Bill Nichols Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity Everyone hates pitching stories Because this is often the result There are fewer and fewer reporters to pitch to Its an all toofamiliar story local media is wasting away ID: 781833
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Slide1
How Policy Organizations Can Leverage the New Media Landscape
Bill Nichols
Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity
Slide2Everyone hates pitching stories
Slide3Because this is often the result:
Slide4There are fewer and fewer reporters to pitch to
Slide5It’s an all too-familiar story: local media is wasting away.
In 2000, the Denver Post had 310 employees. Now, it has 70.
Slide6Or you manage to get a story published and it doesn’t do justice to what you had in mind
Slide7So why not become your own publisher?
Slide8There are lots of advantages
Slide9You control your message
End the anxiety about how the story will be cast and written.
Stop worrying about whether issues and quotes will lack the proper context.
Remove the added stress of wondering how the story will be played:
you
control display on your website, Medium, or social media.
Stop trying to convince local media to cover the issues you care about; offer resources for a dedicated reporter or special report.
Slide10You eliminate trying to seduce reporters
Slide11And
–
in order to have impact
–
you
don’t need
to have the resources to create an entire newsroom
Slide12What you need
Slide13A team
• Size doesn’t always matter
• Grow in step with your goals—and with your audience.
Slide14A publishing platform
• Creating content isn’t enough
• The power to publish is what frees you from the need to pitch
Slide15A social media and email strategy
• It’s all about the eyeballs
• Get beyond Twitter
• Don’t need to start from scratch
Slide16Most importantly: a theory of the case.
What’s your goal?
—
Change a specific issue?
— Build cohesion between grantees?
— Drawing attention to your org’s research?
Slide17In Today’s Journalism, there are no competitors; only partners
Slide18Help Multiply Resources
Walton Family Foundation saw a dearth of coverage of the precarious state of the Gulf Coast
Stepped in and funded a collaboration between
The New York Times
and local New Orleans media
Slide19FEW ISSUES ARE MORE IMPORTANT IN TODAY'S AMERICA THAN EXPANDING OPPORTUNITY
5.3 million Americans
are entrenched in deep poverty – and are living on just $4 a day
Nearly one in five
American children grow up in poverty
Automation is projected to make up to a
third of US jobs obsolete
by 2030
Sources
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2017/income-povery.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/opinion/poverty-united-states.html
https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Global%20Themes/Future%20of%20Organizations/What%20the%20future%20of%20work%20will%20mean%20for%20jobs%20skills%20and%20wages/MGI-Jobs-Lost-Jobs-Gained-Report-December-6-2017.ashx
Slide20Local Coverage Is Non-ExistentWhile the problem is pervasive, there is scant capacity to cover it adequately at the local level, and no resources to do stories about what policy changes will meanOf the ten states with the highest poverty rates, none have a dedicated poverty reporter at their largest news outletsI started my career with the Jackson (Ms.) Clarion-Ledger in 1980, when it had just over 100 staffers. As of last year, it has 22 -11 of whom cover sports. The city has a poverty rate of 30.7 percent.
Slide21Too many crucial issues are left uncovered
Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity
study on media coverage of terms “poverty” and “low-income,” Oct. 2017
Slide22Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity
THE SOURCE FOR NEWS, IDEAS, AND ACTION
Slide23What is Spotlight?Non-partisan initiative focused on a range of original content that focuses on solutions for addressing poverty at the federal, state, and local levelAs the decline in local media continues and quality content about income inequality grows even more scarce, we generate original journalism, blog posts, briefings, webinars and video series, conferences, and more on important poverty issuesOne-stop shop for research, news, data, and commentary; daily news aggregation23
Slide24Original Journalism ProjectIn-depth exclusive reporting on how national policy affects low-income people at the local levelOffers opportunities to writers from impacted communitiesFills a void in poverty journalismHub of network providing content on income inequality issues to news outlets across the country Chosen as one of 31 participants in 2019 Media Transformation Challenge at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center
24
Slide25A Fledgling Network Netw NETWORK
Slide2645 Stories In Three Years
Slide27The digital revolution is difficult for all sides of the content ecosystem
Slide28But it is also creating opportunities
Opportunities for nonprofits, foundations, and think tanks to take control of their own narrative and tell their own story
Slide29Questions?