Information needs assessment led by Outlier Media launched in Newark
Survey to be followed by funding for Newark-based media, community groups to help fill information gaps it identifies
Last week about 55 people gathered for a workshop hosted by the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University in partnership with WBGO and Free Press.
The workshop was centered around understanding community information needs in Newark. The group—a combination of local journalists, mediamakers, community organizers and funders—together built its outline of Newark’s “hierarchy of information needs,” a concept based on this article from City Bureau. (You can see a graphic illustration of that hierarchy at the top of this article, or by clicking here).
Now we’re excited to announce that we’ll soon have a more nuanced understanding of the information needs of Newark residents, thanks to a city-wide survey that launches today. Outlier Media, a service-journalism nonprofit, is leading an SMS-based survey that will ask Newark residents questions about what kind of resources they need to help them better navigate life during the pandemic.
“Resource needs are a good proxy for information gaps,” said Sarah Alvarez, founder of Outlier Media. “Those, in turn, help us understand where there are accountability gaps in a community. Identifying info and accountability gaps accurately helps community groups and journalists know where to direct time and scarce resources.”
The survey will be active all this week. It is being funded by the New Jersey Local News Lab, a partnership of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Community Foundation of New Jersey.
Then during the first week of September, the team at Outlier Media will re-convene with attendees of last week’s workshop to share results of the survey. Alvarez will outline different ways that local media and the community could work together to fill some of the information needs gaps the survey identifies.
After that, workshop participants can apply for funding to support collaborative efforts to fill the identified information needs gaps. That funding—$45,000 in total—will be provided via the Center thanks to support from The Nicholson Foundation and Victoria Foundation, both of which are based in Newark. The Center’s end goal with this effort is three-fold: To assist in strengthening the news ecosystem in Newark to benefit city residents, to get funding to Newark journalists, and to encourage journalists to collaborate with each other and with community members.
Kenneth Miles, a local writer and founding partner of 3rd Space, a boutique coworking space in Newark, will coordinate the Newark funding opportunity and provide coaching to applicants on behalf of the Center.
Info needs survey only the first step of Newark-focused work
It’s important to note that the information needs survey and related funding opportunity is only one facet of work that’s going into strengthening Newark’s news ecosystem.
Free Press will also work with local journalists and community members post-survey to co-create a larger plan of action on how to respond to information gaps and needs identified in Outlier’s research.
Just as it has done in cities like Atlantic City, Camden, and New Brunswick, Free Press’s goal is to build a movement for more equitable media in Newark and hold institutions accountable for information disparities. By having more data on what barriers exist that prevent people from accessing news and information in Newark, one possible outcome is developing new ways that journalists, residents, community organizations, and others share information during a pandemic.
The hope is that residents of Newark will have access to factual information they need in order to stay safe and healthy during the pandemic and beyond, and be able to influence newsrooms and leaders to respond to the real needs of the community. Free Press’s work in Newark is being funded by Dodge Foundation, the Local News Lab and Victoria Foundation.
Additionally, WBGO has a commitment to generating community centered content and stories. Its news Community Storytelling Lab will provide ways to share and amplify the lived experience of Newarkers.
Residents will be provided a stipend and learn newsgathering skills and strategies for effective storytelling to respond to the information needs identified by community members. The lab will serve as a training platform for developing an idea into a story that then can be produced for a news outlet. They will also connect with news professionals, community leaders and develop ideas on the topics they believe will be a true reflection of the City of Newark. The stipends are provided thanks to funding from Victoria Foundation.
If you have any questions about any of this work, feel free to reach out to The Center at info@centerforcooperativemedia.org and we’ll connect you to the right person.
Read the report by Outlier Media.
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Stefanie Murray is director of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University. Contact her at murrayst@montclair.edu.
About the Center for Cooperative Media: The Center is a grant-funded program of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. Its mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism, and in doing so serve New Jersey residents. The Center is supported with funding from Montclair State University, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, the New Jersey Local News Lab (a partnership of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Community Foundation of New Jersey), and the Abrams Foundation. For more information, visit CenterforCooperativeMedia.org.
