Renaissance Journalism has launched a new national effort to explore and recommend innovative ways to improve news media coverage of the housing affordability and insecurity crisis. To inform our study, which was commissioned by The Ford Foundation, we are convening three regional roundtable discussions to bring together a diverse mix of 20-25 leaders from media, philanthropy, the nonprofit/community sector and other fields. Through a facilitated dialogue, we will discuss existing media practices, imagine new possibilities, and consider ways to improve coverage.
Renaissance Journalism will host a free, one-day workshop for Bay Area journalists on July 19 on how to incorporate systems thinking into in-depth reporting projects. The workshop will be led by the New School’s Journalism + Design program and held at Oakland’s collaborative workspace StudioToBe.
This is a by-invitation-only event to Bay Area journalists, with participation limited to 20 people.
Early reservations via this link are strongly encouraged by 5pm Friday, July 13.
When the Kerner Commission investigated racial strife in the United States, the members warned that “our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.” Furthermore, the commission excoriated journalists for ignoring African Americans’ complaints about police abuse, inferior schools and segregated housing.
The commission stung U.S. journalists with this attack:
“The media report and write from the standpoint of a white man’s world. The ills of the ghetto, the difficulties of life there, the Negro’s burning sense of grievance are seldom conveyed.”
That was 50 years ago. The Kerner Commission was a blue-ribbon panel of prominent civic leaders appointed by President Johnson to investigate the problems that led to a series of riots—many called them “rebellions”—that burst out in cities across the country during the 1960s.
In recent weeks there have been many events and campaigns to observe the Kerner Commission’s 50th anniversary.
