STS: Success through storytelling
Requested amount from Knight News Challenge:
$500,000Total cost of project including all sources of funding:
$500,000Expected amount of time to complete project:
12 mosSTS is a core group of media professionals who will establish a central online hub for education news with five satellite sites operated by students attending four targeted under-served high schools and one school for adults in Stockton, CA. for a total of five networked template sites connected to a central hub. The focus is to establish operating newsrooms in each school that expand beyond the campus to cover the surrounding community, telling stories that are over-looked by traditional news organizations.
Stockton is a widely diverse community with four main high schools with majority populations of Hispanic, Black and Filipino students. Additionally, Stockton's continuing education for adults highlights learning English. These students will learn real-world media skills: reading, writing, interviewing, editing, research, photography, videography, photo and video editing, sound editing, etc. They will perform the job expected of new media journalists (mojos — mobile journalists).
Traditionally, media have served to root out stories and present them to the public. Through STS, communities will be equipped to tell their own stories. STS satellites can also act as community bulletin boards that provide journalists insight and a better understanding of the communities they cover.
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Filling a void
STS will be instrumental in utilizing resources and tools within Stockton public schools to create niche news sites that target communities within the schools' jurisdictions rather than focusing solely upon campus activities.
No one is better positioned to reveal the hidden stories within these communities than those who live there. They simply need to be well-equipped and capable of shedding light on stories that are important to the public.
Communities already connect through public schools. STS will provide students an online platform for news, features, photo galleries, videos and audio slideshows that help extend the reach of the schools into the community and help interconnect communities with one another via the STS satellite news sites.
HYPER-local news sites that focus on particular communities can attract the attention of residents within those areas. The central hub generates additional news stories but also acts as an aggregate, offering each satellite additional news to add to their sites.
The STS hub will have a maximum reach into each community through its satellites and assist students in increasing their skills by working directly with student journalists on particular stories.
The end result? More local news. Increased marketable skills for students. Positive benefits for the community.
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Connecting communities through innovative storytelling
STS will establish itself as an integral part of the communities of Stockton, CA. in the following ways:
It will be the connecting point for all communities in Stockton seeking education and education-related news. STS will also shine light on peripheral issues that impact education: poverty, crime, cultural differences, etc.
It will be the prominent training ground for students interested in journalism (high school, continuing adult learners and college students). STS will help train the next generation of new media journalists, providing students with marketable skills and encouraging ongoing education.
It will provide news for professional media organizations derived from student journalism projects on a weekly basis, thus augmenting the resources available to local news organizations. STS will be a daily check for all media in Stockton. With a ground-level radar on education and an insider's view into local communities, STS lives where professional news media only visit.
It will serve as a collecting point for user-generated content, mining communities for feedback on issues important to residents of the area. All communities are concerned over the welfare of youth. A focus on area youth will generate a tremendous amount of community interaction and discussion. Generating the buzz and inviting written, video and photographic responses will help STS become the community table around which residents sit to discuss kitchen table issues daily.
It will highlight achievement, thereby elevating its exposure within communities. STS will become prominent through positive involvement and sponsorship in Stockton communities.
0 commentsWhat experience do you or your organization have to successfully develop this project?
Content Editor
I have 13 years in media. I currently serve as the Content Editor for a daily newspaper. I handle both print and online operations each day. I have a broad range of professional management experience that will help me recruit the individuals best-suited for this project.
Additionally, I am a former award-winning military recruiter/trainer. I worked with thousands of youth (ages 17-21) over the course of four years in 25 high schools in Texas and trained other successful recruiters.
I am a graduate of the Maynard Media Institute at Harvard University and an alumnus of the New York Times Leadership Academy. I was also one of 20 selected to participate in the CNN Digital Workshop earlier this year. I am a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and a member of the NABJ Digital Task Force.
Ottaway Media Group has expressed interest in my project and suggested Stockton as a beta ground for a pilot. Ottaway has a daily in Stockton (Stockton Record) and has placed me in touch with its editor to discuss collaboration. My plan is to also partner with Kathy Times of NABJ's Broadcast Division (She is VP). She is currently focused on a project (Black Headline News), which is nearing its completion date.
Additionally, there are other key media professionals with impeccable credentials I would like to bring aboard this project, when funded.
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