| Topics: Civic Communication The Oklahoman
Oklahoma 2020 In summer 1992, a mail survey asked 475 central Oklahoma community leaders about their visions of Oklahoma's future. They were asked to fill in a form, write essays and suggest improvements for the community. Ninety-nine responses were published in a special section . Citizens also were invited to send in their views; 200 did. Later, Hight selected 15 of the respondents at random to gather and discuss the community's future among themselves. In November, 13 others discussed the area's political system. Leaders involved in the survey and subsequent discussions joined together to form Central Oklahoma 2020, a not-for-profit citizens planning group funded by area foundations and corporate donations. It will convene community discussions of the usual topics discussed in urban planning, from growth to economics to aesthetics. A case study by Project on Public Life and the Press
New York University, Department of Journalism,10 Washington Pl.
New York, NY 10003, (212) 998-3793 © Project on Public Life and the Press,1994 The Project is funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Oklahoman (newspaper)
P.O. Box 25125
Oklahoma City, OK 73125
(405) 475-3311 (phone)
(405) 475-3183 (fax) Ownership
Private. Edward L. Gaylord
No. newsroom employees: 150 Circulation
230,000 (daily)
325,000 (Sunday)
Circulation area (pop):
Greater Oklahoma City, northern Oklahoma (950,000) Initiative
Oklahoma 2020 Dates
Summer/Fall 1992 Lead Editor
Joe Hight, community editor Executive in charge
Ed Kelly, managing editor When and how did this initiative get started?
It grew out of Hight's interest in promoting citizen involvement in the political process, in getting more citizen voices into the newspaper, and getting reporters into the community. As he has experimented with such efforts, his vision has evolved. Initially, he was interested in reaching non-elected community leaders, from church organizers to parents involved heavily in schools. As time passes, he has grown more interested in reaching citizens who share interests in their community but who have not played any leadership role. What are the goals of the initiative?
To promote better discussion of the area's problems and to generate solutions; to give voices to non-elected citizen leaders. What does the initiative entail?
Hight selected recipients of the mail survey from personal contacts and reporter suggestions. Reader response was elicited in a regular column in the community section. Participants in the group conversations were selected by Hight at random from respondents to the mail survey. How many people are working on it?
Fourteen staffers on the community section all have been involved. The section's columnist promoted the reader mail-ins, as did beat reporters, who also helped select those to whom the initial surveys were mailed. Hight also has used the community responses in discussions with reporters to help focus their thinking about reaching beyond ordinary coverage. He hopes to help reporters understand how decisions made today at meetings they cover will affect the future of the community; he encourages coverage that includes voices from people who will live with the decisions. What does it look like in the newspaper?
A special section was devoted to responses. Reporters from the sections covered the group conversations; resulting stories led the section. Response to the Initiative In the newsroom:
Managing editor and assistant managing editor very supportive. Reporters outside section supportive generally of community outreach, but not particularly comfortable with it, and mildly uninterested. Reporters on section complain that community outreach takes more time, effort; Hight sometimes finds it difficult to maintain their interest. Elements incorporated into regular newsroom routines and/or culture:
More "real people" featured more regularly in the section, greater focus in stories on how people are affected by actions of elected and non-elected officials. In the community:
Very positive, Hight says. Among political leaders:
Negligible among elected leaders. Did any outside group pick up the newspaper's initiative and carry it further?
Central Oklahoma 2020 was formed as a not-for-profit citizen-based planning organization, funded by a number of area foundations. The organization has called on the National Civic League for tips on how to run such programs. Overall lessons - successes and failures:
Hight would hold more community forums and open them to the public. Would promote more heavily with house ads, public service announcements, etc. Also, would not run two year-long projects at once in the section. (A reporting project in the schools that sought to engage students as citizen reporters was coincident with the futures initiative.) What's next:
In September 1993, Hight launched a new project targeting visual perceptions of Oklahoma City, the community's image and potential improvements. (Drivers entering the city don't get a very pleasant view; the area around the state capital is particularly unattractive.) A newspaper team at the Oklahoma State Fair surveyed visitors to the paper's booth about visual impediments along city entrances; other response will be elicited from readers. Reporters will drive through town with outsiders to gauge initial visual response to the city. The project will also highlight action centers that citizens can call about eyesores and develop specific efforts for citizen involvement. Update Through late 1993 and early 1994, the paper continued to expand its public journalism efforts, received enthusiastically by senior newsroom managers, with Hight as the catalyst. Highlights include:
- Election coverage in 1994 designed around the Wichita model, based on extensive issues polling with specific questions for candidates culled from citizens. Several elements of other initiatives tested the water. Coverage of a 1993 city sales tax referendum was based on citizens' questions to a phone-in hotline; three reporters canvassed nine diverse neighborhoods citywide to gather citizen opinion on the issue. After the stories, several readers called to praise them as the most comprehensive and informative they had seen the Oklahoman produce. During the 1994 legislative session, the paper established a legislative hotline where citizens could call with questions and coverage ideas. - Follow-up on Central Oklahoma 2020/Images of Central Oklahoma A regular feature in the Community section tracked community responses, with boxed sections on "What's Being Done," "Top Citizen Concerns," "Making a Difference" and "Finding Solutions." "Making a Difference" was a full-feature profile of citizens who had taken active roles to change the community. "Finding Solutions" lists signed, one-graf ideas about changes for the community. Examples: Add a full-time litter enforcement officer, add more sidewalks and curbing, promote civic pride by emphasizing cultural programs such as ballet and opera. - Our Children: Who's Responsible
Ongoing series launched in spring 1994 on children and crime, focused on case studies of specific problems and effective solutions. Coverage plans began with a forum of child-care advocates, youth leaders, juvenile justice officials and legislators. Participants also filled out questionnaires about how to approach coverage, including the questions that the project should answer and who to contact for interviews. Fifth-grade teachers across the city were invited to involve their classes in discussions about who the children believed was most responsible for them, especially in after-school hours - parents, teachers, siblings, etc. Students were also encouraged to talk about lessons they learned from the care givers, specifically about such values as responsibility. The responses from a dozen classrooms were highlighted in stories. The paper also ran a questionnaire for the public, asking who the respondents thought most influenced their children and what could be done to help families with children; more than 200 people responded. Case study written by Lisa Austin, Assistant Director of the Project on Public Life and the Press, March & July 1994. Lisa is also a member of the CPN Journalism editorial team. 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 Back to Communication Index | 
