Charlottesville Tomorrow : An Advocate For Our Future. Today.

The Web as a tool for multimedia election reporting and citizen engagement

Brian Wheeler, Executive Director

Charlottesville Tomorrow

@bawheeler

@cvilletomorrow

www.cvilletomorrow.org

September 30, 20091

Charlottesville Tomorrow

A community informationresource covering growth, development, local politics and education

We connect you to vital information for making informed choices about our community’s future.

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About Charlottesville Tomorrow

Founded in 2005 as a community non-profit

In City of Charlottesville & Albemarle CountyPopulation: 145,000

Famous for: Mr. Jefferson & the University of Virginia

Four full-time employees + interns• Executive Director• Growth & development reporter• Education reporter• Community Engagement & Marketing Specialist

Managed by 11-person Board of Directors

Annual budget of $400,000Charlottesville Tomorrow : An Advocate For Our Future. Today.

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About Charlottesville Tomorrow

As a journalism business… Charlottesville Tomorrow is:• A hyperlocal online information resource• A member of the Virginia Press

Association and the Local Independent Online News (LION) publishers association

• A partner with other local media companies and non-profits covering local politics

Charlottesville Tomorrow : An Advocate For Our Future. Today.

Charlottesville Tomorrow in action

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ResearchPolling

Visualizations

To engage communityTo inform choices

Local electioncoverage

Hyperlocal newsCivic media

Our approach

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In-depthNo positions taken

Informing YOUR choice

Non-partisanFact-based

“Democracy becomes real for people when they decide what kind of community they want, not so much which political party or candidate they support.”

Suzanne MorseSmart Communities

Why does it matter?

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“…an informed public will make decisions that will protect and build upon the distinctive character of the Charlottesville-Albemarle area.”

Local elections impact our quality of life

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Strategic focus on TWO local elections initially

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CharlottesvilleCity Council

(5 seats)

AlbemarleBoard of Supervisors

(6 seats)

Providing in-depth resources for voters

• News stories• Candidate interviews• Candidate forums • Mailing of voter guides• Online voter resources• Campaign finance data

• Our own media campaigns promoting voter participation

• Weekly radio programs • Wiki pages• Weekly email newsletters

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Democracy demands informed choices

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VOTE SMART in local electionshttp://www.cvilletomorrow.org/elections

Power of media partnerships

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Daily Progress partnership

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Partnership started in August 2009

Charlottesville Tomorrow places an average of 25 stories per month in the daily newspaper representing almost 53% of the paper’s coverage of growth and development issues and local politics.

53% of coverage in 2013

CT DP

C-VILLE Weekly partnership

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In 2013, Charlottesville Tomorrow launched a similar partnership with C-VILLE Weekly for coverage of local public schools.

Charlottesville Tomorrow’s full-time education reporter fills one page of each edition of the weekly newspaper with school news, calendar items, and educator profiles.

C-VILLE Weekly provides for layout and printing of School Board Voter Guides.

Availability of CIVIC MEDIA in Charlottesville

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Availability of CIVIC MEDIA in Charlottesville

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Mission-driven journalism for a special place

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“It’s a different act of journalism to write about a place where you live than a place you are passing through. The difference is almost spiritual.”

Jay RosenNew York University

Multimedia news stories

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News story featuring:* Audio podcast* Embedded audio* Original documents

Tracking the money in local politics

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Our community wiki: cvillepedia

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Start to finish coverage of the candidates

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Since 2005, we have recorded all the important public moments for our local candidates.

* Candidate announcements* Candidate forums* Taking office

Even working the polls on election day

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Why do we do it? It’s vital to our democracy…

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• Local officials impact our quality of life.• We trust engaged citizens, armed with clear, non-

partisan information, will make informed choices.• The information we collect during campaigns is one

tool for government accountability.• Our daily reporting helps ensure open government

and transparency.

Engaging our voters with civic media

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With the help of our partners…

News and printing partners

Non-profit content specialists

Online database tracking the money in

local elections

THANK YOU

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