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Digital Strategy for Community Foundations and Mission-Driven Local Organizations, April 4-6
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Strengthening the Local News
EcosystemVivian Vahlberg
April 6, 2013
Today
• What we’ve done
• How we evolved
• Ideas for you
• Questions and discussion
CCT’s KCIC Journey
PortalCommunity
News Matters
Civic Inno-vationProject
4
Business Models Are Changing
There’s Less Traditional Local Coverage
5
How we started
“An interactive portal for Chicago residents to access and contribute information about critical public services and civic activities”
The State of Chicago’s Online News
• Surprising vitality
–At least 200 online news sites, blogs or newsletters
–New ventures launching every week
–Some real national leaders –editorially and technologically
7
Chicago’s Online News Ecosystem
• Incredible variety
–Region wide – and neighborhood
–General audience – and targeted
–Known new brands – and upstarts
–Original reporting – and aggregation
–Variety of techniques
8
> 900 Outlets
48 TV
132Radio
>153 Online
479 Print
An Ecosystem -- in Transition
Concerns About The New News Ecosystem
• Great promise – but not yet sustainable
• Don’t compete with the innovators – help them develop
• Quality
10
COMMUNITY NEWS MATTERS!
A Fund To:
• Increase flow of truthful, accurate, insightful local news and information now
• Help develop models for the future
• Speed progress with learning community
• Boost Chicago as lab for the future of news
CNM: A team effort
• Chicago Community Trust
• Knight Foundation
• MacArthur Foundation
• McCormick Foundation
• Driehaus Foundation
• Woods Fund of Chicago
An innovator’s mindset
Learn!
Tweak!
Test!
CNM Researchcommunitynewsmatters.org
• News That Matters consumer and leader study
• Realizing Potential innovator study
• Ad network feasibility study
• Evaluations
NEW NEWS 9, 10 & 12
• 2009: ID 200; profile & rank 60
• 2010: ID 300, profile ops of 121
• 2012: ID 476; look at 191; rank 50
–Plus sidebars
Lots of Ahas!
• New News
• Linking
• News That Matters
• Realizing Potential
–Most feel informed & feel they can get info
–BUT half don’t know enough to vote
–Big divide by income
NEWS THAT MATTERSWhat we learned
Evaluator
• More media awareness & linking
• More awareness of influencers
• Self-discovery by grantees
• Identified opportunities to address issues
• Raised visibility of notable sites
• Informed decision-making
Some ideas for you• Copy or adapt what we did.
www.communitynewsmatters.org
• Scan your landscape: start with your networks
• Don’t just look at news providers
Mini-Grants
• 64 awards
• $2,000 - $60,000 each
• Total $897,000
• To non-profits, individuals & for-profits
Mini-Grants
• 15 Innovator Awards
–Increase flow of good info
–Help innovators with new models
–Learn from it
Mini-Grants
• 45 Local Reporting Awards
–Stimulate burst of coverage
–Develop new ways to spread info
–Focus on low-income
• 4 to support organizations
Mini-grant examples
Austin Talks: Teen Deaths
IHM: Awareness of Health Reform
In These Times: Class Divides
The Gate: Undocumented Youth
Ortiz: Too Young to Die
Mini-grants: Lessons
• To achieve diversity, look for different kinds of expertise
• A little money CAN matter
• Value beyond dollars
Mini-grant ideas
Do it!
• Great way to experiment, learn, build community
• Decide focus, issue RFP
• Choose judges strategically
• Expect duds
CNM: Sector Support
• Convening
• Ad Network
• Innovators, Funders & Academics
Evaluator’s Assessmentcommunitynewsmatters.org
OUTCOMES
• Achieved diverse coverage of underserved
• Illuminated what was happening and what was needed
• Demonstrated power of foundation to change tenor of dialog
Civic Innovation in Chicago
Look systemically at public & private information that can be used to engage residents, solve community problems & increase government accountability
Civic Innovation Project
Again, an evolution:
• CMAP
• Metro Pulse
• Smart Chicago
• Civic Innovation in Chicago
Civic Innovation in Chicago
• Work with govt. to make data available
• Help government use data
• Identify tech solutions to boost performance & solutions
Civic Innovation in Chicago
• Engage non-profits to find data-based solutions
• Provide open gov news & analysis
CIC: Also a partnership
• Knight & CCT
• State, city, county
• Ill. Science & Tech Coalition
• MacArthur Foundation
• Local non-profits
• Local journalists
CCT’s KCIC Journey
PortalCommunity
News Matters
Civic Inno-vationProject
www.communitynewsmatters.org
www.communitynewsproject.org
www.smartchicagocollaborative.org/projects/civic-innovation-in-chicago/
