By Peggy Holman
Journalism That Matters (JTM) started this blog to make visible the work journalists are doing to engage their communities as a way to share good ideas. We hope it inspires conversations about how to engage around a challenging subject in the process.
The inspiration came when one of the sites we are working with on community engagement and diversity mentioned they were thinking about hosting a community conversation. It made me wonder what other news organizations were doing. In posing the question to the people we work with most closely, it prompted one of JTM’s board members, Mike Fancher, to suggest we reach out to news editors and ask. And the idea was born. We expanded our reach to news directors and plan to reach out to online editors as well.
The biggest challenge we face is generating responses. The hub is new, without an established following. We hope the issue is vital enough and the individuals involved in organizing this effort are known enough that we’ll get some traction.
We’re following the path of try it, learn, and adjust.
My question of others: what do you think? Do you have a story to share?