!Viva Young Global Journalists!

This morning we had the pleasure of meeting with a group of nine young journalists from all over the world who are taking part in the World Press Institute’s annual fellowship program. The groups includes (click here to see bios on the entire group) reporters from Argentina, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, China, Hungary, India, Lithuania, South Africa and Spain (the Nigerian fellow listed was unable to attend).

In short, meeting these fellows quickly reinforces the importance of journalism and defines the spirit of civic engagement. The Bosnian fellow, Ermin, carries out serious investigative reporting projects (which he says an instructor described as basically reporting on ‘bad people doing bad things’). The Brazilian reporter, Tatiana, says that every story that appears in her paper, Zero Hora of Porto Alegre, now has a special sidebar that provides perspective for young readers. And the Lithuanian reporter, Vykintas, has written extensively about comparative political systems in Eastern Europe (see his web site at http://www.geocities.com/vykintas/index_e.html).

The eight-week fellowship tour includes visits to a jet propulsion laboratory, Obama campaign offices, Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, the L.A. Times, the Newseum, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and four days filing stories from the Republican National Convention. To follow the group blog, click here.

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McCormick Announces $4M in Journalism Initiatives

The McCormick Foundation Board recently approved 22 grants to projects promoting youth journalism, ethnic media and First Amendment issues.

“These grants support our focus on innovation, integration and invigoration of the news media,” said Clark Bell, Journalism Program director. The grants boost training for young journalists, help news executives face strategic challenges, promote the First Amendment and enable journalists to develop specialized reporting skills. The projects include (by category, in alphabetical order):

Journalism Education
Center for Media and Security
$100,000 for general support

Community Media Workshop
$150,000 over 2 years for community and ethnic media training

International Center for Journalists, Inc.
$217,000 over 2 years for training at Spanish-language community radio stations

Investigative Reporters and Editors
$100,000 over 2 years for training for ethnic media reporters

Kansas University Endowment Association
$50,000 for military and media projects

Northwestern University
$1,355,000 over 3 years for the Medill School’s national security training initiative

The Trustees of Indiana University
$75,000 over 2 years for launching a nonprofit and philanthropy reporting program

University of Colorado Foundation
$110,000 over 2 years for launching the Resolving Door community journalism project

University of Southern California/Institute for Justice and Journalism
$120,000 for coverage of urban environmental justice

West Virginia University Foundation, Inc.
$85,000 over 2 years for launching a multimedia training program between journalism schools and community newspapers

Free Speech
American Society of Newspaper Editors Foundation, Inc.
$100,000 for the Liberty Tree Initiative to promote the 1st Amendment on college campuses

Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa, Inc.
$200,000 over 2 years for increasing public appreciation for free press in the Americas

News Leadership
American Press Institute, Inc.
$75,000 for continuing its Transformation Series seminars

National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation
$150,000 over 2 years for broadcast diversity programs

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies
$90,000 for the McCormick Change Leadership Fellows

Research Foundation of City University of New York
$155,000 over 2 years for a New Business Models for News Initiative

Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education
$160,000 over 2 years for the Media Academy, Editing Program and Web operations

Youth Media
Columbia College Chicago
$250,000 over 2 years for the Columbia Links high school journalism training project

Community Television Network
$90,000 over 2 years for its “Hard Cover” journalism training program

Radio and Television News Directors Foundation
$150,000 over 2 years for the High School Teacher Television Camp

We the People Media
$90,000 over 2 years for the Urban Youth International Journalism Program

Roosevelt University
$100,000 over 2 years for the McCormick Foundation High School Media Awards

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Sticks and Stones...

"A Twit"
"Cowardly"
"El Esposo Gordo"
They sound like humorous enough insults from afar. But according to the current issue of National Geographic magazine these insults were considered going too far by governments around the globe. These examples of insult laws, provided by the World Press Freedom Committee, show how stifled speech still is in many countries.

Insulting Turkishness is no longer a crime in Turkey, the magazine says. But insulting a public figure, or the republic's founder Ataturk, is.

The kicker? That breaking these insult laws often comes with a hefty price. Sentences have included $10 million in Paraguay and 74 lashes in Iran.

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AAJA Seeks New E.D.

After almost 10 years heading the Asian American Journalists Association, Executive Director Rene Astudillo announced last year that he is stepping down effective Nov. 28.

Founded in 1981, the AAJA is the nation’s largest nonprofit membership organization for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) journalists. AAJA seeks to increase the employment of AAPI journalists in print, broadcast and new media; assists students in pursuing journalism careers and works to enhance the professional skills of journalists. The AAJA Executive Search Committee, which was appointed by AAJA National President Jeanne Mariani-Belding, is working with an executive search firm –CompassPoint – to help with the search process.

Applications are due Oct. 1, 2008.

To see the job application, click here.

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Young Adults "Voting" For Less Bombardment In Election Coverage

Teens are avoiding online election coverage that provides too much detail and overwhelms them, according to a new study released by the Media Management Center (MMC) at Northwestern University, an MF grantee. Young people care about the 2008 election, but don't "want to spend much time following day-to-day developments," according to the Center.

The full qualitative study, "From 'Too Much' to 'Just Right': Engaging Millenials in Election News on the Web," examined the tastes of 89 diverse Chicago-area adults ages 17-22. The findings are online at: http://www.mediamanagementcenter.org/research/youthelection.pdf.

This in-depth look at news consumption provides some valuable insights for capturing and engaging young people around election news. For one, "news organizations need to develop online election resources that are specifically designed to minimize this 'too much' sensation," according to Mike Smith, MMC executive director. For more tips, check out the full study.

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Ethnic Media Leaders Gather in Chicago

Back in June, the McCormick Foundation hosted a gathering of journalism leaders who are working with the growing ethnic media sector to share strategies, challenges and best practices. They came from all over – Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York and elsewhere - and represented journalism schools, nonprofit ethnic media and media enrichment groups. If you’re interested in learning more about the conference ("McCormick Ethnic Media Conference: Strategies for Growing the Sector") and the discussions, click here to see:

* The agenda, participants and participant bios
* Video from a public panel on the State of Ethnic Media
* An article by Chicago journalist Lloyd Sachs covering the discussion
* A brief description of why the Foundation is supporting initiatives in this area

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A Real World Wide Web...of International Journalists

Journalists and trainers from all across the globe can now connect more fluidly and effectively through the newly re-vamped IJNet.org online portal, run by MF grantee the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). IJNet has been the most popular portal for training opportunities for journalists worldwide since its inception in 1998, according to ICFJ. More than 18,000 people from 100 countries subscribe to its weekly bulletin.

The site's makeover means it's now Web 2.0 and features social networking tools for journalists to communicate, discussion forums, news on world journalism activities and more. True to its global roots, users can access materials in Arabic, English, Persian, Portuguese and Spanish, according to ICFJ.

Check it out now and create your own profile at: www.IJNet.org

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