| Topics: Civic Communication Spokane Spokesman-Review, continued Index The Pizza Papers
River Forum Contents River Forum River Forum The paper's concern for the well-being of the area's most important river led to enterprise in the newsroom and in the community. Reporters and editors studied the use and abuse of the river, publishing the results in four parts over the course of a full year. In late 1991, the newspaper convened 25 men and women from the Inland Northwest area to meet with three outside consultants on water management. The agenda: the lack of a master plan for the river, which flows through two states, four counties and the Spokane Indian Reservation. A steering committee from that group of 25 met monthly for about a year to establish a not-for-profit organization, but the initiative foundered by late 1993. However, because the newspaper's goal had been to raise citizen awareness, then turn an organizational initiative to citizens, the newspaper did not continue to closely track the river group's work. 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. Spokane Spokesman-Review (newspaper)
999 W. Riverside
P.O. Box 2160
(509) 459-5423 (phone)
(509) 459-5482 (fax) Ownership
Cowles Publishing Co
No. newsroom employees: 150 FTE Circulation
122,000 (daily)
155,000 (Sunday)
Circulation Area(population)
Spokane; Couer d'Alene, Idaho; 17 outlying counties in Washington, Idaho, Montana (500,000) Initiative
The Pizza Papers/Values for a growth decade Dates
August 1993-February 1994 Lead Editor
Chris Peck, Managing Editor When and how did this initiative get started?
Concerned about the Spokane River, a powerful unifying force in northern Idaho and eastern Washington, the paper in 1990 and 1991 undertook a year-long research and writing project on the topic. Managing Editor Chris Peck believed the paper had a leadership role: "The editors here have come to believe that the future of newspapers and the future of our democracy are linked to a sense of community. Very simply, people need to feel connected to the place where they live if they're going to read newspapers, and they need to feel a sense of power about what they can do to help influence their community if they are to believe in democratic principles." What are the goals of the initiative?
To rouse residents of the Spokane River watershed toward common goals for the development and protection of the river. What does the initiative entail?
There were two principal stages: first, a year's worth of analysis and reporting under the headine "River Watch," to alert readers to troubles threatening the Spokane River and its environs. Second, the paper convened national experts on river management and preservation to help the community discuss both the troubles and the potential of the river. The chronology of that effort: - December 1991: Initial five-hour meeting among community representatives of organizations with a stake in the river, newspaper staff; and water management consultants from outside the area. "The River Forum was our newspaper's first attempt to see if we can go beyond simply reporting events and can, in fact, help facilitate the building of a sense of community around an important asset: The Spokane River," Peck said.
- January 1992: A steering committee that emerged from the meeting at the paper got together to create the River Forum organization. For a year, there were monthly meetings, setting up of an organization, talk of applying for 501(3)c status, speculation about funding sources. But little has happened since, according to former Forum board members. Since those days, almost a year ago, the Spokane River Forum, in the words of one of its principal local activists, has been "an extreme disappointment."
- In late 1993: a mailing from Forum leaders indicated an intention to try to resuscitate the save-the-river zeal of 1991-1992, the activist said, "But no word since."
What does it look like in the newspaper?
The four-part "River Watch" series was published in April, June, August, and October 1991, and reprinted as a whole in a 16-page format. Full-color, three-quarter page photos dramatized the human and environmental dimensions of the river's presence in the eastern Washington territory. Response to the Initiative In the community:
Seeming appreciation initially, and enthusiasm for carrying forward the paper's reporting and coalition-building initiatives into the formation of the Spokane River Forum. However, after Peck learned the River Forum had lost momentum, he said the situation had raised an interesting question about the paper's leadership role: once the paper had raised public interest in the issue, and a group of interested citizens agreed to pick up the ball, how closely involved should the newspaper be in the resulting organization? The initiative has generated unanticipated action and the community's attitude about the river has changed since the paper's river project was published. One of the participants in the initial River Forum meeting approached a developer in her riverfront neighborhood about saving a stretch of riverfront property. In return for neighborhood support of the 90-acre development as a whole, the developer agreed to donate the riverfront property to the city of Spokane as a park. In another area where a high-rise complex along the river had been approved in 1990 or 1991, citizens have asked the city to rescind approval. Spokane's new public library overlooks the site, and residents have gained greater appreciation for a river-gorge view that would encompass the high rise if it were to be built, Peck said. The paper's maps for the project were reprinted by the Washington Department of Natural Resources and given out by the thousands to recreational users of the Spokane River. What's next:
In May 1994, the paper will sponsor a community forum to discuss the future of the timber economy of the northern Rockies. This forum is an outgrowth of a special reporting project on the forests and will be an attempt, says Chris Peck, "to bridge the chasm that divides the urban environmental movement from the mostly rural wood-products producers."
- RCN, 3/94 More Information Project on Public Life and the Press
New York University
Department of Journalism
10 Washington Pl.
New York, NY 10003
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