McCormick Media Matters

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2012-01-25T16:52:00.000-06:00

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Upcoming News Literacy Workshop: Demanding Quality

2012-01-23T11:51:00.002-06:00

The News Literacy Project is partnering with the Neighborhood Writing Alliance on a session about how news literacy can empower consumers and inspire citizen journalism.

This free event is open to the public. E-mail rhudak@jot.org to RSVP.

February 13, 6-8 pm, Jane Addams Hull House @ 800 S. Halsted, Chicago IL

Brainstorm: News Literacy in Online Spaces and Public Places

2012-01-23T10:49:00.001-06:00

We’re keeping an eye on ways to expand news literacy initiatives through awareness and engagement, curriculum development, training, research and evaluation. We recently came across a news literacy webinar by New York City-based The LAMP (Learning About Multimedia Project). The webinar offers guidance for teachers on how to help students evaluate information from online news sources.

· This 10-minute webinar on “Information Literacy: How to Evaluate Information from News Sources” is led by Katherine Fry, the LAMP’s education director. She uses the Occupy Wall Street movement as a lens for exploring and understanding a variety of websites and blogs.

· The webinar outlines ways to evaluate news sources based on quality of content, the type of source and the presentation vehicle.

· This is one of three webinars that the LAMP is scheduled to produce for World Wide Workshop’s Globaloria, a digital curriculum that uses game design to teach news, civics and digital literacies.

The LAMP also just launched "What's in the News?" workshops for eight branches of the Brooklyn Public Library. They will be holding news literacy workshops for librarians and for the general public (some of these will be held in Spanish). It’s great to see news literacy take root in libraries and public spaces. Our question to you: In what other spaces or platforms could news literacy make an impact?

In the meantime, check out the following news literacy resources from LAMP:

· Check out the News: An introduction to news literacy and understanding how and why news is made.

· The LAMP Resources: Downloadable resource guides on news literacy, digital literacy and media literacy.

--Janet Liao, program officer

“Really?” Curriculum & Contest

2011-12-05T09:46:00.001-06:00

“Baby Bacon,” the baby formula that provides jacked-up nutrition levels…the Bed Bug outbreak hitting hotels in major cities…the $100,000 backpacks purchased by the city of Los Angeles for its emergency responders.

All are news stories that were widely disseminated but based on questionable reporting. Their distribution and impact could have been avoided early on, had reporters – or audience members – simply used common sense and asked “Really?”

One safeguard is material provided by the Radio Television Digital News Foundation meant to teach teens to ask common sense questions about news stories. RTDNF has released an innovative set of News Literacy resources for teachers and students. It also is sponsoring a Public Service Announcement contest with a top prize of $1,000 for the winning student and $1,000 for his or her school. The deadline for entry is Dec. 20. RTDNF’s news literacy work targets educators in school (high school, middle school) as well as in nonprofit, after-school settings. We asked Carol Knopes, education director for the RTDNF, to describe what drives the Really? initiative.

Really? is the first question that should come to mind when teens get a text, Tweet, blog, rumor from a friend or a story from the New York Times. Any information at all. Students should certainly ask it before passing along any information. After ‘Really?’, we want teens to ask five other simple questions:

· Who said it?

· Can I trust that person?

· Is that person biased on this subject?

· Am I biased on this subject?

· Where can I go to get more reliable information to make my decision about this information?

We know that the best way to teach teens important journalistic concepts is through hands-on work. Our students have to understand the Really? approach to news literacy before they can start writing their scripts and shooting their video PSAs. We’re looking forward to seeing some creative, sometimes serious, sometime funny takes on how to sort through the deluge of texts, Tweets, blogs, gossip, websites, cable news, broadcast news and newspapers.

Knopes hopes that teachers around the country will adopt these lesson plans and participate in the PSA contest. “We know that teachers are very busy this time of year. Teachers can choose the parts of the webinar and the parts of the lesson plan that they want to present. Their students will see TV news stories that would never have been broadcast if someone had just asked ‘Really?’ We think this is the kind of program that students will very quickly understand and put into practice.”

For more information, go to RTDNF’s High School Broadcast Journalism Project’s website, at www.hsbj.org.

--by Mark Hallett, senior program officer

News Literacy: “We Need to Be Teaching This”

2011-11-22T09:20:00.006-06:00

Professor Lyn Millner of Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) reflects on a Nov. 2 news literacy workshop for high school educators. With a McCormick grant, FGCU is carrying out a news literacy program that helps connect classrooms with journalists via video conferencing. Teachers nationwide can apply to participate in the program here: http://www.newsu.org/tools/face-face-conversations-journalists.

Our news literacy night for high school educators went very well. The upshot is that most of the educators plan to institute at least some of the concepts in their classes immediately. I also learned that the new Lee County School Superintendent would be very receptive to learning about how we're teaching news literacy at Florida Gulf Coast University.

I gave the educators an intro to news literacy—what it is and why it matters—using much of what's in Stony Brook's introductory lecture. I told them how our course has made a difference with students.

The reaction from the high school teachers was overwhelmingly positive. Lots of nods and "we need to be teaching this." Nearly all of the teachers said they planned to begin integrating some of these lessons in their current classes. All were grateful for Stony Brook's course materials. (Thank you, Dean and Liz!)

Jennifer Reed, a teacher at South Fort Myers High School told me: “My kids are 18, they're about to go into the world, and it scares me [that they don't have news literacy skills]. Instead, we're teaching them texts such as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.”

Our discussion naturally broadened to how FGCU's new journalism program can help the high schools in other areas of journalism. Journalism faculty member Rick Kenney led a discussion about specific skills we might address in a spring workshop for high school students. Rick is teaching Journalism & Society (our news literacy course) this year, along with writing, and media law and ethics.

In addition to high school educators, several community members attended, including Paula Sklodowski, an outreach person with WGCU public media; Byron Yake with Write-on Sports; Tony Majeri, retired from the Chicago Tribune and keenly interested in helping FGCU set up a summer high school journalism skills workshop; and David Steckler, on faculty at FGCU and working with Byron to start a middle-school program.

—Lyn Millner, Assistant Professor, Journalism, Florida Gulf Coast University

Stay tuned for more updates on FGCU’s work in news literacy education.

Prison: Reflections on the Exhibit of Chicago photographer Lloyd DeGrane

2011-11-21T11:39:00.004-06:00

A wide angle view of the inner atrium of Stateville Correctional Center’s F House, the prison’s old roundhouse, with four floors of cells facing a central watch tower
The scarred face of an inmate who’s been knifed and shot to the skull. His claim to fame? He’s never gone down.
A display of weapons made by inmates on the premises.
An intimate portrait of an artist inmate, looking defiant but introspective, his painting of a black Jesus on the wall behind him.

These are some of the provocative images taken over a decade by Chicago photographer Lloyd DeGrane and now on display in a stunning exhibit at Roosevelt University’s Gage Gallery. The exhibit includes letters that inmate Simon (“Sam G.”) Gutierrez wrote to DeGrane over the course of many years, detailing life in the prison. The pictures document how inmates are herded through a Chicago holding cell and moved to the Joliet receiving cell (“a parade of buses every Friday morning between 9-10 a.m. on Interstate 55 surrounded by state police cars”). Once inside, prisoners are shackled and assigned a state facility.

At the opening, DeGrane addressed the crowd. A few takeaways:

As a photographer, he carried just one medium format camera and lens, a light tripod. He always asked permission and walked slowly, never moving fast, around the prison.
The prison environment stands out for its sounds (“People yelling, screaming, blurting things out.”) and the smells (“Human waste, sweat, blood, rotten food. The things that thousands of men leave behind.”)
This isn’t about an innocence project, or about the wrongfully convicted or unjustly sent to prison, DeGrane said. These people were murderers, rapists, child molesters, all walking around with you. “This project is about the people you want to see locked up,” he said. “The people you don’t want to see late at night when it’s you and nobody else around.”

DeGrane used data to illustrate the vastness of the prison system. The U.S. represents 5 percent of the world’s population, he said, but has 25 percent of the world’s prison population. There are now 2.25 million people behind bars, plus 5 million out on parole (“the equivalent of Chicago locked up, suburbanites on parole”).

He wants viewers to walk away with a better understanding of where their taxes are going. “I want you to know what happens behind the 32-foot wall, and of the journey that people – especially the poor – go through in these places.”

The exhibit is at 18 S. Michigan Avenue and will be up through Feb. 4, 2012. For more information, go to http://www.roosevelt.edu/GageGallery.aspx.

–Mark Hallett, senior program officer

Dec. 2 Press Conference for High School Journalists at Roosevelt University

2011-11-11T10:55:00.001-06:00

Great opportunity for a high school journalism students to practice their reporting skills and tour Roosevelt University's new building. Information about the event is below:

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Roosevelt University is currently building the second tallest university building in the country. Our vertical campus in Chicago’s Loop will have dorm rooms for 633 students, classrooms, modern science laboratories, recreational facilities, a cafeteria, great views of the city, and much more.

Students working on their high school newspapers and their advisors are invited to attend a press briefing and tour this innovative new building which is certain to attract national attention when it opens for classes this August.

10:30 AM, Friday, December 2

Press Conference, Tour and Lunch

Roosevelt University

430 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago

This is a great opportunity for students to participate in a press conference and private tour before the building is open to the public. In addition, it will allow them to write about a new building which could benefit their classmates.

Reservations are required.

Please call 312-341-3510 with questions and to let us know who will attend.

We look forward to seeing reporters and editors on December 2.

Tom Karow, Assistant Vice President, Public Relations, Roosevelt University

To see renderings of the building, go to http://roosevelt.smugmug.com/Other/New-Building-Renders/11929136_VcjMxN#844746408_nZQVs

Town Hall Meeting: “Not Hiring: The Plight of Jobless Teens.”

2011-11-10T09:56:00.003-06:00

In the middle of what some consider the harshest job environment for teenagers in the post-World War II period, a leading youth journalism program hosted a Nov. 2 town hall to engage elected officials, nonprofit groups, school leadership, and dozens of teens from across the city – in a spirited discussion to explore this complex issue.

Moderated by veteran journalist Laura Washington, the town hall navigated topics ranging from global shifts in where jobs are located to changes in government funding of workforce development, to the multiple ways that odds are stacked against teens and the on-the-ground reality of how they view the job hunt.

What stood out – besides the clear commitment of the adults in the room, was the resourcefulness and determination of the teen panelists.

As well as the difficulty of their plight.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the summer employment rate for teens age 16-19 was 30 percent in 2011. In 2000, the employment rate for that same age group nationally was 52 percent.

If anyone entered the discussion thinking that teen jobs are simply about having a little spending money, that idea was done away with in the Columbia Links video that opened the event. “I’m my own guardian – so I have to financially support myself,” a Chicago high school student told the assembly from the screen.

Panelists at the event included Jack Wuest, executive director for the Alternative Schools Network; Jhatayn Travis, executive director of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization; Anton Seals, senior associate for Congressman Bobby Rush; and Black Star Project founder and executive director Phillip Jackson.

Student panelists included Lincoln Park High School seniors Donnell McLachlan and Ashley Walker; Chevelle Blackburne, a senior at Kenwood Academy; and Natalia Yarbrough, a student at Richard J. Daley City College.

Also in the house were State Representatives Esther Golar and La Shawn K. Ford.

So how bad is the teen unemployment situation? Bad enough that some worry that a generation is losing the opportunity at that first job early in life.

The 17-24 year-old age group, Seals explained, is when you learn to be employed. “Not being employed can also become a habit after a while. This has been changing since 2007. Now we’re seeing so many teens unemployed, and even their parents can’t find jobs. For some it’s to provide for a family, for others to start a career.”

“Youth have been really hammered in the summer,’ said Wuest of the Alternative Schools Network. “The economy’s broken, and it’s also not employing millions of adults. Incomes have stayed the same or gone down. Corporations have found they can make money, and are sitting on trillions of dollars. But youth are hammered worse than other groups.”

“In the 60s and 70s, you could drop out of school and still get a job in a factory,’ he said. “But those jobs have been replaced by low-paying service jobs.”

What’s happened to support to teen employment initiatives, Washington asked KOCO executive director Travis. “There’s been substantial disinvestment in funding for youth employment initiatives over the past two decades,” she responded.

“Working has a profound impact on the quality of life for young people, but also for the overall quality of life of their communities,” she said. “Each year when it gets warmer and violence escalates again, there’s suddenly a movement to support youth employment. Let’s start earlier.”

Washington asked Jackson of The Black Star Project about the other issues at play influencing high teen unemployment. He takes a decidedly global perspective on it. “I’m out in the ‘hood, but also across the globe,’ he said. “When we were young, the US was a certain country. We’d beat down other countries to have an artificially high standard of living,’ he explained. “But that’s done. We absolutely cannot compete with the rest of the world that way. We must start in our community, in schools, and look into the economic stream, then things will work out.”

“There are 75 million young globally people without jobs,’ Jackson said. “That means that each of you is competing with 75 million other young people. If you expect someone to give you a job, it’s not going to happen. We need to be more holistic. Government is important, but this must be community driven.”

The students on the panel were impressive for their analysis, poise and resourcefulness. Several said that they feel it’s important to not get caught up in the short-term benefits of a low-wage job but to stay focused on long-term goals instead.

Donnell McLachlan of Lincoln Park HS said that he’s not looking for work right now, because he wants to focus more on his education. “I’m looking for internships in journalism. This is helping to set me up for a major.”

Teens seeking work compete not only with one another, but with many over-qualified adults looking for work. Other factors are stacked against them too. For example, Chicago’s new, stricter curfew law means that those under 17 cannot be outside or in a public place after 10 p.m. week nights and after 11 p.m. weekends. This restricts many job options. Another issue hurting teen employment is the city’s violence. Returning home late at night can be prohibitively dangerous.

Washington asked: Are teens a second priority for policymakers? Certainly, several panelists answered. Wuest explained that over the past decade, when the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) came into effect, the number of federally funded summer jobs for teenagers has declined significantly. We talk about the surge in Iraq, he said, but “If we did the same here, we could put 1 million of our most disadvantaged youth to work. If we can do it in Iraq, why not here in our own country?”

Black Star and several other groups are training young people in entrepreneurship. “This is what should be taught in high school, in elementary school,’ Jackson said. “Not to grow up and get a job, but grow up and find a way to sustain a family and contribute to society.” Big business employs fewer people than small business, he said.

A TrueStar youth from the audience said his mother had taught him you’re never too young to work. At the same time, it’s about building your resume, not always taking that $8.50 an hour job. “It’s about making a difference, not money,” he said. “Once you have that concept in your head, better things happen.”

