outreach helped engage participants for a forum on race and culture on April 3, 1998, as part of "We the People's" project "150 Years and Counting." Some 75 participants took part in a frank and emotional conversation in which many white members of the audience pledged to fight racism, while many non-white participants said whites couldn't possibly understand the difficulties they face. The statewide broadcast reached approximately 50,000 people and generated several responses to the "Your Forum" section of the Wisconsin State Journal, as well as editorials and stories in other media partners.

The forum was one of five in a year-long series tied to the 150th anniversary of Wisconsin's statehood. Other subjects included the family, land use and working. A "Citizens' Charter" was developed from suggestions and values discussed by participants in the first four forums and then presented to candidates for governor and for U.S. Senate at a final forum broadcast live on Oct. 16, 1998.

Thomas W. Still
President
Wisconsin Technology Council
PO Box 71, 615 E. Washington Ave.
Madison, WI 53701-0071
TEL: (608) 442-7557
FAX: (608) 256-0333
EMAIL: tstill@wisctec.com

Tom Bier
General Manager
WISC-TV
7025 Raymond Rd.
Madison, WI 53719
TEL: (608) 271-5171
FAX: (608) 271-0800
EMAIL: tbier@wisctv.com

David Iverson
Executive Director
Best Practices in Journalism
2601 Mariposa St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
TEL: (415) 553-2489
EMAIL: iverson@wpt.org

We the People/Wisconsin, Madison, WI 1996

Partners:

Wisconsin StateJournal
Wisconsin Public TV
Wisconsin Public Radio
WISC-TV (CBS)
Wood Communication Group

In the spring, a forum allowed citizens to question candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in "You Be the Judge," broadcast from the high court's chambers. Citizens got the chance to assess the performance, structure and financing of the state's public university system and recommend a course for its future in "The Future of the UW System." Town hall meetings were held on campuses statewide and citizen recommendations were given to the UW regents.

In "Campaign for Control," citizens from across Wisconsin descended on Madison to "take over" the state Senate chambers for a live, one-hour forum that allowed them to question legislators. "Talk of the House" gave citizens an unprecedented opportunity to add their voices to congressional campaigns. About 300 citizens in three sites were linked with the Republican and Democratic candidates for three hotly contested U.S. House seats. The forum, broadcast on five commercial and public television stations and statewide public radio, was viewed by more than 100,000 households statewide.

The State Journal and WISC_TV also started their "Schools of Hope" series, which has been credited with helping to improve Madison schools and won a Batten legacy award in 2002.

Deborah Still
Project Director
We The People/ Wisconsin
PO Box 5534
Madison, WI 53705
Phone: (608) 833-8545

Thomas W. Still
President
Wisconsin Technology Council
PO Box 71, 615 E. Washington Ave.
Madison, WI 53701-0071
TEL: (608) 442-7557
FAX: (608) 256-0333
EMAIL: tstill@wisctec.com

Tom Bier
General Manager
WISC-TV
7025 Raymond Rd.
Madison, WI 53719
TEL: (608) 271-5171
FAX: (608) 271-0800
EMAIL: tbier@wisctv.com

David Iverson
Executive Director
Best Practices in Journalism
2601 Mariposa St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
TEL: (415) 553-2489
EMAIL: iverson@wpt.org

James B. Wood
President
Wood Communications Group
700 Regent St.
Madison, WI 53715-1233
Phone: (608) 259-0757

WebTV Election Project, Madison, WI 2000

Partners:

Wisconsin Public Television

The project experimented with ways to use Interactive Television (ITV) to enhance election coverage. ITV combines television viewing and Internet browsing on a standard TV screen through the use of a set-top WebTV unit and remote. Though the technology was still very new and not widely used, Wisconsin Public Television (WPT) believed it was a growing trend that would soon be an industry standard.

Using the technology in the 2000 election helped the network develop several successful strategies for adding content to its coverage without unduly distracting from the television broadcast. A toolbar superimposed on broadcasts allowed WebTV viewers, using their remotes, to link to candidate bios, descriptions of various election races and issues being discussed. They could even email the show's producers directly, take a poll or view poll results. WPT used focus group sessions after broadcasts to get user input into how to make the interactive tools better and easier to use.

By the night of the general election in November, WPT was able to coordinate its own ITV links with the nationally broadcast NewsHour's ITV links, to give Wisconsin WebTV users access to continuously updated national results from the NewsHour and continuously updated statewide results from WPT. This type of local/national interactive TV partnership was unprecedented.

Contact:

Kathy Bissen
Exec. Prod, News & Public Affairs
Wisconsin Public Television
821 University Ave.
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 263-8496
Email: bissen@wpt.org

We the People/Wisconsin, Madison, WI 1994

Partners:

Wisconsin StateJournal
Wisconsin Public TV
Wisconsin Public Radio
WISC-TV (CBS)
Wood Communication Group

Pew support helped "We the People/Wisconsin," one of American journalism's first and most enduring civic journalism coalitions, use innovative techniques to engage citizens in election coverage. The Pew support helped the partners measure whether the effort had an impact on public participation in the elections. The experiment showed that a planned, coordinated, multi-media civic journalism effort can interest citizens and draw them into the public sphere.

For coverage of the fall 1994 elections for governor and U.S. Senator, the media partners used the techniques they had been fine-tuning since coming together in 1992: Broadcast town hall meetings and debates where citizens were the key participants - identifying and discussing issues and asking questions directly of the candidates. The project organized three town hall meetings and a debate among gubernatorial candidates and one town hall meeting in the senate race.

In addition, the Wisconsin State Journal published a voter education series called "Armed and Dangerous," just before the November election, about how candidates and their campaigns try to manipulate public opinion through advertising and calculated debate responses. The information was also compiled into a booklet and 300 copies were distributed just before the election.

Surveys measured voter awareness and connectedness before and after the civic journalism effort. A random sample of 230 adults was interviewed in September, before the coverage, and 141 of that group were interviewed after the election. Among the findings: public interest in and knowledge of the election was higher. People felt encouraged to vote and they had a more positive attitude toward participating news organizations. The findings were published in "Civic Journalism: Does it Work?" a Pew publication written by State Journal editor Frank Denton and Esther Thorson, Associate Dean of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Deborah Still
Project Director
We The People/ Wisconsin
PO Box 5534
Madison, WI 53705
Phone: (608) 833-8545

Thomas W. Still
President
Wisconsin Technology Council
PO Box 71, 615 E. Washington Ave.
Madison, WI 53701-0071
TEL: (608) 442-7557
FAX: (608) 256-0333
EMAIL: tstill@wisctec.com

Tom Bier
General Manager
WISC-TV
7025 Raymond Rd.
Madison, WI 53719
TEL: (608) 271-5171
FAX: (608) 271-0800
EMAIL: tbier@wisctv.com

David Iverson
Executive Director
Best Practices in Journalism
2601 Mariposa St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
TEL: (415) 553-2489
EMAIL: iverson@wpt.org

James B. Wood
President
Wood Communications Group
700 Regent St.
Madison, WI 53715-1233
Phone: (608) 259-0757