Biography/History

The Pew Center for Civic Journalism was established in 1993 September through a grant by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Administered by the Tides Center of San Francisco, the purpose of the project was to provide grants to print and broadcast media organizations to help them find new ways to connect with citizens in their communities. The PCCJ collection documents the results of the project, most evident in the James K. Batten Award for Excellence in Civic Journalism entries from 1995-2002, which make up the bulk of the collection. The awards were first given out in 1995 to honor civic journalism pioneer James K. Batten, and awarded an annual $25,000 cash prize to print or electronic journalism in four categories: newspaper/magazine, television broadcast, radio broadcast, and online, whose work supported people involved in the life of their community. in 2003, the project was moved to J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism at the University of Maryland.

Executive Staff and Notables

Dr. Thomas W. Langfitt	Neurosurgeon who became a Pew Charitable Trust board member in 1979. Later served as Chairman, President, and Executive Financial Officer.
Jan Schaffer	Deputy Director. First Executive Director of PCCJ.
James K. Batten	Editor of the Charlotte Observer. Later became Chairman and CEO of Knight Ridder.
Edward Fouhy	Veteran TV newsman. Rebecca Rimel gave Fouhy a $50,000 grant to do a six-month study into how the foundation could fuel the public journalism movement. The Pew board approved a three-year, $3.6 million grant to establish the PCCJ and the foundation tapped Mr. Fouhy to run the new center.
Rebecca Rimel	Executive Director. President and CEO of Pew Charitable Trusts.
Davis “Buzz”Merritt	Editor of Knight Ridder's Wichita Eagle.
Hodding Carter III	President and CEO of John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Award-winning journalist, media critic, and TV public affairs commentator.
Reid Ashe	Publisher of the Tampa Tribune. President and CEO of Media General Inc.
Donald Kimelman	Project Director of Pew's Venture Fund.
Walker Lundy	Editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Editor and Executive Vice President of the Philadelphia Inquirer.