“It’s unfortunate for the young born in a time like this,’ said Jackson of The Black Star Project. But his message was one of hope. “Young people must push their legislators. You’ll have to occupy LaSalle Street and you’ll have to take inspiration from this hardship and go out and make it. It’s our job, too, we cannot leave you out here by yourselves.”

Brenda Butler, executive director of Columbia Links, closed by holding up the most recent issue of the youth-produced magazine R-Wurd, at 52 pages, the largest edition yet. “Hope we all leave with food for thought and plans for action. Take home a leaflet. Take steps – write letters, make sure that lawmakers hear your voices.”

To learn more about the Columbia Links journalism program, visit www.columbialinks.org.

McCormick Journalism Program grantees:

Columbia Links

Free Spirit Media

TrueStar

--by Mark Hallett, senior program officer

Events as Journalism

2011-10-31T14:10:00.005-05:00

It’s a chilly, fall Thursday night, yet more than 80 people have packed an auditorium in the Experimental Station’s location at 61^st and Blackstone on Chicago’s south side. They’re here to hear author Ralph Richard Banks discuss his provocative new book “Is Marriage for White People? How the African American marriage decline affects everyone.” Banks is an informed and engaging speaker, and his earnest style hide his controversial thesis that black women could do themselves – and black marriage rates - a favor by seeking partners of other races.

It’s a well-moderated, informative discussion on a timely and important topic. But it raises a question outside of the realm of Banks’ book: Are events journalism? Though the question harkens back to the early ‘90s, when Civic Journalism was the rage, it seems much more at home in today’s world when journalists are eager to engage audiences and are more comfortable with breaking taboos and barriers.

In an essay from July of this year on the Nieman Journalism Lab web site, Andrew Phelps describes how Evan Smith at the Texas Tribune has brought back ‘blogs, multimedia, troves of government data, and something old-fashioned for an online news startup: face-to-face conversations.’

Since its founding in 2009, Phelps explains, the Tribune has hosted more than 60 events. “Events are journalism – events are content,’ Smith told Nieman. “And in this new world, content comes to you and you create it in many forms.”

Plus, in this shoestring budget era, they can become an important source of revenue.

“Sometimes people want to learn about things by reading about them,’ says Jan Schaffer, executive director of American University’s J-LAB. “ And sometimes people want to learn about things by watching something or listening to someone, without a reporter intervening. The act of meeting and learning from one another seems to me to be an easy fit with journalism. The act of interviewing a newsmaker in person in front of an audience is also an act of journalism.”

The interview with Banks explores the ‘precipitous’ decline in marriage amongst middle class African Americans because no one, he says, had focused much attention on the topic. He explores the cultural and economic reasons that marriage has declined amongst African Americans, why black women feel compelled to marry within their race, the power dynamic that takes place when members of a larger group marry partners in a demographic that is in short supply, and some of the reasons that have kept black women from seeking out partners of other races. The audience is eager to jump in with questions and comments.

As host Jamie Kalven said in introductory remarks: “Tonight is one in a series of occasional public conversations meant to escape convention. To create a space where it’s possible to explore challenges and concepts. You’re not an audience, you’re participants in a conversation.”

--Mark Hallett, senior program officer

Upcoming Nov. 1 Panel Discussion on Balancing Facts and Faith

2011-10-28T13:35:00.003-05:00

The News Literacy Project is teaming up with Chicago's Northside College Prep High School to host a panel discussion event on Covering Religion: How to Balance Facts and Faith in the Search for Truth.

The event starts at 7 pm on Nov. 1, 2011 at the Northside College Prep Auditorium.

NLP invites high school journalism students to cover this event and interview the panelists. They'll even help you arrange an interview. For more information, go to thenewsliteracyproject.org/chicagoevent.

Teachers: Apply to Participate in a Face-to-Face Conversation with a Journalist

2011-10-27T17:12:00.001-05:00

We're pleased to announce a new news literacy program that helps connect classrooms with journalists via video conferencing.

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New Journalism Program Receives $42,000 Grant from the McCormick Foundation to Lead Virtual Conversations with Hard-to-Reach Journalists

FORT MYERS, FL -Florida Gulf Coast University’s newly created journalism program has been awarded a $42,000 grant from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation to launch Face-to-Face: Conversations with Journalists. The grant will allow high school, undergraduate and graduate students from across the United States to talk virtually with journalists who have covered news in hard-to-reach areas.

“These are journalists whom students would never otherwise meet,” said Lyn Millner, who leads FGCU’s journalism program and who created the project. “Students will learn how these reporters make decisions, verify information and report the truth—especially in challenging environments.”

FGCU will partner with Poynter’s News University in St. Petersburg, Fla., and with Stony Brook University’s Center for News Literacy in Long Island, NY, to produce the Face-to-Face conversations. Millner and new associate professor of journalism Rick Kenney will develop companion teaching resource materials as part of the project.

“We welcome FGCU to our grantee portfolio,” said McCormick Foundation Journalism Program Director Clark Bell. “News literacy anchors our strategy of building a more informed, news-literate and engaged citizenry. We expect the FGCU-Stony Brook-Poynter collaboration will make a major contribution to the effort.”

Face-to-Face is part of a national news literacy education movement, which FGCU has brought to southwest Florida. FGCU is one of only two higher-education institutions in Florida that are formally involved with Stony Brook’s Center for News Literacy.

“Poynter NewsU is excited that these conversations will be a resource for teachers from around the world,” said Howard Finberg, News University’s Director of Interactive Learning.

The first Face-to-Face conversation will be held in January 2012. High schools and universities may apply to participate in a Face-to-Face conversation at Poynter’s NewsU: www.newsu.org/fgcu_face2face

For more information contact Lyn Millner at (239) 590-7257 or lmillner@fgcu.edu.

-FGCU-

About Florida Gulf Coast University

Florida Gulf Coast University, a member of the State University System of Florida, is a comprehensive university created to address the educational needs of the rapidly growing Southwest Florida population. FGCU continuously pursues academic excellence, practices and promotes environmental sustainability, embraces diversity, nurtures community partnerships, values public service, encourages civic responsibility, cultivates habits of lifelong learning, and keeps the advancement of knowledge and pursuit of truth as noble ideals at the heart of the university’s purpose.

About the Robert R. McCormick Foundation

The Robert R. McCormick Foundation is committed to fostering communities of educated, informed and engaged citizens. Through philanthropic programs, Cantigny Park and museums, the Foundation helps develop citizen leaders and works to make life better in our communities. The Foundation was established as a charitable trust in 1955, upon the death of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. The Robert R. McCormick Foundation is one of the nation's largest foundations, with more than $1 billion in assets. For more information, please visit www.McCormickFoundation.org.

About Poynter’s News University

Poynter’s News University (http://www.newsu.org) offers training to journalists, journalism students, teachers and the public through more than 225 interactive e-learning modules and other forms of training. It has more than 195,000 registered users in 225 countries.

The Poynter Institute trains journalism practitioners, media leaders, educators and citizens in the areas of online and multimedia, leadership and management, reporting, writing and editing, TV and radio, ethics and diversity, journalism education and visual journalism. Poynter's website, (http://www.poynter.org) is the dominant provider of journalism news, with a focus on business analysis and the opportunities and implications of technology.

Chicago Town Hall Stresses Safety in the Online World

2011-10-24T17:06:00.004-05:00

With more than 700 million users worldwide, Facebook has emerged as the single largest online teen forum. With that comes all of the richness of teen life—the bonding, sharing, and exploring – but also the gossip, flirting and drama.

And yes, the bullying too.

In a crowded auditorium in Chicago’s Field Museum on Oct. 18, a forum presented by Common Sense Media (a San Francisco-based nonprofit that helps kids and families navigate the world of media and technology), Yahoo! Safely, and MTV’s A Thin Line explored not only what damage is done by cyberbullying but also what teens, teachers and parents can do in response.

Sponsored by the MacArthur and McCormick Foundations, and supported by Chicago Public Schools, SCE and Beyondmedia Education, the “Stand Up to Cyberbullying” town hall engaged a live audience of more than 400 Chicago teens. More than 3,500 others followed the live stream. Youth represented Free Spirit Media, Boys and Girls Clubs, the communities of Englewood and Pilsen, and the Southwest Youth Collaborative.

The audience viewed a short clip of “Your Social Life,” a video documentary on the topic of cyberbullying created by Beyondmedia Education, a Chicago nonprofit that works with under-represented women, youth and communities to tell their stories. (To see a clip of “Your Social Life,” click http://www.youtube.com/user/beyondmediaeducation#p/u/0/e34qLBE6htQ.)

Moderated by MTV News correspondent SuChin Pak, the panel included:

John E. Connolly – Education Technology Director, Chicago Public Schools
Mike Hawkins – YouMedia Coordinator/Lead Mentor
Rosalind Moore – parent
Tiffany Witkowski – Senior, Von Steuben High School
Montel Williams – recent graduate of North Lawndale College Prep High School

Hands across the crowd of 400 shot up when SuChin Pak began by asking how many teens present use Facebook. And asked how many were personally aware of cyberbullying incidents, a surprising 1/3 or so went up.

Tiffany Witkowski was asked what she learned in the process of working on the documentary “Your Social Life.” She responded that the biggest surprise what that the phenomenon known as ‘sexting’ is considered cyberbullying and can actually have legal consequences. “If you’re under the age of 18 and you send these photos, forward them, even just have them in your cell phone, you can be put on a sex offender’s list, can’t go to certain schools, can’t live in certain communities… I was shocked.”

Mike Hawkins, a lead mentor at Chicago’s innovative YouMedia space (an innovative teen learning space at Chicago’s Harold Washington Library), explained that part of the problem is that youth enter the digital world with no guidance. “Kids aren’t taught the critical aspects of media – what it is, how to navigate it. They’re left to their own accord.”

The panel included a mother of two teenagers, Rosalind Moore, who is also a program manager for Teamwork Englewood, a nonprofit organization. When asked what rules she enforces around social media use at home, she explained that when her kids were younger, there was simply a time limit. No computer before homework.

“But as they got older,’ she explained, ‘the rules lessened. Lots of parents want their children’s passwords. I never did that. We just had an agreement that they’d come to me if things got out of hand.”

Both of her children personally experienced incidences of cyberbullying – her daughter when her Facebook account was hacked by an ex-boyfriend, and her son when classmates took photos meant to mock him on a class trip and posted them online.

When asked if she is currently Facebook friends with her children, Ms. Moore responded (to the laughter of the audience) that she is not - but is friends with all of their friends.

As head of Education Technology for the Chicago Public Schools, panelist John Connolly has a unique perspective on the issue. Asked how he’s working with schools and teachers around cyberbullying in the country’s third largest school system, Connolly said that CPS is rolling out a curriculum in partnership with Common Sense Media.

“Four or five years ago,’ he explained, ‘the concept was ‘Let’s block this site.’ Now it’s moving toward ‘Let’s leverage these sites and educate our kids through curriculum in a controlled environment, to show them how to leverage the technology in a responsible way.’”

In that time, a lot has changed. This point was driven home when Pak asked Montel Williams, a recent high school graduate, how social media is different today than when he started in high school. Williams explained that at that time, he had an email account, but no Facebook page, and he wasn’t texting either.

But while most teens choose to be engaged in Facebook and other social media, some are opting out altogether. Witkowski said that she no longer has a Facebook page. “I found it pointless. I was getting mildly harassed on Facebook. That was my solution for getting rid of the cyberbullying. It’s perplexing to me that everyone is so fascinated with what everyone else is doing.”

Pak asked the panelists how online and face-to-face bullying relate to one another.

Williams explained that it can be easier to deal with in-person bullying. Many of today’s bullies hide behind the anonymity of the web.

“It’s almost cool to be mean today,’ Witkowski responded. “It’s so easy to bully online. Today’s fist fights often start online.”

How do we start to figure out ways to build more positive communities online?

“It starts at home,” Witkowski explained. “But if you can’t talk with a parent about it, you can talk with a teacher who knows you, knows the kind of work you produce, knows when you’re having an off day.” Ideally, there would be safe communities online where teachers could help resolve problems early on.

Such alternative online spaces exist, Hawkins said. At YouMedia and at the Hive Chicago (a network of museums, libraries and other groups creating youth-oriented digital learning spaces), students can maintain their Facebook page but also participate in alternative networks. “You can be mentored and understand you’re here to create, share and collaborate. These are safe spaces where you can engage and learn and share with your peers.”

When asked how schools respond to cases of cyberbullying, Connolly explained: “We encourage students, when bullied, to let parents and teachers know. When teachers see this occurring, we encourage them to work with the two students.”

At the same time though, let’s remember not to be too tough on the bullies, Moore stressed. “Hurt people hurt people. The person bullying is also affected. People who are happy and engaged and have full lives don’t think about ways to hurt someone. So we need to think – as teachers, friends and mentors – that the person hurting others is also hurting.”

It’s important that adults pay attention to this area - both the richness of it as well as the pitfalls and dangers. As Connie Yowell, director of education at the MacArthur Foundation put it in her introductory comments: “It’s a different day with digital media. These are incredibly powerful learning tools. You don’t want to say ‘turn it off.’ They’re tools for participation. So we want to say to parents: Participate. Be in there with your kids.”

--Mark Hallett, senior program officer

To see the entire town hall, click here:

http://safely.yahoo.com/teens/townhall

McCormick Foundation Journalism Program grantees mentioned in this article:

Beyondmedia Education (www.beyondmedia.org)

Common Sense Media (www.commonsensemedia.org)

Free Spirit Media (www.freespiritmedia.org)

Did You Know?

Common Sense Media makes resources available to help parents, teachers and teens address the issue of cyberbullying.

Parents

Make a promise to talk to your kids about cyberbullying
Learn more about the issue and how to talk to your kids at www.commonsense.org/cyberbullying

Teachers

Download CSM’s cyberbullying toolkit at www.commonsense.org/educators to access materials that you can use in your classroom
If you attended the event, you can get 1 CPDU by completing the forms online at CPS University
Teens
Learn more about your digital rights at www.athinline.org
Join Hive Chicago’s youth social network by signing up at YouMedia at the Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State Street

Townhall on Teen Unemployment: Presented by Columbia Links, Nov. 2, 2011

2011-10-17T15:29:00.002-05:00

Join the teen reporters from Columbia Links as they bring people together with their stories to find solutions to the plight of teen joblessness.The students will be hosting a town hall meeting on Nov. 2, 2011 at 618 S. Michigan Ave., Stage 2, starting at 5:30 p.m.

