Crowdfunding Could Support Civil Rights Reporting
I have an essay in the fall 2009 Nieman Reports that is best summed up by my question which reads: Will those marginalized by race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation, age discrimination, or economic circumstance decide it is in their interest to become part of a community-supported journalism cooperative devoted to covering social justice issues? The essay grows from an earlier interview I did with Howard Witt, then the civil rights reporter for the Chicago Tribune. In it he tells how he was amazed by the self-organizing power of the African-American blogosphere. I argue that that power, that passion for civil rights and social justice issues can be channeled into citizen funding of a civil rights, social justice stand-alone news operation which, like ProPublica, could share its stories with other credible news organizations. Howard Witt, has already left the civil rights beat for another job. It is the kind of beat which will be dropped by news organizations in these troubled economic times. The results will be more injustices which never come to the public’s attention. Who can solve this issue? You can. I can. Read the essay and if you are interested in moving the idea forward, let me know via our new Center for Sustainable Journalism. As I said earlier, I do believe I sense a positive movement ready for the building. It is time to start mobilizing for the good of high quality, ethically sound journalism.
Summary
Leonard Witt says all of us could help and contribute by covering social justice issues and which would have a meaningful impact on society.
Description
The article provides a link to an essay written on civil rights and social justice issues by Leonard Witt.
Very worthwhile read, especially when news reporting these days just borders on entertainment and not what's actually going on out there.
The Huffington Post Union of Bloggers www.hpub.org is a crowd sourced journalism site focused on politics and business. There is a lot of traffic going to the site and its a great free platform for real articles, not spam.