Pitch a story to the U.S. Democracy Day nationwide reporting collaborative
We’re offering up to $2,000 for pro-democracy reporting
Our democracy is under threat, and we are eager to hear your perspective. As a part of the U.S. Democracy Day collaborative reporting initiative, we are launching a nationwide call for reported stories, inviting you to share insightful narratives around this central theme.
We are offering up to $2,000 for reported stories that explore various facets of democracy. These stories and commentaries should have a national reach and will be used for republication among our partners.
This could include solution-oriented stories about how communities are combatting threats to democracy, engaging Q&As with thought leaders who are shaping the democracy discourse, or compelling op-eds that bring lessons from global democratic practices to the forefront.
The goal? To provide the public with the context and information they need and to incentivize robust media coverage around this vital issue. On Democracy Day, Sept. 15, 2023, we want all media types to unite — print, radio, TV, digital, both on the national and local levels — sounding the alarm collectively about the challenges our democracy faces.
Our initiative is rooted in the philosophy of service journalism.
We want to help citizens better understand the roles of their county and election commissioners, and the potential impact of lawmakers’ decisions and policies on them and their communities. We want to highlight the stakes, not just the competition or the odds, of democratic processes and elections.
This call isn’t about taking partisan sides or ignoring inconvenient realities. Rather, it’s about emphasizing the gravity of what’s at stake for democracy and maintaining transparency throughout the reporting process.
“Transparency in the reporting process is key to countering accusations of bias,” said Beatrice Forman, U.S. Democracy Day coordinator.
✨ If you are as excited about this opportunity as we are, submit your story pitch via this form by July 24.
To learn more about U.S. Democracy Day, visit the project homepage and follow us on Twitter.
We encourage you to lend your voice, share your insights, and help shape this historic pro-democracy collaborative reporting effort.
Read more from U.S. Democracy Day:
🗳️ Contact the Democracy Day organizing team!
Email info@usdemocracyday.org, sign up via Airtable here, or check out the Democracy Day project page to learn more about what pro-democracy reporting looks like in practice.
Joe Amditis is assistant director of products and events at the Center for Cooperative Media. Contact him at amditisj@montclair.edu or on Twitter at @jsamditis.
About the Center for Cooperative Media: The Center is a primarily 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 operational and project funding from Montclair State University, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, NJ Civic Information Consortium, Rita Allen Foundation, Inasmuch Foundation and the Independence Public Media Foundation. For more information, visit centerforcooperativemedia.org.