In the meantime, check out the stories of Columbia Links students, who have worked tirelessly on their stories this past year. In addition to launching R_Wurd magazine.

The teen unemployment rate is several times higher than that of the national unemployment rate.

Say What? Young Chicago Authors Report on Segregation in Chicago

2011-10-13T16:54:00.001-05:00

Earlier this summer, Young Chicago Authors held its Say What Summer Institute summer wrap party at Navy Pier. Founded in 2002, Say What Magazine, a publication of Young Chicago Authors, gives teens the journalism tools and skills that they need to report, document and tell the stories that impact their lives and communities.

Students took on a reporting project with WBEZ's Vocalo.org discussing segregation in Chicago. You can view the work of the students here. We love seeing great content collaborations between youth journalism organizations and community news. Keep up the great work!

Strengthening Community News in Chicago

2011-10-12T16:13:00.001-05:00

This summer, the University of North Carolina’s “Business Models for Community News in a Digital Age” initiative produced three workshops for community and ethnic media in Chicago.

This initiative harnesses the skills of UNC professor Penny Abernathy and journalism students who helped small, rural North Carolina community newspaper develop an Internet presence and provide lessons learned for similar news organizations.

Like their counterparts across the country in urban and rural settings alike, smaller community and ethnic news organizations in Chicago have struggled to establish a digital strategy. From July to September, Abernathy hosted a series of seminars at the Community Workshop that shared lessons learned from local Chicago news organizations including, Hi India, Extra and the Chicago Crusader. Missed the presentation? Download the PowerPoint slideshow and video from the seminar.

Open Youth Networks: Finalist in Apps for Metro Chicago Contest

2011-10-11T09:51:00.001-05:00

We're excited to hear that Open Youth Networks at Columbia College has been named one of ten finalists in Apps for Metro Chicago, sponsored by the Mayor's Office

Developed by Open Youth Networks with a team of women software engineers and students from Columbia College, IIT and UIC, Mi Parque - Little Village is a bilingual participatory placemaking web and smartphone application that helps residents of Little Village ensure that their new park is maintained as a vibrant, safe, open and healthy green space for the community.

It's great to see creative innovation at the intersection of community engagement and technology.

Like Mi Parque? Public voting is live until October 14th, 5 p.m.

The voting process involves:

Creating a login by clicking here: http://appsformetrochicago.com/user/login
Voting for at least 3 and no more than 5 of the ten finalists in the community round. Therefore, review the apps first here: http://appsformetrochicago.com/community_round_entries
OYN will donate any prize money to its community partner, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization.

Learn More

Apps for Metro Chicago site: http://appsformetrochicago.com/

App link for MiParque: http://appsformetrochicago.com/apps/mi-parque

Apply Now for $35,000-$50,000 to Host a Reporting Workshop

2011-10-10T15:56:00.001-05:00

Have an idea for a workshop for journalists? The Robert R. McCormick Foundation, in partnership with The Poynter Institute, welcomes applications from universities, journalism organizations and others to develop two-day training programs on key topics in 2012. Learn more and apply now to host a Specialized Reporting Institute in 2012.

Specialized Reporting Institutes (SRIs) are designed to meet the growing need to provide journalists and others with subject-specific expertise and practical reporting training on issues in the news. This year’s hosts conducted training for reporters on these topics:

Covering the impact of the economic crisis on American families (Suburban Newspapers of America Foundation/Associated Press Managing Editors Foundation)
Tracking stimulus dollars and covering the budget crisis in your community (Boston University/New England Center for Investigative Reporting)
Covering public pensions (Society of American Business Editors and Writers)
Political polling (American University School of Communication)
Census coverage: Going deep with demographic and economic data (Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Arizona State University)
Covering Islam in the Bible Belt (Middle Tennessee State University School of Journalism)
Elections 2012: The campaign for social media, a workshop planned for Oct. 25-27 (The Poynter Institute).

Applications are being accepted from universities, non-profits, training groups and others who would like to host an SRI in 2012. For details, go to http://www.newsu.org/resources/mccormick-sri/. Apply by Nov. 15.

Upcoming Town Hall Meeting on Jobless Teens

2011-10-10T09:21:00.001-05:00

Mark your calendar for an upcoming town hall meeting on teen jobs, hosted by our friends at Columbia LINKS.

Columbia Links, a teen reporting academy, invites you to its town hall meeting, "Not Hiring: The Plight of Jobless Teens," moderated by journalist and media commentator Laura Washington at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011. The evening will also launch the newest edition of R_Wurd, the teen magazine produced by Columbia Links students.

The latest government figures show teen unemployment at 25.4 percent nationwide in August 2011, nearly triple that of other major worker groups: adult men (8.9 percent), adult women (8.0 percent). Overall, 14 million Americans or 9.1 percent remain mired in joblessness.

And numbers for summer 2011 are even bleaker for black teens: 46.5 percent in August, up from 39.2 percent in July, according to the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

The discussion is just beginning. Now let's act. We welcome your participation on Nov. 2.

Guests confirmed:

Jack Wuest of the Alternative School Network and who commissioned the Center for Labor Market study on teens and unemployment.

Jhatayn Travis, executive director of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization and part of the coalition of community groups that sponsored teen hears and marches to Springfield and Washington this summer.

U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush and/or Anton Seals, Cong. Rush's District Program Manager, sponsor on teens and employment on the federal level.

Phillip Jackson, president and founder of the Black Star Project.

Teen panelists

Pending guests:

Andrea Zopp, president of the Chicago Urban League.

State Rep. Esther Golar, sponsor of the Teen Unemployment Bill 3631 on the state level.

The Office of Mayor Rahm Emanuel

School Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard

So SAVE THE DATE for the Columbia Links town hall meeting and launch of the newest edition of R_Wurd (the Columbia Links teen magazine):

"Not Hiring: The Plight of Jobless Teens”

5:30 p.m. Wed., Nov. 2, 2011

Stage 2 at Columbia College Chicago

618 S. Michigan Ave.

Chicago 60605

Also, check out the Columbia Links site at www.columbialinks.org and see the video on jobless teens titled "The Summer Blues" (it's the one with the male teen standing in front of the Best Buy store).

Loyola Hosts Diversity Sports Media Institute

2011-10-07T14:30:00.002-05:00

Students in action during the Diversity Sports Media Institute at Loyola this summer.

With support from the McCormick Foundation, Loyola’s School of Communication hosted a sports journalism camp for Chicago high school students from Aug. 1-5. As part of the Diversity Sports Media Institute at Indiana University School of Journalism, a group of 12 juniors and seniors spent a week interviewing top names in professional sports and learning how to share stories from the sidelines.

In the past, the camp has only taken place at Indiana University, but Don Heider, dean of the School of Communication, and Ralph Braseth, clinical professor of journalism, were asked if they would be interested in hosting the workshop. Heider and Braseth took the opportunity because of its close alignment with the University’s mission to partner with the surrounding community. The students spent the week gathering information for two projects: six of the students are designing a “highly functional website” and the other six are producing a TV show. Check out a sample of their writing and blogs on their website.

Opening Doors for Chicago News: A frank dialogue on access and Freedom of Information Act

2011-08-29T16:06:00.005-05:00

The Chicago Headline Club will host “Opening doors for Chicago news: A frank dialogue on access and Freedom of Information Act” from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, Sept. 17 at Loyola University's downtown Water Tower campus.

The forum is a follow-up to the survey commissioned by the Headline Club revealing the ongoing struggle the media faces when trying to get public information from state and local officials. Forum organizers hope to reach an understanding of how to get access to officials and information.

Speakers will include, press officials representing the City of Chicago, the Cook County Board President and the Illinois Attorney General and a panel of key journalists from major Chicago news outlets.

The forum will begin at 9:30 a.m. with a continental breakfast. Admission is free, but reservations are suggested by emailing chc.kathy@gmail.com.

Download the executive summary of the Reporters’ Rights and Access Survey here.

In the coming months, the Headline Club will hold a follow-up workshop on how to access needed information using Freedom of Information laws.

New York City Digital Waves Youth Media Festival

2011-08-17T11:43:00.002-05:00

The LAMP, Radio Rookies, RHI Radio and Radio Rootz hosted the first New York City Digital Waves Youth Media Festival last month. The goal was to bring youth together to exchange ideas and experience new kinds of media. More than 100 young people participated in a variety of sessions and panels including:

Audio in games, films, docs and more
Different tools, different news
DIY DIF (Do it Yourself, Do it Free)
Jobs Jobs Jobs

Click here to read the festival’s blog.

Click here to see photos.

Foundation recipient of Walmart grant to help Chicago Youth

2011-08-01T14:27:00.000-05:00

On June 23, the Walmart Foundation launched an initiative to expand summer services for children in Chicago. The organization announced $1.8 million in grants that will help provide meals as well as learning and employment services for students while they are on summer break. The funding is part of a nationwide, $25 million initiative to expand nutrition, learning and employment services for elementary, middle and high school students throughout the summer months. Recipients of the Chicago grant included the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, which will put Walmart’s $500,000 grant and additional funding from The Chicago Community Trust toward the One Summer Chicago program. The funding will support 344 subsidized summer jobs for low income youth in four communities: Garfield Park, Englewood, Woodlawn and Little Village. One Summer Chicago is a collaborative effort between the City, County, civic and business communities to provide summer programming for youths. Read more about Walmart's grant here.

Journalism Program will host upcoming funders meeting

2011-07-20T14:08:00.000-05:00

The McCormick Foundation is one of the co-hosts for the Journalism Funders meeting held in Chicago this year. The meeting convenes funders who support journalism and media at a number of levels—some are major investors, like the Knight and McCormick foundations, and others like the California Endowment invest in journalism as a means for communicating health information and as an agent for policy change. The meeting, which will take place July 20-21, 2011, will feature roundtable discussions on key issues facing journalism funders, as well as networking and collaboration among funders. MacArthur Foundation, Driehaus Foundation and the Chicago Community Trust are co-hosts.

NYC Digital Waves Youth Media Festival

2011-07-11T13:59:00.004-05:00

New York youth media groups are invited to come together, exchange ideas and collaborate as Radio Rookies, Radio Rootz, RHI Radio and The LAMP prepare to host the NYC Digital Waves Youth Media Festival on Saturday July 30th at WNYC’s The Greene Space.

This year’s festival will focus on audio, including using a smartphone to record audio, how to incorporate sound into a project and how to critique an audio piece.

For more information, and to register, click here.

3 Chicago High School Students Win Investigative Journalism Scholarships

2011-06-15T15:47:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Regine Capungan and Jamilah Alsharif from Northside College Preparatory High School, and Leyly Gomez from Foreman High School!

These Chicago-area students were selected to attend the Summer Investigative Journalism Workshop for High School Students. This workshop will be hosted by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting.

The workshop will be held in two sessions from July 11-August 5th. For more information click here.

OMG: Taking students from digital users to good digital citizens

2011-06-10T10:27:00.006-05:00

Technology is giving students the power to do things that other generations couldn’t have ever imagined. But with this new power comes new challenges such as, recognizing spin from fact and knowing how to identify verified news sources.

This summer, the McCormick Foundation Journalism program is partnering with experts at San Francisco-based Common Sense Media (CSM) to develop a Digital Literacy and Citizenship curriculum for Chicago communities.

CSM’s summer activities include helping train educators to teach students how to be safe, respectful and responsible digital citizens. A recent webinar presented to Chicago Public Schools educators offers guidance and lesson plans covering online safety, creating strong passwords, evaluating online information, and searching effectively for news and information.

The webinar and summer prep kit will be available for viewing at this link.

Additional digital literacy and citizenship resources can be found here.

Reporters: Apply Now for the Covering Islam in the Bible Belt Training

2011-06-08T11:33:00.003-05:00

Covering the topic of Islam is becoming an increasingly challenging assignment for journalists. To help those who report on issues involving Muslim communities, the McCormick Foundation, through its Specialized Reporting Institute program, is sponsoring a conference and workshop, featuring veteran reporters and experts in Islamic history and culture.

The Middle Tennessee State Univ. School of Journalism is hosting the event which will take place Aug. 21-23, 2011. Participants, limited to 24 and selected through an application process, will have their travel, lodging, meals and tuition covered. Preference will be given to journalists who work in the South and Chicago-area journalists.

For more information and to apply, please click here

Director's Notes: This One Astounds Me

2011-06-01T09:59:00.006-05:00

The government has become the chief user of the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Access Office, with 63 percent of the caseload seeking authorization to deny Freedom of Information requests entirely or in part. The Daily Herald’s Jake Griffin said public officials continue to attempt rolling back or watering down the state’s Freedom of Information Act. In the last year, the Public Access Office handled 5,228 cases, of which 3,278 originated from government agencies seeking permission to keep information out of the public’s hands. The state handled 156 news media appeals for public records in 2010.

Turning to the attorney general’s office is just a symptom of the underlying tension between government officials and journalists. More evidence can be found in a recent Chicago Headline Club survey that said obtaining information from many Chicago and Cook County departments is so difficult that many journalists have given up trying. The research, funded by the McCormick Foundation, asked local reporters about typical response times for information requests. The picture is not pretty.

Those who do succeed in getting a meaty story are in constant need of distribution channels. We are pleased that members of the Investigative News Network have crafted a deal to syndicate content via Reuters. INN is a non-profit consortium of news organizations that is funded in part by the McCormick Foundation.

Meanwhile, Facebook is looking for ways to turn the site into a distribution and possible money-making platform for news. The company’s new journalist program initiative is designed to educate reporters, writers and editors on the benefits of using Facebook as a tool for gathering information and distributing news.

Director's Notes: Update on 2011 Letters of Inquiry

2011-05-16T14:10:00.000-05:00

The Journalism Program has finished its initial discussion on the submitted letters of inquiry.

We received more than 150 LOIs by the May 2 deadline.

After the first round of reviews, we have about 60 proposals still in the mix for 2012 grant consideration.

The next step is to determine how each of these potentially fits into our 2011-2013 portfolios. All applicants will be notified about the status of their proposals by May 31.

We are now assessing internally, based on out logic model, to what degree each cluster of proposals helps further our strategic goals. This year, for the first time, we’ll be asking groups to share with the Foundation a logic model for their projected work as part of their full proposal.

Questions going forward for us to address include:

What changes are we seeking in journalism content, audience and rights?
How are we influencing that change?
Are there coalitions, collaborations and partnerships that will us achieve our goals?
How can we best leverage our resources?
How can we build successful models and reach scalability of our initiatives?
What is the balance of quality content, engaged audiences and strong press freedoms that generates maximum impact on news literacy and civic engagement?

