State Think Tanks Serve as Online Labs

Promoted and bumped. -Patrick

Check out the Drudge Report tonight and you'll see a photo of Al Gore and a link to "REPORT: Gore's personal electricity consumption 'up 10%'..." Look a little closer and you'll notice the source isn't a mainstream news organization or even a blog. It's the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

This isn't the first time Drew Johnson's state-based think tank has hit the jackpot with a Drudge link. The organization broke news in February 2007 about Al Gore's enormous energy bill. That story, too, was picked up by Drudge, sending a slew of hate mail to Johnson in the process.

Johnson has attempted to build on that success over the past year, emphasizing the importance of doing investigative reporting at the Tennessee Center for Policy Research -- work that others in the state won't do. He's taken his message to other organizations in hopes they'll follow his lead to recruit staff who are capable of this kind of work.

Other state-based think tanks are following a similar model. Heritage took its Computer-Assisted Research and Reporting class on the road last fall to Kansas City and St. Louis thanks in part to the Show-Me Institute. Mark Tapscott, editorial page editor at the Washington Examiner, and two other instructors taught broadcast journalists (and Show-Me Institute staff) how be an effective investigative reporter.

Reporting isn't the only area where these organizations are devoting resources. As my Heritage colleague Alex Adrianson reports today on InsiderOnline.org, school choice proponents in Maine are using e-mail lists and social networks to organize.

In one case, an e-mail campaign was used to rally supporters to show support at a school board meeting. Instead of taking an expected vote to kill the choice program, the school board agreed to put the question before the voters.

In another case, a local group launched a campaign in support of a ballot proposal to preserve choice. As part of that campaign, the group created a Web site via the social networking tool Gather. The ballot proposal succeeded.

Inspired by these successes, the Maine Heritage Policy Center has launched its own Maine School Choice Web site using the social networking tool Ning. The Maine Heritage Policy Center hopes to rally other choice supporters around the state to understand the threat the Maine consolidation plan may pose to choice programs.

 

These are the types of positive developments those of us inside the beltway don't hear about often enough. If you have a success story, please share it.