Executive Summary

In the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, numerous analysts have criticized the polarized nature of media and its failure to include perspectives that reflect the ideological and demographic diversity of the country. Many have argued that media must do more to listen to multiple publics.

Curious City, a radio series based at WBEZ Chicago Public Media, has been trying to do just that. Since its inception in 2012, it’s produced traffic-generating stories developed from questions nominated by listeners. However, question-askers tended to come from areas of metro Chicago that were public radio strongholds. Seeking to expand its question base, Curious City undertook an outreach project in 2016 focusing on underrepresented areas of the city—primarily African-American and Latino neighborhoods on the South and West Sides of the city, as well as some predominantly white suburbs. Using a combination of face-to-face outreach, outreach via community partners, and social media marketing, the team attempted to determine the best method for generating “novel” questions from target areas during this experimental period.

This report asks what we can learn from Curious City’s digital and offline strategies to expand the demographics of people whom media is listening to. It draws from my observations of the program’s outreach process and twenty-five interviews with journalists, participating audience members, residents of targeted outreach areas, and partner organizations. It also offers an opportunity to reflect on journalistic norms and approaches to participatory media, how community stakeholders interact with local news, and relations between public media and marginalized publics.

The first section offers an overview of the Curious City model—which uses Hearken, a digital engagement platform now being employed by more than seventy newsrooms in the United States and internationally. It looks at how this approach fits within contemporary audience engagement approaches. The second section outlines Curious City’s outreach project, the strategies employed, and WBEZ’s reflections on the series’ efficacy: not only the number of questions generated, but also the type of questions, and the pros and cons of various approaches. Staff members also reflected on negotiating expectations and power dynamics as they entered communities where they were often perceived to be outsiders.

Section three explores how the project did and did not challenge traditional journalistic norms regarding audience engagement. It examines how the public was or was not involved in the process of producing stories—from the selection of stories, to reporting them, to soliciting feedback following their broadcast. The fourth section examines the extent to which Curious City’s outreach initiative affected relationships between local stakeholders. In particular, it looks at the idea of a community “storytelling network” that connects media, community organizations and institutions, and residents.

Through its outreach project, Curious City has made headway as an engagement tool through many, if not all, phases of story production. Ultimately, for media outlets to make a more effective contribution to democratic dialogue in the United States, engagement projects must explore pathways that help them listen to audiences, integrate input into reporting, and offer shared spaces for community members to discuss with each other. While the project focused on demographic and geographic inclusivity more than political ideology, lessons learned regarding engagement could inform a range of projects pursuing more inclusive media. This report offers analysis of the project’s successes and limitations, in the hopes of providing suggestions for how to expand audience engagement beyond the publication or broadcast of stories for all journalists.