We will keep you periodically posted on our progress.

Grantee Spotlight: BGA Shines a Light on Government

2011-05-06T16:22:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the winners of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Investigative Reporting. The following reporters were honored today at the Better Government Association's Shining a Light on Government awards luncheon.

"Reality Check: Where are the jobs?" WTHR-TV Indianapolis, Bob Segall, Cyndee Hebert, Bill Ditton

"Tax Buyers, Politicians Benefit from Tax Sales" Belleville News-Democrat, Brian Brueggemann, Mike Fitzgerald

"The Shadow Budget" Chicago Reader, Mick Dumke, Ben Joravsky

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Meritorious Award for Commitment to Investigative Journalism

The Better Government Association is one of our Chicago area grantees shining a light on government and holding public officials accountable. BGA executive director Andy Shaw recently received a letter from an elderly South Side couple who were getting pummeled by the city bureaucracy. He turned it over to new BGA staffer James Edwards, who wrote about cleaning up the mess.

Beyond the frequent aggravation of red tape and lack of accountability, there are times when government does it right. New York Times columnist David Brooks notes that commentators and public analysts “spend little time directly observing what government is and isn’t good at.” His April 29 column salutes a federal program called HUDStat, which tracks homelessness among veterans and the results of the various efforts to combat it.

Spotlight On Digital Learning

2011-05-06T15:47:00.002-05:00

Last month, we attended the MacArthur Foundation’s event on Reimagining Learning, which featured innovative pilot projects and advancements in digital learning. About 250 educators, members of the nonprofit community and community leaders, including incoming mayor Rahm Emanuel attended the event. We were especially intrigued by the applications of digital media in the classroom. Here are some of the highlights from the event:

One of the main ideas posed was educators need to teach and prepare students for jobs that don’t even exist yet, using tools that aren’t even invented yet. Digital Youth Network’s success in partnering with Chicago Public Library’s You Media was highlighted as a promising model. This collaboration allows students access to You Media where they can use technology and media to develop skills and share and critique each other’s work in a unique space online community.

Video game design as an effective teaching tool was also highlighted. Quest to Learn, a school for “digital kids,” is a model of this kind of learning. Quest to Learn uses games as rules-based systems, where students have to use critical thinking skills, create new worlds, make complex decisions and receive feedback. A Quest to Learn charter school will open in Chicago this fall.Read more about Chicago’s Quest to Learn school here.

To learn more about digital learning, click here to watch a PBS documentary on new leaders of 21^st century learning.

Spotlight on New Media Tools For Nonprofits and Community News Groups

2011-05-06T15:43:00.004-05:00

We're seeing a lot of exciting developments on the community news front this week.

J-Lab posts an interesting story on a model of stewardship that bumped traffic to a nonprofit statewide news site while demonstrating a viable sustainability model. J-Lab editorial director Andrew Pergam’s profile of a “merger of equals” between VTDigger and the Vermont Journalism Trust has created a promising funding model for supporting support statewide and regional news coverage.

Also, San Francisco State University’s Renaissance Journalism Center has created a New Media Toolkit to help journalists sort through the multitude of available story-telling technologies. “The site was designed specifically for those working at small to medium-sized nonprofits and community and ethnic news organizations, as a way to help jump-start efforts in social media, video, audio, blogging and monitoring and metrics,” it says.

Who we are: Innovative Evaluators and Map Makers

2011-05-06T10:57:00.009-05:00

At a recent Donor’s Forum workshop called Beyond the Narrative: Visually Mapping the and Measuring the Impact of Grants , program officer Janet Liao showcased several mapping tools that foundations can use to highlight your organization’s work , partnerships, scope and more.

Here are some interesting tools that any organization can try:

Many Eyes : This is a data visualization tool from IBM. The site allows users to upload data and then produce graphic representations for other to view and comment on.

Prezi: Prezi (a zooming presentation editor) lets you bring your ideas into one space and see how they relate, helping you and your audience connect. Zoom out to see the big picture, zoom in to see the details.

GIS (graphic information systems) mapping: A geographical information system (GIS) allows the user to understand, question and visualize data in many ways that reveal relationships, patterns and trends in the form of maps, reports and charts.

If your organization is deciding whether to develop an online mapping project, a good place to start might be a tour of other nonprofit mapping projects.

A basic map of locations and directions: If your organization is the kind of place people turn to for services, maps easily direct them to your centers. For example, Chicago Public School's map of school locations.

A map of services and resources: Create maps to help residents locate nearby social services or food banks. For example, Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap feature.

Maps that aggregate and display statistics: Create charts and graphs to track key indicators and statistics around important issue areas, such as civic involvement and education. For example, MetroPulse's resource site.

Out and About at Medill with Newton Minow and Rick Tulsky

2011-05-03T13:23:00.002-05:00

We were honored to attend the April 29 celebration of the 50^th anniversary of Newton Minow’s monumental “Vast Wasteland” speech. The event was hosted by John Lavine, dean of the Medill School of Journalism. Minow, who delivered the 1961 stem-winder as a young director of the Federal Communications Commission, implored industry leaders to provide high quality content. “Broadcasting cannot continue to live by the numbers,” he said. “Ratings ought to be the slave of the broadcaster, not his master.” A text of the speech can be found here. Minow, now a highly respected Chicago attorney, has updated his philosophy on broadcasting and technology in the April edition of Atlantic magazine. The April Atlantic issue also includes a commentary by James Fallows on the impact of Minow.

At Medill, we also met with one of our new grantees, Rick Tulsky. The former investigations editor of the San Jose Mercury News has been hired as director of Medill’s new watchdog/accountability initiative. We expect big things from Tulsky and his team of student journalism sleuths as they identify “systemic flaws in government and public institutions and empowering citizens with the kind of knowledge that leads to change.”

Director's Notes: May Day! May Day!

2011-05-02T16:23:00.012-05:00

The deadline for 2012 grant proposals is going, going, gone (EOB on May 2).

Each year, we typically receive more than 200 proposals requesting about $17 million in funding for various journalism projects.

In 2012, our budget is expected to be less than $6 million. However, prior commitments for 2012 already have eaten $2.2 million of that amount.

Evaluating new proposals is perhaps the most challenging aspect of my job.

I am reminded of a recent Chicago Sun-Times obituary on the passing of one its former staff members. Ruth Dunbar Davee, 99, had a distinguished career as a Sun-Times education writer after earning a doctoral degree in English literature from Northwestern University. When her husband Ken passed away in 1998, she became executive director of the Davee Foundation.

As a philanthropist, Davee found that giving money away is easy. The hard part, she discovered, was the difficulty of grantmaking and proper stewardship.

And that’s the challenge we face at the McCormick Foundation Journalism Program.

Next week, we will begin reviewing the latest proposals. Applicants will hear from us by the end of June.

31 News Projects funded to Cover the South and West Sides

2011-04-27T15:02:00.008-05:00

On April 4, 2011, the Chicago Community Trust announced that it will award $110,000 for reporting projects on local issues affecting the residents of Chicago’s South and West Sides. The Community News Matters program which aims to foster impactful and relevant coverage of, by and for Chicago’s low-income neighborhoods that will shape current and future decision-making.

The awards are a direct response to the findings of 2010 Community News Matters research, which found that people in the Chicago area feel they don’t know enough about the region’s challenges, and that residents in the city’s South and West Sides feel that there is a lack of relevant coverage in their neighborhoods.

Awards winners include; individuals, nonprofits, and for-profit companies with expertise in journalism or Chicago’s community issues including, Strategic Human Services, Beyond Media Education, Loyola University and Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council.

For more information, please click here.

Specialized Reporting Institute: Covering Families during the Recession

2011-04-18T13:43:00.009-05:00

Earlier this month on April 5-6, 2011, the Suburban Newspapers of America and the Associated Press Managing Editors hosted the latest in the series of Specialized Reporting Institutes (SRI) in Chicago: Effects of the Current Economic Crisis on American Families.

The two-day workshop brought together community journalists from all over the country, and explored topics such as “The Big Picture: How the recession’s fallout will shape the next decade,” and the recession’s impact on marriage, family structure and gender roles.

Resources from the workshop and upcoming SRIs will be posted on Poynter’s News University Resources section.

Hats off to Chicago’s Best Student Journalists

2011-04-18T13:19:00.014-05:00

We were very excited to host the McCormick Foundation High School Media Awards this past Friday, where the best high school journalism in the Chicago area was recognized. The luncheon at the Chicago Cultural Center honored 12 schools in 24 categories. Lane Tech College Prep High School won the most awards, and Mike Stanton of Whitney Young Magnet High School was named High School Journalist of the Year. For the first time in the event’s 19-year history, two principals were acknowledged for their leadership in protecting and defending press freedoms. Prior to the awards luncheon, the morning featured dozens of workshops for the HS journalists, with presenters from a variety of media and topics ranging from "hunting for good stories" to "making your blog buzz."

The Scholastic Press Association of Chicago, which is based at Roosevelt University, coordinated the event.

For a list of all the winners, click here.

Check out an interview with one of the 2011 principals of the year, Juan Carlos Ocon, principal of Benito Juarez Community Academy.

Director's Notes: April Update

2011-04-15T14:44:00.014-05:00

April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

T.S. Eliot called it “The Waste Land”.

We call April exciting.

The news media conference season is in full swing, spring journalism classes are running at full tilt and the Journalism Program’s deadline for letters of inquiry is fast approaching. Click here to learn how to apply.

Some of our recent highlights include:

Hosting the McCormick Foundation High School Media Awards, which recognizes the best in student journalism in the Chicago area. The April 15 luncheon at the Chicago Cultural Center honored 12 schools in 24 categories. Lane Tech College Prep High School won the most awards, while Mike Stanton of Whitney Young Magnet High School was named High School Journalist of the Year. For the first time in the event’s 19-year history, two principals were acknowledged for their leadership in protecting and defending press freedoms. The Scholastic Press Association of Chicago, which is based at Roosevelt University, coordinated the event. For a complete set of winners, click here.

A new International Center for Journalists course that is equipping a corps of U.S. Spanish-speaking journalists with skills needed to be multimedia trainers in their newsrooms. Participating journalists represent such prominent news organizations at NPR, CNN, CBS News, Univision, Telemundo, the Sun-Sentinel of Florida and Hoy of Chicago. Click here to learn more about “Lideres Digitales: Creating a New Generation of Spanish-Language Multimedia Trainers.” Click here for more information.

Attending a ‘two-fer” in San Diego, the annual conferences of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Inter American Press Association. These piggy-backed events focused on innovation, leadership and press freedoms. ASNE’s annual survey of newsroom employment showed a very slim increase in jobs after three years of downturns. However, the percentage of minorities in newsroom slipped nearly a half a point to 12.8 percent. IAPA also awarded the MF Journalism Program a spiffy plaque for 16 years of funding in support of the Chapultepec Project, which promotes and defends press freedoms in the Americas.

The Berkeley-based Center for Investigative Reporting hosted a management and sustainability workshop for more than 30 journalists, many of them members of the Investigative News Network. The MF-funded event allowed these superb journalists to concentrate on the more mundane back-shop issues that may determine the fates of their fledgling news organizations. Click here to learn more. Maggie Mulvihill, co-director of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University emailed me that not-for-profit watchdog reporting “is truly a movement that has much potential for public good. It is heartening to know that McCormick has put some money behind the INN effort.”

Supporting the Chicago Community Trust’s “Community News Matters” project. The funders announced that 31 journalists and news organizations would receive a total of $110,000 to purse reporting on important issues impacting low-income neighborhoods in Chicago.

Hosting Manal S. El Moteay of the Cairo-based Media-Arts for Development. The Egyptian youth media trainer is visiting Chicago student journalism organizations and colleges to give a first-hand account of the political revolution that will forever reshape her country. Manal also is sharing her vision for an ambitious youth media center project offering scholarships, internship, leadership programs and media arts training for tens of thousands of Egyptian students. She and a colleague also are speaking at Columbia College (6 p.m. on April 20 in Room 219, 33 E. Wacker). Click here to view their work.

Piloting an American Press Institute career development and branding workshop for independent journalists. The April 8 training at Northwestern University focused on how an authentic and relevant personal brand gives journalists a competitive edge in the employment and freelance marketplace.

Finally, kudos to grantee Intersections South Los Angeles, which recently received four-star treatment in a Columbia Journalism Review feature story. The nonprofit news site, headed by University of Southern California journalism professor Willa Seidenberg, is a charter member of the MF-funded Youth Media Los Angeles Collaborative.

Grantee Spotlight: Facing History & Ourselves

2011-04-13T13:33:00.003-05:00

Teachers learned how history could be used to provide context for current events at a March 15, 2011 workshop hosted by Facing History & Ourselves.

This workshop prepared Chicago Public Schools teachers to teach students from the Chicago area to understand the critical role that media and journalism play in their lives using the documentary Reporter as a teaching tool. Reporter is about award-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof and his work in the Congo. It demonstrates how and why reporting is vital to our democracy.

Later this summer, there will be another intensive two-day workshop for Facing History teachers to become part of a national network of teachers exploring ways to use digital technology.

For more information about Facing History, click here.

Grantee Spotlight: The News Literacy Project on Empowering Teens Through News Literacy

2011-04-13T11:33:00.006-05:00

At a brown bag lunch session for After School Matters staff on March 30, 2011, Peter Adams from The News Literacy Project offered an overview of the field of news literacy; explained why it is an essential part of developing empowered, responsible digital citizens; and offered some relevant ways that this content may be used in after school settings.

The area of news literacy has gained important attention in recent years as the news and information landscape continues to undergo rapid and radical changes. Ever since the rise of cable news networks, and the 24-hour news cycle, consumers have experienced an explosion of sources for information, especially on the Internet. But navigating these sources, and understanding the varying levels of bias and credibility that they employ, pose significant challenges for everyone.

As so-called “digital natives,” the current generation of young people arguably has more opportunities for meaningful civic engagement than any other, but it likely also faces unprecedented levels of misinformation and distortion as well. Learning to separate fact from fiction in the digital age is an essential skill set—one that can be incredibly empowering for rising citizens.

The News Literacy Project partners with schools and youth organizations to help students sort fact from fiction, evaluate information sources and learn why quality journalism is important to a healthy democracy.

To learn more about The News Literacy Project, click here.

Check out their blog for ideas on how to use news literacy in the classroom.

