Cross-posted at Facing South
"Give light and people will find the way."
-- Ella Baker, civil rights activist
Since Facing South and the Institute put out the call last week to launch the Freedom Journalism School, hundreds of you have responded with messages of support, generous donations and offers to help out.
The response has been humbling and inspiring -- and lets us know that we've hit on an idea whose time has come.
Our inboxes have also been filled with questions: What will the Freedom Journalism School look like? How do I apply? What's this project all about?
Let's start with the basics: Why are we launching the Freedom Journalism Schools? The idea has been gestating for over a year, in response to three critical problems our country faces today:
1) THE DEMISE OF OLD MEDIA
It's no secret that our media culture is in a state of dramatic and irreversible change. Nowhere is this clearer than in the rapidly declining fortunes of newspapers, which -- despite all their faults -- have historically been the public's leading source of in-depth and investigative reporting.
Yet newspapers -- and newspaper reporters -- continue to vanish at an alarming pace. As the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism found in their report, The State of the News Media 2009:
"Newspaper ad revenues have fallen 23% in the last two years. Some papers are in bankruptcy, and others have lost three-quarters of their value. By our calculations, nearly one out of every five journalists working for newspapers in 2001 is now gone, and 2009 may be the worst year yet."
2) WHO'S HOLDING POWER ACCOUNTABLE?
But declining reporting budgets are only symptoms of a deeper problem, so clear in today's debates over health care: The media's fading commitment to public interest and investigative journalism that can put a spotlight on injustice and hold the powerful accountable.
Democracy only works if the public is informed -- if they know about and understand the decisions that affect their lives. Yet as Big Media has fallen into fewer and fewer hands, ratings and profit margins have grown more important than the public's right to know.
These trends have left traditional media -- and the public -- hopelessly out-gunned in the war between the forces of power and secrecy on one hand, and the need for openness and democracy on the other.
Consider this: Today, there are less than 500 reporters covering state legislatures -- compared to the army of 40,000 lobbyists hired to influence them.
3) WE NEED STRONGER NEW MEDIA
An army of bloggers, citizen journalists and grassroots media outfits -- some old, many new -- have valiantly emerged to fill the vacuum and keep the public informed.
But most new media journalists will be the first to tell you that they often lack the skills, experience and resources to carry out the in-depth and investigative journalism needed to keep our public informed and engaged. Most training programs in investigative journalism are geared towards career reporters in established media -- not the bloggers and grassroots news outlets that are increasingly becoming the go-to media source for millions of readers.
STAYED ON FREEDOM
Enter the Freedom Journalism School. The goal of this new project is to give new media journalists the tools they need to hold power accountable. But more than that, we aim to revive the kind of public interest journalism in the South that can spark a new spirit of change and engagement.
With the Institute's roots in the civil rights movement, we were inspired by the model of the Freedom Schools created in the 1960s to provide education and foster political engagement in disenfranchised African-American communities in Mississippi.
The original Freedom Schools weren't just about facts and figures; they aimed to help students draw on their own experiences and develop critical thinking so they could become agents for change. As one Freedom School manual put it, "questioning is the vital tool."
The new Freedom Journalism School aims to give a new generation of journalists in the South the tools they need to ask the right questions -- and find answers -- about the most critical problems we face: Who is calling the shots on health reform, energy policy and other critical issues? How do we separate facts from hype, spin and media fiction? How do we uncover what policies are being carried out in our name?
And how do we give the public the information and understanding they need to get involved and have a say in the decisions that affect their lives?
Drawing on the Institute's national network of award-winning reporters, in its first year the Freedom Journalism School will offer concrete skills, mentoring and resources to 50 new media muckrakers. Right now, we're making plans for two on-site weekend schools -- one in Durham, NC and another in New Orleans, drawing on the success of the Institute's Gulf Watch project.
The Freedom J School will also draw on new technology, hosting a series of online webinars focused on the basics of investigative reporting, as well as special sessions offering useful hands-on advice for reporting on issues like money in politics, energy companies, government contracts, and banking and finance.
And like the first Freedom Schools, our classes will be about more than information and technique. By leading interactive discussions about history, trends and issues in the South and world, we aim to foster a community of new media journalists who can bring critical thinking and thoughtful analysis to their reporting -- and keep their eyes on the prize of a more just and democratic future.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Please drop us a line if you'd like to get involved with the Freedom Journalism School -- more details will be coming soon. Spread the word to others who might find it interesting.
We're also looking for friends to chip in financial support to get this project off the ground. If you can, please help with a tax-deductible donation of $25, $50 or whatever you can afford today.
Together, we can create a community of freedom journalists and new media muckrakers who can speak truth to power -- and light the way to a better future.