Strengthening Local Journalism in 2019

By
December 2019

Recapping Our Goals

In 2019, the Foundation set forth four goals to guide its journalism philanthropy. We want to:

In 2019, the Foundation made over two dozen journalism grants, totaling over $2.5 million, to organizations whose work aligned with one or more of these goals. We hope that investing in these four areas will help us achieve a journalism ecosystem that is inclusive, sustainable, and free of coverage gaps so that all people, regardless of social or economic distinction, have access to the news they need to be informed and engaged in our democracy.

To understand the Democracy Program’s progress on these goals in our first year, we have looked to our partners’ achievements in 2019. There are many other ways to measure advancement. For example, we have partnered with the Center for Media Engagement to look at Chicagoans’ perceptions of the news and characteristics of local coverage. We’ve also worked with our partners to understand the policy impacts their reporting has achieved and organizational revenue mix as other proxies for progress. Each is a helpful metric, and we are trying to consider them together to inform our work.

For this post, however, we are highlighting a few organizations and initiatives modeling ways of working that we hope will become the norm in a more inclusive civic information ecosystem. In the meantime, we are grateful for our partners’ perseverance and admire their resilience.

Following is some information about a selection of organizations the Foundation has supported to advance each goal. We encourage you to learn more about them to understand why they were compelling partners for our work.

Broaden and Deepen Reporting

Borderless Magazine

A nonprofit news outlet that is reimagining immigration journalism for a more just and equitable future

The Promise, the true story of one man’s asylum journey from Syria to Chicago.

Our interest: For a region that is about a fifth foreign-born, the quantity and depth of reporting on immigrants, their communities, and their experience in Chicago, and the policies that affect their lives are significantly undercovered. Borderless is bringing new original reporting, partnering with outlets such as the Chicago Reader, to disseminate those stories, and experimenting with new forms of journalistic communication — as exemplified in The Promise — to engage and educate a broader audience.

The Chicago Reporter

Founded on the heels of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, The Chicago Reporter confronts racial and economic inequality, using the power of investigative journalism

Recent Project of note: "The Kim Foxx effect: how prosecutions have changed in Cook County"

Our interest: Investigative journalism can instigate sweeping policy changes by exposing major flaws in our public institutions. Such reporting has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for people of color, who make up about half the region’s population, if the problems explored are rooted in their experience and the challenges they face. And a collaborative reporting project, such as the story about Kim Foxx profiled above, has the potential to reach even more people and achieve broader impact.

We are also excited about…

The Better Government Association, the Center for Investigative Reporting, Chicago Public Media, City Bureau, the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, ProPublica Illinois, Public Media Institute, and South Side Weekly — important partners aligned with our goal of filling critical civic information gaps in our region.

Enhance Collaboration and Community Engagement

Lens on Lightfoot

A collaboration between the Better Government Association, Block Club Chicago, Chalkbeat Chicago, The Chicago Reporter, The Daily Line, La Raza and The TRiiBE, facilitated by the Institute for Nonprofit News, to examine the first year of Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration.

Our interest: We believe collaborations unlock new opportunities for journalism. This collaboration is harnessing complementary subject matter expertise, audiences, styles, and more to bring more transparency and ensure greater accountability in local government. Nonprofit and for-profit outlets are partnering on a long-term project that is piloting a new way of working and already resulting in fascinating stories. Stories published to date include:

Follow #LensOnLightfoot on Twitter to stay up to date on forthcoming stories.

People Powered Publishing Conference 2019

Strengthening the connections between journalists and the communities they cover

Our interest: Annually, Illinois Humanities convenes outlets from across the country to support their work engaging residents in their communities. Driven by an understanding that journalism can best achieve its civic mission if it connects with residents at multiple points in the reporting process, the conference offers journalists peer learning and networking opportunities so they can become increasingly fluent in community engagement.

