Transmission Project - journalism

The media prophets report no future for capacity building of Community Media

Howie Fisher — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:10:28 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: June 13, 2011
Contact: Belinda Rawlins, (617) 287-7371, belinda@transmissionproject.org

BOSTON – The FCC’s “The Information Needs of Communities,” released last Thursday, represents a departure from previous reports in that it more fully recognizes community media outlets as key providers of digital and media literacy. However, the report misses the opportunity to make specific recommendations for strengthening and expanding these organizations’ ability to meet the needs of communities:

We applaud the community media centers that have moved to become key venues to help train citizens in digital literacy. We recommend that community media centers explore ways to help increase digital literacy and broadband adoption, and that policymakers consider community media centers as a resource that can aid in efforts in those areas. (357)

The Transmission Project has ten years of experience building the capacity of community media organizations that deliver digital and media literacy. A national service initiative, our Digital Arts Service Corps places volunteers with organizations to complete yearlong capacity building projects. In fact, many of the report’s examples of strong community media organizations have benefited from our Digital Arts Service Corps. The report mentions CAN TV in Chicago, Cambridge Community Television, Boston Neighborhood Network, Media Bridges Cincinnati, and Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN), whose Community Technology Empowerment Project emerged out of a collaboration with the Transmission Project.

In the past, the FCC has explicitly acknowledged the value of service-based models in promoting digital literacy. It is therefore disappointing that missing from the report is any recommendation regarding what role service and volunteerism should play in meeting the digital literacy needs of communities. Recommendation 9.3 of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan provided a framework for the creation of a National Digital Literacy Corps under the NTIA that would possibly entail a collaboration with the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Plan also recommended capacity building of digital literacy partners under IMLS. As neither of these recommendations has come to fruition, the newly released report served as an opportunity to elaborate on or explore alternatives to the previously proposed partnerships.

The FCC’s “The Information Needs of Communities” alludes only once to volunteer corps when it criticizes the possibility of AmeriCorps volunteers serving as journalists. Indeed, Transmission Project Executive Director Belinda Rawlins provided the FCC report’s working group with comment to the same effect. The report echoes her words:

There is one public-private partnership we think would be a bad idea: some have suggested creating a federally-funded AmeriCorps program for journalists. Journalism should often be about challenging powerful institutions, which sometimes will draw political fire and controversy. AmeriCorps has grown and prospered by focusing on the forms of service on which most Americans can agree, such as tutoring, helping seniors, or working for Habitat for Humanity. Creating a government-financed AmeriCorps for reporters would potentially seriously harm AmeriCorps. (357)

Although the report correctly defines the limits of AmeriCorps involvement, it declines to discuss how other corps models can help. Paid volunteers should not be barred from building the capacity of community media organizations. The Transmission Project is pained to see that the report’s working group seems unable to imagine a role for national service in helping to build a robust, diverse media infrastructure beyond directly serving journalistic enterprises.

We are still taking in the sizable report, and in the coming weeks we plan to explore in more depth various digital and media literacy curricula. In the meantime, we hope readers will refer to the Transmission Project’s previous statements on service corps models and digital literacy.

“Google Announces Launch of Technology Corps”

“In Pursuit of New Literacies”

The Transmission Project amplifies the power of public media and technology. The Transmission Project supports a diverse network of partner organizations that serve communities nationwide. Through our primary initiative the Digital Arts Service Corps, we recruit and place full-time AmeriCorps*VISTAs (Volunteers in Service to America) with organizations to complete specific, yearlong capacity building projects.

The Bangor Area Commons Radio Show

admin — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:46:29 +0000

‘The Bangor Area Commons’ radio show produced by corps member Meaghan Lasala. As part of Meaghan’s outreach efforts to connect with the Bangor community she has started this public affairs show dedicated to the people, stories, and issues of Bangor. The show not only spreads awareness of WERU to the Bangor area but also demonstrates to Bangor residents the power of local, community radio.

