In Newton, Kansas, less than 3 percent of teachers are non-white, while the student body is 38 percent non-white. For reporters at The Newton Kansan, this discrepancy is an essential story for their community – and one they believe every community newspaper should be tracking.
On April 20, 1999, Columbine High School suffered a tragedy unlike anything most people had experienced at that time. What happened in that small Colorado town reverberated across the country and around the globe, making people everywhere stop and pay attention. Twenty years later, Columbine feels like the start of an epidemic to many people – but to those still living there, the only option is to continue moving forward every day. When the anniversary approached last year, the editors at the Canyon Courier knew they couldn’t let the 13 innocent people who lost their lives that day be forgotten by their neighbors.
Challenging authority to ensure an informed and engaged citizenry is the bedrock of the journalistic profession. For Sidney Herald editor Amy Efta, that task came all too soon after taking her position at the local Montana newspaper.
The News Media Alliance today filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of Oracle in the Google v. Oracle (docket no. 18-956) case concerning Google’s unauthorized copying of parts of Oracle’s computer code when developing applications for the Android operating system. The Alliance brief rebuts Google’s argument that its use of Oracle’s code was justified under the four-part fair use test used by U.S. courts, drawing comparisons to Google’s widespread and unauthorized use of news media content and its effect on the news media industry.
Focusing on the impact journalism has doesn’t only affect the community, but the newsroom, as well. Guest blogger Anjanette Delgado discusses how a focus on impact can create new roles for journalists, and new ways of thinking about how we run our newsrooms.
While all journalism makes an impact, not all journalism is designed with impact in mind. Guest blogger Anjanette Delgado explored what would happen if journalists considered their impact during the process of researching and writing their stories, and how that can play out for the reporters and the community they serve.
Most journalists get into the business to help make a difference in their communities, whether that means reporting on the local school board or the president of the United States. But how many of us actually discuss the differences our reporting makes with our readers? It’s a practice that more publishers and journalists should tackle.
Did you miss our webinar on January 21, 2020? Do you want to learn about the News Impact Project and how you can start tracking impact in your newsroom? Here you’ll find video of the webinar, all the slides presented, and links to all the resources and stories discussed during the presentation.
“A new subscriber called to tell us that she subscribed because of this story,” Joellen Easton, audience director for the Bangor Daily News, told us when she submitted this story to the News Impact Project. That’s the kind of reaction from readers we all hope our journalism will produce, which is what makes this story, “Mass eviction in Portland to uproot low income families,” such a perfect fit for the News Impact Project.
Knowing your page views and monthly uniques is important, but so is being able to show that your investigative work inspired a change in the law or got the shady pol ousted. So let’s track that change and see if we can understand more about what the triggers are.
