Projects

Editorial Collaborations

Campaign Cash/Outing the Corporations

An ongoing beat for many TMC members is the critical issue of how money influences elections. In the 2010 election alone, outside groups spent an estimated $400-$500 million to influence the results. From October 21-November 4, 2010, The Media Consortium organized, supported, and promoted reporting and analysis from seven media outlets on the short- and long-term impact of the Supreme Courts Citizen’s United ruling in the Campaign Cash project. More than two dozen articles, videos, and radio pieces on the campaign cash issue were produced in just a week-and-a-half. Coverage included investigations into the Tea Party’s funding, a look at the future of political attack ads, and in-depth explorations of the impact of secret money on both the Chamber of Commerce and local elections. You can see the Campaign Cash round up blogs here.

For phase two of this project, The Media Consortium is excited to partner with the We the People Project (WTTP), a campaign founded by Jay Harris, former publisher of Mother Jones, Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation and Jim Hightower of The Hightower Lowdown. WTTP is working with progressive media, labor, policy groups, business, netroots and grassroots organizations, cultural figures, and elected officials to coordinate an autumn 2011 campaign that will dramatically raise awareness of how corporate power lies at the root of so much of current policy. to support special investigative coverage that tracks corporate influence on American politics.

TMC and WTTP will support between 5-10 TMC members in the production of deep investigative reporting about the influence of corporations on elections. Reporting will be published between September 19 and November 2, at the one-year mark ahead of the 2012 election. For more details, click here.

Media Policy Reporting and Education Pilot Program

The Media Consortium is excited to announce the launch of its Media Policy Reporting and Education Pilot Program, which will support and promote reporting by four Media Consortium members on media policy. To change the public conversation and understanding of media policy, journalism produced through this program will support regular reporting on nitty, gritty policy issues as well as reporting on the everyday implications of these policies on the ground. For more information about this project, click here.

Incubation and Innovation Lab

The Incubation and Innovation Lab is The Media Consortium’s dynamic new program to support its members in conducting rapid prototyping as a low-cost way to test new business, technology and content development models at a scale that they would not be able to achieve alone.

This two-part program helps our members research, discuss and experiment with new business, publishing and editorial models that take advantage of the new, web-enabled reader/publisher relationships. The two components to this program are the Digital Refresh Workshop and Small Group Labs.

Digital Refresh Workshop

The Digital Refresh Workshop is a three-month turbo charge for Media Consortium members’ digital operations. This workshop will provide intensive hands-on support and training to help our members analyze, understand, and innovate around key digital strategies, including list/community building, revenue generation and how to harness new journalism production strategies. By the end of the workshop, participating organizations will have completed an in-depth analysis of their current digital profiles, determined future goals to revamp their digital strategies, and will take the first step towards launching an experiment to reach those goals.

The Digital Refresh workshop will provide members with cutting edge tools and smart guidance to achieve ongoing innovation for long-term sustainability and impact. Click here for more information on the Digital Refresh Workshop, goals, requirements, and workshop leaders.

Digital Innovation Studio

Throughout 2010/2011, The Media Consortium will organize a small group of TMC members to work with each other and outside experts to generate one or more experiments in mobile, revenue-generation, journalism and community building models. The Small Group Labs will also allow members to trade experiences, share information, and find answers to ongoing questions. Members will not only discover the best strategies for their organizations, but how to implement them—a critical component of ongoing success.

At the end of the lab cycle, participating members will share experiences and lessons learned with MC members and allies, creating a ripple effect in which education, deployment of practices and evolution of experiments moves outward to benefit the whole independent media sector. Experimentation will create strategies and  space for media outlets to identify and implement a long-term formula for ongoing sustainability and impact that will support their critical journalism. Click here for program requirements/overview, and click here to apply.

MediaWires

The core mission of The Media Consortium is to leverage the resources of its members to impact political discourse and debate. We want to showcase the first-rate independent journalism produced by our members, bring their work to larger audiences and build the influence of progressive, independent media. With these goals in mind, we’ve harnessed new technologies, social networking applications and distribution opportunities for our Media Wire project. The Media Consortium has created four portal sites that feature the best independent reporting by our members: The Audit (economy), The Mulch (environment), The Pulse (health care) and The Diaspora (immigration). Think of these sites as one-stop shops for all the best in independent reporting from Media Consortium members.

Do you want an easy way to get these stories on your website? With simple widgets, you can host up-to-the minute headlines from across The Media Consortium universe on your site. In addition, weekly blog posts rounding up Media Consortium’s members reporting on these specific issues are cross-posted across the blogosphere and social networking sites. You can see sample blogs on each hub site. Read more…

Independent Media Internships

The Media Consortium’s Independent Media Internship supports undergraduate and graduate students that are passionate about independent media, committed to quality journalism, and engaged in the world around us. The program is geared towards hands-on learning and mentoring in a variety of media, including audio, video, print and web-only. Please note, we are not accepting internship applications at this time.

Interns are matched with a Media Consortium member organization for a period of three months. Media Consortium staff are committed to recruiting a diverse group of applicants for this program.

Interns will receive a stipend of $2,000 for twelve 32-hour work weeks. Over this three month period, interns will complete one or more major editorial projects, be responsible for weekly duties, including fact-checking, research, writing and media production, and meet with top editors and reporters for mentoring sessions.

Applicants must have a minimum of 3 years of college or have completed undergrad or grad school within the last year. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and place a high priority on maintaining a diverse and non-discriminatory environment.

Building Connections

The Big Thaw

What form will journalism take in the future? Can independent media producers adapt and lead, or will they disappear with journalism’s Ice Age? As historical business and editorial structures melt away, a new study produced by The Media Consortium reveals how independent media outlets and individual media-makers can thrive.

The Big Thaw was born out of a “game changer” strategy project initiated in 2008 by The Media Consortium, a network of the country’s leading progressive media organizations, to support the evolution of independent media. For more information about this project, click here.

Meetings and Listserv

In 2005, when progressive media leaders were shaping The Media Consortium, there were few places for progressive media leaders to interact, build deep professional relationships and address large structural issues. From the beginning, The Media Consortium has been dedicated to building a strong movement by providing space for these interactions. We’ve developed a number of projects and tools to assist in relationship-building but none are more essential than our meetings and listserv.

Media Consortium members convene every six months in a location chosen for its strategic value. Our member meetings provide a space to build new relationships and nurture existing collaborations. The agenda promotes cooperative strategic planning, working toward our vision for the future of the independent media landscape.

The listserv is used to solicit ideas and convey updates on Media Consortium activities, projects, and events. It is also a place for members to share ideas and information with each other. It is a key resource that facilitates action, dialogue, and collaboration around Media Consortium projects.