Grantee Spotlight: University of Southern California's High School Journalism Days

2011-04-11T08:59:00.005-05:00

Earlier in March, hundreds of high school students gathered at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism’s for the High School Journalism Day (HSJD). The event, held several times a year, provides high school students a chance to participate in journalism workshops and see panels led by professional journalists and USC faculty.

The next High School Journalism Day will be held in November 2011.

For more information about the event and how to get involved in future HSJD’s Click here

Also, check out Terry Anzur’s blog about speaking at this year’s High School Journalism Days.

Who We Are: Social Media Mavens: Exploring New Media Tools

2011-04-06T13:43:00.008-05:00

On March 22, 2011, the Journalism staff attended a presentation at Tribeca Flashpoint Academy in downtown Chicago organized by the MacArthur Foundation. Featured speaker Howard Tullman, President and CEO of Tribeca, zipped through more than a hundred different applications of digital media and new technologies to the business, government and nonprofit worlds. We were thoroughly impressed by the numerous possibilities and implications for news, media and digital learning. Most of us are familiar with Facebook, Twitter and Wikipedia, but here are some useful social media tools you may not have heard of. Here’s our take on how a few of these tools might come in handy for journalists and media makers:

Instapaper.com –This tool allows you to bookmark content as you run across it for later reading. Once you bookmark your content, you can go back later and read it on your kindle, computer, iPhone, iPad and soon your iTouch. If you are researching an idea for a story, you might use Instapaper to store articles for future reading.

Alltop.com –This site allows you to see what’s going on by aggregating headlines from websites and blogs based on topics you are interested in. Alltop’s website describes itself as “an information filter to help you find your nuggets of gold.” This is another tool that could be useful while researching a story.

Twistori.com –This site helps you visualize Twitter. It pulls keywords from Twitter and when you click on them, you can see related tweets and pictures. Twistori could give your readers a way to visualize twitter based on common words.

Addictomatic.com –This site gives you the latest “buzz” on a subject. You can create a page with links to article, social media, videos, Google searches and more on any topic you’re interested in. The site might be a way to give your readers background knowledge and additional reading on a subject, or a great way to research a topic.

Kickstarter.com –Kickstarter helps fund creative projects. If a project fits its guidelines, Kickstart will provide a way for individuals to pledge to fund your project in return for rewards. This might be a great resource for journalists looking to gain funding for a new project.

Wix.com – Wix helps you create your own website, from a template, or from scratch. If you are looking for an internet presence for your organization or your portfolio, you might use Wix to create a website .

How to Apply

2011-04-01T15:24:00.003-05:00

Letter of Inquiry (LOI) due by May 2, 2011

Before submitting a full proposal, the organization should fill out an application cover sheet and compose a two- to three-page letter of inquiry. Please keep within the page count limit.
The letter should outline the following: the program’s nature, purpose, need, proposed timeline and cost. It should also address the qualifications of the organization and how the program fits into the Journalism Program’s strategy.
E-mail your cover sheet and letter of inquiry to the attention of Aaron Smith, Administrative Officer, at asmith@mccormickfoundation.org. You will receive an e-mail confirming that your letter has been received.
The staff will review your proposal by June 10, 2011. We will either send you a decline letter or be touch with questions or requests for additional information. If your project is selected to be considered for funding, we will request a full proposal. Proposal components are outlined below.

Full Proposal (invitation only), due June 30, 2011

If your organization is invited to submit a full proposal, you will be asked to prepare a project narrative using the subheads below. In some instances, this information will elaborate on wording in the LOI. Please format your Word document using Times New Roman, 12 point font, single spaced. When possible, please use bullet points to break up complex program descriptions.

Program

Describe your program in detail.
Include clearly stated goals and objectives.
Include a project activities timeline.
If your program involves a partner or partners, describe why you have chosen them.

Organization

Describe your organization's background, history and mission
Include the overall goals of the organization.
List current programs and activities, emphasizing major achievements of the past two years.

Need

Include a needs statement describing the issue and who the program will serve.
Describe how your strategy compares with or differs from others in the field.
Describe how the proposed project will address the identified need.
What research supports your idea?

Fit

Describe how your project addresses one of the Journalism Program's three grantmaking initiatives (Content, Audience or Rights).

Impact & Measurement

Describe your plans for assessing the results and impact of the project. For example, how will your organization track, measure, and monitor progress toward meeting outputs, outcomes, and key milestones during and at the end of the grant period?
How do you plan to share with others the obstacles you’ve met along the way, the failures encountered, or the best practices and lessons learned from carrying out this initiative?
Detail how your organization will recognize the McCormick Foundation as a funder of your project or activity.

Project Budget

Describe any unusual or specific circumstances about the funding request and provide an explanation.
Describe why the proposed budget is realistic and reasonable in relation to the specific grant results you have identified.
What is your sustainability strategy?

Please download and use the attached budgeting form to show your budget for the program for which you're requesting funding. If you are proposing a multiple-year grant, you must provide a projected budget for each requested funding year.

Organizational Budget

Provide an operating budget for your organization that includes income and expense projections pertaining to the fiscal year in which the project will take place. Feel free to submit in a format that is convenient for you—there is no required form or worksheet.

Funders

List your top five funders and amount of support for fiscal year 2010.This list should include the name of the corporation/foundation/individual, amount, and purpose of the donations.

Board of Directors

Provide the most recent list of your Board of Directors.
Please list their name and job title on the first line, and the principal business or professional affiliation on the second. Please provide this in Word Document format.

Other Required Attachments

Most recent audited financial report.
Tax exempt certificate. This signed form certifies the organization's current tax-exempt status. Please download this form to sign.
IRS tax determination letter / 501(c)(3). We require a copy of the most recent tax determination letter issued to your organization (or your fiscal agent) by the IRS. It should include your federal tax identification number and the date your organization (or fiscal agent) was awarded tax-exempt status. (If this information is not printed on the letter, it should be written in manually at the top or bottom.) This is NOT the state tax exemption certification. We will need all applicable components for the registered 501(c)(3) organization by June 30, 2011. In some instances, where fiscal agents or universities are involved, the intended grantee is not the same as the entity carrying out the proposed initiative. In such cases the foundation needs all the applicable documents for both organizations (i.e. the university’s fundraising foundation and the center/organization applying for funding).

Please contact Aaron Smith (asmith@mccormickfoundation.org) with questions.

Journalism Grant Deadlines

2011-04-01T15:18:00.000-05:00

We accept letters of inquiry (LOIs) from organizations for three types of requests:

Grant request of $50,000 or more:
Requests greater than $50,000 must be approved by Board members at the Journalism Program’s annual board meeting in early September. The deadline for LOIs for more than $50,000 is May 1 or the first business day in May.

Grant requests under $50,000:
LOIs requesting less than $50,000 are accepted on a rolling basis and are reviewed in February, April and November. We accept LOIs for this level throughout the year. It sometimes takes us several weeks to review the many LOIs we receive, so please be patient.

Specialized Reporting Institutes (SRIs):
LOIs for these intensive specialized training conferences for working reporters are reviewed in November by our administrative partner, the Poynter Institute. For application instructions, review the SRI guidelines here. Although the deadline to apply for 2011 funding has passed, we will award up to two news-responsive SRIs outside the annual application process. For more information, email McCormickSRI@poynter.org.

Fore more detailed information on grant deadlines and application procedures, please review the RFP.

What We Fund (and Why)

2011-04-01T15:09:00.000-05:00

Content, Audience and Rights
The News Literacy emphasis is supported by grantmaking initiatives in Content, Audience and Rights (CAR). Staff research and board guidance agree that the current supply of quality journalists is not the problem. There are enough highly trained and experienced professional journalists, many of them under-employed or working in other professions.

Our refined strategy bolsters an informed citizenry by investing in quality news content and educating people—especially students—to better appreciate the importance of news and protecting journalistic rights. Last year, we announced our intention to fund fewer international projects, general support grants for media trade associations, new business model investments and management training projects. In 2011, our grantmaking strategy includes more Chicago investment and increased support for youth media and news literacy activities.

We recognize the competitive nature of seeking grants to fund journalism projects. In fact, we are able to invest in only a fraction of the interesting requests received each year. In 2010, for instance, we received more than 200 formal letters of inquiry requesting about $17 million in support. Furthermore, with a slightly reduced 2011 budget of $5.5 million, it’s imperative that we find efficiencies and focus on quality implementation and impact of programs.

That’s why we’re putting stronger emphasis on performance measurement in 2011 and adding rigor to existing evaluation work to provide a pathway for the Journalism Program going forward. We’re also coordinating and funding more field-building collaborations and partnerships to maximize the impact of our work.

For more information on our program strategy, please visit the Journalism Program Strategy page of the McCormick Foundation website.

Resources for Journalists

2011-04-01T14:55:00.019-05:00

The McCormick Foundation's grantees and partners offers several opportunities for journalism training and professional development. Check out the opportunities below:

Apply for a training fellowship to attend one of the 2011 McCormick-Poynter Specialized Reporting Institutes below. Ethnic media and Chicago-area journalists are encouraged to apply.

The effects of the economic crisis on families April 4-5, 2011- The Suburban Newspapers of America Foundation and AP Managing Editors Foundation held this April training in Chicago. Check out resources from the workshop, posted on Poynter's NewsUniversity page.

Track the impact of stimulus funds on communities May 10-12, 2011- The New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University held a workshop to help reporters track the impact of stimulus funds on their communities; click here for resources from the workshop.

Reporting the census June 16-17, 2011- Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication will hold a June training on reporting the census. More information coming soon.

Covering the crisis in funding public pensions June 1-3, 2011-The Society of American Business Editors and Writers will hold this June training in Phoenix. Registration for this workshop has closed, but check out Poynter's News University resources page in the coming weeks for workshop resources.

Political polling June 17-18, 2011- American University's School of Communications will host this June workshop. More information coming soon.

Islam in the Bible Belt August 21-23, 2011 Middle Tennessee State University's School of Journalism will hold this August workshop. For more information and to apply, click here.

Other fellowship and grant opportunities:

George Polk Grants For Investigative Journalism- The George Polk Awards grants are given to experienced reporters from newspapers, radio or television to pursue specific investigative projects. The intent is to provide short-term relief to journalists and also to promote investigative articles on the Web.
2011 Dart Center Ochberg Fellowships- a unique seminar program for mid-career journalists who want to deepen their knowledge of emotional trauma and improve coverage of violence, conflict and tragedy. Application deadline, July 27, 2011. Click here to apply.

Awards:

It’s time to highlight your innovative online work. J-Lab’s annual contest rewards the process of journalism as much as the end result, with a grand prize of $10,000 and special distinction awards totaling $6,000. Applications are now open. Deadline: June 6. Click here for more information and to apply.

Also, check out these resources and interesting research:

New Media Toolkit- An online toolkit with tutorials and resources for nonprofits and others to learn to use social media and digital media tools.

Chicago is the World- ethnic media project led by journalist Steve Franklin at the Community Media Workshop.

OurChinatown -This Asian American Journalists Association’s Executive Leadership Program project is led by a unique multidisciplinary team, which includes experts in community development, online editorial and digital production.

Paper and Database Trails -This slideshow from IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) explains how to get useful public documents and data.

Web for Watchdogs -Also from IRE, this slideshow explains how to be a "smarter searcher" on the Internet.

Grantee Spotlight: Do Young Female Athletes Have a Fair Shot?

2011-04-01T14:11:00.009-05:00

We are really excited to support the Open Youth Network’s upcoming Fair Shot New Media Institute, hosted by Columbia College.

The initiative, produced by Columbia’s Mindy Faber, will work like this: Fifteen girls from Chicago-area high schools will participate in a four-week summer training institute where they will learn investigative journalism skills. Then, during the fall, they will conduct research and interviews to learn about gender inequity in sports in Chicago Public Schools. Finally, in the spring they will report their findings. This work will be followed by 2012 release of In the Game, a major documentary exploring the same issue, by Maria Finitzo of Kartemquin Films.

Check out the great thank you message from the team at Columbia College/Open Youth Networks. It made our day to have a thank you come from an avatar!

Grantee Spotlight: Y-Press and Radio Arte Collaborate on Youth Reporting Project

2011-04-01T10:36:00.032-05:00

Y-Press and Radio Arte kicked off a year-long collaborative investigative journalism project with an hour-long session at WBEZ this past Thursday with education reporter Linda Lutton. High school students from youth media groups Y-Press and Radio Arte interviewed Linda about covering Chicago Public Schools and learned interviewing and storytelling tips and techniques.
Lutton told the group that her, “favorite radio pieces explore a little curious piece of a bigger question.” She suggested that they focus on something they find interesting and then investigate it and get kids to talk about it.”

Her advice to the group clearly supports one of the project’s end-products – the creation of an online story content development tool that can help youth-media producers narrow a story idea and find that curious piece of a bigger question. The tool will have national distribution and be marketed by GenPRX, a group designed to support youth radio groups by sharing ideas, strategies and materials online.

In addition through the reporting done in Chicago and Indianapolis, young people from different backgrounds and youth-media experiences are coming together to strengthen each organization’s core journalism. Through topic selection and then narrowing for each city and then by reporting and producing the pieces together, they can learn each organization’s news-gathering process.

Hearing from a seasoned education reporter, Lutton’s briefing grounded the group and provided first-hand experience.

In Chicago, the group is investigating innovations in education and explored the following topics:

o How to engage students in the learning process

o How problem schools have found innovative ways to increase graduation rates

o How to improve hostile learning climates

o How a young person is involved in the choice of his or her school

The young journalists will distribute the stories locally and through PRX, a public media network.

Next week, Radio Arte students will visit their fellow Y-Press reporters in Indianapolis and explore stories about diversity and immigrant communities in the city.

Each group has its own style, but this partnership will investigate new ways to tell stories, share sound-gathering techniques and expertise and produce stories for a wider audience that amplify each others’ cultural experiences and resonate nationally.

*Thank you to Y-Press for contributing to this post.

Now Accepting Nominations for Journalism Principal of the Year

2011-03-31T16:36:00.001-05:00

Roosevelt University, as part of their annual celebration of high school journalism from throughout the city of Chicago, will be awarding a first-ever award to the Principal of the Year. The idea is to honor a Principal who really celebrates and supports youth-produced journalism. To nominate a principal, see our guidelines here.
Click here for more information on the 2011 Roosevelt-McCormick Media Awards.

2012 Request for Proposals

2011-03-31T16:05:00.002-05:00

Planning to apply for a grant? Our 2012 request for proposals guidelines are now up on our website. Thanks to your feedback, we've included more details on deadlines and proposal components. We look forward to hearing from you! View the 2012 Request for Proposals.

