Visit the Pew Center for Civic Journalism to find out about civic journalism projects around the country. 

Learn more about projects associated with We the People/Wisconsin.

Visit the La Crosse Tribune's Web site devoted to issues related to stray voltage. 

E-mail Leah Thorsen with questions or comments about this story.

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Civic journalism has its supporters, opponents 

Frank Denton, editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, is a leading supporter of civic journalism projects around the country. (Photo courtesy of Wisconsin State Journal)

Tom Still remembers looking at newspaper coverage of political issues 12 years ago and coming to a conclusion: Reporters were doing a great job of focusing on the wrong things. 

Most of the election coverage he saw focused on the horse-race model of reporting, in which journalists write stories on who is winning, and what the polls are saying, he said. Still, associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison, Wis., saw extensive coverage of issues important to lobbyists, "spinmeisters" and politicians, but newspapers weren't listening to what people wanted to know or how they felt about issues. 

That part was missing, he said, especially in campaigns in 1988 and 1990, and he was quick to add that his newspaper certainly wasn't exempt from this assessment. 

Others at the State Journal shared his view, and they wanted to find a way to use the resources they had to find a better way of tapping into the issues of the people. And that was the beginning of what a national organization dedicated to civic journalism deems as the oldest civic journalism project in the country. 

Civic journalism is a trend that has popped up in the last decade, and it has admirers and critics. Fans of this type of journalism say it's a way for journalists to connect with readers and find out what is important to them. Critics say that putting the reporter in the role of a participant, not the traditional role of observer, is taking journalism too far. 

Civic journalism is a term that isn't easy to define. Actually, it's a term that doesn't even have a name everyone agrees on. It's also known as advocacy journalism, community journalism, public journalism and communitarian journalism. But it’s a term that means a lot to journalists at the Wisconsin State Journal, and to the La Crosse Tribune.

The definition used by Frank Denton, editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, is that civic journalism is an attempt to find innovative techniques for getting individual citizens to be involved in public affairs. It's a step beyond traditional methods of reporting in which journalists only report on what is happening, and do not take efforts to facilitate events to report on. In the early days of this movement, there was a lot more controversy, mostly among journalists and politicians, he said.

As civic journalism has grown and become more accepted, much of the initial criticism has leveled off, Still said.  According to a University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire journalism capstone survey of journalism professionals in Wisconsin, the Twin Cities and Duluth, Minn., chain newspapers are more supportive of civic journalism than independent papers are. Among the journalists who work for chains, 21 percent say their papers are “very positive” toward it, and another 60 percent say their papers are “somewhat positive” toward it. Among independent papers, the corresponding figures are 16 percent and 39 percent. 

Likewise, the survey found chain papers appear to practice more civic journalism than independent papers do. Among journalists at chain papers, 10 percent say their paper practices civic journalism “much more” than others in this region, and 40 percent say they practice it “somewhat more.” Among independent papers, the corresponding figures are 11 percent and 27 percent.  

The survey also found publishers from a business background appear to be more supportive of civic journalism than publishers from an editorial background. Among journalists whose publishers are from the business side, 21 percent say their papers are “very positive” toward civic journalism, and another 60 percent say their papers are “somewhat positive” toward it. Among journalists with publishers from the editorial side, the corresponding figures are 20 percent and 52 percent.  

"Civic journalism is something we try to do every day," Still said. The Wisconsin State Journal is part of a coalition known as We the People/Wisconsin. The newspaper is partners with Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Public Radio, the CBS television station WISC-TV in Madison and Wood Communications Group. 

It was founded in 1992 when the partners of the project sponsored three town hall meetings to discuss issues and ask questions of Democratic presidential contenders Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown. More than 300 people attended these sessions, and the project has continued to grow from there. In the 10 years since the project’s beginning, it has sponsored 30 live, televised forums that attracted audiences totaling 100,000 viewers, three conferences, and about 50 town hall meetings. 

"By and large, we're the place people go to for election coverage," said Deborah Jackson Still, program coordinator of We the People/Wisconsin. She was hired by the project seven years ago when the time commitment of coordinating as many as four projects a year became too great for those involved with the project. Jackson Still, who is from a public relations and marketing background, coordinates coverage, plans forums, schedules candidate appearances at forums and makes sure the events are planned properly.

