Brown Bag Lunch With Joel Kramer November 18

Please join us for our Brown Bag Lunch with featured guest Joel Kramer, founder and publisher of MinnPost.

Joel Kramer began his career in newspapers at the age of 12, delivering Newsday in Queens, NY. After working for Science Magazine, Newsday and the Buffalo Courier-Express, he became editor of the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 1983, and publisher and president in 1992. When the Cowles family sold the newspaper to McClatchy in 1998, Joel left the Star Tribune and joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication as a senior fellow. In 2003, he founded the policy think tank Growth & Justice, which he continues to serve as chair of the board.

In 2007, Joel founded MinnPost, (www.minnpost.com) an online news organization whose mission is “to provide high-quality journalism for news-intense people who care about Minnesota.”

As print newspapers struggle to survive in the new media economy, many people are asking what the future of journalism will look like. Can online news operations fill the void created by the decline of traditional news organizations? What kind of business model can sustain journalism in the future? Joel Kramer wrestles with these questions on a daily basis – so come prepared with some tough questions, and expect some interesting answers.

The Twin Cities Media Alliance’s monthly Brown Bag Lunches are your chance for casual conversation with some of the Twin Cities’ most insightful journalists – about journalism, politics, or whatever is on your mind.

TCMA Fall Media Forum November 7

The Twin Cities Media Alliance will hold its 2009 Fall Media Forum on Saturday November 7, at the Hennepin County Library Central branch, 300 Nicollet Mall, downtown Minneapolis, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The theme for this year’s forum is Networking And The New Media Landscape: Reporting News, Building Community, Making Money:

“In the new media landscape, information, audiences and resources all travel across networks. This participatory forum offers journalists, bloggers and news consumers the opportunity to make connections and share best practices for news reporting, building audiences and raising revenue.”

The focus for this year’s forum will be on networking and participation. If you want to participate in planning the program, by proposing a presentation or workshop, or suggesting a speaker, you can join our Twin Cities Media Alliance Fall Forum Facebook group , and add your ideas to our wiki page at http://tcmediaforum.wik.is . Or email jeremy@tcmediaalliance.org with your suggestions.

Please check this page for updates as our program develops.

Brown Bag Lunch With Nick Coleman Wed. October 28

Veteran Twin Cities journalist Nick Coleman will be the featured guest at the Twin Cities Media Alliance’s October Brown Bag Lunch With A Journalist, at noon Wednesday, October 28 at the East Lake Public Library, 2727 E. Lake St., Minneapolis. Nominated four times for the Pulitzer Prize, Nick has been a columnist and reporter in the Twin Cities for 36 years, writing for both the Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press.He left the Star Tribune in early 2009, but continues to write a Sunday column for the paper’s OpEd section.

As he notes in his bio, Nick “has covered six governors and 10 mayors, reported stories from 86 of Minnesota’s 87 counties, covered politics, local government, media and business, Native American issues and the war in Northern Ireland, as well as the subsequent peace process.”

The Twin Cities Media Alliance’s monthly Brown Bag Lunches are your chance for casual conversation with some of the Twin Cities’ most insightful journalists – about journalism, politics, or whatever is on your mind.

Check Out Our Fall Classes!

The Twin Cities Media Alliance has a great program of citizen journalism and media skills classes coming up this fall – including our four-part introduction to Citizen Journalism, a two-session class on Reporting 101, as well as classes on how to be a better blogger, an introduction to podcasting, how to create free WordPress websites (like this one) for small businesses and neighborhood organizations, and Twitter as a news tool. Just click on the “Classes”  tab at the top of this page to see all the details.

Help Wanted: TCMA Seeks Community Engagement Coordinator

JOB TITLE: Community Engagement Coordinator

LOCATION: Twin Cities Metro

SALARY: based on qualifications    TYPE: Part Time / 20 hours DEADLINE: 8/28/2009

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Twin Cities Media Alliance is seeking a community engagement coordinator who will build relationships with organizations and leaders in diverse Twin Cities communities and promote the use of the Daily Planet and Media Alliance as community resources. Outreach to ethnic, immigrant and other underserved communities is a priority.
Responsibilities include representing TCMA / TCDP at community events, giving presentations to community organizations, distributing marketing materials, promoting the Daily Planet and Media Alliance to local and national media, recruiting participants for TCMA classes and workshops, organizing public events, coordinating and scheduling classes, and training community members in the use of the Daily Planet as a resource for information sharing and community building.

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:
This position requires a combination of community organizing and digital media/ journalism skills. The ideal candidate will have strong writing and editorial skills, the ability to create and maintain strong interpersonal relationships with writers, media partners, and readers; strong public speaking and facilitating skills; and experience with social networking and online community building. S/he must have strong organizational skills and the ability to multi-task.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The ideal candidate will also be able to support the work of the other members of the Daily Planet and Media Alliance staff with by doing some of the following: teaching media skills classes and conducting writers groups; creating audio and video content, and posting content to the Daily Planet website.

HOW TO APPLY:
Send a letter of application with resume to TCMA executive director Jeremy Iggers at jeremy@tcmediaalliance.org.

