A major theme emerged in our discussion on public media last night – because of the collapse of traditional news media, innovators across the globe have entered a phase of intense experimentation to find a new model that can support the serious reporting necessary for democracy. Many of these experiments are grassroots, lead by innovators working on the fringe of the media establishment.
The projects presented last night are part of this broader movement, which is being fueled by frustrated journalists, new technologies, and social sector seed funding (grants, individual donations, friends and family capital).
Before I outline the projects, let’s be clear about the sources and magnitude of the problem. There are three major causes, according to Michael Stoll from Public Press:
-Classified and other advertising revenues at traditional news organizations, particularly newspapers, has fallen off a cliff. For instance, classified ad revenue at the San Jose Mercury News has dropped 90% in the last few years. This leaves little money for reporting.
-Corporate consolidation has taken a lot of reporters off the street. Owners and managers of big news businesses believed there was a lot of redundancy in the system, i.e. multiple reporters from different companies covering the same beat. Consolidation ensued, but the strategy didn’t work. Many of these news conglomerates are near bankruptcy while newsrooms continue to shrink.
-Technology has caused a massive change in news reading habits and expectations. People increasingly get news online and don’t expect to pay for it.
This triple whammy has put traditional news organization on the brink of extinction. Remember that most of the real news you get on the web comes from these old school sources.
Continued crumbling of this old, centralized media system could leave citizens without a source of critical information about their society. So what happens when old institutions implode? Well, often they get rebuilt from the bottom up in a new form by ordinary citizens like us.
Josh Wilson of Newsdesk.org, Michael Stoll of Public Press, and Kara Andrade of Spot.us are trying to do just that with the support of the community. All left jobs in reporting to find a solution.
Frustrated with gaping holes in coverage and a general lack of serious news, Josh began producing News You Might Have Missed (NYMHM) for his project Newsdesk.org a few years back. It covers under-reported news, stuff we really should know about but the mainstream media won’t report for political or financial reasons. NYMHM curates news from across the globe offering readers a more well-rounded and critical view of what’s happening in the world. An easy way to start supporting this effort is to subscribe, you can do for free here.
With similar motivations, Michael Stoll began organizing concerned citizens and journalists last year to form a noncommercial, off and online newspaper for San Francisco and the Bay Area called the Public Press. The Public Press starts with the question, “What if you put the journalists in charge of the business of reporting working closely with citizens for direction and support?” The Public Press is answering this question. Thanks to a small grant, they’re beginning coverage next month operating on journalist driven, citizen supported, nonprofit model. There is plenty of work to be done to launch this new venture. You can pitch in. Start by becoming a reader of the blog, subscribing to the newsletter, or attending a monthly planning meeting. Get started here.
Kara Andrade, community organizer for Spot.us, is ramping up usage of Spot.us’ online crowdfunding platform for serious, public interest reporting in the Bay Area. Spot.us has already funded 10 stories including pieces on the troubled Oakland Police Department, investigation of election ads, and on the impacts of the Cosco Busan oil spill a year later. The inspiration for Spot.us was the book “Crowdsourcing.” Spot.us works directly on a new economic model for reporting where citizens fund the stories they want to read. You can get involved by suggesting a story, making a financial contribution to a story you want to read, writing a funded story, or by reading a funded story . Get started here.
Thanks to everyone who turned out for great discussion, to Citizen Space for an awesome space at a nonprofit rate, and to those who brought food for the pot luck, took a moment to help a fellow leaguer, and set up and cleaned up.
Our next meeting is Thursday, February 26th. Elizabeth Becker, founder of the Machu Picchu Leadership Adventure, will be facilitating a talk about traveling on purpose to change your world. Learn more about the event here.
See you then. Oh, if you haven’t already, you’re invited to join The Abundance League social network here.
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