No term existed for civic journalism when We the People/Wisconsin was started, she said. It was like a "cult-like thing" that people didn't know what to think about it. Now it's referred to more as "catalyst for discussion" than civic journalism, she said.  Fair and unbiased reporting on the discussion that occurs at events sponsored by the program is the goal of journalists involved, she said. Reporters don't try to shape or manipulate the discussion; they report on the events as they would at any other assignment. 

One of the reporters who covered these events was Jeff Mayers, a political reporter for 12 years. He left the State Journal in June 2000 to start wispolitics.com, a Web site devoted to political issues around Wisconsin. Wispolitics has a working relationship with We the People/Wisconsin, but isn't a full partner, he said. Civic journalism was a concept new to Mayers, as it was to most people. He said he never learned about it during journalism training. 

"It was different," Mayers said of reporting on events his newspaper sponsored. "But it wasn't anything we couldn't overcome." Mayers said he thinks civic journalism is a good thing, as long as it doesn't take over coverage done by newspapers and as long as the media always report the news. It's a way for the media to be more than a critic and to seek solutions instead of just criticizing, Mayers said.  

"Schools of Hope" project 
Not everyone around Madison was thrilled about the project at first. One of the opponents was Paul Soglin, mayor of Madison from 1973 to 1979 and from 1989 to 1997. Soglin, now a public finance lecturer at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a panelist on the Wisconsin Public Television show “WeekEnd,” was mayor during the "Schools of Hope" project.

"Now the newspaper sits at the table with everyone else and is part of the debate," Soglin said. He was concerned that the newspaper has the power to report on the discussion and write about it, something the rest of the participants cannot do. 

"It can have a chilling effect on the debate," Soglin said. He said he was concerned that debate going against what the newspaper said in editorials could be stifled. He also said he worried that people would fear repercussions and not be as apt to say what they really think. He also was concerned articles would not fully reflect the debate if the debate conflicted with editorials. 

He discussed this with editors at the State Journal, and said they were very sensitive to his concerns. He is concerned that other editors at newspapers who engage in this type of reporting will not be as sensitive. 

"It places a tremendous amount of responsibility on the journalists involved, because they are participants," Soglin said. Soglin said he thought coverage in the Wisconsin State Journal was fair, and that reporters and editors did a good job of covering the event. He also said the discussion prompted by the program led to improvements in Madison schools. 

Tom Still, associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal, was one of the leaders in the civic journalism movement. (Photo courtesy of Wisconsin State Journal)

The project Soglin referred to, "Schools of Hope," is a five-year project by the Wisconsin State Journal and partner WISC-TV, the CBS affiliate. It uses investigative reporting, polls, town hall meetings, brainstorming sessions and created a local leadership group. The project recruited 800 school tutors and other efforts that have helped close the achievement gap between minority and white students. It recently won a Legacy Effort Award and $5,000 at the 2002 James K. Batten Awards and Symposium for Excellence in Civic Journalism, sponsored by the Pew Center for Civic Journalism.

A big part of the project is getting tutors involved in the elementary, middle and high schools of the Madison school district, said Ken Syke, spokesperson for the Madison Metropolitan School District. 

"That's a huge part of what the program has meant to the district," Syke said. He said he hears support from teachers because it brings adults into their classrooms to support the educational process. 

Syke wears two hats when it comes to the "Schools of Hope" project. He is an employee of the school district and volunteers as a tutor through the program. He works with first-grade students, and focuses mostly on tutoring math skills. He volunteers about 30 minutes a week, and said he benefits too.

"It helps me connect with the kids," Syke said. 

Civic journalism in La Crosse, Wis.
The State Journal isn’t the only Wisconsin newspaper to take part in civic journalism projects. The La Crosse Tribune in La Crosse, Wis., is part of a project taking a closer look at stray voltage in the area.

Chris Hardie, local news editor of the Tribune, started reporting on this relatively unknown phenomenon in fall 1999 and published stories the following February. A Web site that continually gets updated came in December 2000. Stray voltage, as defined in one of Hardie’s stories, is an electrical current that leaks from power lines into the earth. It can harm or kill cows, but medical evidence is beginning to show possible links between the voltage and adverse effects on human health. 

