| Topics: Communication The Wichita Eagle, continued As a pioneer in the civic journalism movement, the Wichita Eagle has undertaken two significant projects. "Where They Stand" focused coverage of the 1990 Kansas gubernatorial election on issues of concern to the voters. They included ten key concerns: education, economic development, environment, agriculture, social services, abortion, crime, health care, taxes and state spending. The "People Project" engaged area residents in a search for solutions to the problems of faltering schools, crime and gangs, political gridlock, and stress on families. Working with a local television and radio station, the Eagle brought together citizens to share ideas and find the resources with which to act. Case study plus. Index Disconnect: The Origins of Public Journalism
Wichita Eagle, "The People Project" Contents Wichita Eagle, "The People Project" Wichita Eagle, "The People Project" The "People Project" attempted to engage area residents in a search for solutions to problems government seemed unable to solve: faltering schools, crime and the lure of gangs, political gridlock, and the stresses that built up on families trying to cope with competing demands. In cooperation with a local television and a local radio station, the Eagle treated each issue in depth, attempting to penetrate to the competing "core values" that often stand in the way of resolution; providing names and addresses of organizations that were working toward solutions; inviting residents to write, phone or fax their ideas about what's wrong and how to fix it; and profiling individuals who got involved and made a difference. The paper sponsored several "idea exchanges" where citizens could meet others trying to change things and find the resources with which to act. Acknowledging that the "mood of the '90s is frustration," the Eagle challenged Wichitans to "share ideas about how to regain control over the systems that control our lives." 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. Wichita Eagle (newspaper)
P.O. Box 820
Wichita, KS 67201
(316) 268-6555 (phone)
(316) 268-6627 (fax) Ownership
Knight-Ridder
No. newsroom employees: 132 Circulation
120,000 (daily)
195,000 (Sunday)
Circulation Area:
55 counties in southern Kansas Initiative
The People Project Dates
Summer 1992 Executive in charge
Davis Merritt Jr., editor and senior VP
Sheri Dill, executive editor When and how did this initiative get started?
The project extended and improved upon the Eagle's innovative election coverage which, beginning in 1990, sought to increase voter participation and concentrate newsroom effort on issues citizens said mattered to them. Aware that many problems were beyond the reach of an election campaign, Eagle editors sought to engage more citizens in the process of solving public problems. With assistance from Wichita State University researchers, in-depth interviews were conducted with 192 residents, who spoke about social ills and public problems. Interviewees expressed frustration with politics as usual, and a general suspicion of quick fixes and single-issue campaigns. Residents felt a profound gulf between public policy and their own concerns, and expressed little faith in traditional government. They said they wanted to do something about public problems, but had a hard time imagining what average citizens could do. The "People Project" was designed to address such frustrations. Thus, the project's subtitle, "Solving it Ourselves." What were the goals of the initiative?
To encourage an ethic of personal responsibility and civic involvement among Wichita-area residents by offering information, the opportunity to understand public problems and avenues to join with others in the search for solutions. What did the initiative entail?
In a front-page column June 21, editor Buzz Merritt introduced the project as a "collaborative effort to give shape and momentum to your voices and ideas, with the goal of reasserting personal power and responsibility for what goes on around us." For nine weeks, Merritt wrote, the Eagle and its two partners, KSNW-TV and KNSS radio, would make space and time available for "an informed community discussion of critical issues" from which "ideas about solutions can arise, as well as the commitment to carry out the solutions." Each of the "critical issues" that emerged during background interviews as the most troubling to area residents was the subject of a package of features in the Eagle, the bulk of them written by veteran reporter and longtime Wichita resident Jon Roe. Roe outlined the problem and what residents said about it in interviews; then examined why the issue was difficult to resolve, attempting to cut through the surface of conflict to what the paper called competing "core values." (Example: "Prevention is the best way to deter crime" vs. "punishment is the best way to deter crime.") By encouraging readers to examine their core values, and those of others, the Eagle hoped to "encourage a search for solutions among people with differing ideas," as Merritt put it. For each of the issues, the Eagle published a comprehensive list called "Places to Start," with the names, addresses and phone numbers of organizations and agencies working toward solutions. Repeated invitations were made to readers to phone, write, fax or deliver in person their comments and suggestions for change. A series of "idea exchanges" were held where concerned residents could meet others like themselves, and meet with representatives of community and volunteer groups. (One drew 200.) A regular feature called "Success Stories" focused on individuals who got involved and made a difference. The paper's broadcast partners produced parallel reports during the nine-week run of the project and provided on-air forums for the discussion of problems and solutions. How many people worked on it?
A full-time reporter, full-time editor, an artist nearly full time, three or four reporters part-time. What did it look like in the newspaper?
