Delaware LIVE News will take part in a state journalism collaborative that will report on and seek solutions to issues caused by community polarization.
The Delaware Journalism Collaborative is a statewide partnership of local news organizations and community partners working together to improve access to high-quality local news and information in the state.
The 18 organizations and people taking part in the project now include the Cape Gazette, Delaware Business Now, Delaware Business Times, Delaware Call, Delaware Community Foundation, Delaware Libraries, Delaware Independent, Delaware LIVE, DelawareOnline/The News Journal, Delaware Public Media/WDDE, Delaware State News/BayToBayNews.com, DETV, Local Journalism Initiative, freelance writer/editor Larry Nagengast, Out & About Magazine, Teleduction/Hearts and Minds Film, WDEL and WHYY.
“We look forward to working with all these partners,” said Bryan Shupe, CEO of Delaware LIVE, which also owns Town Square Delaware and Milford LIVE. “Polarization has been a detriment to public policy and moving forward on huge challenges, including health care, infrastructure and transparency in Delaware. Hopefully, we can uncover ways the community can come together to meet these issues that have gone unchallenged for decades.”
The group is expected to grow and others may be invited to join.
The Collaborative was formed through the nonprofit Local Journalism Initiative of Delaware.
“All Delawareans deserve access to high-quality, trustworthy, local news and information,” said Allison Taylor Levine, a former journalist who is president and founder of the initiative. “It’s good for our democracy and for our communities, and I’m excited that Delaware newsrooms are working together to make it happen.
The members will report and produce high-quality, factual coverage that increases the public’s trust in news stories.
All of the work will be available not only on the originating site’s publications, websites and social media, but also on the website of the Local Journalism Initiative, as well as featured on the publication sites of partners who want to share it.
The Collaborative will apply a solutions journalism-approach, focused on both challenges and what is working to address those challenges.
The project is funded by a two-year, $200,000 grant from the Solutions Journalism Network’s Local Media Project. Delaware’s Collaborative is one of 14 around the country working to build trust in all segments of the communities they serve and stimulate public conversations about key issues.
The Collaborative is in the process of hiring a project manager to guide the work.
More information about the journalism and community conversations will be available soon.
The Local Journalism Initiative expects to release a report in June about how Delawareans get and perceive their local news.
The Initiative used focus groups, one-on-one interivews, text message surveys and an analysis of public data to look at how people request information, what they are looking for and how successfully they are getting it.
Betsy Price is a Wilmington freelance writer who has 40 years of experience, including 15 at The News Journal in Delaware.
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