Chris Hardie, local news editor of the La Crosse Tribune, has done extensive reporting on stray voltage in his area. (Photo courtesy of La Crosse Tribune)

The stray voltage project was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 and received first place in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Enterprise/ Interpretive Reporting category. 
 
The roots of civic journalism and research on the subject
Shortly before the time Still and Denton were pondering methods of change in Madison, a similar train of thought was going through the mind of Buzz Merritt, an editor at The Wichita Eagle in Wichita, Kan., said Esther Thorson, associate dean of graduate studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia’s graduate school of journalism.

His reasons for wanting change were similar to those given by Still and Denton. Merritt didn’t like the horse-race model and didn’t think citizens were getting a voice and didn’t have the information they needed to make good decisions, Thorson said. 

Thorson is an avid researcher of the area of civic journalism, and co-authored a book in 1998 titled “Assessing Public Journalism.” 

“There is a lot of really good evidence that once people read this, they get more involved,” Thorson said. 

She and Denton co-authored a survey that used random-digit telephone dialing to test 600 people in four cities around the country. The survey was requested by the Pew Charitable Trust, which has its headquarters in Philadelphia, to find out what kind of an impact civic journalism was having on communities. They tested the impact civic journalism had on people’s knowledge, and found it did it make them get more involved, Thorson said. 

One of the cities this took place in was Madison. The questionnaire they used measured respondents’ knowledge of candidates, issues, and campaign activities, as well as voting behavior and choices, according to published results of the survey. It also measured their media use, familiarity with and reaction to civic journalism, sources of political information, attitudes toward campaigns and self-perceptions of political effectiveness and cynicism. 

Calls were made in September, 1994 before We the People/Wisconsin activities were started, and 230 adult residents of Dane County (where Madison is located) were selected and interviewed. The day after the election, 141 of the original group were contacted and asked the same questions. 

This survey took place two years after the active start of We the People/Wisconsin, and found that 54 percent of men and 49 percent of women had heard of the program. It also found that the highest awareness of the project were people who earned between $30,000 and $50,000 a year. Fifty-two percent of whites were familiar with the project, while 39 percent of minorities knew about it. People who voted and who watched television or read the newspaper also were more likely to have heard of We the People/Wisconsin.

Most of the people, 51 percent, who knew about the project knew about it through the Wisconsin State Journal and that increased to 56 percent after the campaign. The number of people who said the project informed them about issues important to people in Wisconsin increased from 51 percent before the election to 55 percent after it. 

Not all the numbers were as encouraging, though, depending on how numbers at the polling booth are interpreted. Before the election, 19 percent said the project encouraged them to vote. This number fell to 11 percent after the campaign, which researchers wrote could indicate “disillusionment with either the specific candidates or with the campaign tactics revealed in the media campaign.” The results went on to state that four questions designed to assess political cynicism showed no measurable increase related to We the People/Wisconsin. 

But despite the positive results Thorson and Denton found in their survey, detractors do remain. Editors at The Washington Post have never supported the idea. Milton Coleman, deputy managing editor of The Washington Post, said the intentions of civic journalism may be good, but that it is stepping out of the bounds of what journalism should do.

Coleman said he is concerned about newspapers setting up forums and reporting on them.

"Is that my role as a newspaper? I don't think so," Coleman said. If a journalist is part of the event, the journalist shouldn't report on the event, he said.

But other newspapers are championing the notion of civic journalism. The St. Paul Pioneer Press won a legacy award from the Pew Center for Civic Journalism for a series of projects that focused on topics such as making cities safer, poverty and the changing face of Minnesota. The project incorporated civic journalism elements like book clubs, forums, chat rooms and even multi-lingual polls. The Pew Center for Civic Journalism reported it has funded 107 initiatives to support civic journalism projects around the country

The conclusion of Still and Denton 12 years ago that something needed to change in journalism has led to these changes around the state, and in the Twin Cities. And as civic journalism continues to evolve, the concept of this type of reporting will probably always have its critics and its supporters.