Invest in Human Capital

National Association of Black Journalists, Chicago Chapter

The purpose of the NABJ-Chicago is to bring together Chicago-area African-American journalists dedicated to truth and excellence in newsgathering and reporting, and equality in the media industry

National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Chicago Chapter

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists is the leading organization for Latinos in the media. It is dedicated to the recognition and professional advancement of Hispanics in the news industry, plus excellence in coverage of the entire Latino community

Our interest: Representation of people of color in media remains dismally low. McCormick joined several other foundations committed to furthering diversity, equity, and inclusion in calling for newsrooms to create more inclusive environments. McCormick supports these efforts in Chicago, through trainings and direct engagement with newsroom leaders, but we also recognize the importance of creating independent networks of support for journalists of color. The National Associations of Black and Hispanic Journalists have a long-standing commitment to building these networks of support and fostering a diverse talent pipeline for newsrooms, but they require additional capacity to meet the needs of individual journalists in an era of increasingly constrained resources and mounting pressures. Supporting these chapters’ work in Chicago is one step towards building newsrooms that reflect the region’s racial and ethnic diversity.

Defend Press Freedom

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press provides pro bono legal representation, amicus curiae support, and other legal resources to protect First Amendment freedoms and the newsgathering rights of journalists


Our interest: Watch this video; it presents a compelling case for caring about press freedom. In 2019, RCFP continued its active defense of the press, supporting hundreds of journalists and newsrooms when their abilities to access and report information was threatened. This video was of particular interest to us last year as it was part of a coordinated, stepped-up effort to engage the public in defending the press. RCFP chaired a new #ProtectPressFreedom campaign to improve how the press and its partners communicate with the public to explain the importance of an independent press. The new ProtectPressFreedom.org website offers helpful information on the history of press freedom in the U.S., describes types of threats, and helps individuals understand how they can help defend the press.

Student Press Law Center

Founded in 1974, the Student Press Law Center is an independent, non-partisan 501c(3) which works to promote, support and defend the First Amendment and press freedom rights of high school and college journalists and their advisers.

Student voice is at risk in our country. Censorship, intimidation, and the threat of other actions put the independence of student journalists especially at risk compared to their professional counterparts. The recent case of a Naperville, IL student paper underscores how close and current this risk is. Thankfully, SPLC offers resources to support these newsrooms and their advisers as they report on their communities.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Home Visiting Helps Combat Effects of Toxic Stress in Young Children

By
Guest blog by Diana Rauner, President, Ounce of Prevention Fund & Gaylord Gieseke, Vice President, Voices for Illinois Children  The number of children at risk for the short and long-term effects of toxic childhood stress is growing dramatically. This was the dismal news highlighted in a policy statement released last month by the American Academy of Pediatrics and in a recent op-ed from New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. Both cite new research that demonstrates that the cumulative effects of growing up in environments replete with violence, parental depression, chaos and other uncertainties can literally alter the healthy, normal development of a young child’s brain. These stressors can impede a child’s capacity to “power down” from the fight or flight reflex, which reduces his ability to manage his temper and emotions or show empathy to others. It can also lead to later drug and alcohol use, obesity, heart disease and even early death. But it doesn’t have to be th...
Read more

Tracing America's Painful Past Can Offer Lessons for the Future

By
Image
On Saturday night, staff from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation will be attending the DuSable Museum of African American History’s “Night of 100 Stars,” a benefit highlighting the amazing achievements of notable individuals, including artist and musician Chancelor “Chance the Rapper” Bennett, former World Food Program executive director Ertharin Cousin, and Lonnie Bunch, the founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. and former president of the Chicago History Museum. Lonnie Bunch also had a piece in today’s New York Times about a recent incident at the National Museum in whcih someone placed a noose near one of the museum’s exhibits. This follows instances of nooses being left elsewhere on the National Mall in recent weeks, and in other places around the country as signs of racial hate and intimidation. Bunch offers a powerful view into the continuing story of racism and bigotry in this country, as well as our uneven progre...
Read more

Preschool Attendance Matters

By
Image
by Stacy Ehrlich and Julia Gwynne  Nationally, there has been a great effort to increase funding for early education programs to increase enrollment of at-risk children into high-quality programs, such as Head Start. However, recent research highlights that once children are enrolled in preschool, they must also regularly attend to reap the benefits. A study conducted by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research, in collaboration with Chicago Public Schools, found that preschool students who are chronically absent – meaning they miss 10 percent or more of enrolled school days – have lower levels of math, letter recognition, and social-emotional skills by the time they enter kindergarten than children who attend regularly. In the 2011-12 school year, 45 percent of 3-year-olds and more than one-third of 4-year-olds were missing this much school – equivalent to three weeks. Moreover, for a portion of these students, preschool is the beginning of a pattern t...
Read more