See her full archive of shows here: http://archives.weru.org/category/99-9-hour

Citizen Press Corps Website

admin — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:49:41 +0000

A website developed by corps member Brooke Brown-Saracino for her project, the Shires Media Citizen Press Corps.

www.shiresmedia.org

The Future of Journalism: Unpacking the Rhetoric

Belinda Rawlins — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:16:24 +0000

April 29, 2010 - April 30, 2010
Thursday 4/29 Kick-off event: 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Friday 4/30 sessions: 9:00 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Sponsored by The Center for Internet and Society

This conference is designed to challenge and dissect the fundamental assumptions and biases embedded within the media debate. The event will bring together journalists, lawyers, scholars, technologists, and policymakers to analyze and discuss the evolution of journalism into the digital age.

The format of this conference will consist of a Thursday evening Kick-off event with Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, followed on Friday by four panels, each addressing one of the tenets of conventional wisdom on the media. Panels will open with a talk supporting a specific principle. The panel members will then question, analyze, and debate the speaker’s thesis in an effort to introduce complexity and substance into the national dialogue about the future of journalism.

VISIT THE EVENT WEBSITE to view the full agenda, list of speakers and more information.

This event is free and open to the public. Please note, registration is required for the Friday 4/30 sessions. No need to register for the Thursday 4/29 Kick-off event, but please show up early to ensure your seat.

Journalism Innovations III

Belinda Rawlins — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:02:38 +0000

Now in its 3rd year, the conference, produced by Independent Arts & Media, The University of San Francisco, G.W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism and the Society for Professional Journalists, brings together some of the brightest minds and most innovative projects to network and share skills and ideas.

Last year’s conference drew over 300 attendees, and this year we’re expecting twice as many as the conference expands to include SPJ’s Western Regional journalism conference. There’s a lot of excitement in the industry at the moment and conversations around new business models, net neutrality, community engagement and multimedia training are already buzzing. We’re anticipating a great turnout and several enlightening sessions.

We are accepting proposals for session ideas and sponsorships now and will be sending out regular updates across a variety of mediums over the next few months. Please let us know how you would like to participate.

Sign up for the conference at our EventBrite page (http://bit.ly/9RvR43) , and take a minute to join our Facebook group (http://bit.ly/cOmfh9) to keep up on the latest developments.

* Info on Sponsorship: http://bit.ly/9spmyX
* Info on Sessions: http://bit.ly/9spmyX

FTC Workshop on the Future of Journalism

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:15:08 +0000

The Federal Trade Commission will hold its second two-day workshop on the future of journalism March 9-10, 2010, in Room 432 of the FTC Headquarters at 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. The agenda and information about the workshop can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/opp/workshops/news/mar9/agenda.pdf.

Consumers are increasingly turning to the Internet for news and information. Advertisers are moving ads to online sites and scaling back on ad buys as a result of the recession, and news organizations are struggling with large debts they took on during better times. As a result, some are questioning how journalism can survive and thrive in the future.

The FTC’s upcoming workshop will address proposals to better-support and lower the costs of journalism:

* Changes to copyright law have been suggested as means to require news aggregators to pay fees to news-gathering operations. Panelists will discuss whether such changes would be workable and likely achieve the desired results.
* Speakers will consider the potential advantages and disadvantages of combining the interests of for-profit and non-profit investors in hybrid entities, such as so-called L3Cs, as vehicles for new media organizations.
* Speakers will address efforts to make government data more accessible and easily managed in ways that may lower the costs of journalism.
* Panelists will discuss the wide variety of collaborations that news organizations may use to lower their costs and better support journalism.

In December 2009, the FTC held the first two-day workshop to consider a wide range of issues, including: the economics of journalism in print and online; the variety of new business and non-profit models for journalism online; factors relevant to the new economic realities for news organizations, such as behavioral and other online targeted advertising, online news aggregators, and bloggers; and ways in which the costs of journalism could be reduced.

The workshop is free and open to the public. Those planning to attend should arrive early to permit time to go through security screening.

