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See also:
 A Partnership Prenuptial Contract » click to view
Top Ten Lessons Learned Through Partnerships » click to view
Where In Wisconsin?: Doyle
WISC  Madison, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Public Television  Madison, Wisconsin
WISC: Doyle run time » 4:09
WPT: Doyle run time » 7:39
Eight candidates for governor, eight trips around the state of Wisconsin. The idea, part of an ongoing We The People partnership between the CBS affiliate, the statewide public television and radio stations, and a newspaper in the capital city, was to let the voters, not the candidates set the agenda. Each of the candidates in the Wisconsin primary (two Republicans, including the incumbent, a Green, a Libertarian, and four Democrats) spent a day traveling with a news crew to talk to voters. They all went to different places, a combination of factories, schools, churches, and other gathering places. Citizens were told that a candidate would be visiting, but not necessarily which one. This unscripted tour of the state was shared by the two stations they were able to cut the footage as they chose, and put together different but complimentary looks at the journey each week. Ample cross-promotion helped popularize the series, and the newspaper followed with a story in each Sunday edition. In these clips, WISC and WPT highlight Jim Doyle, who won the Democratic primary.
Where In Wisconsin? Gubernatorial Reports:
How We Did What We Did, and Lessons Learned
contributed by Kathy Bissen, Wisconsin Public Television
 Timing is everything (or much of the thing). Getting a candidate to give us a full day was probably only possible because we did this 4 months before the primary, 6 months before the general.
 Partnerships help. Its difficult for candidates to decline a combined request from statewide radio, statewide TV, the major state newspaper and the #1 commercial TV station in the capital city.
 Partnerships (can) hurt. We all have different priorities and sometimes they arent in sync (i.e., importance of geographic diversity, endorsements and/or other involvement with candidates by some partners, timing of reports, etc.). Part of this can be the too many cooks syndrome.
 Criteria. Just like debate inclusion criteria - but this is particularly tricky this early in the campaign.
 Equivalency (not the same as equality per 9th grade algebra). Each candidate was told s/hed be going to two counties. Those counties were selected considering the following:
· One county leaned Democratic and one leaned Republican in past elections;
· Local television market in the area;
· Geographic diversity so we covered much of the state by end of project;
· No candidate could go to his or her home county or one he or she had a significant tie to;
· Urban/rural mix;
· Similar specific locations such as school, factory, senior center, business, etc.
 Ducks. These little fellows need to be in a row before contacting candidates.
· How do we select who is going to which part of the state? (random drawing)
· How do we select the specific locations we visit during the day? (Group criteria setting followed by two people doing scouts and choosing. Important to have a TV person help choose. We had some good places that were bad TV ( i.e., dark restaurant, nursing home where we cant shoot faces, etc.)
· In what order do the candidates participate and who decides? (Candidates were told that whomever responded to our invitation first would have first choice of dates.)
 More ducks.
· Where do we meet the candidate if s/he doesnt know where were going? (Our convoy organized in a parking lot in a city within reasonable distance of our first destination.)
· How far in advance do we give the candidate that information? (They knew the counties weeks in advance. They were told the first location when they got to the parking lot, and found out each subsequent location at the completion of the previous location.)
· How do we prevent a candidate from having local volunteers stack a location? (This could have happened in the hour or more drive between stops. We had a reporter ride with the candidate.)
 Five is the magic number. Five stops per day seemed to work. Six was too much considering geographic logistics. Four was too few due to high probability one or two would be duds.
 Have a plan and be willing to ditch it. Be willing to jettison a location if its a bust and go somewhere else. Let all locations that are expecting us know we will be there if time permits so we have the freedom to be spontaneous.
 Let (a few) citizens in on the secret and ask them to keep it. Not telling citizens which candidate would be showing up didnt really work. Usually theyll keep the secret.
State Supreme Court Debate
Wisconsin Public Television
WISC Madison, Wisconsin
air date » 23.Mar.00
clip length » 6:05
One challenge in covering perceived non-marquee elected positions such as the State Supreme Court is explaining to voters what that job entails. Neil Heinen of WISC (CBS) contributed a segment to this debate that gives viewers a bit of background on the court and what it does, and why this race was important. To keep the debate visually interesting, it was held in the Supreme Court chambers (actually, the temporary quarters during renovation of the real courtroom) with the citizen-questioners sitting on the bench.
Partnerships: Unicameral Legislation Forum
Twin Cities Public Television : The Star Tribune : WCCO-AM : Minn./St. Paul, Minnesota
air date » 18.Jan.00
clip run time » 4:13
The Minnesota Citizens Forum is an ongoing citizen-involvement initiative of the Star Tribune newspaper and Twin Cities Public Television. The Citizens Forum was conceived several years ago as a way to involve average people in the discussion of public policy issues. The goal is to get a better idea of what informed citizens think about public policy and to get average citizens voices covered in the media. Citizens are recruited at random through the Star Tribunes Minnesota Poll.
The clip featured here is an example of how this project combines both citizen participation and media partnership. The discussion of a proposed ballot measure to adopt a unicameral legislature was moderated by both radio and television hosts, with a reporter from the newspaper moving through the audience with a microphone.
In addition to local citizens gathered in the studio, video-conferencing connections were made with regular Joe locations around the state (a bed-and-breakfast, a familys living room). The program was simulcast on both the public television station and the radio, and a follow-up article about the forum appeared in the newspaper the next day.
Civic Journalism
WTVD  Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
air date » 1998
clip run time » 2:42
In 1996, a joint effort by more than a dozen North Carolina news outlets focused on issues in the 1996 statewide elections for governor and U.S. Senate. A statewide poll was conducted to identify six issues that most concern North Carolina citizens. The goal of the project is to emphasize issues important to citizens, to bring those concerns to the candidates attention and to report the candidates stands on those issues. Partners in the Your Voice, Your Vote project published and broadcast reports on those issues and how they relate to the campaigns for governor and the U.S. Senate. The partners included: WTVD, Durham; WLOS, Asheville; WBTV, Charlotte; , Greensboro-High Point; WWAY, Wilmington; UNC Center for Public Television; News & Observer; Asheville Citizen-Times; Charlotte Observer; ; News & Record; ; and WUNC-FM.
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