Continuous front-page placement. Long features with enough background to explain the problem and generous quotes from residents; charts and graphics challenging readers to think through their opinions on public issues and understand what the paper called "competing core values;" profiles of individuals and their "success stories;" boxes with repeated reminders to tune into broadcast partners and to contact the Eagle with comments or suggestions; lengthy lists of organizations to contact for help or to volunteer - all under the logo "Solving it Ourselves: the People Project." Response to the Initiative In the newsroom:
"Excited, for the most part," said Merritt. "In a way this was a demonstration project - we wanted to demonstrate to ourselves that there's a different way to do newspapering. Because this project dominated the front page for nine or ten weeks it showed the staff we were serious about it." Merritt added that the veteran staffers appeared to be more comfortable with the approach than some of the younger ones who raised eyebrows. "It's a liberating thing for those who've been in journalism a long time, to realize that maybe there's a different way to approach it, that you don't have to be so distant." Elements incorporated into regular newsroom Routines and/or culture:
The Eagle followed up with "The People Project: Health Care/Solving it Ourselves." It is now pursuing "The Jobs Project: In This Together," which attempts to connect people who are laid off or unemployed to support systems and each other, while pushing the community to face the issue of massive layoffs. A second-shift Boeing worker writes a column as part of the project. Merritt on the effect of the first project on staff: "It's hard to describe or measure, but it caused people to move outside themselves a little more, to view these things as problems the community can approach, rather than something politicians and institutions are going to fix." He also spots a "loosening up in the way our better reporters approach stories," a writing style that is "a little more inclusive, a little populist, so that they say, 'Here's a problem we all have.' I think we've given them permission to have an attitude in their writing that's closer to where readers are." Response in the community:
"Folks were clearly aware of it," said Merritt. "I still have people call and say, 'Why don't you do a People Project about. . . .'" No complaints from the community about the paper being too much of an advocate. "And I get complaints about a lot of things." Among political leaders:
Negligible. Overall lessons - successes and failures:
"The lesson is that maybe there's a better way of newspapering, a different tone and attitude that can be applied to everyday journalism. That's what we're searching for here." Case study written by Jay Rosen, Director of the Project on Public Life and the Press, November 1993. Jay is also a member of the CPN Journalism editorial team. Update The Eagle is undertaking two major initiatives and one step toward routine in 1994, all tied to coverage issues related to community concerns the paper uncovered during the People Project. One, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, seeks to develop an "opinion map" of Wichita, tracking the people and places in the community where leading issues first come to the fore. The second, undertaken at the initiative of Executive Editor Sheri Dill, is an attempt to chart the course of a community effort to solve its own problems: in this case, crime and deteriorating neighborhoods. Third, the paper has created a public journalism beat, covered by reporter Jon Roe. Opinion mapping
The mapping project seeks to discover places where meaningful community dialogue takes place, so reporters can start to cover issues as soon as they begin to arouse public concern. That early coverage will seek to discern the critical pieces of information necessary to spark public action, and to "get in on the ground floor of public concerns." Executive Editor Sheri Dill cites the example of a suburban-rural community where a local phone company charges excessive rates for a call to Wichita; though it is a persistent topic of local conversation and complaint, citizens don't move to resolve the problem because critical information about regulatory agencies and routes to change is missing. The mapping project started in the Eagle newsroom, where reporters were asked who they considered opinion leaders, and where - in their private, not professional lives - they talk with others about public issues. Individuals in the community who were consistently named by staff were then asked the same question. Eventually, the research team will contact public officials to ask who and where they believe the most consistent and effective voices of the community develop. The project is funded with a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts. Research assistance is provided by The Harwood Group of Bethesda, Maryland, a public-issues research firm that specializes in helping citizens develop sustainable, effective ways to address public problems. Covering the community as it develops its own solutions
Responding to a challenge issued at a March Project on Public Life and the Press seminar, Executive Editor Sheri Dill has developed a coverage initiative that focuses on "the struggles," the work a community undertakes as it tries to address its own problems. The reporting keys in on a new city program to help neighborhoods respond to the crime, violence and deteriorating housing stock. The city essentially acts as a broker between government programs, business owners, individuals and such private groups as labor unions, but the city officials do little more than encourage the work. The paper is trying to act as the central information node in the process, developing a "decision bank" on its voice-mail lines and giving neighborhood leaders special access codes so they can reach one another easily and exchange information with counterparts in other neighborhoods. For example, a labor leader may offer construction skills but need lumber; the decision bank will centralize the resources pool. Coverage will focus, in part, on changes in attitude among all the participants in the joint effort as, for example, business owners and labor unions work in partnership and elected and appointed officials "learn new moves beyond just saying yeah or no." in Dill's words. The coverage itself has two goals: first, to celebrate and detail successes to encourage others and offer a roadmap of solutions, and second, to keep the work in the public eye. "That puts pressure on people to see it through," Dill said. "Otherwise petty things come up and people don't push it, and the city never gets benefit - (the effort) just goes away. And in normal way of operating in this town, nobody knows about anything until it becomes a success - which not everything does. Reading about the struggles...you have the benefit of someone seeing this a story and making a suggestion: 'Hey, you ought to try this.' " Public journalism beat
People Project Reporter Jon Roe was assigned to a new public journalism beat in August 1994. He covers "everything about how people are solving it themselves, organizing or whatever that doesn't now get in our newspaper." The structure was designed to allow Roe flexibility without intruding on others' beats; however, he will continue to provide consultation to reporters developing public journalism approaches on their own beat. Early stories include: - An primary election "mood of the electorate" story with a twist.
Roe wrote about the conjoined disillusionment and hope of the public, and highlighting individuals who worked to evoke change by attending and speaking at public meetings, writing to legislators, etc. The stories also analyzed the sources of disillusionment. Roe tapped interviews conducted for stories about top statewide issues, which had run each Sunday for the six previous weeks.
- A feature on how to organize a neighborhood association.
From an ordinary announcement that the coordinating council of neighborhood associations was offering a workshop on developing a neighborhood group, Roe wrote a piece urging people to attend the workshop as a way to get past "bitching that your neighborhood doesn't get anything done." Ordinarily, he said, the announcement would have been little more than a few lines in a neighborhoods roundup. The workshop, held on the day the story appeared on the local/state section front, drew more than 300 people. Case study written by Lisa Austin, Assistant Director of the Project on Public Life and the Press, August 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 Index Disconnect: The Origins of Public Journalism
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