This week the Colorado Media Project announces our first open call to Colorado news organizations. We’re looking for five adventurous Colorado newsrooms to join us this summer to create together a joint marketing and membership pilot project to launch in fall 2019. (Here’s how to apply.) This project rests in the sweet spot of how CMP works to support Colorado newsrooms: by trying new approaches to bring more resources to local news. Through collaboration, can we increase capacity and revenue for all?
In coming weeks, we’ll talk about ways we plan to listen, do and learn this summer. We will be reaching out about ways you can join and partner with us in these conversations and activities, which are all deeply intertwined.
Understanding arts and cultural coverage gaps. Colorado’s vibrant arts scene is growing, even as local arts journalism has suffered from decreasing resources. With support from the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, CMP is working closely with CPR/Denverite and Rocky Mountain PBS, along with other news and arts organizations big and small, to listen carefully to our communities about what’s missing from arts and cultural coverage, and think together about ways news organizations can better serve this need.
Public pathways to support public news. As new business models and ownership structures emerge for local news, is there a new role for public support? A CMP-led public policy study this summer will convene local, state, and national experts to explore how special districts, tax credit programs, or other incentives might facilitate the evolution of public-interest journalism as we know it.
Deepening coverage of immigration. CMP is working with University of Denver to prepare for a MigraHack, which on Sept. 27-28 will bring journalists, developers, and community members together at an unconference to inspire data-driven stories on immigration issues. Over the summer, CMP will help wrangle data sets, reach out to immigrant communities, and work with higher education communities across the state to prepare for this event. (Read: What is a MigraHack?)
Rallying support for collaborative newsroom. CMP is helping organize investment in the Journalism COLab, a collaborative newsroom that will be created in Rocky Mountain Public Media’s new Buell Public Media Center, opening in 2020. In this new physical space, a core group of mission-driven local news partners can share space and resources, and serve as a hub for experimenting with statewide reporting and business-side collaborations. Organizations expecting to join in include The Colorado Sun, The Colorado Independent, Chalkbeat Colorado, the Denver bureau of the Associated Press, the Colorado Press Association, the Colorado Freedom of Information of Coalition, the Open Media Foundation, and the Colorado Media Project.
We look forward to learning and working with you this summer. Sign up for updates here.