In our ongoing work with the Knight Foundation on strategies for supporting local news, Dot Connector’s Mark Glaser has begun a series of guides for community publishers and media professionals.
In the first one, A Guide to Resources for Local News Publishers of Color, Glaser rounds up the best grants and funding, associations/communities, training/fellowships, and tips for collaboration, touching on what is missing from the current field.
He asks: “If the so-called mainstream local news publishers aren’t doing the job covering these communities of color, how can funders and journalism associations better support the publishers who have been doing the job for decades and the new startups that are starting to gain a foothold?”
Glaser’s past and current work have been integral to the larger discussion of fighting for news equity. In March, at the virtual Knight Media Forum “funders, journalists, [and] community leaders discuss[ed] ways to create more informed and engaged communities, promote free speech and free press, and explore the rise of disruptive technology.” Glaser rounded up six key takeaways from the event, including:
- Media organizations and funders have work to do to eliminate bias.
- Finding the “funding deserts” can help identify needs in underserved communities.
- Telling human-centered stories helps communities heal and combat misinformation.
- It’s time to hold social media and technology firms accountable for the societal harms they perpetuate.
- Community foundations play a growing role in collaborative fundraising for local news.
- To fight the infodemic, we need broad coalitions of researchers, journalists, policy makers and citizens.
In working with the Knight Foundation over the past few years, we’ve also produced projects such as the Civic Bright Spots Map, which highlights areas around the country where different models of collaborative and solutions-oriented journalism are emerging.
Explore this interactive map — which Dot Connector Studio produced in partnership with Hannah Eaves of Multiply Bureau — and read more of Glaser’s reporting on strengthening local news.