May 2005

Grant awarded to SJMC for innovative new local media venture

The School of Journalism and Mass Communications will launch an innovative citizens journalism project in conjunction with The (Hartsville) Messenger as one of ten 10 New Voices award winners from across the United States.

The $12,000 grants are administered by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism in College Park, Md.

USC, using experience developed through students and Newsplex, the school's experimental micro-newsroom, advisors will team with the twice-weekly Messenger to recruit and train citizen journalists. They then will contribute reports in various ways, including mobile Web logs and possibly video and audio, to the Messenger’s online site. The pilot program is aimed at creating a how-to guide for smaller news organizations seeking to embrace citizen journalism.

“This will help make community newspapers even more a part of their communities,” said Doug Fisher, a journalism school instructor and project coordinator. “Small news staffs like the Messenger’s are close to their communities, but can’t do it all. This will help them find ways to best use these new resources and expertise that citizen journalists can bring.”

The New Voices grants were selected from 243 applications, said Jan Schaffer, J-Lab director.

“The projects selected were innovative, involved citizens in hands-on ways, and held out the promise of being prototypes for others. It was humbling to read of the need and encouraging to see the aspirations," she said.

New Voices is a pioneering program to seed innovative community news ventures in the United States. Through 2006, New Voices will help fund the start of 10 micro-local news projects with $12,000 grants; support them with an educational Web site; and help foster their sustainability through $5,000 second-year matching grants. New Voices is supported by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Project updates will be posted at www.J-NewVoices.org.