The vastness and diversity of New York City means many residents are unaware of the worlds existing next door, around the block, behind the sign in a foreign tongue. In a bid to bring the city closer together and recognize the great journalism going on in every corner of the city, City Limits’ Voices of New York project translates news from Spanish, Chinese, Polish, Nepalese, Japanese, Russian, Bengali and other languages into English. This amplifies some of the smallest, more vital media voices in our city,
The Pittsburgh region is run in large part by more than 500 unelected board members of authorities, commissions and other governmental agencies who often decide what does and doesn’t get built, who gets contracts and grants, what rates and fees we pay and more. This project sheds light on these panels and their roles, providing information about each member and inviting analysis of this important part of the region’s power structure.
Spotlight PA is a collaborative project that enhances the local journalism ecosystem and strengthens our democracy by enabling Pennsylvanians in all corners to have access to high-quality, public-interest journalism about statehouse and statewide issues. Its innovative partnership model – now the largest of its kind in the U.S. – and bespoke collaborative story sharing platform and Content Management System are replicable for newsrooms across the country.
Since the pandemic hit Nevada, we have aimed to provide the most comprehensive COVID-19 data, infographics and informed context in the state. As the only major paywall-free news site in Nevada (excluding radio and television sites), all of our in-depth coronavirus reporting is accessible to all Nevadans regardless of ability to pay.
In our rural peninsula sticking out into the North Atlantic Ocean, creative activity has long played a key role – the quality of light in Cape Cod inspired visual artists, the accepting environment welcomed all and the intersection of sea and land created a haven for the creative mind. Today, this economic sector is overshadowed by tourism, real estate and a schism between seasonal wealth and year round survival. ArtsLight was created by our small community nonprofit station to “shine a light” on an under-reported area and, by shining that light, also cultivate a shared understanding of a creative economy that delivers far more than a visitor attraction.
The NC Watchdog Reporting Network is a cooperative effort of investigative journalists representing seven news organizations across North Carolina. Participants include Carolina Public Press (CPP), the Charlotte Observer, the News and Observer, WBTV, WECT, WRAL and WUNC.
The Faces of Hunger project was a yearlong journalism and community dialogue initiative from Carolina Public Press that focused on issues of hunger and food insecurity in rural North Carolina. Through in-depth multimedia reporting, resource sharing and free community events, and news and community partnerships that highlighted dialogue and potential solutions, Carolina Public Press shined the spotlight on the issues and systems contributing to hunger and food hardship in the state.
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.
BenitoLink is a hyperlocal nonprofit news organization launched by two young Latinx staff members with support from a local United Way grant. It is working to expand the voice of the Latino community in the region by making sure its news coverage reflects the local demographics, and developing a youth program that teaches journalism and work skills.
A Parent’s Guide to Public Schools is a free magazine-style guide from Voice of San Diego that is distributed to 50,000 families annually. It aids parents in making decisions about their children’s education by providing an overview of every public school’s performance in easy-to-read charts and answering common questions about local public school options.
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.
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.
Using GroundSource text messaging technology, 100 Days in Appalachia conducted a poll of voting-age Appalachian high school students ahead of the 2018 midterm election, asking about their stances on some of the most hot-button political issues, including immigration, gun control, abortion, LGBTQ rights, etc. The results were shared openly with local, regional, and national media outlets to inform their reporting about the politics of this group in the region.
Next City is a nonprofit news organization, founded in 2003, that believes in the power of journalism to amplify solutions from one city to the next city. Next City hosts live seminars, free hour-long webinars in which we ask practitioners to share lessons from successful projects in a 30-minute presentation followed by 30 minutes of moderated questions. Access is “pay what you wish;” the highest response has been 539 registrants contributing $3,500.
Highlands Current Inc. is a nonprofit corporation begun in 2010 created to provide balanced reporting of news and events for the Hudson Valley communities of Cold Spring, Garrison, Nelsonville and Philipstown, N.Y. This special series took a deeper look at likely impact of climate change on the region, the challenges facing local farmers, “living on the edge” and the growing opioid crisis.
Each summer, the Young Voices Media Project teaches teens in the Salinas Valley the essentials of media literacy, critical thinking, journalism, writing and news reporting. Students pitch story ideas, conduct interviews, develop sources and write/produce their own news stories while they develop the confidence and skills for civic involvement. Young Voices is a project of Voices of Monterey Bay, a non-profit news magazine that publishes local stories for Monterey and Santa Cruz counties in California’s Central Coast.
Matter Mobile is a portable, pop-up studio taken to different community events to conduct high-quality audio and video interviews about thorny issues like urban development. The collapsible studio is constructed of wood, soundproofing foam and windows made out of acrylic sheets. This structure offers interviewees more privacy than recording vox pops openly in the field.
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.
Local residents were invited to a two-hour workshop during which local news professionals described the steps of reporting, writing and editing a news story in their community. Then, the residents brainstormed story ideas and sources with the professionals, guided by an IowaWatch journalist who identified journalistic practices related to the ideas that were presented.
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.