Upcoming Workshop: Buildling Your Journalistic Brand, April 8, 2011 @ Northwestern

2011-03-31T10:38:00.001-05:00

Chicago-area journalists, here's a great opportunity from the American Press Institute to work on your journalistic brand. We hope to see you there!

*****
You’re talented and passionate about journalism.

But — in a media world that constantly is shifting beneath your feet — do you have a competitive edge that makes you stand out from a crowd?

That's why you'll want to attend the American Press Institute's one-day regional workshop on "Building Your Journalistic Brand" on Friday, April 8, at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Attendees should register as soon as possible because seating is limited.
During this workshop, you’ll find out how to expand your reach and become recognized as an expert by:

taking an inventory of your value and values
discovering the strands of your brand's DNA
developing a rehearsed elevator speech
building a toolkit and action steps to establish, enhance and protect your brand
creating a personal strategy for building your digital brand

The workshop is open to ALL journalists, including, but not limited to:

Those who work for news organizations across all platforms
Bloggers, freelancers and other entrepreneurial writers, reporters and editors
Multimedia and visual journalists
Journalists trying to re-enter the workforce after being displaced by media downsizing
Independent news producers
University journalism students
University journalism educators

Tuition is only $15 and includes continental breakfast and workshop materials.
Complete details and online registration are available at:
www.americanpressinstitute.org/11/JournalisticBrandChicago

QUESTIONS? Contact Carol Ann Riordan, API Vice President, at (703) 715-3315 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (703) 715-3315 end_of_the_skype_highlighting; criordan@americanpressinstitute.org

PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE WORD by alerting your friends and colleagues about this workshop.
This workshop is underwritten by the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and presented in partnership with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.

Student Scholarship Available for the 2011 Summer Investigative Journalism Workshop in Boston

2011-03-30T11:07:00.001-05:00

The McCormick Foundation is offering one Chicago high school student a unique opportunity to gain hands-on journalism experience at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting in Boston this summer.

The 2011 Summer Investigative Journalism Workshop is designed to give students intensive training in investigative reporting and the chance to work on investigative stories that could be published in their own school publications or in major media outlets in New England.

If selected, you’ll spend two weeks on the campus of Boston University participating in investigative reporting workshops led by university faculty as well as distinguished local and national journalists. You will work on investigative projects at BU’s New England Center for Investigative Reporting and also visit area newsrooms.

Topics covered will include: Initiating investigative stories/where to look; conducting effective interviews; computer-assisted reporting; how to present your findings on the web; news ethics.

Session 1: July 11-22

Session 2: July 25-August 5

To apply: go to www.necir-bu.org and click on “Student Programs” or go to: http://necir-bu.org/wp/student-programs/summer-investigative-journalism-workshop-for-high-school-students/

Deadline: May 15, 2011

Grantee Spotlight: ICFJ’s Spanish-Language Multimedia Trainers

2011-03-28T10:39:00.002-05:00

We are excited to support the International Center for Journalists’ new program, “Líderes Digitales: Creating a New Generation of Spanish-Language Multimedia Trainers.” This initiative will teach dozens of journalists from across the U.S. to train their own newsrooms in multimedia storytelling, emerging technologies, social media and visual techniques.

Participants were chosen from more than a dozen states, including large cohorts from California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas. Some represent Telemundo and Univision but others work for local news organizations and nonprofits.

The program begins with 57 participants, who will all take part in a four-week online course. At the end, participants will submit proposals for a multimedia project that will strengthen their communities

.
ICFJ will then choose 26 reporter trainers to attend a three-day boot camp on backpack journalism. From this group, eight finalists will be chosen to receive additional intensive training to become Spanish-language, digital-media trainers.

For more information on this exciting program, click here.

News Literacy Resources

2011-03-24T15:05:00.003-05:00

Looking for information on news literacy? Need curriculum or teaching ideas? Check out these resources below.

• Free News Literacy Curriculum and Training Opportunities: Stony Brook University makes its full news literacy curriculum and teaching resources available to teachers. To request the materials or to apply for a fellowship to attend a news literacy summer training institute, go to http://www.centerfornewsliteracy.org/ or e-mail Dean Miller at dsmiller@notes.cc.sunysb.edu.

• Digital News Literacy Classroom and Online Resources: The Newseum is beta testing a digital classroom that contains video resources and lesson plans for news literacy.

• News Groups for Teachers and Students. The NewsTrust has an online platform that provides credibility rating tools for digital news. The site also has a classroom news group feature for teachers to discuss and share news: www.Newstrust.net/schools. Check out NewsTrust CEO”s Fabrice Florin’s presentation, ripe with information about how to help improve a students’ new media “diet.”

• Setting Learning Goals for News Literacy. Prof. Geanne Rosenberg of Baruch College directed the November 2010 Inaugural High School News Literacy summit for New York City high school students, educators and observers from journalism and youth media institutions. Baruch also hosted an adjacent dinner/brainstorming session for news/media/digital/information literacy experts and educators. As you set your own news literacy goals, check out the News Literacy Learning Goals that came out of the convening.

• The News Literacy Project is an educational program that gives instructors the resources they need to incorporate news literacy into their programs by providing reference materials, expert guest speakers and instructor coaching. For more information about The News Literacy Project, please visit their Web site. If you are interested in incorporating news literacy into your after-school program, please contact Peter Adams at peteradams@thenewsliteracyproject.org. These resources are offered to interested parties at no cost.

Have a resource that you'd like to share? E-mail us at jliao(at)mccormickfoundation.org.

McCormick Media Matters Revamped

2011-03-24T14:21:00.002-05:00

Check out our new look and find new resources about grantmaking at McCormick Journalism.

You may have noticed a few changes on the McCormick Media Matters blog in the past weeks. Thanks to your feedback, we’ve been working to update our blog to better communicate our program’s priorities and goals. Here are some new sections and stories you’ll see:

· Program Strategy: In this section, you’ll find explainers on our program’s strategies and priorities to help you better understand McCormick Journalism before applying for a grant. You’ll also see occasional updates from Journalism Program Director Clark Bell, in his “Director’s Notes” series, where he reflects upon pertinent journalism news and program happenings.

· Deadlines: Here, you’ll find information about our processes, our deadlines, our fall board meetings and notable MF dates to clarify the grantmaking process.

· Spotlight: We will recognize exceptional work being done by our grantees and use creative means (i.e. maps, photo slide shows) to share what we’re seeing in the field. We’ve also added an up-to-date resource section for teachers, students and journalists, to highlight opportunities, professional development, internship, upcoming events, etc.

· Who We Are: Here, you’ll find relevant articles on the research, events and projects that the Journalism Program staff has its eyes on. You’ll also get a sneak peak into the culture of the McCormick Foundation and its journalism roots.

We hope you like our new approach and welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions. And remember, you can also find additional program information on our Facebook and Twitter.

Director’s Notes: Quips, Quotes & Commentary on News Literacy Conference

2011-03-24T14:17:00.005-05:00

Beautiful spring weather greeted about 200 journalists, professors, students, high school teachers and news media pundits on the Stony Brook University campus on Long Island, N.Y.

The March 16-18 McCormick Foundation-funded summit was designed to celebrate the impressive growth of the news literacy movement. At the same time, the group confronted the necessity of crafting assessment standards to better measure the impact of the curriculum on student performance and engagement.

A similar conference was held two years earlier to spotlight the need and potential of setting a national agenda for news literacy. Today, various types of curriculum have been introduced into hundreds of university, high school and middle school classrooms.

This momentum is expected to continue. As we see it, students participating in news literacy training will steadily rise from a few thousand to tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands within five years. By the end of the decade, it will be millions.

Here are a few highlights of the conference:

“News literacy is a work in progress,” according to Howard Schneider, founding dean of the university’s school of journalism.
Journalism schools that offer solid news literacy training to non-majors will become part of the campus epicenter, rather than labeled a “professional school,” Schneider said.
A well-constructed news literacy course will help students acknowledge and confront their biases as they follow the Judgment-Conclusion-Action path on current events.
As journalists and audiences push against bias in the pursuit of transparency, they should ask two key questions: “What do you mean?” and “How do you know it?”
There are some who truly believe that “if the news is that important, it will find me.”
The Newseum is determined to help provide attainable standards of learning so schools won’t block Web sites important to news literacy education, said Paul Sparrow, senior vice president of the highly impressive Washington D.C. museum.
News comes at us faster than a speeding train. Rather than fully believe what is reported first, we should say “here is what we don’t know.”
News literacy teachers may face students who are “disinterested, annoyed and bored,” according to Stephanie Craft, a University of Missouri journalism professor. Craft is working on ways to evaluate the impact of news literacy training.
Michael Spikes, a Washington, D.C. high school communications teacher, is convinced that news literacy training boosts reading and writing skills.
News literate students realize “you go to Wikipedia first, rather than last,” said Dean Miller, director of Stony Brook’s Center for News Literacy.
It is imperative to “alter the demand side” of journalism,” said Tom Rosenstiel, founder and director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. “The news literacy movement itself must decide whether it works and how to scale it.”
On that front, news literacy must become stickier and more sophisticated. Stony Brook’s Miller said “we need to add rigor to program evaluation.
The News Literacy Project’s Alan Miller is looking to “elevate the mission of news literacy nationally through a combination of a vibrant classroom program, high profile partnerships with other civic institutions and creation of a dynamic digital media program.”

For more information, check out our News Literacy Resources section.

Journalism Program Grantee Map

2011-03-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

We've created a map of our current grantees to help connect them to others who may be doing similar work and to share the impact and contributions they've made. Navigate the map below for information on these projects.

View full screen map

News Literacy: Building on Success Conference

2011-03-17T16:19:00.002-05:00

We’re at Stony Brook University’s News Literacy: Building on Success conference today, where more than 200 teachers, educators and news media practitioners are gathered to discuss news literacy education and evaluation. (By the way, follow the conversation live at #cnl and sessions are being recorded and will be available soon at http://www.centerfornewsliteracy.org/ )

We’ve heard from a slate of distinguished speakers, including Jeff Jarvis, Dan Gillmor, Tom Rosenstiel and Melinda Wittstock,as well as practitioners on the front, including News Literacy Project’s Alan Miller and Professor Stephanie Craft at the University of Missouri.

Tomorrow, we’ll be creating an action plan for building on news literacy success. Here’s what we’ll be brainstorming (and feel free to share your ideas on any of these questions):

1. If you’re not teaching news literacy and would like to, what’s the biggest obstacle you face in getting a course adopted?

2. If you’re currently teaching new literacy and would like to expand it in your institution, what obstacles do you face?

3. If you work at a college or university, are there ways you do (or can) work with high schools to expect news literacy offerings?

4. Are there ways your institution does (or can) partner with local news media outlets or non-profits to expand your efforts?

5. What is the most important thing the Center for News Literacy can do to advance your goals?

6. If Stony Brook obtains funding to build a web-based national News Literacy clearinghouse and portal, what are the most important elements and functions you would like to see included on the site (think big)

7. Would you like to be part of any beta testing? (If so, email dean.miller@stonybrook.edu)

8. Should we move to a standardized measurement instrument for news literacy? Why?

9. Are there experts at your institution who could help us work on assessment or curriculum development?

10. Have you identified any local or state funding sources in your area that might support a News literacy initiative? Elaborate if possible. Can we help you persuade those funders to support your project?

11. If you had $100,000 in funding, what would you do with it?

12. If a funder offered $3,000 “sudden opportunity” grants to News Literacy teachers that were easy to apply for (one-page letter for instance), what could you do that is now out of reach? How about $1,500?

13. What other ideas about expanding News Literacy came to you this week?

Announcing the 2011 Specialized Reporting Institute Winners

2011-03-14T16:19:00.011-05:00

We are excited to reward $250,000 to six organizations for our 2011 Specialized Reporting Institute (SRI) program, which provides issue-specific training for journalists nationwide. Back in December, we received more than 60 applications on very interesting topics, including the economy, environment, digital training and community news.

From these, we worked with out partner, Poynter Institute, to select the following organizations to host SRIs this year:

American University's School of Communications for a June workshop in political polling;
Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication for a May training on reporting the census;
Middle Tennessee State University's School of Journalism for an August workshop on Islam in the Bible Belt;
The New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University for a May workshop to help reporters track the impact of stimulus funds on their communities;
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers for a June training in Phoenix on covering the crisis in funding public pensions; and
The Suburban Newspapers of America Foundation and AP Managing Editors Foundation for an April training in Chicago on the effects of the economic crisis on families.

We hope to see you at one of the workshops. Also, stay tuned for NewsU resources, such as story ideas, tip sheets and webcasts, on each of these SRI topics.

For program details or to apply for a workshop, please go to the host organization's website.

To see the press release, click here.

Community Journalists Chosen to Attend Reporting Symposium On Impacts of the Economic Crisis on American Families

2011-03-14T15:05:00.008-05:00

McCormick Foundation grant covers costs for two days of in-depth training co-hosted by Suburban Newspapers of America Foundation and Associated Press Managing Editors

Twenty community journalists from across the United States have been selected to attend a two-day symposium to learn how to report local stories and develop multimedia reporting projects on the impacts of the economic crisis on American families.

The symposium, funded by a grant from The McCormick Foundation and co-hosted by suburban Newspapers of America (SNA) Foundation and the Associated Press Managing Editors (APME), is part of McCormick's Specialized Reporting Institutes program. The training takes place April 5 and 6 in Chicago at the Chicago Sun-Times.

The symposium will feature top speakers, including Richard Longworth, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and former national economics reporter for the Chicago Tribune, Tom Koetting, deputy managing editor for news at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Celeste Watkins-Hayes, associate professor of sociology at Northwestern university and others.

Participants will receive tools and information to help them improve their coverage of the economic crisis and its impact on families in their communities. Follow-up webinars with symposium attendees will also be part of this comprehensive learning experience.

More than 75 community journalists from daily newspapers under 100,000-circulation and weekly newspaper groups applied for this expenses-paid training opportunity. Judging was done by Doug Fisher, senior instructor and executive editor of The Convergence Newsletter, Ernie Wiggins, associate professor, and Miron Varouhakis, visiting assistant professor, all faculty members at the University of South Carolina's School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Scholarship winners include: Jen Judson, Norwood Transcript and Bulletin, Needham Heights, MA; Skye Kinkade, Mount Shasta Area Newspapers, Mount Shasta, CA; Dan Shearer, Green Valley News & Sun, Green Valley, AZ; Jennifer Noblit, This Week Community Newspapers, Lewis Center, OH; Amber Krosel, Suburban Life Publications, Downers Grove, IL; Lindsay Betz, Sun Newspapers, Cleveland, OH; Dean Kahn, The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, WA; Michael Malik, The Herald Times, Bloomington, IN; Matthew Hensley, The News Herald, Morganton, NC; and Bob Mentzinger, Kennebee Journal, Augusta, ME.

