Examples of Good Community Journalism

There are times newspapers are interested in putting on an “event” as part of a community journalism effort. Here are a few examples of community journalism projects that have relevance for southwest Missouri:

• The North Hills, Pa. News Record assigns reporters a "reader advisory group" which meets with the reporter to provide feedback. This keeps the newspaper's focus on the community’s real issues.

• The Tryon (N.C.) Daily Bulletin, held a town forum titled "Role of the Newspaper in Our Community: Spectator, Reporter, or Cheerleader?" The forum was co-sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and the local community college.

• One small newspaper in New England profiled non-profit community organizations that needed community involvement. The paper then sponsored a fair where people were encouraged to get involved with the profiled groups.

Here is an idea, how about hosted a public issue forum in your community about revitalizing democracy? The 2 hour event could gather community volunteers, leaders, citizens to discuss was to fix democracy and your local newspaper could lead the effort to increase community involvement and action. Want to learn more? Post a comment here with your name and address and I will contact you.