Local journalism and media policy: giving a voice to grassroots media
Tracie Powell, Graciela Mochkofsky and Simon Galperin explore issues surrounding community information and news
The conversation about the significance of local news is growing louder across the United States and around the world, but, at the center of discussion, there too often remains a giant hole — one occupying the smallest news organizations.
These frequently ignored organizations were in the spotlight of the third panel in a five-part series, hosted by the Tow Center, examining how media policy can support local journalism. The panel, entitled, “Giving A Voice to Grassroots Media,” included Tracie Powell (Principal and Founder, The Pivot Fund; Founding Fund Manager, Racial Equity in Journalism Fund), Simon Galperin (Founding Director of the Bloomfield Information Project and the Community Info Coop) and Graciela Mochkofsky (Executive Director, Center for Community Media in at City University of New York’s Newark Graduate School of Journalism) and was moderated by Tow Knight News Innovation fellow Damian Radcliffe from the University of Oregon.
The three panelists arrived at the panel from different perspectives, but they shared one common goal, as described by Mochkofsky.
“Our mission is to advocate for the community media and make sure that they are part of the larger conversation about the future of news, and local news in particular,” she said.
Legislation a good start
Panelists agreed that recent legislation — including the Build Back Better bill and Local Journalism Sustainability Act — is a way to start working toward improved support for local journalism. But, as Mochkofsky acknowledged, “legislation is a huge first step and it’s very important … (but) legislation is not enough.”
The process of creating the legislation drew criticism from Powell, noting the bills ignored smaller publications, especially those created by and for BIPOC communities.
“(The legislation) reinforces the status quo, which, in my opinion, reinforces a broken system,” Powell said. “Part of why we still have this issue is because there weren’t enough voices, I believe, at the table to inform the solutions that were created or drafted. So if there had been more diverse, inclusive voices at the table, the drafters of the bill would’ve had a better understanding of how these smaller, independent news outlets work.”
Such criticisms also surfaced from experts in our previous panel looking at international issues surrounding media policy and local news.
Powell also noted that the legislation focuses only on one sector of local media.
“I think while this act is a start, and people like to say this is a start, it’s still a conversation about saving newspapers instead of saving local news,” she said. “And there’s a really nuanced distinction there.”
“I’m not in the business of trying to save these local newspapers. I think it’s about time that we acknowledge that we are past that now. We really need to be talking about saving local news.”
Galperin agreed that too much of the conversation about local news, and too many of the solutions being discussed, are rooted in the past.
“I think the issue is more of we need to invest money in creating new things and less into invest money into sustaining the current thing,” he said. “Because the current thing, it has a lifetime and that lifetime is going to end at some point and we’re just stringing it along. … So we really need a movement for a new local public media.”
Possibilities for moving forward
Galperin champions for community information districts, an idea that draws tax funds from community residents to support journalism for community residents. To be sure, it is a progressive, big idea, which, he said, is needed now.
“I think that the most progressive, thoughtful, substantial solutions aren’t even on the table when it comes to media policy discussions,” Simon Galperin said. “I think it’s because a lot of bigger players are taking up oxygen.”
Powell’s work with The Pivot Fund is part of a growing number of non-profit organizations hoping to offer support for smaller newsrooms.
“The Pivot Fund seeks to give directly to community-led news outlets — directly to the folks who are out there providing and producing critical information for the communities that they’re embedded in,” she said.
“There’s still dollars heavily going to white-led organizations who say they serve people in communities of color. There are quite a few organizations out there who are guilty of building their business models on the backs of publishers of color. And a very few of those dollars go directly to publishers.”
She continued: “But I do think we’ve done a great job channeling resources and trainings and expertise to our membership to make their businesses more sustainable.”
Mochkofsky and her colleagues at the Center for Community Media released a study in which they analyzed how 50 New York City government agencies paid for advertising in local news organizations. It found that four-fifths of the advertising revenue went to the larger organizations, such as the New York Times, and not smaller, niche and ethnic publications.
“(The ads) were targeted for these communities, but they were not placing the outlets that would actually reach these communities,” Mochkofsky said.
The findings, ultimately, led to the New York City mayor signing an executive order that mandated the government agencies had to place at least 50% of ad dollars in their budgets to community media outlets. Mochkofsky and the Center for Community Media have now expanded the mission nationwide.
Mochkofsky acknowledged the small size of many of these organizations but emphasized the size alone is not a measure of their value.
“They’re critical in the life of the city,” she said.
Missed the event?
You can watch the full conversation onYouTube, listen on SoundCloud or read the transcript on Scribd.
Next event — RSVP here.
This conversation on media policy and local journalism will continue at 4 p.m. Eastern Time on Jan. 20, 2022. The fourth panel of the five-part series will address emerging issues and fresh ideas in media policy. Panelists include Jessica González (Co-CEO, Free Press) and Sue Cross, Executive Director & CEO at the Institute for Nonprofit News.
On Jan. 27, 2022, there will be a wrap-up panel, highlighting many of the lessons learned from the five-part series.
All panels are free and open to the public.
Originally published at https://us7.campaign-archive.com.
