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Topics:
Communication and Families & Gender (cross-referenced)
Detroit
Free Press
Children First
Detroit
Free Press, "Children First" The Free Press launched the newspaper-wide
Children First campaign in January 1993. Ongoing reportage, undertaken
by a team of four, includes a weekly Sunday Children First column
and editorial content emphasizing solutions and offering help
to readers. A youth panel and an advisory committee meet with
and assist the team. An assistant to the publisher serves as full-time
community liaison to the project. Newsroom staffers may allot
two hours of their work week to volunteer in public schools. Case
study plus.
Case
Study Plus: Detroit Free Press - Children First
A
case study by Project
on Public Life and the Press
New York University, Department of Journalism
©
Project on Public Life and the Press,1994
Case
study written by Lisa Austin, Assistant Director of the Project
on Public Life and the Press, October 1993. Lisa is also a member
of the CPN Journalism editorial team.
Prompted
by a major series on violence against Detroit-area children, ("Children:
Cross Fire," May 1992) the Free Press launched the newspaper-wide
Children First campaign in January 1993. A 24-page special section
(April 1993) highlighted summer-recreation needs of disadvantaged
children, raising $500,000 and directly benefiting 5,700 children.
A May 1993 public forum on violence against children, sponsored
and financed by the newspaper, featured Attorney General Janet
Reno and a Harvard School of Public Health official and drew 1,100
parents and professionals in education and juvenile justice. Ongoing
reportage, undertaken by a team of four, includes a weekly Sunday
Children First column and editorial content emphasizing solutions
and offering help to readers. A youth panel and an advisory committee
meet with and assist the team. An assistant to the publisher serves
as full-time community liaison to the project. Newsroom staffers
may allot two hours of their work week to volunteer in public
schools.
Detroit
Free Press (newspaper)
321 W. Lafayette
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 222-6829 (Dougherty)
(313) 222-6600 (newsroom)
Ownership
Knight-Ridder
Circulation
574,800 (daily)
1.18 million (Sunday: w/Detroit News)
Circulation Area:
Detroit and surrounding counties
Initiative
Children First
Dates
January 1993-present
Lead
Editor
Jane Dougherty, associate editor for projects
Executive
in charge
Joe Stroud, editor
When
and how did this initiative get started?
After "Children: Cross Fire" showed a dramatic problem, Free Press
Publisher Neil Shine convened staffers from throughout the building
in summer 1992 to brainstorm ways the paper could take a leadership
role.
What
were the goals of the Initiative?
Mobilize the community to remove roadblocks that keep children
from being raised safely, educated properly and nurtured in a
safe environment.
What
did the effort entail?
Aggressive solutions-based reporting that highlights the problems
of children and active encouragement by the community liaison
officer to involve child-welfare organizations in the paper's
efforts and with one another. For example, a column about a child
who suffered third-degree burns in a bathtub was packaged with
an offer for water-temperature gauges, a coloring book for preschoolers
on burn prevention and a tip sheet on accident prevention developed
by an area university and a local hospital. More than 1,000 of
these kits were mailed to readers.
What
did it look like in the newspaper?
"Children: Crossfire" was a 12-page broadsheet. The "Children
First " package was reprinted in an 8-page broadsheet. "Summer
Dreams," the wish book of needs, was a 32-page tab. Ongoing reportage
varies; it is identified by a logo and often includes a list of
community agencies that can help with the problem highlighted.
How
many people worked on it? Over what period of time?
Four people are on the reporting team, but up to a dozen staff
members have been involved in specific Children First projects.
Response
to the Initiative
In
the newsroom:
Enthusiastic. Those involved directly in the project have been
overwhelmed by community response; management has been careful
to explain rationale for activist stances.
Elements
incorporated into regular newsroom routines and/or culture:
Various steps toward action on a specific issue are usually included
in coverage. Citizens are referred to resource agencies or offered
alternatives for direct action; coverage looks at ways other communities
are solving problems similar to Detroit's.
In
the community?
Overwhelming interest among parents, educators, juvenile-justice
authorities, as demonstrated by turnout for forums, response to
fund-raising requests, calls for special-offer materials.
Overall
lessons - successes and failures:
The initiative has revealed a gap in services: no single group
has coordinated efforts to help children. Other initiatives planned
by the newspaper in conjunction with the project include a series
of neighborhood forums, and a statewide census of programs for
children and families.
More
Information
Project
on Public Life and the Press
New York University
Department of Journalism
10 Washington Pl.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-3793
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