Also selected were: Kevin Craver, Northwest Herald, Crystal Lake, IL; Bruce Krasnow, The Santa Fe New Mexican, Santa Fe NM; Marilyn Odendahl, The Elkhart Truth, Elkhart, IN; Elizabeth Cooper, Observer Dispatch, Utica, NY, Amanda Reavy, The State Journal-Register, Springfield, IL; Melissa Griffy Seeton, The Repository, Canton, OH; Lyle McBride, The Ledger, Lakeland, FL; Pamela Dempsey, CU-CitizenAccess, Champaign, IL; Linda Leicht, The Springfield News Leader, Springfield, MO; and Marga Cooley, Santa Maria Times, Santa Maria, CA.

The McCormick Foundation has served the needs of children, communities and country by advancing the ideals of a free, democratic society for more than 50 years. Civic health unites all aspects of the foundation's work, from investments in human services, journalism, civics, veterans and early childhood education, to investments that deliver programs and services to hundreds of thousands of people through the foundation's public park and two museums in Chicago. As one of the nation's largest public charities, The McCormick Foundation has granted more than $1 billion to organizations in communities across the country.

The SNA Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) charitable trust affiliated with the trade associationSuburban Newspapers of America. The Foundation supports community newspapers in their role as the leading local information providers and specifically helps with the transformation to a digital world. SNA represents nearly 2,000 daily and weekly community newspapers in the U.S. and Canada.

APME is an association of editors at newspapers in the United States and Canada. It works closely with The Associated Press to foster journalism excellence and to support a national network for the training and development of editors who run multimedia newsrooms in the 21st Century. Any person who is the editor, executive editor or managing editor, or holds any other title that provides for senior responsibilities for the news, online staffs of a member newspaper, is eligible for membership.

For additional information, please contact Mark Laskowski at mlaskowski@bellsouth.net or (843) 601-2780.

For more information on the symposium, click here to visit APME's website.

Columbia LINKS Graduates Launch "Education Nation"

2011-03-11T11:43:00.005-06:00

On February 16, 2011, 11 students of the Columbia LINKS reporting academy presented their work on "Reporting Academy: Education Nation" to their parents and peers. Throughout the semester, Chicago-area high school students underwent intensive training and mentorship by local journalism professionals. Students wrote stories about topics such as, the draw of gang life for Chicago teens in La Villita, and Chicago Public Schools' Zero Tolerance policy. New to LINKS this semester was a student-produced newscast, "LINKS Tonight," hosted by Anna Patricia-Juarez.

Columbia LINKS is a journalism skills-building and leadership development program for youth and teachers in Chicago Public Schools, run out of Columbia College Chicago.

Check out this photo slideshow documentary on LINKS by Chicago photographer Jason Reblando:

http://cyvn.blogspot.com/

Also, check out "LINKS Tonight" host, Anna Patricia-Juarez highlighting some of their stories:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_s_vZQcLO

Congratulations to all the fall/winter 2010-2011 Columbia LINKS graduates!

Students: Are you an aspiring writer or journalist?

2011-03-10T16:40:00.019-06:00

Hey Students!
Summer is fast-approaching.Below are some ways you can sharpen your media skills, boost your resume and have fun too. Most of these programs are FREE and some even offer stipends, so you can write, edit produce and get PAID at the same time.

Summer Opportunities
The Diversity Sports Media Institute kicks off June 27 at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. This is a FREE, week-long immersion into all things sports journalism for Indianapolis juniors and seniors in high school.
To learn more click here.
To apply, click here.
The application deadline is April 8, 2011.

Summer Investigative Journalism Workshop for High School Students
A unique opportunity for you to gain hands-on journalism experience at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. One student will be selected to receive the McCormick Foundation scholarship and attend the workshop for free. For more info and to apply, click here.

Learn about ethics in reporting, visual reporting and multimedia
Poynter Institute in Florida offers a two week fellowship for high school juniors and seniors and recent graduates. Network, use the latest equipment and work with top journalism coaches. Limited scholarships are available.
For more information and to apply click here

University of Iowa Summer Journalism Workshop for High School Students
The McCormick Foundation is offering 12 Chicago high schools students a unique opportunity to gain hands-on journalism experience this summer at the University of Iowa, July 24-28, 2011.
The Workshop will give students training in reporting and media skills and the chance to explore careers in journalism and media.
For more information and to apply click here

Journalism & the Free Society Conference and Internship Program
The McCormick Foundation is offering 2 Chicago college students the chance to attend the conference and the opportunity for one Chicago college student who excelled in high school journalism to have paid internship at a Chicago broadcast or print media organization.
For more information about the conference click here
For more information about the internship click here

Radio Rookies Workshop
This spring and summer, WNYC Radio is holding a workshop to help young people tell radio stories about growing up in the New York area since 9/11. Students will work throughout the summer, receive a stipend and have their stories air on WNYC radio.
For more information click here

Ongoing Opportunities
Apply for a Writing Apprenticeship
After School Matters- Earn a stipend and hone your writing, broadcast and documentary-making skills.
Visit: afterschoolmatters.org/teens

Learn Video Production and Graphic Design
Street Level Youth Media- Attend an after school or summer program or workshops in photography, video production and design.
Visit: street-level.org/Program/index.html

Work on a Magazine
True Star- Create a magazine during this paid apprenticeship. Choose from areas of focus including, editorial, design, photography and sales.
Visit: truestarfoundation.org/what-we-do.html

Write about your community
North Lawndale Community News- Contribute to a blog for members of the North Lawndale community through print, audio and photos.
Visit: www.nlcn.org

Become trained in radio broadcasting and digital audio production
Radio Arte- Radio Arte works with youth ages 14-24 and has media classes and internship opportunities throughout the year.
Visit: wrte.org

Attend free writing programs
Chicago Young Authors- Practice creative writing and take advantage of performance and publication opportunities such as the Saturday writing program, Louder Than A Bomb and Say What magazine.
Visit: youngchicagoauthors.org

Attend a reporting academy
Columbia Links- This program offers reporting academies on basic reporting, investigative reporting and single-subject reporting.
Visit: www.columbialinks.org

Learn journalism skills and earn money as a freelance reporter
We The People Media- The Urban Youth International Journalism Program gives students the opportunity to learn journalism skills from professionals and after graduation, be paid to submit articles to Residents' Journal.
Visit: wethepeoplemedia.org

Learn digital video production
Community TV Network- Learn digital video production through paid internships and apprenticeships.
Visit: ctvnetwork.org/Site/Home.htm

Become an active media maker
Beyondmedia Education -Learn video, photography, audio and Internet and viral social networking skills that will help students tell their stories.
Visit: beyondmedia.org

Learn about new technology, games and social media
Open Youth Networks- Learn media and game design skills through workshops and youth summits and more.
Visit: openyouthnetworks.org

Learn video and documentary production skills
Free Spirit Media- Cover high school sporting events, make documentaries and gain experience through internships while developing video production skills.
Visit: freespiritmedia.org

Teachers: Make Media a Part of Your Classroom

2011-03-10T16:17:00.040-06:00

The McCormick Foundation Journalism Program partners with local organizations and universities doing great work in journalism. We’re happy to share with you curriculum ideas and training materials to help you incorporate or strengthen journalism and media-making in your classroom. Our partners also offer a variety of professional development and training opportunities for you and your students.

Opportunities

Win a Wall Street Subscription For Your Classroom
The Dow Jones News Fund is giving high school journalism teachers the chance to win a 2011-2012 subscription to The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition.Teachers are asked to send 250 words on how they will use the newspaper in the journalism classroom to djnf@dowjones.com with "Classroom Edition" in the subject line by Sept. 19. Subscriptions start in October. Winning essays will be posted on https://www.newsfund.org.
Winners receive: 30 copies of The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition, unlimited use of classroomedition.com, full subscription access to The Wall Street Journal Online for the teacher and a downloadable Teacher Guide

Summer Investigative Journalism Workshop for High School Students
A unique opportunity for your students to gain hands-on journalism experience at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. One student will be selected to receive the McCormick Foundation scholarship and attend the workshop for free. For more info and to apply, click here.

Teaching Journalism
Hone your skills and meet top industry professionals in a course covering approaches to teaching journalism from Columbia College, including media-media storytelling strategies,social media as an instructional tool, syllabus design and more. Persons with at least a bachelor's degree in any field can take the course as a Journalism Graduate Student-as-Large for graduate credits or CPDUs. The course meets five evenings from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting May 24 through Saturday June 25. Its official title is 53-6740, Teaching Journalism: Pedagogy & Best Practices. To apply, click here.

Resources

News Literacy ProjectThe News Literacy Project is an innovative national educational program that is mobilizing seasoned journalists to help middle school and high school students sort fact from fiction in the digital age.

CJAM- Chicago Journalism, Art and Media Project
Gain access to technology that's necessary to better integrate journalism and media making into learning.

High School Broadcast Journalism Project
Establish or maintain an outstanding high school broadcast journalism program

Center for Media Literacy
Professional development and education resources for promoting news literacy.

Through Our Window...Room 101
Example of a model for connecting students bloggers.

IndyKids
A free newspaper, website and teaching tool that aims to inform children in grades 4-7 on current news and world events from a progressive perspective and to inspire a passion for social justice and learning.

Generation PRX
Generation PRX helps youth radio groups share their work through the Public Radio Exchange
(PRX.)

The Civic Blueprint for Illinois High Schools
The Civic Blueprint summarizes six promising approaches to high school level civic education

Survey Shows Obstacles For HS Papers
A Survey of High School Journalism in Southern California Reveals Obstacles in Funding, Teacher Training and Future of Student Newspapers.

We're Not Dead Yet
A study of New York City's high school journalism program and it's importance, and what is necessary to continue and grow the program.

Youth Environmental Journalism Conference

2011-02-25T15:43:00.013-06:00

When it comes to environmental reporting, you have to read a lot and ask questions. That was Chicago Tribune writer Michael Hawthorne's advice to students at last week's Environmental Journalism Conference. Hawthorne, the keynote speaker, said his advice was for aspiring journalists and citizens alike.

On Friday, February 18th, 178 students from 14 city and suburban high schools participated in the conference at the Museum of Science and Industry.

The conference, hosted by Chicago Botanic Garden and Columbia College, included breakout sessions led by leading researchers, alderwomen and nonprofit founders, as well as viewings of student-made documentaries such as Open Youth Network's "The Cloud Factory" and Free Spirit Media's "Hungry For Change."

Students also participated in a panel discussion led by representatives from CeaseFire, University of Illinois Champaign and University of Illinois at Chicago where students explored violence as an environmental issue, including vegetation's calming effect. Later, students learned how to take notes and write a compelling, fact-based article from instructors at Columbia College.

The conference culminated in an opportunity for the students to enter their stories in a contest for prize money. Winners will be announced at the upcoming McCormick-Scholastic Press Association of Chicago High School Journalism Awards on April, 15, 2011.

Thank you to all the speakers and the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Columbia College Chicago Science Journalism Program, the Motorola Foundation, Chicago Instructional Technology Foundation, The Brinson Foundation, HSBC-North American and Kemper Educational and Charitable Fund.

Youth Environmental Journalism Workshop

2011-02-14T15:45:00.001-06:00

This Friday, more than 200 Chicago-area high school students will gather for a day of learning about urban environmental issues and how to report and write about issues such as:

Food Deserts and Human Health
Greening African-American Communities
Environmental Justice and Public Health
How Cities can Advance Environmental goals
Water Conservation
Issues in Environmental Journalism
Eliminating Lead and Other Toxic Metals in the Environment

The event, hosted by Columbia College Chicago's Journalism Department and the Chicago Botanic Garden will feature workshops and some of the area’s top experts and journalists, including Michael Hawthorne of the Chicago Tribune. The conference will also showcase the work of:

Chicago's Free Spirit Media, a media production company for urban teens and a member of the Chicago Youth Voices Network
The work of Marisol Becerra, including the"The Cloud Factory," a documentary on the dangerous pollution in the Little Village neighborhood,

Stay tuned for our coverage of the event on Friday, February 18, 2011. Download the event poster for more information.

Using Data to Understand Economic Hardship in Chicago Neighborhoods

2011-02-11T14:29:00.001-06:00

We just got back from the Economic Hardship in Chicago Neighborhoods Forum put on by Metropolitan Chicago Information Center at the Federal Reserve this morning. It was a convening of policy people, journalists and community-based leadership for MCIC to share data on how economic hardship is affecting particular metropolitan areas and how that impact varies by community. They will be releasing more data soon, but this map alone shows (with regards to access to home mortgage loans) some of the exciting mapping they’re doing:

www.mcic.org/web/mcicvisualization/HMDALoansPuma2005-2009.asp

Note: Open the map, place the cursor above an index dot to see what it represents. If you hit the arrow you can see over 2005-2010 how the issue has changed. On the right for each chart you can select specific communities too.

Connecting People to Projects

2011-02-10T10:04:00.002-06:00

Part of what we do here in the Journalism Program is to help organizations connect and tap into the wealth of information and resources available through our grantee network. This year, the News Literacy Project in Chicago is making its innovative news literacy program available to After School Matters (ASM) instructors interested in engaging students in journalism, news and media. ASM is a non-profit organization that offers Chicago high school teens innovative out-of-school activities.

To read more about this exciting partnership and for ideas on how ASM teachers are implementing news literacy in their programs, visit http://www.afterschoolmatters.org/instructors-and-partners/instructor-resources. If you have journalism resources to share, or would like to find out more about how to get involved in youth media, journalism and news literacy, we'd love to hear from you!

Chicago Journalism, Art and Media Project and Equipment Fund

2011-02-08T17:04:00.005-06:00

The Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), through its new Chicago Journalism, Art and Media Project (C-JAM), is pleased to announce the creation of the C-JAM Educator Equipment Fund. The goal of this fund, sponsored by the McCormick Foundation’s Journalism Program, is to help educators gain access to the technology they need to better integrate journalism and media making into learning. The fund was previously known as the Chicago Youth Media Technology fund and was administered by Roosevelt University’s Communications Department.

