Proposal: Create a session or track at MGP that will bring Journalism that Matters to MGP conference.

Potential collaborators:

Chris Peck interested.
A little bandwidth from Jim Shaffer
Peggy Kuhr – might help
Peggy Holman – maybe a little planning help
Martin Reynolds – work MNG connection –
Paul Grabowicz should be part of the multimedia track –
Jane Ellen Stevens teaches multimedia reporting at Berkeley – invite her
Talk to Ralph Gage about coming to Amherst.
Nora Paul is a possibility.

BILL AND STEVE ARE JOINED BY CHRIS PECK:

Chris says what is needed is a framework for helping journalists get ready for change in the industry and either commit to being part of the change or getting out of the industry. Newspapers are like factories; they are a big, complicated business. Introducing change is hard and really disruptive to people who are used to years of doing things the same old way.

What we are going to do is create an informal network of journalists who say: “I want to be part of the change, and carry forth the idea that journalism is central to democracy.” We would challenge each participant to find one more person in their newsroom who will commit to a path of embracing change rather than resisting it. Then those two people, or three, or four, will come up with a little experiment they can do themselves, with little effort on the part of management. A different way of doing things. Think about it as a movement, not as an organization – with cells all around the country. Then come together at a “Journalism that Matters Greenhouse” once a year to share knowledge about many little experiments.

At the MGP conference, how about starting out with three or four people who are in the throes of dealing with change. Put them in four seats in a circle. Have them talk about the change and what it is doing to them and to their organization. Then have them relinquish the seats, gradually to others in the audience who will tell similar stories.

Then you ask, well what are you going to do about these changes? To prepare for the change? Talk about how we stop resisting the change and what tools we need to embrace the change. Where do you feel the pressure points and how do you deal with them? Find some examples of people who are in the process of changing – career change or changing operations.

Examples:

n Rolling out Public Insight Journalism at MPR
n Implementing the web-print integrated newsroom
n Reaching out to underserved communities (West Side Soup)

FIRST IDEA – CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE JOURNALIST CHANGE AGENT
(seek funding from Fetzer)

Helping journalists young and old say I want to be part of the change coming – how do I prepare myself. How do I function. There is a huge need for that. There are a lot of journalists who feel that and don’t know what to do. Committed to help journalism change and carry forward the values of journalism in a democratic wherever I am.

Peck is taken by the idea of people trying to internally get their emotions and their intellect around what they can do to deal with the pressures and changes rather than have it be overwhelming and getting out of the business. We have to help journalists define why journalism matters, and get in touch with that passion. Too many people in the industry have a sense of not being able to take it anymore, being overworked and stressed out. How do you manage the process of change so it is not catastrophic for you.

If we were able to loosely organize an affiliation of the change agents as a movement, have them come back under a Journalism that Matters project. We wouldn’t have to even think up the project, just deal with the people and give them a safe place to go.

Give people an emotional toolset to go out and change the world. Because they fell part of “Journalism that Matters.”

SECOND IDEA – AN ORGANIZATION AND TOOLBOX FOR NEW MEDIA ENTREPRENEURS
(see funding from Kellogg Foundation – finding new economic models)

Village Soup Common – if the MGP could be an incubator for the VS common to get established. Village Soup Commons – that is a way to connected west Oakland, and Atwater.

The other piece is we’re going to create this real live kit that includes the content management software, the consulting of how you do it and network if you want to be an entrepreneur. A toolkit for you to be a new media entrepreneur.

PEGGY KUHR JOINS THE CONVERSATION

Bill Densmore talks about the demand-side problem of teaching citizens skills to find and identify journalism which helps them to be better citizens. Recognizing “news that matters” requires intellectual muscle and that muscle needs to be exercised. There’s a need to reach out to the education system to give educators the tools the need to teach smart media consumption and creation. That’s the demand-side task.

Peggy Kuhr sees a supply-side problem. How do you get students who want to change the world to come into journalism today – see it as a career option, and build excitement about journalism as a happening thing? There are some student ambassadors needed.