About Front Porch Forum

Civic Journalism

"Civic" or "public" journalism is a philosophy of journalism aimed at re-engaging citizens in public affairs and the life of the community. It is based on the idea that journalists can play a role in countering public cynicism and civic disengagement through reporting that involves citizens in identifying the nature of community problems as well as possible solutions.

A variety of methods are used to give citizens an opportunity to participate in civic discourse that leads to solutions. These include public opinion polling, citizen discussion groups and public forums that put voters face-to-face with candidates for public office. Citizens are invited also to write, call, phone, fax and e-mail journalists to make their voices heard.

History of the Front Porch Forum

The Front Porch Forum is Seattle's only public journalism partnership. It was begun in 1994 as a reporting partnership of The Seattle Times and two local National Public Radio stations -- KUOW-FM and KPLU-FM -- along with a Florida-based journalism think tank, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. The Poynter Institute left the partnership after its start up, and in 1996, Seattle public-television station KCTS joined the project team.

Partners in the current project are KUOW and The Seattle Times, with backing from The Pew Center for Civic Journalism.

The effort was named the "Front Porch Forum" after a remark made by an Auburn, Wash., law enforcement officer who participated in one of the project's initial citizen-discussion groups. His vision of civic discourse was for people to begin talking to each other again, the way he imagined neighbors used to do when time was more plentiful and conversations spilled naturally over the back fence or onto the front porch.

The mission of the Front Porch Forum is to strengthen our communities through news coverage that focuses on citizens' concerns, encourages civic participation, improves public deliberation and reconnects citizens, candidates and reporters to community life.

In its initial years, the Front Porch Forum devoted itself to giving voice to citizens' stories, questions and ideas, and relating them to how our communities, governments, political campaigns and the media partners themselves operated. Subsequent projects focused on topics as specific as individual election campaigns, and as general as the state of our schools or the complex issues of growth. An overview of past projects, including links to a number of the newspaper and broadcast stories and citizen response, is available in the Porch archives.

When we introduced the Front Porch in an article in The Seattle Times in May, 1994, we said this: "We're not sure where this will lead. In other parts of the country, where similar reporting ventures are under way, people have taken to the idea."

Five and one-half years later, after scores of newspaper stories and radio and TV broadcasts, after involving thousands of Puget Sound residents in everything from pizza parties to questioning candidates to expressing their opinions in polls, focus groups and letters or e-mail, it's fair to say that people here, too have taken to the idea.

Contacting the Forum

The media partners invite citizens to make their voices heard in the dialogue to shape our region's future. Here's how: By phone (206) 464-3340; by fax (206) 464-2261; by e-mail to porch@seattletimes.com or by conventional mail to Front Porch Forum, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. Please include your name, city of residence and phone number on all communications so that your opinion can be verified. Comments about the Web site can be sent to webmaster@seattletimes.com.