December is Ethnic Media Month

The Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism at San Francisco State University has posted its MF-funded study “The Health of Ethnic Media: Needs and Opportunities.” The report, directed by Cristina Azocar and Jon Funabiki, offers a snapshot of the health and resiliency of the nation’s ethnic news organizations from the point of view of their proprietors, publishers, editors and reporters. To see the study, click here: http://ciij.org/downloads/Health_of_the_Ethnic_Media_Final.pdf

Also, hyperlocal journalism was celebrated Dec. 5 at Minnesota’s Twin Cities first regional Ethnic and Community Media Awards. Co-hosted by the Twin Cities Daily Planet and New America Media, the event honored stories about such topics as Asian-American theater, the recent arrival of refugees from Bhutan, education in the Hmong community and the Service Employees International Union strike in Minneapolis.

To view a NAM story on this event, click here:
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=2d396e99f74e9f3b7500319ce0b599a2.

For audio coverage of the event, click here: http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=979cee7dfd9e5c88c47004478bd04e31.

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Digital Diversity Wins Honors

Bringing together a diverse set of community news voices online in a visually-appealing, organized way ain't easy. Or cheap.

But the Twin Cities Media Alliance, a McCormick-funded nonprofit in Minnesota, shows you can bring together the work of more than 50 community ethnic media news outlets, dozens of citizen journalists and others, along with some great multimedia and blogs, to serve a local audience. It recently won the 2008 Page One (first place) award for Best Independent Web Site from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). The judges cited the great design of the Web site, along with "local content that is relevant...sleek and colorful design."

You can check it out yourself at: www.tcdailyplanet.net.

The site was re-designed in 2008 with local designers with the help of McCormick funding. Given the profusion of hyperlocal and citizen journalism Web sites, perhaps the Daily Planet will influence others seeking to make their sites more interactive and useful to their audience.

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We're Not All 'Citizen Journalists'

With all the trendiness around the term "citizen journalist," Todd Wolfson of the Media Mobilizing Project in Philadelphia makes an important point: Not all the people practicing citizen journalism are citizens. Some are undocumented immigrants, he notes in an article from today's New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/technology/10link.html?ex=1362888000&en=f7410e7dafa0198a&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink).

Wolfson prefers the term "community journalism" as the encompassing title for those reporting out in the community. He's helping train a cadre of community journalists as part of the Media Mobilizing Project (www.mediamobilizing.org), a Knight-funded initiative that is teaching independent media making as part of an organizing effort "to build a broad vibrant network of social movements in Philadelphia."

The Media Mobilizing Project isn't the only initiative trying to train and disseminate news from community members and ethnic media. Check out Twin Cities Daily Planet (www.tcdailyplanet.net), an MTF grantee, which has been training and disseminating content from ethnic and community media in the Twin Cities for several years. The Daily Planet's recently re-designed Web site features some new multimedia options and its network of contributors continues to grow.

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