Windy City Experiment
Chicago Public Media is using engaged journalism to sustain the largest non-profit media outlet in the country.
Courtesy of FreedomForum.org.
The drone these days is that there’s no money in journalism. Profits are down—way down. All the big advertisers have moved on to shinier, more digital spaces. And the scraps left by Google and Facebook just aren’t enough to sustain a thriving news community.
The consequences of all this upheaval are, of course, unsurprising: shrinking newsrooms, shrinking circulation, and shrinking audience engagement. And the latter has its own trickle-down effects, like an increase in distrust in journalists, increased space for misinformation and disinformation, and a decrease in civic knowledge and engagement. Basically, it’s all bad.
But that’s not the whole truth. Yes, the number of newspapers is dwindling, and news deserts are growing. There’s also a growing swath of non-profit journalism projects that are redefining how organizations cover their communities. JMM has already touched on the States Newsroom project, which includes the Iowa Capital Dispatch, as well as other non-profit groups like the American Journalism Project, the excellent Marshall Project, the Institute for Nonprofit News, ProPublica, Truthout, and dozens more. And there’s more coming, like the upstart Allbritton Journalism Institute, which will hire journalism fellows this fall for two-year stints and train them in Washington, D.C., to create a legion of new political and investigative journalists.
But the largest experiment in nonprofit journalism is happening just next door in Chicago. At the end of January 2022, Chicago Public Media, the umbrella organization for Chicago’s National Public Radio station, WEBZ, its urban alternative music sister station Vocalo, and podcasts like “This American Life” and “Serial,” bought the Chicago Sun-Times. It was a $61 million deal made possible by listener donations. While it created the largest non-profit journalism organization in the country, it also seemed like an odd fit. The Sun-Times was a tabloid that leaned heavily into sports and local politics. WEBZ is the home of Ira Glass and “Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me.” The New York Times said the deal was an “unlikely combination.”
Nearly two years on, though, WEBZ and the Sun-Times have become the model for what many are calling engaged journalism. It’s based on the idea that, if you listen to your audience, respond to their questions, and cover stories they’re interested in, you can see an increase in engagement, circulation, and ultimately, revenue. The theory comes from the 1990s, when it was called public journalism. During that time, though, profits were high and threats to journalism were low, so it didn’t really take off.
Thirty years on and engaged journalism seems to be working—at least at the Sun-Times. After the purchase, Chicago Public Media hired Jennifer Kho, the paper’s first executive editor of color and a vet of Huffington Post and The Guardian, to run the paper. Kho quickly started digging into the paper’s audience. She held community listening sessions, did reader surveys, and dropped the paper’s paywall, both to give access to all and increasing reach. The paper instituted a “right to be forgotten” policy, allowing readers to petition the Sun-Times to de-index stories from Google so negative pieces don’t appear in searches. And it has worked with WEBZ on large undertakings like the Democracy Solutions Project, which aims to inform Chicagoans about threats to democracy.
It even decided to bring the audience into the newsroom. In February, the Sun-Times held a writing contest as a part of its 75th anniversary celebrations. It asked residents to write a 600-word essay envisaging the future of the city. “Let us know your predictions for culture, lifestyle, or community issues (e.g., dating, gentrification, cuisine) in an imaginative column based on the theme ‘Moving Forward,’” the open call said. In July, they picked 12 entrants to be regular guest columnists, including an emergency room nurse, a crossing guard, and an usher at Wrigley Field. The columnists give the audience a voice and help push coverage into spaces it otherwise might not go.
The changes seem to be working. According to a June 2023 media kit, the Sun-Times daily print circulation is still above 318,000. Sure, that’s down 100,000 from a decade ago, but back then, the Sun-Times also didn’t have 1.2 million visiting its website each week. Combine that with WEBZ, and Chicago Public Media reaches over 2 million people. Yes, there are now pop-up ads asking folks to donate on the Sun-Times site, but the coverage hasn’t changed. And if you’re lucky your donation might get you that prized NPR thank-you gift: a snazzy new tote bag.
But the real winner here seems to be the idea of non-profit engaged journalism. The merger has shown that if you make readers a part of the financing, feel included in the coverage, and have a voice in the newsroom you can sustain impactful journalism and the people that create it. And that’s what we need now more than ever.
Ok, now on with the memo!
Data Deep Dive
Sometimes we need a little inspiration, and John West has definitely created plenty of inspiring journalism, which is probably why the Wall Street Journal data journalist has won gobs of awards including the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism. His stories have uncovered corrupt federal regulators trading in the stocks of companies they were supposed to monitor, how TikTok’s algorithm can quickly lead you down a very dark path, and how the Tulsa Massacre still reverberates 100 years later.
