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by Ken Ikeda, BAVC Executive Director
"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.
In local television,
news staffs, already too small to adequately cover their communities,
are being cut at unprecedented rates; revenues fell by 7% in an
election year—something unheard of—and ratings are now falling or are
flat across the schedule. " - from www.stateofthemedia.org (PEW Project for Excellence in Journalism)
In the past few months, a number of compelling reports have been released on the future of journalism and the newspaper industry (see The Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy; Reconstruction of American Journalism; The State of the News media as examples.)
The questions raised are familiar at this point -- Can print compete with the web? Should
inefficient and expensive operating models continue to be supported?
What are the dangers of relying on blogs and citizen journalists?
Truthfully, I’m a fan of print. I like the web for its immediacy and real-time updates while I'm procrastinating, but I prefer the weight and flex of the newspaper. I’m
not remotely tempted by the Kindle or Nook, but I do worry about the
enormous waste generated by printed paper. This is all to say, that if it's not clear
already, I don't have any real answers to these questions.
What I can say, is that BAVC has a long history of providing training
to journalists and the newspaper guilds of the Bay Area. And while
these reports are interesting for what they say, I have been thinking a
lot lately about what they don't say. Take loss of employment, for
example. The economic impact of the job loss in journalism is
frequently measured and talked about at an aggregate level -- As of
11/12/09, it is up to 10.2%. This is indeed a terrifying number, but it
is a number, and it doesn't capture the personal and emotional toll
taken on the individuals who find themselves unemployed and having to
learn a new skill set because a long established industry is
essentially pulling the rug out from under them.
Of course, within that dismal 10.2%, there are also stories of hope and
success. At BAVC, we've seen many folks transition from traditional
journalism into new media positions with great confidence and
enthusiasm. In the coming months, we hope to chronicle the paths of
some of our students to share some insight into what they had to
negotiate as new learners and as professionals changing careers.
We are also waiting intently for someone to conduct a study that
examines whether every job that emerges from the various new media
collaboratives will result in the same level of
compensation and benefits, job security, and long-term professional
opportunity as before; taking into account the “cost” of having to enter a new industry at
entry level, losing the professional capital accrued over years; and
what is the cost of replacing an industry relative to the closing of
another.
The value of preserving the ethics of journalism, the costs
of preserving or helping to reinvent trusted institutions of public
information, and whether we see a significant social sector of
established professionals undergo the "immigrant experience" of
redefining themselves anew are all worth exploring.
 While the recent reports on the future of journalism might re-imagine
how the news might be investigated, reported and shared, again, I am
less interested in what they propose, but what seems to be missing from
their vision of the future -- nonprofit organizations. The absence of
nonprofits in discussions on how to reinvent journalism (and public
media - but that is another blog) both frustrates and concerns me. It's
frustrating because while government and private investors seem in a
rush to rescue existing institutions with large overhead, heavy feet
and failed business models, or to invite entirely new players to
energize and innovate, it feels like established and successful
nonprofits are largely being ignored. If local stories and community
engagement are some of the recommended ways to revitalize journalism,
then why not partner with the organizations that have worked hard over
many years to hold those relationships?
The majority of nonprofits are neither the size of the United Way nor
operating out of a café. They have sustained staffs, and deep ties to
diverse communities. Providing direct service in the community requires
an entirely different expertise and investment than reporting. I
applaud the ambitions of projects like the St. Louis Beacon and look forward to learning how they change to
accommodate their new model of operations. I would wager that not
everyone is so willing or able to invite nonprofits to the table.
Nonprofits, like journalism institutions, also drive the economy. In
Utah in 2008, registered nonprofits accounted for $5.3 billion in
revenues and $7.8 billion in assets. In an even smaller market, the
Berkshires of Massachusetts, the county has more than 1,000 nonprofits
registered, generating $1.9 billion in revenues and employing one third
of the workforce. In Washington DC, nonprofits employ one in every ten
non-government employees. And the Bay Area has the largest number of
registered nonprofits per capita in the country.
Beyond its economic capacity and contributions, the majority of
nonprofits understand two critical values: how to determine mission
critical activities that reinforce the organization’s value; and how to
persist in a competitive environment. I can’t emphasize enough how the
experience of operating outside of the security of endowments, or
outside the status as an entitled cultural institution, teaches
nonprofits to be flexible out of necessity. I am constantly amazed at
the contributions of nonprofits to the economy considering how tenuous
our funding can be.
The nonprofit sector is intensely competitive and as resources grow
scarce, the need to demonstrate effective services and capacity to
address social challenges is akin to the plight of journalism. Though we aren’t fighting for audience share, we
are competing to demonstrate relevance. When we fail, we are
threatened with closure. With every new nonprofit that emerges, we
learn from their innovations, seek collaboration, and sometimes change our praxctices to remain effective.
It is thankfully not entirely market driven, and I don’t believe that
journalism and public broadcasting should be either. Yet, if there are
examples where an organization can accomplish the same work for a
fraction of the cost and still serve the community, then why reward or
prop-up the more expensive, more entitled agency?
We are hopeful that community service nonprofits, and media and arts
organizations are invited into the conversation on the
future of journalism, public media, and the change we want to see.
BAVC has been fortunate to sit in on some of the discussions about the future of journalism, yet we
are largely alone, representing a nonprofit space that is far too
diverse and capable for us to speak on our own. While we
push for broader inclusion, I urge our colleagues in the nonprofit
space to flex your deep networks and demonstrate how you support the
local narrative engines of storytelling that are so coveted in these new models of journalism. You know
what works in your communities, and how you
could add value to a collective effort. Where and how solutions happen, matters. Intention is a reflection of values
and if the future is local then we look forward to working together
with these newly formed or revitalized entities to communicate,
reflect and voice the needs of our communities.
On a local level, BAVC has recently partnered
with the California
Media Workers Guild, NOVA, Spot.us, Warren Hellman (investor and co-founder of the Bay Area News Project),
and the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
to create the Bay Area Media Training Consortium (BAMTC). This collaborative
venture will work to create new employment opportunities for skilled
journalists uprooted by commercial newspapers and other media.
Read the press release here >
And keep an eye out for my next blog on public media!
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