Advancing Journalism That Elevates People’s Power

NHK BUNKEN FORUM in March 23 featured interviews with leaders of experimental non-profit media and projects in the United States, who are seeking ways to elevate people’s power in the communities they serve. They include Bettina Chang, Co-founder of the City Bureau in Chicago; Natalie Frazier, Chicago Documenters Community Coordinator; Sarah Alvarez, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Outlier Media in Detroit; Elizabeth Green, Co-founder & CEO of Chalkbeat and Votebeat; Jim Friedlich, Executive Director & CEO of The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. The 2023 report, ‘The Roadmap for Local News--An Emergent Approach to Meeting Civic Information Needs,’ penned by journalist authors including Elizabeth Green, calls their practice Civic Media and their coalitions Civic Information Networks. In ‘Redefining News: A Manifesto for Community-Centered Journalism’ published by the University of Oregon Agora Journalism Center, the author Damian Radcliff describes such journalism as ‘community-centered, as opposed to ‘journalist-centered,’ quoting Sarah Stonbely. They are united in working to invite people to partner with newsrooms in creating news and information useful for people to take better decisions and actions for themselves and their communities; to create opportunities for people from different backgrounds to connect, to participate in solving problems, and to shape policies. They are creative in their choice of measures to deliver news and information, prioritizing mediums and platforms that are easy to access, such as text messaging, online guidebooks, data-base, and public events. They see organizations other than news media, such as libraries, schools, community centers, and residents’ groups, as potential partners and providers of civic information and believe that bringing together the strength of such diverse practitioners will contribute to creating a more reliable and trusted information ecosystem that can connect communities. All this is crucial, they say, in filling the information gaps left by the decline of local news and in pushing back the tidal wave of misinformation and disinformation, the widening divisions among people, and the deepening crisis in democracy. This article outlines their thoughts, practices, and impacts, in their words, translated into Japanese from interviews conducted during and before the 2023 NHK BUNKEN FORUM.