{"id":3755,"date":"2026-08-19T16:35:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T16:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/?p=3755"},"modified":"2026-08-25T22:12:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:12:55","slug":"james-k-batten-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/james-k-batten-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"James K. Batten Awards for Excellence in Civic Journalism"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Advisory Board<\/a>] [Sponsorship<\/a>]<\/span><\/p>\n

James K. Batten Award for Excellence in Civic Journalism<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The final year for the Batten Awards for Excellence in Civic Journalism was 2002. For information on the successor awards, the Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism, which begin in 2003 and are sponsored by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, visit\u00a0http:\/\/www.j-lab.org\/batten.html<\/a>.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

This award is an annual $25,000 cash award to print or electronic journalists whose work supports people’s involvement in the life of their community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well before the current interest in civic journalism, one journalist began talking about how the media needed to change, to begin once again reconnecting to citizens. The late Jim Batten, as chairman and chief executive of Knight-Ridder Inc., talked about how journalism could be a vital building block in revitalizing citizenship — while maintaining its ability to tell hard truths.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think we need to cultivate a journalistic ethic that celebrates the magic of writers and editors and photographers and artists who are blessed with the gift of connecting — not just wafting self-indulgent messages out of the newsroom’s door,” Jim Batten said in a seminal speech on April 3, 1989, at the University of California, Riverside. That address outlines much of the philosophy of what has come to be known as civic journalism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Batten’s vision helped to move forward the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, enabling it to work with news organizations around the country in experimenting with ways to connect better with citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

To honor Batten and his journalistic ideals, The Pew Charitable Trusts established the James K. Batten Award for Excellence in Civic Journalism with an accompanying symposium to educate journalists and spotlight some of the best civic journalism efforts in the country. The Trusts have directed $25,000 a year to the award program.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>Batten Award Advisory Board<\/strong><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeannine Guttman<\/strong>
\nExecutive Editor\/VP
\nThe Portland Newspapers<\/span><\/p>\n

Teresa M. Hanafin<\/strong>
\nEditorial Director
\nBoston.com<\/span><\/p>\n

Amy McCombs<\/strong>
\nFormer President and General Manager
\nKRON-TV (NBC)<\/span><\/p>\n

W. Davis Merritt<\/strong>
\nFormer Editor
\nThe Wichita Eagle<\/span><\/p>\n

John X. Miller<\/strong>
\nPublic Editor
\nDetroit Free Press<\/span><\/p>\n

Bill Mitchell<\/strong>
\nOnline Editor
\nThe Poynter Institute<\/span><\/p>\n

Jack Nelson<\/strong>
\nFormer Chief Washington Correspondent
\nLos Angeles Times<\/span><\/p>\n

Joe Ritchie<\/strong>
\nKnight Professor in Journalism
\nFlorida A&M; University<\/span><\/p>\n

Jan Schaffer<\/strong>
\nExecutive Director
\nPew Center for Civic Journalism<\/span><\/p>\n

Steve Smith<\/strong>
\nEditor
\nThe Spokesman-Review<\/span><\/p>\n

Terence Smith<\/strong>
\nMedia Correspondent, Senior Producer
\nThe NewsHour with Jim Lehrer<\/span><\/p>\n

Mizell Stewart, III<\/strong>
\nManaging Editor
\nTallahassee Democrat<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>Sponsorship<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The James K. Batten Award Program is a project of the Pew Center for Civic Journalism, which is an initiative of\u00a0The Pew Charitable Trusts<\/a>. The Pew Center maintains responsibility for the program’s impartiality and integrity.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Advisory Board] [Sponsorship] James K. Batten Award for Excellence in Civic Journalism   The final year for the Batten Awards for Excellence in Civic Journalism was 2002. For information on the successor awards, the Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism, which begin in 2003 and are sponsored by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, visit\u00a0http:\/\/www.j-lab.org\/batten.html. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pew-updates"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4443,"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions\/4443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev-testinglink.com\/projects\/civilorg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}