rom 2014 to 2016, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation supported two crowdfunding campaigns with local newsrooms and studied a number of others. This guide looks at each of these campaigns and pulls in lessons from other newsrooms that have been successful. The guide also looks at how to convert the community that supports your crowdfunding campaign into ongoing contributors, allies, and friends of the organization. See Local News Lab series of Guides.
Resources
Building Trust on Facebook
How can journalists stand out in a minefield of misinformation? See what 14 newsrooms learned when they used their social platforms to experiment with trust-building strategies. We’ll show you what they tried, what worked for different kinds of newsrooms and what totally fell flat.
A Journalist’s Guide to Using Zoom for Community Engagement
Local Voices Network hosted dozens of small group community conversations utilizing Zoom working with news organizations across the country to host larger town hall meetings and more focused topical small group conversations. This guide helps to think through these digital gatherings, from the more significant philosophical questions to the nitty-gritty of the tech.
Managing Digital Products in a Newsroom Context
Abstract: Digital media tools provide new ways for media companies to distribute information and engage the public. This study explores the emerging, technology-influenced role of managing digital media products through the observations of innovators and early adopters in these positions. It assesses the attention to, or lack thereof, traditional journalistic standards and ethics in product development processes and offers insight into relevant directions for journalism curriculum.
How to copy our great hiring process, step by step
The Hearken team is proud to have developed a transparent, collaborative, and well-defined system for hiring that attracted a diverse pool of strong applicants. We learned a lot from others out here on the Internet about best practices when recruiting and hiring, so we wanted to give back and share what we learned. Related resources Dodge Foundation, Poynter, and Open News.
3 Steps to Turn Everyday Get-Togethers into Transformative Gatherings
Why do some gatherings take off and others don’t? Author Priya Parker shares three easy steps to turn your parties, dinners, meetings and holidays into meaningful, transformative gatherings.
Forming a community advisory board for your newsroom
Community editorial boards or advisory boards are one way to start your journalism from a place of listening. Depending on the board’s makeup and recruitment processes, they can point you toward stories that have gone uncovered and people whose information needs are not being met. And they can help you repair relationships with groups that are often marginalized or misrepresented by the news media.
Local Voices on Local News
This Community Information Needs Assessment was built on extensive and careful listening. California Common Cause helped facilitate 12 focus groups in English, Spanish, Cantonese, and Tagalog, in partnership with community-based organizations, and had over a dozen conversations with community news publishers.
Cross-Cultural Journalism: Communicating Strategically About Diversity
Built on the hands-on reporting style and curriculum pioneered by the University of Missouri, this introductory textbook teaches students how to write about and communicate with people of backgrounds that may be different from their own, offering real-world examples of how to practice excellent journalism and strategic communication that take culture into account.
Deep Listening to Map a Community’s Information Needs
How El Tímpano asked a local community about the information they want, and what we learned in the process. This is the second in a series documenting our efforts to map the information needs of Oakland’s Latino immigrants.
How To Make (And Celebrate) A Podcast With A Community
CapRadio celebrated (and shared) the six-part documentary podcast called “Making Meadowview,” which profiled community leaders tackling big neighborhood problems in South Sacramento. It was a year-long project, born through a process of relationship-building with Meadowview residents.
Storytelling Neighborhood: Paths to Belonging in Diverse Urban Environments
This article develops and tests a communication infrastructure model of belonging among dwellers of urban residential environments. Storytelling neighborhood, the communication process through which neighborhood discussion transforms people from occupants of a house to members of a neighborhood, is proposed as an essential component of people’s paths to belonging.