future of journalism
Toward a Journalism R&D Fund
This week the Knight Foundation announced three new board members and a new strategy regarding its journalism investments. The foundation, whose aim is to “help sustain democracy by leading journalism to its best possible future,” has been one of the leading funders of journalism projects and initiatives across longstanding media organizations and new news models. The new board members are all leading media thinkers who have a long history of putting innovative ideas into action.
Panel Tackles Innovation in Public Media
“News is just too important to leave to those who shout the loudest … or have the biggest purse.”
Caroline Thomson, chief operating officer of the BBC, made these remarks at this week’s Washington, D.C. forum on innovation in public media. “The Next Big Thing” featured a range of leaders from public and community media, plus demos and videos of new projects and debate about how we create and consume journalism in the digital age.
Other speakers included Jake Shapiro, the founding CEO of the Public Radio Exchange, Sue Schardt, the CEO of the Association of Independents in Radio, Joaquin Alvarado, head of innovation for American Public Media, and Craig Aaron, Free Press president and CEO.
For footage of Tuesday’s event click the links below:
Nonprofits Hit Trouble at the IRS
Last week, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported on a troubling trend that has many of the most innovative new journalism nonprofits stuck in a bureaucratic black hole at the IRS.
The rise of local nonprofit news organizations has been heralded as one of the most promising signs in the news industry’s rapid transformation over the last four years. Veteran reporters, tech-savvy journalists and citizens are starting vibrant local journalism nonprofits to fill the gaps commercial media are leaving behind as they consolidate and slash newsroom jobs.
Field Reporting: Going, Going, Gone?
Veteran TV journalist David Marash knows the news.
Marash is a former correspondent for ABC’s Nightline and won Emmys for his reporting on the Oklahoma City bombing and the explosion of TWA Flight 800. He was an anchor for Al Jazeera English from 2006–2008. He’s spent a good 50 years in the business.
Which also means Marash knows when the networks are trying to pass something off as news that isn’t news. He calls it “news whiz”: Like Cheez Whiz, it’s an embarrassing substitute for the real thing.
The Great Debate: Public vs. Private Journalism
Profits are killing journalism.
Publishers and editors care more about the bottom line than the quality of their reporting. Newsrooms are shrinking, as a result, and good stories have gone untold. The public is worse off because of it.
So goes one argument, at least, in the debate about public funding of journalism. It’s a hot topic that appears immune to any clear-cut solution, and it’s shaking the foundation of what it means to do journalism and the best way to do it. Among the big questions are:
Should public funding expand to cover the gaps left by the shrinking private news business? Could it expand without government support, and would this create conflicts? Would a heavily subsidized public media serve us better than the private media? If so, how?
Dan Rather on the Media’s ‘New Order’
In the latest video in The Nation’s series on the future of journalism, Dan Rather gives what he calls a “wide shot” on the conditions facing print journalism.
Rather, managing editor and anchor of Dan Rather Reports on HDNet and the former anchor of the CBS Evening News, describes print media as an “old order” that has disappeared but not yet been replaced by a “new order.” He discusses the pros and cons of transitioning to online media.
Watch the video:
End the Big Broadcast Swindle
The FCC is reviewing its media ownership rules and needs to hear from you. Tell the FCC we need rules that serve the public, not big broadcasters.
Change the Channels
Check out the interactive map to see consolidating newsrooms near you.
