New Voices is a pioneering program to seed innovative community news ventures in the United States. Through 2006, New Voices is helping to fund the start-up of 20 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 administered by J-Lab at the University of Maryland and supported by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

See the 2006 Projects

"The grantees were selected from a diverse pool of 185 applicants. The award winners not only signaled a deep hunger for better hyperlocal coverage, they also exhibited an appetite for using cutting-edge technologies including wikis, datacasting and Skype Interntet telephony to cover their subject."

• News Release

“The great democratizing of media is under way, and there is no turning back,” said Tom Kunkel, dean, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland.

• Advisory Board

 

2006 Grantees

• Federation of Community Correspondents, Whitesburg, Ky.
• Ethnic News Service, San Francisco
• One Sky Radio South Central Magazine, Girdwood, Alaska
• Creating Community Conversations, Chicago
• MURL Building Blocks, Philadelphia
• Learning to Finish: Solution that Leads to Graduation, Charlottesville, Va.
• Route 7 Report, Athens, Ohio
• Monroe County Radio Project, Morgantown, W.V.
• Great Lakes Wiki, East Lansing, Mich.
• Rural News Network, Missoula, Mont.

Check out How the 2005 Grantees are Doing

      • List of Grantees
      • Progress Reports

Catch J-Lab presentations on Participatory Journalism and Citizens Media:

  • Aug. 4, Interactive Summit and Luncheon, "Citizens Media: J-School Entrepreneurial Ventures," AEJMC, San Francisco.
We have reached capacity for this event. Fill out the registration form to be added to the waiting list.

  • Oct. 5, Citizens Media Summit II, in conjunction with ONA conference at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C. $150. Register now, or check out highlights from the 2005 Citizens Media Summit.

The Guardian (U.K.) reports that the New York Times Company’s International Herald Tribune has partnered with South Korea’s OhmyNews to carry user-submitted articles. Headlines from OhmyNews will appear on the Tribune’s Web site, and it is possible that citizen reports could eventually run in the print edition as well.
• Bobbie Johnson and Michael Fitzpatrick, The Guardian (Registration may be required)

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer delved into the growing world of citizens media. Check out their report, including interviews with J-Lab Executive Director Jan Schaffer and Maureen Mann of The Forum, a New Voices grantee.
• Terence Smith, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

Steve Outing wrote a series of articles for Poynter Online examining different forms of citizen media initiatives and emerging revenue models:

• Traditional Media Adopts CitJ
• CitJ’s National Networks: Will They Bloom?
• Independent CitJ: Web sites and Networks
• It’s Not About the Money
• Citizen-Media Start-ups Ply Innovative Business Models
• Innovative Thoughts From CitJ’s Gurus

Amy Gahran of I, Reporter wrote in her article, “How Citizen Journalism Could Save News Pros’ Jobs,” that it will be imperative for media organizations to embrace citizen created content as the media landscape changes. “If you want to keep your journalism career or news organization alive in coming years, it’s time to start learning the ropes of a more open approach to news,” she said.
• Amy Gahran; I, Reporter

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University focused on citizens media in its winter 2005 issue of Nieman Reports. Read J-Lab Executive Director Jan Schaffer’s article, “Citizens Media: Has It Reached a Tipping Point?" or download the PDF of the entire issue.
• Nieman Reports, The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University

See the archive
 

Click here to see examples of citizen media in action, both in independent and mainstream media efforts.