Our first workshop on March 14, 2007 will focus narrowly on applying journalistic principles to reporting on NIF forums, especially forums on the Energy Problem. While we have grander plans for citizen journalism, we’ve chosen this focus because:

1. Many of us in the National Issues Forums network struggle with how to report on our forums. The NIF moderator guide contains some guiding questions for the moderator to complete after the forum, but moderators are in the worst position of anyone to reflect on the nuances of the forum because they are too focused “in the moment.”
2. The energy issue will be huge on the national agenda in the coming year leading up to the presidential election.
3. Energy will be the featured issue for the taping of Public Voice in May and it's airing on public television in the fall.
4. We believe that learning how to report on a forum will strengthen an individual’s moderating skills.
5. The energy issue is a global issue, but one that local communities can work on. Having a fair, thorough record of forums will enable communities to build on the ideas of each other.
6. This rigorous form of reporting will form the basis for outcome-based evaluation.

We will be looking to the NIF community to identify their needs for report-writing, and any materials they have produced.

Notes on Journalism Workshop for the NIF network
1/29/07

Problem: The current system for reporting the results of forums is inadequate. Reports are based on interviews with moderators, often long after the forum has taken place, written reports submitted by moderators in response to sketchy questions posed in the moderator guide, and participant questionnaires. Moderating is a demanding role that requires a particular kind of attention that is very different from the observations useful for a report. In addition, there is no way to connect the questionnaires to the moderator reports a step that could provide a richer picture of the forum. Very few people in the country have ever prepared a report on what’s happening in forums, so conclusions aren’t immediate, widespread, or reported back locally to the forum participants. Furthermore, there’s no structure for training people how to look for deliberation and write an objective report. Nor is there a systematic means to collect and collate reports based on common themes. The current method is inefficient, labor intensive, susceptible to misinterpretation, and only possible because of the diligent and talented few report-writers who have mastered this process. The reflections portion of the forum is widely regarded as the most difficult segment to moderate and gets the least amount of time and attention. And yet if more care were taken in capturing what is being said in our forums, we could accelerate the process for understanding and disseminating the public voice.

Project: A March 14th workshop, perhaps the first in a series for the NIF network, on how to report on forums using journalistic techniques. Working title:

Outline of Workshop:
1. How do we define deliberation in a forum so our reporters can spot it?
a. One person questioning his or her assumptions?
b. Two people grappling together?
2. How do you prepare the citizen journalist to cover a forum?
a.Define the role of the citizen journalist in this context.
b.Discuss the values of journalism—
3. Identify and be aware of personal biases upfront.
4. Listen with an open thought.
5. Don’t judge, dismiss or censor what’s being said.
6. Be fair—represent all viewpoints.
7. Be accurate.
8. Take good notes.
c. Discuss what to look for during the forum.
1. What were the biggest points of disagreement during the forum?
2. Where did people agree or find common ground?
3. Were there any “aha” moments that changed the conversation?
4. How do you spot tensions or ambivalence during the discussion—and the values or motives that contribute to those tensions?
d. Discuss post-forum interviewing.
1. Select at least 4 people to talk to in more depth after the forum.
2. Pick individuals who represented the larger story of that forum. Who made pivotal comments? Who seemed openly conflicted?
e.What are effective interviewing techniques?
1. Ask open-ended questions that focus on the content, not the process.
2. Ones that start with “how,” “why” and “what” elicit better answers.
3. Get subjects to review and/or elaborate on points they made during the forum. Ask what they’re still unsure of and what they feel settled about.
3. Writing the report
a.In what medium or media?
b.How do you tell the story? What methods do you use?
c.How long should the report be?
d. What’s the deadline?
e. Who should edit?

Pre-Workshop Research: Ask the NIF network for input. How are you capturing what happens in a forum? What are you doing with what you capture? What are you doing effectively and what do you struggle with? Are you publishing the results? Are you providing feedback to the participants and policymakers? Are you using notes from one forum to feed future forums? How confident are you that your reports accurately reflect what has happened in the forum?

Assumption: Kettering might be interested in studying what happens if a “citizen journalist” were added to the staffing of each forum.
• How will the end product be different from what we currently get from our forums?
• What can moderators and recorders learn from the field of journalism?
• How might this training improve the way we moderate the reflections and identify common ground?
• What will we develop? And what will we do with it?

Strategies: Connect with Public Agenda. They might be interested in this kind of reporting because of their more nuanced way of addressing where the public is on issues. Identify major sources of citizen journalists—find bloggers, work with the National Coalition of Dialogue and Deliberation, J-Lab, and the NIF network.