This comprehensive report, prepared on behalf of the Knight Foundation as a condition of continued funding, details how Gather started, how it currently operates, and how it anticipates operating in the future through the lens of the developmental evaluation process. Though intended as an internal document, Gather is making this report public in the hopes that other organizations can learn from the challenges and successes faced by Gather to date, as well as part of its continuing commitment to a transparent development process.
Resources
Hooked on Junk News: Breaking Bad Habits and Rebuilding Trust in the Media
NewsU: As a mediator among those who create, distribute and consume the news, the Newseum wants to help each group better understand the others. In this session, the Newseum’s Kristi Kenneth focuses on revealing what the organization has learned about the current media landscape through workshops with news consumers young and old world-wide. What issues cause the most confusion? Where does the public lay blame for problems like “fake” news? What skills do students and the general public need to develop, and what can journalists do to help bolster those skills?
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.
Cultivating Local News Communities with Facebook Groups
NewsU: Facebook Groups are an exciting way to build communities, especially on the local level. Facebook Groups remain an effective way to interact with audiences and share meaningful stories. But how do you start? What makes for a good Facebook group? What pitch can you make for resources? How can you involve your business side and journalists outside of the social media team in managing it? This webinar discusses best practices in starting a topical Facebook group, how to involve your newsroom and how to keep the conversation going.
Using Conversation to Build Collaboration Between Newsrooms and Communities
The Jefferson Center launched Your Voice Ohio in 2017, the second phase of an ongoing collaborative effort to help Ohio newsrooms better understand and respond to the needs of their communities. We’re looking at a variety of methods of engagement — both in-person and online — to find the most effective and sustainable approaches for local newsrooms. Here’s what we’ve learned so far (as of 2018).
Journalism Live: How News Events Foster Engagement and Expand Revenue
In this guide, we will draw on lessons and case studies from news events run by newsrooms of all sizes and share some key lessons for publishers who are just getting started.
Reimagining Journalism In a Post-Truth World
In a world of “alternative facts” and “post-truth” politics, producing public-interest journalism is more important than ever—but also more complex. This book examines how journalism is evolving to meet the demands of the digital media ecosystem, where lies often spread faster than truth, and where modern news consumers increasingly expect journalism to be a conversation, not a lecture.
How The Dallas Morning News Builds Subscriber Loyalty With a Facebook Group
The Dallas Morning News has created a Facebook Group for its subscribers. It’s a way to grow loyalty among those who pay for its journalism and give them more direct access to the paper’s journalists and editors. Members of the group also get exclusive benefits such as tickets to events and other perks … In this issue, we’re looking at how the Morning News built its subscriber group and how the newsroom and marketing departments collaborate to run it.
What ‘Engagement Reporting’ Is and Why It Matters
What if readers, not just sources, were an active part of the news reporting process? A new group of journalists is exploring that possibility in an effort to deepen their reporting and build community relationships. ‘Engagement reporters’ are journalists who combine the power of community engagement with traditional news reporting to do journalism that aims to authentically serve the community and reflect their interests and needs. They’re not audience engagement editors and they’re not news reporters — they live in both worlds.
Disrupting Traditional News Routines Through Community Engagement
Abstract: This research examines the impact of One River, Many Stories, a community storytelling project designed to disrupt relationships between news organizations and their audiences. Community engagement methods were used to study this two-year storytelling project. Ripple Effects Mapping methods measured its impact. Findings reveal that traditional news media deviated little from established journalism routines while citizen participation was diverse and expansive.
‘Latinas in Journalism’ Leverages Social Media to Create Community, Open Doors
When it comes to hiring and promoting Latinas in newsrooms, the powers that be often blame a lack of progress on their inability to find enough candidates with the requisite qualifications, also known as the “pipeline” problem. As a response, Dallas-based former television reporter Rebecca Aguilar launched a Facebook page called “Latinas in Journalism.” Within four hours of its November launch, the page got 200 members. Within three days, it was up to 1,000. Today, it has almost 1,400 members and more joining daily.
Solutions Set
Solutions Set is an ongoing archive of reports on engaged journalism tools and practices produced and compiled by The Lenfest Institute for Journalism and The Solutions Journalism Network.