MEDIA MATTERS: FROM OUR BLOG

Our groundbreaking initiative tests a new model of collaborative journalism

Renaissance Journalism is launching a new initiative to test an innovative model of collaborative, community news coverage in the San Francisco Bay Area. We hope to encourage journalists and their news organizations to work together to help people understand and address some of the region’s most pressing problems. To start, we’ve chosen the crisis in housing—from the unbridled gentrification of neighborhoods to the displacement of longtime residents and the rising problem of homelessness. Together, these issues profoundly impact the quality, health and character of life in the region.

New 4-H project gives Imperial Valley youth the opportunity to tell their stories

I used to think of the 4-H Program as a place for kids to learn how to raise pigs or shear sheep—but no longer! Renaissance Journalism is partnering with the 4-H Program of Imperial County to help young people in that desert community learn multimedia storytelling skills. Our goal is to empower young people with the ability to tell their own stories using 21st century media tools and techniques.

Facts alone won’t redeem journalists baffled by Trump supporters

These are Trumpling times for journalists in America. They failed to detect the extent of candidate Donald J.Trump’s appeal to voters, and so they utterly miscalled last November’s presidential election. They have been trampled over by a combative and unpredictable President Trump and his lieutenants, who castigate the news media as “dishonest” liars, “opposition” conspirators and “a failing pile of garbage.” And they are befuddled by the fact that many people don’t care about facts and seem more willing to accept “alternative facts” and fake news. So how do journalists respond?