Georgia News Lab

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The Georgia News Lab is an award-winning investigative reporting collaborative. It’s mission is to train the next generation of investigative reporters, make the vital work of watchdog journalism affordable for local news organizations and increase diversity in professional newsrooms. The News Lab is a partnership between the top college journalism programs in Georgia, including historically black colleges (HBCUs), along with the leading news outlets in the Southeast, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WSB-TV and Georgia Public Broadcasting.

Citizens Journalism Workshop

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The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, which runs IowaWatch.org, hosted a workshop in Iowa City in April 2019 to inform the public about behind-the-scenes practices used to tell a truthful news story. The workshop, “Creative Minds: Journalism Workshop Engaging Citizens In the News,” fostered two-way communication between participating newsroom journalists and 15 local residents. This was a pilot project to determine public interest in such a workshop and to see whether ICPAJ could pull it off. The answer to both was: yes.

Developing Local Podcasters for Public Radio

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KCPK-LP is conducting local podcast and broadcast training sessions to educate community members. This nonprofit media organization received its license for low power radio station and went on air in February, 2017. With the recent launch of a simulcast online radio stream, KCPK is now reaching beyond its 5 mile rural mountainous signal area to engage a larger “community” through self-directed training videos in podcasting and copyright laws.

Local Switchboard NYC

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Local Switchboard NYC is a collective of women who produce multimedia content for and by the communities of New York City’s varied boroughs. Local journalists and community members are trained in audio production so they can cover their own neighborhoods and tell stories often overlooked and underreported by larger media organizations. This new initiative was piloted at WBAI-FM.

Living on the Edge

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Living on the Edge is a special, two-part feature series, published by the Highlands Current, focused on people and families living on “survival budgets” in the MidHudson Valley in New York. The series was inspired by the “ALICE Report” (asset-limited, income-restrained, employed), a United Way study that showed many people in thisregion cannot come up with $400 for an emergency expenses. The Highlands Current decided to try to put the story of real people behind those statistics.

Inclusion X Project

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BenitoLink is a hyperlocal nonprofit news organization launched by two young Latino staff members with support from a local United Way grant. In 2018, BenitoLink expanded coverage of the local Latino community with funds from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation AT&T Pebble Beach ProAm. In summer 2019, BenitoLink brought on five interns for graphic arts, copy writing, computer applications, and marketing. Our computer science intern was funded largely by the Emma Bowen Foundation.

A Parent’s Guide to Public Schools (2019 Finalist)

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A Parent’s Guide to Public Schools is a free “consumer report” tool, distributed to 50,000 families to aid parents in making decisions about their childrens’ education. The Guide, produced in English and Spanish, provides an overview of every local public school’s performance in easy-to-read charts, with answers to basic questions about public school options. VOSD works UC San Diego to analyze the school performance data and with the San Diego Workforce Partnership to cover topics like vocational training. Read Current’s coverage of this project.

Samantha White survived a sexual assault when she was 16. White now works as a life coach and finds she is able to identify with her clients in a uniquely empathetic way.

Seeking Conviction

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Carolina Public Press led a first-of-its-kind statewide investigative reporting collaboration in North Carolina including 11 news organizations Over six and a half months, journalists analyzed statewide court data and conducted extensive interviews with sexual assault survivors, victim advocates, medical professionals, law enforcement, prosecutors and state officials across North Carolina. The investigation revealed that one in four sexual assault cases result in a conviction, and in 30 of the state’s 100 counties, there were no convictions at all in four and a half years.

Politifest

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Even though San Diego is full of festivals and street fairs, in 2011 Voice of San Diego decided to create a new festival about local politics. Politifest featured a dunk tank, a mayoral debate, a tug of war and an “idea tournament.” Now eight years old, Politifest includes debates, panels, and interviews with experts. It’s a platform for residents to raise their voices, ask tough questions, and get a crash course that provides insights on local issues and into how local government works.