September 13, 2010
KDMC alums celebrate grants for investigative startups, offer tips on the entrepreneurial journey
As foundations step into a larger role in supporting investigative news, two journalists who left traditional newsrooms in 2009 are helping start new watchdog organizations in 2010. Laura Frank of The Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network and McNelly Torres of The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting share what they’ve learned so far on the start up road
The Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network
This new organization is one of 19 winners of the latest round of the Knight Community Information Challenge. The winners were announced Monday by Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen.
Here’s site founder Laura Frank:
Eighteen months ago, I was one of many people crushed in the collapse of the journalism world. Yes, that was me you saw: The tough investigative reporter reduced to tears at the end of the Rocky Mountain News’ documentary about its own demise.
So I can’t tell you how excited I am to be part journalism’s rebirth.
Today, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced it has granted $305,500 over two years to support I-News: The Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network.
After the Rocky died, I started an entrepreneurial journey to create a nonprofit in-depth news collaborative. I thought a small team of journalists with specialized data analysis and multimedia skills could help produce some of the stories that were going untold because of the journalism crisis.
Instead of competing with other newsrooms, I thought we could boost their reporting power to deliver more news right where people would be looking to find it: In their local print, broadcast, web or mobile news source.
Today, thanks to the Knight Foundation, two former Rocky colleagues are joining me: data-guru Burt Hubbard and Pulitzer- and Emmy-winning visual journalist Joe Mahoney. We already have a burgeoning budget of stories to offer our media partners across the region.
What have I learned over these past 18 months? I think it can be summed up as “The Three P’s of New Media Entrepreneurship.”
1. Patience. It took more than a year to really hone a business plan and make personal connections with funders whose mission intersected with I-News. The Knight Digital Media Center News Entrepreneur Boot Camp was a major jump-start in learning how to do both.
2. Partners. I-News wouldn’t be where it is today without our partners. The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County sponsored our Knight Community Information Challenge application. Rocky Mountain PBS donated things like office space and administrative support. The University of Colorado’s Digital Test Kitchen is collaborating on mobile technology. And media leaders, such as Fort Collins Coloradoan editor Bob Moore, have supported us by using our content and encouraging others to support us. Here are Bob’s own words: “I-News has helped generate a sense of optimism about the future of journalism, something that has been in rare supply of late.”
3. Puerperium. Say it with me now: pyur-ah-PEER-ium. That’s right, the state of childbirth. Anyone’s who done both childbirth and entrepreneurship with tell you: There are a heck of a lot of similarities. Maybe Knight should add Lamaze breathing to its boot camp.
Let’s just say I have that parent-of-a-newborn feeling right now. Beyond bleary-eyed and dog-tired. But couldn’t be happier.
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Last week, the nonprofit Florida Center for Investigative Reporting received a $100,000 grant from the Oklahoma City-based Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. FCIR is the nation’s first nonprofit, digital and bilingual investigative journalism organization.
Here’s founder McNelly Torres:
This was good news indeed. But it didn’t happen over night. In fact, it has taken us over a year to grow FCIR from an ideal to a viable journalism organization. These efforts take a lot of brainstorming, planning and research. And I learned quickly that you must be creative and have the ability to shift gears when something is not working. Though I’ve learned many lessons since I began this journey as a news entrepreneur, I would like to share these:
1. Don’t take your sources for granted. They are your best secret weapon. Call them and talk about your project and use their expertise to help shape your project. Get them excited!
2. Ask for help. I approached a former colleague to design our logo. She liked the idea so much that she volunteered to design our logo before I asked. And when I asked colleagues and mentors to read our proposal and provide suggestions, they were happy to do just that.
3. Plan everything. Planning is crucial when you are working on different projects. You must have the discipline to plan your days and weeks as you multi-task. FCIR was one of the projects I’ve been working on so I had to plan my calls, tasks and goals every step of the way.
Lastly, one of the most amazing lines I heard while attending KDMC News Entrepreneur Boot Camp in May was: “Learn from what you did so you can do it better next time.” I’m trying to do that every day.
(Disclosure: News Leadership 3.0 blogger Michele McLellan is a consultant to the Knight Community Information Challenge.)
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Tags: knight foundation, investigative journalism, entrepreneurship
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