This initiative grows out of the McCormick Foundation’s commitment to youth media and news literacy work both inside and outside of schools. Equipment package grants are intended to further Chicago-area educators’ use of media with young people (for news gathering, interviewing, documentary, community exploration, etc.) both in schools and community-based settings.

The grants are available as equipment packages and interested applicants can select the package that best matches their needs and project ideas. Potential applicants are educators who currently incorporate media production in their classrooms or in their youth programs (for example, to produce audio podcasts on community issues or videos on the environment).

The three equipment packages are:
• Video Production
• Audio Production
• Print/Photo/Graphic Production & Design

The C-JAM project team and advisory committee with education, journalistic, and youth media expertise will determine awards based on the stated need and compelling nature of the application. The project team may follow up with further questions.

Technology awarded through this program will be for the use of the applicant but will become the property of the school or nonprofit where applicants work. Winning educators will join a community of like-minded educators from across the metropolitan area for on-going professional development to support their integration of media making. Activities will include workshops on production techniques, digital/news
literacy, curriculum development, etc. Participating educators will have access to an online community to request assistance, post related events, connect with peers in their vicinity and other networking opportunities.

To apply for the Equipment Fund, visit the C-JAM Equipment Fund Application: http://cjam.edc.org/equipment_fund You will be asked to complete the application online, it is recommended that you compile all the information necessary to apply before filling out the application. Deadline to apply is March 21, 2011.

Photo credit: Jason Reblando

Wanted: Chicago’s Best High School Journalists

2011-02-07T11:44:00.001-06:00

The Scholastic Press Association of Chicago and the McCormick Foundation are teaming up once again to honor Chicago’s best high school journalists. The annual journalism workshop and awards ceremony will be held on April 15, 2011 at the Chicago Cultural Center. Register now and submit your students’ entries for a chance to compete in dozens of categories. The top student journalists will receive a $1,500 scholarship. Applications are due on Feb. 19. For registration information on The Scholastic Press Association of Chicago /McCormick Foundation High Schools Media Awards , visit http://spac-chicago.blogspot.com/

Young Chicago Authors Kick off the Summer with Open House

2010-06-28T12:38:00.000-05:00

Young Chicago Authors (YCA) hosted an open house reception and student spoken word poetry performance last Thursday night at their revamped studio space in Wicker Park.

Board President Sylvia Ewing updated community members, partners and funders on the latest programming at YCA, including a new program where young people will be challenged to speak up and “say somethin’ “ about their school, city and country by texting in their responses to a prompt, such as “Why do store clerks stare at me when I go up to the Northside" or “Why is my school’s graduating class so much smaller than others?”

YCA will be kicking off the summer with its Say What magazine writing program and a new open space called WordPlay for teens to share their writing an poetry to peers and the public.

Coming this fall… Young Chicago Authors will also be hosting the first, city-wide youth media festival, showcasing the media produced by Chicago youth. Stay tuned for more details.

Calling all Chicago-area high school teachers!

2010-06-09T13:50:00.001-05:00

RTDNF's High School Broadcast Journalism Organization (HSBJ) is still accepting registration for their Camp STN at Columbia College on August 16-19, 2010. The four-day training video journalism sessions are free and teachers even receive a $50 daily stipend. RTDNF is also arranging for all teachers to receive 36 hours of CEU credits. If you'd like to attend this hands on workshop, please submit your registration here.

At the workshop teachers will learn the basics of:

Shooting video
Conducting interviews
Writing scripts
Editing video
Putting together a news show
Posting your news show online
Teaching your students all of these skills – plus News Literacy, how to tell if it is true

Find Sources for Oil Spill Reporting

2010-06-04T12:24:00.000-05:00

Trying to find out more information about the Gulf oil spill? Joe Davis of the Society of Environmental Journalists is compiling a tracking blog of sources for journalists about the oil spill, taking a specific look at the access issues reporters have experienced. Mapping out a timeline, Davis has been posting breaking news stories and press releases since May. The Daily Glob blog also presents a list of sources journalists can use, including news media outlets, government websites, congressional hearings, commercial responses, research and experts, and mapping and infographics. Davis started posting at a Twitter account @DailyGlob today. Turn to the SEJ blog for information about reporting this environmental crisis. Get back to us with the stories you have posted, too.

Climate Change Training

2010-05-26T09:03:00.000-05:00

Fifteen regional broadcast meteorologists attended Climate Change Science for Broadcast Meteorologists and Weathercasters, a conference at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, May 14-15, 2010. Hosted by the Yale Project on Climate Change (YPCC), a center that has an established online forum that fosters scientists and journalists to discuss climate change, the full-day workshop set out to equip veteran broadcast meteorologists with the latest scientific information regarding climate change.

YPCC has identified the powerful opportunity meteorologists have to inform the public of climate science. Yet many meteorologists lack formal scientific training, which prevents them from discussing important science issues such as climate change. As broadcast journalists, these meteorologists should serve the purpose of delivering information to their audience, looking clearly at the facts around climate change from a scientific point of view.

The workshop included a faculty consisting of world-class climate scientists and TV meteorologists with extensive first-hand experience in studying and communicating on climate change science. It gave the conference participants a head-full of information exploring climate science so that the next time a meteorologist has viewers asking about it, they can give an educated answer.

This is the second workshop the McCormick Foundation has funded for YPCC.

Thank You for Submitting Your Ideas

2010-05-21T13:47:00.000-05:00

Thank you to all of those who submitted a letter of inquiry (LOI) this May. We received many stellar, forward-thinking projects. Some of the exciting trends that we’ve seen this year include:

•    Investigative projects around topics such as racial profiling, clean energy and carbon cap trading;
•   Organizing innovation camps in various cities, bringing together journalists, IT experts and community-based groups;
•    Photographic initiatives to document ways in which America is changing;
•    Creation of databases to help reporters in various fields, and cross-outlet coverage of issues such as homelessness;
•    Creation of phone applications to help reporters cover various issues, as well as initiatives harness mobile phones for citizen reporters;
•    Fellowships for reporters to help improve their coverage of environmental issues, how families are changing, and other issues;
•    Various initiatives to help feed young people’s curiosity around world issues;
•    Initiatives to help everyday people – as well as ‘news junkies’ – to rate the news they read online;
•    After-school programs encouraging young people to write about the world of sports;
•    Awards contest to stimulate IT programmers to create Apps to further a city’s efforts at transparency;
•    Surveys to determine in what ways reporters of all stripes – mainstream, ethnic media, weekly, writers and photographers alike – are prevented from accessing information, data and people they need to carry out their work

With our new guidelines, we’ll be able to move forward on some. Others – despite how outstanding they are and how much we’ve learned from their sheer creativity – we won’t be able to partner around at this time. We encourage everyone to continue innovating in the name of journalism.

To learn more about our grantmaking process click here.

Case to Limit Investigative Reporting?

2010-05-19T13:01:00.001-05:00

As we watch the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continue to unfold, it reminds us of another situation more apparent to our line of duty. Last Thursday, New York Federal Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ordered documentary producer and director Joe Berlinger to turn over to Chevron more than 600 hours of raw footage used to create a film titled Crude: The Real Price of Oil. If Berlinger’s appeal is rejected, this decision could put a chill on the First Amendment rights of documentary filmmakers and investigative journalists. As discussed by the Huffington Post’s Bill Moyers and Michael Winship article “Chevron’s ‘Crude’ Attempt to Suppress Free Speech,” this violation would limit the legal protection a journalist and their sources would receive in court.

As the Independent Documentary Association asserts, "This case offers a clear and compelling argument for more vigorous federal shield laws to protect journalists and their work, better federal laws to protect confidential sources, and stronger standards to prevent entities from piercing the journalists' privilege. We urge the higher courts to overturn this ruling to help ensure the safety and protection of journalists and their subjects, and to promote a free and vital press in our nation and around the world."

As part of the journalism community, what do you think about this situation?

Director's Notes: Caution

2010-05-10T12:09:00.000-05:00

Banned. The Pentagon banned four reporters from covering future military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba after they published the name of an Army interrogator who was a witness at a hearing there this week. Two attendees of last year's McCormick Foundation Military-Media Conference were involved in the story. McClatchy Newspapers correspondent Nancy A. Youssef wrote the May 7 story about the messy situation involving reporters from McClatchy's Miami Herald and three Canadian news organizations. Conference participant Col. David Lapan, the director of Defense Press Operations at the Pentagon, said the ban affects only the individual reporters and that their organizations would be allowed to send other reporters to future hearings. "We have been covering Guantanamo for years and we've always played by the rules--and we did in this case as well," said Mindy Marques, managing editor of the Miami Herald. The issue at hand is that the witness had been previously publically identified. “That reporters are being punished for disclosing information that has been publicly available for years is nothing short of absurd,” said Jameel Jaffer, the deputy legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union. McCormick Foundation grantee Joel Simon, executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, called the drastic bans part of “a long history of lack of access for journalists covering military tribunals and other events at Guantanamo Bay.” What do you think about the reason these reporters are being banned?
Downside of Facebook Journalism. The hazard of "hurry-up" Web journalism reporting took center stage this week. When the identity of the alleged, would-be Times Square bomber was surfacing, the Huffington Post was quick to publish a photo of the wrong Faisal Shahzad, taken from a Facebook page. The case of mistaken identity was eventually corrected. As an article in the Christian Science Monitor warns, “Facebook journalism is a tricky science, and it almost certainly should never involve the publication of photographs of a person whom you think might be an alleged terrorist, and then again, might just be a normal dude. That's the kind of thing that can put someone in danger.”
How far are Journalists protected? Bloomberg Businessweek reports that The First Amendment Coalition and six media organizations are asking to see the affidavit filed by investigators who obtained a warrant to search the home of a technology blog editor at Gizmodo.com. The April blog post revealed secret information about an Apple prototype iPhone, based on a allegedly stolen product they bought from a college student who said he found it in a bar. “A warrant is a very intrusive device, especially for a journalist,” Peter Scheer, an attorney and executive director of the San Rafael, California-based media group, said. “Affidavits are supposed to be public records and the public has a legitimate interest in seeing that the process used to get the warrant was fair.” A Superior Court Judge in Redwood City, Calif. refused to consider the request. The warrant violates California’s newsroom search act. Is this pushing the boundary of a journalist's right to report?
Quote of the Week: “Democracies die behind closed doors . . . When government begins closing doors . . . it selectively controls information rightfully belonging to the people. Selective information is misinformation. The Framers of the First Amendment . . . did not trust any government to separate the true from the false for us . . . They protected the people against secret government.” -Judge Damon J. Keith, (Detroit Free Press v. Ashcroft, 2002)

Resources

2010-05-05T14:16:00.003-05:00

Below are some journalism-related resources you might find useful. We’ve categorized them by specifically by our areas of support—content, audience, rights—to help you better understand our priorities. If you have a resource that you’d like to share that fits under these categories, please send us an email with more information.

Content
Audience
Rights
Technical Assistance
Other Award and Fellowship Opportunities

Technical Assistance

2010-05-05T14:12:00.001-05:00

http://idealware.org/ provides thoroughly researched, impartial and accessible resources about software to help nonprofits make smart software decisions.

Director's Notes: Serious Business

2010-05-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

Dangers of Embedding. Crackerjack Washington Post columnist David Ignatius has taken advantage of traveling with the U.S. military to cover wars. "I've spent weeks at a time visiting U.S. units in the field, hopping C-130s and Blackhawk helicopters and Humvees. As a result, I have seem more of Iraq and Afghanistan than I possibly could have otherwise, and I think my readers have benefited. But, embedding comes at a price. We are observing these wars from just one perspective, not seeing them whole." Ignatius then expands his theory to include coverage of politics.

If you are interested in learning more about the roots of embedding in recent wars and conflicts, check out our series of Military-Media Conference reports.

None of Your Business. That was the headline on a recent Chicago Tribune editorial lambasting the Illinois General Assembly as it was pressing ahead with more exemptions on access to public employees' performance evaluations. The legislative assault on the state's new-and-improved Freedom of Information Act began in January when teacher evaluations were exempted from FOIA, in exchange for union support on a bill that was suppose to help Illinois qualify for the Obama administration's Race to the Top program. Now, there is more in store.
Speaking of the President, the White House press corps is in a tizzy over its increasingly hostile relations with the administration. A detailed report on Politico leaves you wondering whether Team Obama is on the same page as the President on open government and transparency issues. For example, "a routine press query can draw a string of vitriolic emails. A negative story can draw a profane high-decibel phone call--or worse. Some reporters feel like they've been frozen out after crossing the White House." Politico quoted press secretary Robert Gibbs as saying, "This is the most transparent administration in the history of our country." Peals of laughter broke out in the briefing room.
Quote of the Week: "I'm having issues with fully embracing the Twittersphere, because I just don't have the time. This, to me, is the biggest problem for Twitter---and the entire world that's growing up around it---because in the name of abbreviating communications, it actually makes it more time-consuming to pass along an idea." -Media Analyst Terry Heaton (thepomoblog.com)

Chicago Youth Media Educators: Apply for a Technology Mini Grant

2010-04-26T16:26:00.001-05:00

Are you teaching news gathering, interviewing, documentary or community exploration?

Do you want to incorporate media production in your classrooms to produce video or audio podcasts on community issues?

Do you lack the digital cameras, video cameras, audio equipment, software, or computers for your students to take it to the next level?

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Director's Notes: Journalism Studies and Results

2010-04-25T23:04:00.007-05:00

Sunny in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is a city with enormous talent and assets that need to be better leveraged to achieve a well-informed electorate, an accountable leadership and a robust sense of place that acknowledges the New Philadelphia while attending to the Old. A recent J-Lab study commissioned by the William Penn Foundation measures the state of media and explores a networked journalism collaborative in Philadelphia.

Stuck in the Mud. The newsroom diversity movement is stalled. The percentage of minorities working in newsrooms dipped slightly to 13.26 percent last year. The American Society of News Editors said daily newspapers lost another 5,200 jobs in 2009, bringing the total loss of journalists since 2007 to 13,500. Since 2001, U.S. newsrooms have lost more than 25 percent of their full-time staff positions, bringing the total to 41,500 working journalists. Minorities represented 16 percent of the journalists hired for their first full-time newsrooms job in 2009, the same as a year earlier. Many questions remain on how many journalists of color work for online only news outlets or have launched news media startups. Only a quarter of the online only news organizations contacted by ASNE returned the survey.
Quote of the Week: "Positive change cannot happen in school reform, the immigration system, in international affairs, nuclear proliferation, or the understanding of Islam...unless vibrant news media engage the American public about the issues." -Susan King/Carnegie Corp.