Give light and people will find the way: The Freedom Journalism School

"Give light and people will find the way." -- Ella Baker, civil rights activist

Since Facing South and the Institute put out the call last week to launch the Freedom Journalism School, hundreds of you have responded with messages of support, generous donations and offers to help out.The response has been humbling and inspiring -- and lets us know that we've hit on an idea whose time has come.

Our inboxes have also been filled with questions: What will the Freedom Journalism Schools look like? How do I apply? What's this project all about?

Let's start with the basics: Why are we launching the Freedom Journalism Schools? The idea has been gestating for over a year, in response to three critical problems our country faces today:

1) The Demise of Old Media: It's no secret that our media culture is in a state of dramatic and irreversible change. Nowhere is this clearer than in the rapidly declining fortunes of newspapers, which -- despite all their faults -- have historically been the public's leading source of in-depth and investigative reporting. Yet newspapers -- and newspaper reporters -- continue to vanish at an alarming pace. As the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism found in their report, The State of the News Media 2009:

Newspaper ad revenues have fallen 23% in the last two years. Some papers are in bankruptcy, and others have lost three-quarters of their value. By our calculations, nearly one out of every five journalists working for newspapers in 2001 is now gone, and 2009 may be the worst year yet.

2) Who's Holding Power Accountable? But declining reporting budgets are only symptoms of a deeper problem, so clear in today's debates over health care and energy policy: The media's fading commitment to public interest and investigative journalism to put a spotlight on injustice and hold the powerful accountable.

Democracy only works if the public is informed, if they know about and understand the decisions that affect their lives. Yet as Big Media has fallen into fewer and fewer hands, ratings and profit margins have grown more important than the public's right to know.

These trends have left traditional media -- and the public -- hopelessly out-gunned in the war between the forces of power and secrecy on one hand, and the need for openness and democracy on the other. Consider this: Today, there are less than 500 reporters covering state legislatures -- compared to the army of 40,000 lobbyists hired to influence them.

3) The Need for Stronger New Media: An army of bloggers, citizen journalists and grassroots media outfits -- some old, many new -- have valiantly emerged to fill the vacuum and keep the public informed. As the Pew Center estimates, the number of Americans who regularly go online for news jumped 19% in the last two years.

But most new media journalists will be the first to tell you that they often lack the skills, experience and resources to carry out the in-depth and investigative journalism needed to keep our public informed and engaged. Most training programs in investigative journalism are geared towards career reporters in established media -- not the bloggers and grassroots news outlets that are increasingly becoming the go-to media source for millions of readers.

STAYED ON FREEDOM

Enter the Freedom Journalism Schools -- a bold new initiative to give new media journalists the tools they need to hold power accountable, and revive public interest journalism in the South that can create a new spirit of engagement.

With the Institute's roots in the civil rights movement, we were inspired by the model of the Freedom Schools created in the 1960s to provide education and foster political engagement among the disenfranchised in Mississippi.

Freedom Schools weren't just about facts and figures; they aimed to help students draw on their own experiences and develop critical thinking so they could become agents for change. As one civil rights manual put it, "questioning is the vital tool."

The new Freedom Journalism School will give a new generation of journalists in the South the tools they need to ask the right questions -- and find answers -- about the most critical problems we face. Who is calling the shots on health reform, energy policy and other critical issues? How do we separate facts from hype, spin and media fiction? How do we uncover what policies are being carried out in our name?

Drawing on the Institute's broad network of award-winning reporters, the Freedom Journalism School will offer concrete skills, mentoring and resources to 50 new media muckrakers. Right now, we're making plans for two on-site weekend schools -- one in Durham, NC and another in New Orleans, drawing on the success of the Institute's Gulf Watch project.

The Freedom J School will also draw on new technology, hosting a series of online webinars focused on the basics of investigative reporting, as well as useful hands-on advice for reporting on issues like money in politics, energy companies, government contracts, and banking and finance.

And like the first Freedom Schools, our classes are about more than information and technique. By leading interactive discussions about history, trends and issues in the South and world, we aim to foster a community of new media journalists who can bring critical thinking and thoughtful analysis to their reporting -- and keep their eyes on the prize of a more just and democratic future.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Please drop us a line if you're interested in getting involved with the Freedom Journalism School -- more details will be coming soon.

And if you can help by making a donation, please make your tax-deductible gift of $25, $50 or more today -- the support of readers like you will be vital to the Freedom Journalism School's success.

Together, we can create a community of freedom journalists and new media muckrakers who can speak truth to power -- and light the way to a better future.