NWME: Looking for Women Media Innovators

The MF-funded J-LAB initiative New Media Women Entrepreneurs has once again put out the call for creative new Web sites, mobile news services or other ‘entrepreneurial initiatives that offer interactive opportunities to engage, inspire and improve news and information in a geographic community of a community of interest.’

What do the three winning women-led projects get? They each receive one-time funding of $10,000 to help them launch their new venture. Last year’s contest attracted nearly 200 innovative proposals. The three winners were:

Echo, a system of public storytelling installations in Atlanta. Led by Lila King and Karyn Lu, movers behind CNN’s user-generated site iReport.com.

Latina Voices, a news site for and by Latinas. Led by Teresa Puente, a journalism professor at Columbia College Chicago and member of the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board.

Northwest Navy News, a networking site for Puget Sound’s military community. Led by Elaine Helm Norton, new media editor at The Daily Herald in Everett, Wash., and a former military beat reporter.

The deadline is March 31, 2009. For more information on guidelines, FAQs, etc:
http://www.newmediawomen.org/index.php/site/proposal_guidelines

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Funding Newspapers Directly

Veteran journalist David Westphal, blogging for the Online Journalism Review site at the MF-funded Knight Digital Media Center, raises the interesting question of whether foundations should fund newspapers directly in order to improve the quality of local and investigative reporting. He brought the issue up in light of the Knight Foundation's recent grants to community foundations to confront information needs in communities.

Some interviewees raise concerns about the ethics of foundations funding for-profits ventures directly. But as Jan Schaffer of J-Lab points out, foundations have been supporting journalism projects at newspapers for more than 15 years.

Check out Westphal's full exploration here: http://www.ojr.org/ojr/people/davidwestphal/200901/1627/.

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NYCMA Posts Ippies Awards

They range from analysis of those most affected by foreclosure to the compelling profile of a multi-ethnic softball league, a piece on being Sikh in America to a photo essay on train travel in India. The winning entries from the New York Community Media Alliance’s 2008 Ippies Awards are now online. As a group, these stories personalize the immigrant experience in compelling and nuanced ways. Click here (http://www.indypressny.org/ippies2008winner.php3) to view all of the winning entries.

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Change At The Top of Nation's Leading Papers

The New York Times has a piece on turnover at the top spot in the nation's largest newspapers. All have had new editors, and most new publishers too, in the past few years. Whether the departure is friendly or forced, the leading newsroom position is more and more about finances, and all too often about cutting positions and doing more with less. Read at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/business/media/19paper.html?_r=1&8dpc

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A Dozen Change Agents

The Poynter Institute announced its inaugural class of McCormick Change Leadership Fellows yesterday - a diverse line-up of media managers from across the country coming together to spark innovation and update management techniques in embattled, digitally-driven newsrooms .

Though they're not giving up their day jobs, the group will assemble for discussion and training in March . Later, they will be tapped to lead seminars and workshops for journalism organizations, including Poynter.

The 12 fellows are:

• Eileen Brown -- Director of innovation, Daily Herald/Paddock Publications, Arlington Heights, Ill.

• Mark Cardwell -- Managing editor, digital media, The Denver Post, Denver, Colo.

• Lisa Carricaburu -- Assistant managing editor, the Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah

• Rodrigo F. Cervantes -- Editor, Mundo Hispánico, Atlanta, Ga.

• Mae Cheng -- Executive editor, amNewYork, New York, N.Y.

• Jane Elizabeth -- Director of online news, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

• Emilio Garcia-Ruiz -- Sports editor, The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.

• Lisa Glowinski -- Editor of the Rockford Register Star's "GO" features section, Rockford, Ill.

• Damon Kiesow -- Managing editor, online, The Telegraph, Nashua, N.H.

• Will Pry -- Editor of The Dallas Morning News' "Briefing" publication, Dallas, Texas

• Yvette Walker -- Director of presentation and custom publishing, Oklahoma Publishing Co., Oklahoma City, Okla.

• Jennifer Ward -- Assistant managing editor/interactive, The Fresno Bee, Fresno, Calif.

For more on the program, visit: http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=128&aid=156530

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Leader of the Pack

California has again stepped forth as a leader in the movement to protect student speech. The state enacted a law last week - known informally as the Journalism Teacher Protection Act - that will protect high school and college advisers from retaliation "for trying to protect student press freedoms," according to a recent L.A. Times article by Robert Lopez (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-advisors4-2009jan04,0,7158385.story).

Lopez states that the measure is the most stringent in the nation ---- and "closes a loophole in state law that for years has ensured free speech rights for students but failed to guarantee protections for advisors, according to supporters." He continues: "They say administrators have been able to exercise de facto campus censorship by clamping down on journalism advisors."

For more on the new law, visit MF grantee Student Press Law Center's site: http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1817.

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