You are here: Home » Local Journalism

Category: Local Journalism

New Round of Knight Community Information Challenge Now Open

Posted by Amy Garmer on Jan 18, 2012 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Public Service Media

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today opened a new round of funding for the Knight Community Information Challenge. The challenge provides matching grants to community foundations seeking to fund news and information projects.
To submit an application or for further information, go to www.informationneeds.org. Non-foundation community partners may participate, but they must partner [...]

Fellowship Opportunities to Spur Innovation in Journalism

Posted by Amy Garmer on Jan 12, 2012 in Blog, Featured, Local Journalism

Deadlines are approaching for two fellowship opportunities designed to spur innovation in journalism.
The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri is seeking applications for its 2012-2013 class of Reynolds fellows. RJI is seeking proposals for eight-month fellowships that would leverage the university’s technology, research and experimentation to advance innovative ideas in journalism. [...]

Might the new web journalism model be neither for-profit nor nonprofit?

Posted by Amy Garmer on Dec 09, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Local Journalism

There’s a third option, Tom Stites argues: a co-op model that lets communities advance their own interests.

Layoffs and Cutbacks Lead to a New World of News Deserts

Posted by Amy Garmer on Dec 08, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Local Journalism

Perhaps an energizing frame like news desert can widen the aperture of thinking about journalism’s future and sharpen the focus on people’s and democracy’s needs – on journalism as public good.

Thierer: Thinking about the Future of Informed Communities and Journalism

Posted by Amy Garmer on Dec 05, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Universal Broadband

Adam Thierer’s most recent op-ed (“Thinking about the Future of Informed Communities and Journalism”) in his Technologies of Freedom column on Forbes.com is worthy of note– and not just because it mentions the work of the Knight Commission and the related series of eight white papers published by the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program. [...]

Gary Knell Takes Helm at NPR, Cochran Advises: Fight for Federal Funding

Posted by Amy Garmer on Dec 01, 2011 in Blog, Local Journalism, Public Service Media

Barbara Cochran, the author of “Rethinking Public Media: More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive,” has a featured blog post on the Huffington Post front page today making the case for the continuation of modest federal funding for public media. The op-ed, “Why Federal Funds for Public Broadcasting is the Right Decision,” is especially timely as [...]

Assessing Community Information Needs: A Practical Guide

Posted by Amy Garmer on Oct 17, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Open Government, Public Service Media, Spotlight, Universal Broadband, White Paper Series

Free flowing news and information is essential to the health of democratic communities, but not all information environments are equally effective at meeting community information needs. What can a community do to measure the quality of its information environment, identify its information needs and take steps to build a more robust news and information ecosystem?
Assessing [...]

Progress Announced on Key Recommendations of “Information Needs of Communities” Report

Posted by Amy Garmer on Oct 05, 2011 in Blog, Local Journalism, Public Service Media, Universal Broadband

Two years ago this week, the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy released its Informing Communities report, which has served as a catalyst for a broader national conversation on how to bring the benefits and opportunities of the digital age to every community.
The fruits of this ongoing conversation were on [...]

Fancher: “American journalism is at a tipping point”

Posted by KnightComm on Jul 19, 2011 in Blog, Local Journalism, Public Service Media

In an interactive world, journalism must be a trusting partnership between journalists and the public. Building that partnership will require enlightened leadership within traditional and emerging news organizations. And partnerships will require involvement by local governments and foundations, schools and universities, libraries and churches, social groups and, most important, individual citizens.

Journalists and Librarians Finding Common Ground

Posted by Amy Garmer on Jul 01, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Local Journalism, Public Service Media, Universal Broadband

What can journalists and libraries do to create opportunities for local news and civic engagement?
Leading-edge thinkers in both fields have come together recently in several different venues to explore answers to this question. The early feedback on these discussions is that this is a worthwhile topic to discuss at a critical time for both institutions.
In [...]

Re-Imagining Journalism: Local News for a Networked World

Posted by KnightComm on Jun 23, 2011 in Blog, Featured, Local Journalism, White Paper Series

Re-Imagining Journalism: Local News for a Networked World, a new policy paper by Michael R. Fancher, identifies five strategic areas and specific ideas for promoting experimentation, collaboration and public engagement that are critical for reforming local journalism. The paper calls upon a variety of stakeholders in business, the nonprofit sector, government and community institutions, and [...]

Norm Ornstein on Creating a New Public Square

Posted by KnightComm on Jun 23, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Local Journalism

Following on the release of Civic Engagement and Community Information: Five Strategies to Revive Civic Communication by Peter Levine earlier this month, Norman Ornstein at the American Enterprise Institute has published a new white paper that also takes a critical look at the challenges to boosting civic participation and improving the [...]

2011 Knight News Challenge Winners Announced

Posted by Amy Garmer on Jun 22, 2011 in Blog, Civic Engagement, Local Journalism, Open Government, Public Service Media

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced the winners of the 2011 Knight News Challenge at the MIT-Knight Civic Media Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts today. Sixteen ideas that push the future of news and information will receive a total of $4.7 million to foster innovation at “the intersection of journalism and technology,” according to Knight Foundation President Alberto [...]

Implementing the Recommendations of the Knight Commission

Posted by KnightComm on Jun 22, 2011 in Civic Engagement, Digital Literacy, Featured, Local Journalism, Open Government, Public Service Media, Universal Broadband, White Paper Series

The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy released its report “Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age” in 2009 with 15 recommendations to better meet community information needs. Immediately following the release of “Informing Communities,” the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program and the John S. and James L. [...]

FCC Releases Knight Commission-inspired Report on Information Needs

Posted by KnightComm on Jun 09, 2011 in Local Journalism, Open Government, Spotlight, Universal Broadband

Today the FCC released the findings of its inquiry into the Future of Media, a project begun in early 2010 in response to the Knight Commission. In a report over 450 pages long, author Steve Waldman and the Working Group on Information Needs of Communities inspect the shifting media landscape and lay out how relevant [...]