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Earthquake Journalism Grant Announced
Photo: Martin Luff
The Scoop Foundation for
Public Interest Journalism has announced a new
$5,000 grant round for significant
earthquake related public interest journalism projects.
This funding round has been fast-tracked in order
to respond constructively to the recent tragic North
Canterbury quakes which have also affected Wellington. At
times like this we are reminded of the importance of robust
public interest journalism and independent media coverage
which the Foundation was established to benefit.
Earthquakes can have devastating human and economic impacts both on our cities and the nation. Unfortunately, the chaos they bring can also lead to reduced scrutiny of and a lack of democratic input into decisions affecting the interests of ordinary citizens. For this reason in depth investigation into the quality and transparency of public decision making around reconstruction and crisis management is highly important.
The Foundation is to shortly request project proposals from freelance journalists and will allocate the $5000 pool to the successful applicants as selected by an editorial panel comprising a number of experienced journalists.
This will enable the successful applicants to apply their journalistic craft to this vitally important subject. The resulting stories may be published on Scoop.co.nz and the Foundation will actively be seeking external publishing partners for these stories among other New Zealand media outlets.
Scoop has already provided
extensive earthquake coverage over the past weeks. See
Scoop’s full roundup of coverage here:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1611/S00075/scoop-coverage-earthquake-141116-initial-response.htm
However, producing significant investigative journalism projects with in depth reporting on serious issues requires significant allocation of time and resources that many media organisations today struggle to offer.
The Scoop Foundation’s membership and crowdfunding based model will enable more of this type of reporting which will add to the serious coverage of important earthquake related public interest issues in the New Zealand media landscape.
Support us to make this happen
None of this would be possible without the generous support over the past year of the 1000 Kiwis who have become the pioneering members of the Scoop Foundation in our quest to create a new model for independent media in New Zealand.
The Foundation is now nearing the end of our 2016 spring crowdfunding campaign in which we are aiming to attract a further 1000 members to support this cause.
Our ability to fund more quality public interest of this type over the next year is reliant on the support of our readers and our crowd so we welcome contributions and donations.
Donations will go towards helping make future investigative journalism funding rounds of this type possible. This will be especially important for next year’s general election campaign as the Scoop Foundation seeks to ensure high quality independent coverage of important election year issues from a public interest perspective.
Donors also have the option of becoming a member of the Scoop Foundation which will entitle them to some great donation rewards including a recently released Freerange press publication on journalism in Aotearoa until 31 November. An additional member benefit recently added to all members is our weekly ‘in the loop’ newsletter rounding up some of the week’s top stories published on Scoop.
We thank you for standing with us to create a future for independent media in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The Scoop Foundation Trustees
The Scoop Foundation
The Scoop Foundation for Public Interest Journalism
The Scoop Foundation for Public Interest Journalism is a charitable trust and the legal heart of the New Scoop project. The foundation is the owner of The New Scoop Publishing Company (www.scoop.co.nz).
The purposes of the Scoop Foundation are to promote, encourage and generate funding for investigative and public interest journalism.
Become a supporter at foundation.scoop.co.nz
Join the mailing list
Thanks for your support.
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