local.newsdesk.org
This entry has been selected as a finalist in the
The Power of Us: Re-Imagine Media competition.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Will you launch your idea as a business or non-profit?
Non-Profit
Web site (url)
Name Your Project
local.newsdesk.org
Describe Your Idea
Innovation
What is your idea? What makes it innovative? Why is it important?
My idea is to establish a national network of independent but affiliated "local.newsdesk.org" bureaus that can advance nonpartisan, commercial-free journalism and civic dialogue in underserved communities.
The bureaus will focus on important but overlooked news; fund themselves through earned income as well as individual donors and philanthropy; and develop extremely cost-efficient, peer-run newsrooms that are linked in a cross-promotional affiliate network.
My prototypes are Newsdesk.org's San Francisco office, and its weekly News You Might Have Missed service. Each bureau will leverage Newsdesk/NYMHM's brand, community, partnerships, editorial standards and promotional networks -- as well as the growing operational and development capacity of Independent Arts & Media, the 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor.
As fiscally sponsored projects, each Newsdesk.org bureau will benefit from the "shared back office" that Indy Arts represents, with eight years of experience providing financial oversight and IRS compliance for a variety of *independent* media and culture producers. This prevents duplication of services, and focuses bureau staff and resources on pure journalism.
Impact
What will be the impact of your idea?
Transformational.
• Social Entrepreneurship, New Philanthropy: Newsdesk.org has harnessed microphilanthropy to fund quality journalism, local and otherwise. A network of productive bureaus can syndicate their output to further diversify revenue streams. This breaks from the sluggish, top-heavy business model of the nonprofit media dinosaurs, and sidesteps the pitfalls of commercialism.
• Empowering Producers: We can help journalists and editors better serve their communities by providing a peer-driven newsroom and connecting them in a cross-promotional, mutual-aid network. The goal is journalistic independence, supportive collaboration and on-the-ground innovation.
• Empowering Communities: Microphilanthropy and the individual-donor model more effectively connect professional journalists to the communities they serve. This rebuilds trust and a sense of mutual responsibility, something that has suffered in today's media economy.
• Deepening Journalism Practice: Newsdesk.org has developed a programmatic approach to identifying, reporting on and disseminating coverage of important but overlooked news, by focusing on underserved communities and local/regional angles to national and global issues.
This Entry is about (Issues)
People: We are looking for ideas from people who can make them happen.
Staff
Editor: Josh Wilson
Writing Fellows: Julia Hengst, Lauren Riggs
Photo Editor: Jennifer Pickens
Site Design & Coding: Bosco Ho
Current Advisors (additional recruiting forthcoming)
Janice Castro
Assistant dean, graduate program in journalism, the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University; former staffmember, Time magazine.
John Coate
Founder, SFGate.com, the Web site of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Chris Paterson
Professor of communications, University of Leeds, U.K.
Dr. J. Michael Robertson
Professor of communications, University of San Francisco; former reporter, San Francisco Chronicle.
Barry Parr
Co-founder, the Mercury Center (now Mercurynews.com); founder, Coastsider.com; consultant, Jupiter Media.
Jon Rochmis
Freelance journalist and editor; former editor-in-chief, Wired News; former editor, SFGate.com.
Michael Stoll
Program director, Grade the News, Stanford University; former city editor, San Francisco Examiner.
Yumi Wilson
Professor of journalism, San Francisco State University; former reporter, editor and assistant ombudsman, San Francisco Chronicle.
Sustainability
How much will it cost to launch your idea?
Recognizing that grants and prize money are simply starting points and non-renewable, we would ensure that the $25,000 from this competition would serve the double-bottom line of mission fulfillment and sustainabilty.
Mission fulfillment: The funding would be used to deepen productive capacity for News You Might Have Missed, particularly by establishing editorial fellowships in underserved communities.
Sustainability: We intend to generate earned income by syndicating the material produced through the NYMHM editorial fellowships. We also will develop matching funding to at least triple the funds received. We would do this through traditional fundraising from individuals as well as foundations, and also create SPOT.US campaigns to further build out freelance resources.
The current, working 2009 Newsdesk.org/NYMHM budget is $15,600.
Our aspirational budget is:
= $197,000 per operating bureau
= three bureaus minimum in underserved US communities/regions, totalling $591,000
= network services/back-end infrastructure/"shared back office": $172,000
= total 1-year aspirational budget for three bureaus w/ "shared back office": $763,000