West will be speaking virtually to Prof. Wilson’s J70 Editing class Thurs., Oct. 19 from 10-10:45 a.m. in Mere 201. He’ll talk about the nature of his job, how he got there, and tips on how to data and crunch all the numbers. Guests are welcome. The inspiration: That’s free.
Robot Rodeo
Sure, artificial Intelligence isn’t as terrifying as The Terminator and Wall-E made it out to be, but JMM needs to know more. Which is why checking out the Chris Squared—Professors Chris Snider and Chris Porter—add-day Generative AI Workshop on Oct. 17 might be a good idea. The two will do deep dives on ChatGPT, Google Bard, MidJourney, and Dall-E 2. You can attend virtually or in person. You can get all the info here.
Shopify
For the first time in two years, the Times-Delphic is hosting a workshop for all would-be news hawks. Des Moines Register writer Tim Webber (News, ‘17) and Professor Amy McCoy will be offering up reporter tips and tricks. (More applause.) The TD will also conduct an interactive interview exercise with attendees. Rumor has it there may even be free food. The workshop will be held on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. at a TBD location. If you’re interested, sign up here for a slot.
Marion County Update
Way back at the beginning of the year, JMM ranted about the Marion, Kansas, police chief Gideon Cody raiding the offices of the local newspaper, the Marion County Record, seizing computers, cell phones, Alexa smart speakers, and more based on a charge that the paper had accessed publicly available information illegally. The raid on the home of the paper’s 98-year-old publisher Joan Meyer likely led to her death the next day. This last week Marion Mayor Dave Mayfield suspended Chief Cody. This makes JMM happy.
“Media Literacy Hottie”
JMM gets it: Finding a physical copy of a newspaper (other than the Times-Delphic) can be hard. But Kelsey Russell has you covered. A self-proclaimed “media literacy hottie, the 23-year-old Columbia University grad student’s TikTok videos are all about getting Gen Z back into physical media in an effort to keep them informed and help regulate their emotions.
“We’re getting sexy. We’re getting fun. We’re getting freaky. So, we’re reading magazines,” she says in one of her media literacy videos before breaking down an issue of New York mag.
There’s good reason for Russell’s outreach. According to a 2022 study by the Media Insight Project, most people age 16-40 get their news from social media. Gen Z specifically: 74 percent get daily news from social platforms, and a full 93 percent of Gen Z get news weekly from social media.
Sure, by documenting what she’s learning from the physical copies of newspapers on TikTok, Russell is kind of perpetuating the problem. But she’s also trying to push a fix at the same time, because as she says, “Our generation needs to know what the beep is up so when it’s our time in the room we actually have the solution.” JMM is all about that.
The Rehash (Internship and Scholarship Edition)
• If you want to work for xBk, act fast. Applications are due today, Mon., Oct. 9. You can get more details here.
• The deadline to apply for over $30,000 in scholarships from the Broadcast Education Association is closing in. All materials must be submitted by Oct. 13. You can also get a free membership using the following steps:
1. Go to the Undergrad Student Membership page using the QR code at this link.
2. Create a new user account if you’re not already a member.
3. Fill out the application.
4. On the Summary page, enter the discount code MUGS-6F34SM.
5. Becoming a member and reap the benefits!
• The Texas Tribune 2024 summer fellowship has multiple position in Austin, Texas, and Washington D.C. Apply by Oct. 22.
• The Wall Street Journal 2024 summer internships. Multiple roles are on offer in New York City. Apply by Oct. 23.
• Bloomberg 2024 News Internships. This is a 10-week program based in Arlington, Virginia. The deadline to apply is Oct. 31.
• The Minneapolis Star Tribune Summer Internship Program has advertising, design, features reporting, and more for Summer 2024. Applications are due Nov. 1.
• The Seattle Times 2024 Summer Internships program has multiple roles open. The deadline to apply is Nov. 1.
• Dow Jones News Fund summer internship application is due Nov. 16.
• IEI Media will hold another summer study abroad meeting, this time for its three-week Berlin experience, which runs June 22 - July 14, 2024. The Zoom session will be held Mon., Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. You can register here.
Got Some Clishmaclaver?
Do you have some essential info or did you finish your first rotation as an NBCUniversal page and are now headed to Focus Features for Round 2 like Miles Fritz (DMP, ’23)? If you do, send it on over to jeff.inman@drake.edu. JMM will treat it like senior Cassie Schoene (MMJ, Thea) first TikTok for DotDash Meredith’s The Spruce and tell everyone about it.
Finally, a little facial gymnastics.