Circulation was slowly declining and regional newspaper editors worried encroaching national newspapers would take a deeper bite out of their numbers. They were beginning to experiment with a movement called civic journalism aimed at engaging citizens in their communities via newspapers -- and reversing the circulation trend. A description of American newspapers in the early 1990s? It could be, but this was Japan during the past year. As the civic journalism movement has matured and gained mainstream status in many U.S. newsrooms, it is attracting fresh interest among journalists in other countries facing journalistic and business pressures similar to those that spawned the movement in America more than a decade ago. This international interest in civic journalism manifested itself for those of us in Minnesota in recent years as visiting journalists from the former Soviet Union came to the St. Paul Pioneer Press and quizzed me about how they could use concepts of civic journalism to engage their citizens in building democratic societies. The Twin Cities, with two large dailies, public television and public radio all engaged in civic journalism endeavors, has become a regular stop for foreign journalists looking for new ideas. Then in September I was invited to come to Japan to share some of the lessons we had learned over a decade of practicing civic journalism. Also invited was Geneva Overholser, the former Washington Post ombudsman and New York Times editorial board member who now holds an endowed chair at the Missouri School of Journalism's Washington bureau. She had raised concerns about some of the excesses of the civic journalism movement in the past, but at the same time had worked hard as editor of The Des Moines Register to listen to readers and write about issues important to them. The setting for our presentations would be a meeting of regional editors and reporters in Tokyo. While that kind of a gathering might be part of the fabric of the American journalism community, it was an historic moment in Japanese journalism. Other than press clubs used to gain access to various sources, the journalism community there has been fragmented, with no national organization for newspaper editors. No school of journalism that might bring national standards to the craft exists in any Japanese university; media companies have trained their own employees. But these editors facing competition from national newspapers were banding together to strategize. Professors from several Japanese universities were prodding the process -- hoping the potential of establishing a journalism school at a university might be stimulated by such a group. I was glad to go and share what we had learned at the St. Paul Pioneer Press over a decade of experiments and projects. I described the movement from its most radical and controversial days to the way the concepts of civic journalism have become part of the daily beat-reporting structure in our newsroom. Geneva and I lectured on the topic at the national meeting, then with students from Tokyo, Waseda University and Sophia University and also at regional newspapers. Everywhere I went, I found extraordinary examples of civic journalism already underway in Japan, with an eagerness to take the concept to higher levels. It suggests that American journalists should be looking well beyond our borders for the next innovations in civic journalism. A few examples of how this movement is translating in Japan: The Tokai Earthquake Campaign
Each morning, the reporters and editors at the regional newspaper The Shizuoka Shimbun in Tokai go to work wondering if this is the day they will need to cover a massive earthquake that scientists are certain will hit the region sometime in the next few years. The government estimates 220,000 buildings will be destroyed and forecasts that 8,800 people will die. Two years ago, The Shizuoka Shimbun started a project called "The Tokai Earthquake Campaign" aimed at driving down the number of deaths by methodically preparing the community to survive an earthquake through "pre-quake reporting" rather than the traditional approach of covering disaster after the fact. Printing the articles in full-color pullout sections and pages with no advertising, the newspaper has now published 130 reports. Their goal was to empower their readers with sound information, prevent them from going into denial about the potential for an earthquake -- which is extraordinarily high -- and yet stop short of panicking the community. The reports have combined scientific analysis of the situation with practical information on surviving earthquakes gleaned from researching devastating earthquakes around the world. The newspaper also has sponsored a "Weekly Earthquake News Disaster Prevention School for Parents and Children" at local elementary schools. In those training programs, which draw overflow crowds, participants are taught skills such as how to jump from high places or escape from smoke and survive. They practice drills for how families will respond on the terrible day the quake hits.
Ridding Hiroshima of gangs
The Chugoku Shimbun staff, concerned about the increasing youth gang activity in Hiroshima and ties they had unearthed between the gangs and organized crime syndicates, decided to help their community begin to see ways to reclaim their city from the gangs. The newspaper describes its goal this way: "The series started with the objective of thinking together with our readers about ways to restore the safety, peacefulness and dignity of Hiroshima. It gave voice to the victims of gang violence ... The articles appealed for support from the citizens of Hiroshima and stressed the necessity of cooperation from everyone involved, in order to try to persuade the young men to leave the gangs." The newspaper's efforts resulted in a remarkable turnaround in Hiroshima, where gang activity and crime dropped dramatically, city ordinances were passed to curb gangs, and citizens began a campaign to reach out to young gang members. In the end, groups of citizens enticed the gang members into volunteer activities and eventually found them jobs. Giving citizens a voice in Tohoku
Last year, after an agricultural supplies dealer was arrested in Yamagata Prefecture for selling unregistered chemicals, the staff of The Kahoku Shimpo in the farming areas of Tohoku began investigating unregistered chemicals and found widespread use throughout Japan -- even on "organic" farms. The newspaper covered the situation as a major investigation, but followed up with projects aimed at helping readers figure out how they could have an impact on the practices of the giant, powerful food production industry in Japan. The Kahoku Shimpo started an online "Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Research Lab" as a virtual think tank to tackle the problem in a way that included the voices of everyday Japanese citizens. Producers and consumers both posted comments to the Web site, and an ongoing, well-informed conversation occurred on an entirely new level over this issue. The idea of connecting producers and consumers through civic journalism has become a standard approach to agriculture coverage in the Tohoku farming region. Examining how to raise children
After writing numerous stories about the trend for Japanese couples to have fewer children, child abuse and an increase in shocking crimes committed by youths, The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun developed a project aimed at provoking a community-wide discussion on child rearing. Titled "Bringing Up Our Children, Growing Up Ourselves," the project began with a series of articles in the newspaper and then broadened into community forums sponsored by the newspaper, which also provided childcare for preschool children. Hundreds of citizens attended the nine forums on topics such as fathers' roles in child rearing, raising children with mild disabilities, and what to do when children are difficult or when parents doubt their parenting abilities. After the newspaper-sponsored forums, many of the participants continued the discussions in groups that formed to regularly get together and talk about raising children. Online, The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun launched an ongoing discussion on raising children -- with 800 registered users. Editors from throughout Japan described similarly engaging projects and were eager to hear about techniques American editors had tried. In the end, we brought back as many good ideas about civic journalism as we left in Japan. It suggests efforts to continue to refine this approach to journalism would be enriched by actively engaging journalists beyond North America in our network of civic journalists. This article originally appeared at PJNet.org, site of the Public Journalism Network, a global professional society of journalists and educators. It is reprinted with permission of the author and PJNet.
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