Reporting On
Award
$15,000
Winner
Organization
Location
Summary
Reporters working on similar topics will be able to communicate and share ideas using a social networking tool and a web site created through this project. The site will indicate how many journalists across the country are working on the same issue, such as declining tax bases or water problems. Reporters then could exchange resources and approaches, or use one another’s communities as examples in their own stories. Journalists in small newsrooms often feel isolated. Given the opportunity to communicate with others, a reporter can add context to articles and, perhaps most importantly, know when a seemingly small local story is part of a larger regional, or national, trend.
Quote
"A Back Channel for Beat Reporters"
Winner Bio
Ryan Sholin is the director of community site publishing at GateHouse Media, where he is responsible for web strategy, support and training for small-town and suburban newspapers across the U.S. He also writes about the future of news and journalism education at his blog, Invisible Inkling.