BTOP Data and News

Ben Sheldon — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:19:07 +0000

We’ve been fervently tracking the BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunity Program) awards process: 1st round winners are slowly dribbling out while the 2nd round application deadline looms a month away.

In addition to the application spreadsheets we’ve been updating, we’ve reached beyond what’s in the database to directly collect data from applications. A survey went out yesterday to 1100+ applicants who have either had their first round application turned down for funding or are still awaiting a decision. In collaboration with the New America Foundation, we developed a quick set of questions to track what feedback applicants can expect, and develop a deeper understanding of what applicants submitted beyond what’s currently publicly available. Because of fast approaching deadlines, the report will be available in 2 weeks.

Fortunately, some journalists are also digging into the granting process. Here are a few recently published articles:

Tough Choices for Feds Giving out Broadband Money: With 2,200 broadband applications, competition for billions in stimulus dollars is intense - by Joelle Tessler
Fiber Optics, Not Magic Beans: Rural Idaho hopes to liberate broadband through stimulus - by Gavin Dahl

Asked why Qwest sat out the first round, several sources suggested the nation’s most powerful companies won’t take any money that forces them to sign the government’s nondiscrimination policy–the rules state that grantees “not favor any lawful Internet applications and content over others.”

…

According to a loud chorus of applicants, Rep. Walt Minnick’s office took the lead in helping the Idaho dozen prepare applications.

“Although Walt voted against the stimulus bill, he recognized once it did pass, it was his job to get as much money for Idaho as possible,” Minnick spokesman John Foster said.
Mapping out the Jedi Mind Trick - by Gavin Dahl

[Hannah Miller], the activist [national field director of the Media and Democracy Coalition], hopes the stimulus delivers funds to projects that improve rural access to affordable high-speed Internet. “There’s a different moral weight to these phone and cable companies than if they had, say, a peanut brittle monopoly. This is about access to information.”

“Our role is to try to encourage as many community partners to get involved as possible. Community involvement is what makes or breaks this thing. You’re asking folks to participate in something a great deal of people are intimidated by.”
$7.2 Billion For Broadband Is Largely Unallocated - by Joel Rose (via Todd Wolfson at the Media Mobilizing Project)

“They aren’t leading, they aren’t following, and they won’t get out of the way,” says Craig Settles, author of Fighting The Next Good Fight, a book about broadband business strategy. He says the nation’s biggest telecom companies have generally decided not to apply for federal stimulus money.

“They’re not going to put proposals on the table because they don’t like the rules,” Settles says. “Yet they’re not going to cooperate with the entities that are going after the money.”
More Legislators Question Idaho Education Network - by Sharon Fisher (via Gavin Dahl)

News and Inclusion: Journalism and the Politics of Diversity

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:45:12 +0000

Announcing News and Inclusion: Journalism and the Politics of Diversity, a symposium at Stanford University, March 4, 2010, featuring scholars from Australia, Finland, Singapore, Canada, The Netherlands, England, and the United States. Focusing on the role of journalism in multicultural societies, panelists will take up the challenge posed by political theorist Iris Marion Young when she asked, “What are the norms and conditions of inclusive democratic communication under circumstances of structural inequality and cultural difference?”

The symposium is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Re-Imagining News & Community in the Pacific Northwest

Mira Allen — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:10:36 +0000

The DIGITAL AGE and a depressed economy have changed the landscape in which journalism operates. Engage others who are actively involved in addressing the vital question of how the press and community members can help each other define and embrace our evolving Pacific NW news ecology. Our Seattle program “catalysts” - Norman Rice, Tracy Record, and Chris Jordan - will be part of the conversation joining other Pacific NW journalists, civic voices, broadcasters, educators, ethnic media, students, emergent voices, digital entrepreneurs and business people.

Society of Professional Journalists Convention & National Journalism Conference.

Belinda Rawlins — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:55:26 +0000

The Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to announce Roxana Saberi, the freelance journalist imprisoned in Iran from Jan. 31 to May 11, will be the keynote speaker at the Mark of Excellence Awards Luncheon on Friday during convention in Indianapolis.