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

Saving Local Businesses in Greater Englewood

By
Image
For 36 years, Tess Porter has owned and managed Tess’ Style Shop at the intersection of Garfield Boulevard and South Ashland Avenue. She’s seen iconic, name-brand businesses — signs with golden arches and burger crowns — come and go. She’s seen children walk by, stop in, grow up and have their own children do the same. She’s hired locally, given generously and waved at thousands of passers-by as she reinvested, time and again, into her business. Everyone knows that Tess’ Style Shop is the place to go in Englewood for beauty and grooming services and supplies, for women and men, behind big, plate-glass windows. Everyone including looters, who in the heat of the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in May 2020, broke Tess’ beautiful big windows, entered her store and ravaged it terribly. “It was heartbreaking. I cried,” said Tess. “It was hard because I’ve been here a long time. I felt like they not only should have known who I am, but that they should’ve had a little bit more respect fo
Read more

Leadership in Democracy

By
Image
McCormick Launches 2021 Program Supporting Current and Emerging Leaders Best-selling author and business consultant Peter Drucker once proclaimed “Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things.” Great managers can become great leaders — and vice versa — if opportunities to grow learning and expand experience are provided to them. It is with this purpose that the Robert R. McCormick Foundation launched the Leadership in Democracy Program in 2020. The goal is clear: develop high-capacity civic leaders, representative of the communities they serve, who invite constituent participation and advocate for and implement inclusive policies. By investing in senior leaders within key Foundation’s grantee organizations, prioritizing leaders of color, and connecting these leaders with executive coaching and other management training and supports, the Foundation can help leaders enhance inclusiveness and impact at their organizations and contribute to a more robust pip
Read more

Krewasky Salter leads First Division at Cantigny Park

By
Image
The Robert R. McCormick Foundation and Cantigny Park recently named Krewasky A. Salter, Ph.D., executive director of the First Division Museum in Wheaton. Salter, a U.S. Army Colonel (retired), brings more than 34 years of experience to the museum, with 25 years gained in active military duty. He served as a senior staff officer at the Pentagon before retiring from the military in 2010. Most recently, Salter was a guest curator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). He curated the museum’s inaugural exhibition, Double Victory: The African American Military Experience . The exhibit opened in late 2016. He is also serving as curator of an upcoming exhibition, We Return Fighting: The African American Experience in World War I , scheduled to open in December 2019 at the NMAAHC. “Krewasky’s experience as an Army officer, teacher and scholar of military history and museum curator, made him an ideal choice for this leadersh
Read more