KFAI Presents Nick Coleman August 20 at St. Joan of Arc Church

Award-winning Minnesota journalist and newspaper columnist Nick Coleman will be the featured speaker Thursday, August 20 at St. Joan of Arc Church as part of KFAI Radio’s 2009 speaker series. He has covered politics, government, media and business, Native American issues, war and peace in Northern Ireland, published more than 3,000 columns, produced approximately 300 TV commentaries, and hosted two radio talk shows. Coleman has received numerous awards for his work, including a series on The New Face of Minnesota, dealing with the impact of new immigrants on Minnesota, as well as a series on the 1862 Dakota Indian War. “Nick’s vast experience as a journalist in a variety of mediums makes him an excellent person to comment on the historical and current state of the media in the Twin Cities. Nick never minces words and we expect him to ignite a lively dialogue with our audience,” remarked KFAI’s Executive Director, Janis Lane-Ewart.

In 2008, Nick was again honored by City Pages as the reader’s choice for Best Columnist. Coleman will be joined by KFAI News Director Ahndi Fridell and a panel of KFAI public affairs programmers in a discussion on the past and future of media in the Twin Cities.

REGISTRATION: $10 in advance, $12 at the door, available online by credit card at https://www.kfai.org or by calling KFAI, 612-341-3144, x23 or at KFAI, 1808 Riverside Ave., Minneapolis, M-Th 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., Friday 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

All proceeds from this event will benefit KFAI, Fresh Air, Inc. – Radio Without Boundaries.

Brown Bag Lunch with Jason DeRusha Wednesday July 22

Jason DeRusha of WCCO-TV will be the featured guest at this month’s Brown Bag Lunch with a Journalist, at noon on Wednesday, July 22 at the East Lake Public Library, 2727 E. Lake St., Minneapolis. Jason reports the nightly “Good Question” segment on WCCO-TV, blogs at wcco.com/jasonblog, and is also active in social media on Twitter and Facebook. He’s been at WCCO since 2003, after stops in Milwaukee and Davenport, Iowa. He’s a political science and broadcast journalism major from Marquette University, with two regional Emmy awards.

The Twin Cities Media Alliance’s monthly Brown Bag Lunches are your chance for casual conversation with some of the Twin Cities’ most insightful journalists — about journalism, politics, or whatever is on your mind. Admission is free, but you can support this program by making a donation and becoming a member.

Brownbag Lunch With Kerri Miller Wed. 6/24

Kerri Miller, host of Minnesota Public Radio’s Midmorning show, will be our featured guest at our next Brown Bag Lunch with A Journalist, at noon Wednesday, June 24 at the East Lake Public Library, 2727 E. Lake St., Minneapolis. Kerri has been a radio and television news reporter since 1981. Before joining MPR in 2004, she was the political reporter for KARE 11. Kerri has won numerous awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists National Achievement Award, Minnesota Broadcasters Award, the Associated Press Award and a Gracie award from the Association of Women in Radio and Television.

The Twin Cities Media Alliance’s monthly Brown Bag Lunches are your chance for casual conversation with some of the Twin Cities’ most insightful journalists — about journalism, politics, or whatever is on your mind.

Five News Nuggets About TCMA and TC Daily Planet

1) Last month, at an awards ceremony headlined by Tom Brokaw, the Twin Cities Daily Planet received a Page One award for Best Independent News Web Site from the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists. Here’s what SPJ’s judges said about the Daily Planet:

“The breadth and depth of this site is terrific. It connects on multiple fronts: reader engagement, neighborhood coverage, local opinions, 24/7 updates and a strong commitment to a diversity of voices. tcdailyplanet.net really taps the power of the medium make the community part of the conversation – a lesson some of its competitors could benefit from.”

2) In response to the current economic climate, the Daily Planet is adding a couple of projects designed to support the economic vitality of our neighborhoods and businesses. On May 6 at Rondo Public Library in St. Paul, Matt Bartel of Entropy Publishing taught our first class on Free WordPress Websites for Business or Blogging. This class is designed to help neighborhood businesses and community organizations that can’t afford commercial websites get a presence on the web. We are talking to other community organizations about offering the class again to other communities.

Also, we have reached an agreement with the Metro Independent Business Alliance to feature their BuyLocalMN.com business directory on the Daily Planet, which we hope will increase the visibility of these small locally-owned businesses. That will be implemented as soon as the Daily Planet software upgrade is completed.

3) The Daily Planet was one of 15 new journalism projects, (and one of only four non-profit projects) selected from over 100 applicants to participate in the Knight Digital Media Center’s first Journalism Entrepreneur Bootcamp, held in Los Angeles May 16-21. At the camp, top national experts offered presentations and mentoring on strategies for engaging readers, building audiences, and making the project economically sustainable. On the closing day, when all participants made pitches to a panel of funders, the Daily Planet was singled out by venture capitalist Fred Haney as the one project that might be attractive to venture capitalists. (Except for the fact that we are a non-profit.)

4) Daily Planet editor Mary Turck won a place in the McCormick Foundation / Poynter Institute conference July 12-15 on Big Ideas, Best Practices, including free tuition and subsidized travel costs. Applicants had to submit their best Big Ideas for the future of journalism; Mary submitted our new Stories We’re Working On/ Reporters Notebook feature.

5) At the New America National Ethnic Media Awards, held In Atlanta June 4-5, two Daily Planet media partners, Phillip Lee of Korean Quarterly and Wameng Moua of Hmong Today were honored for journalistic excellence. Both publications were winners in our Minnesota Community and Ethnic Media Awards last December.

SPJ National presents Citizen Journalism Academy

Press Release:

The Society of Professional Journalists believes the world benefits from more news coverage, not less. Through its Citizen Journalism Academy, June 13 at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, SPJ seeks to help everyone wanting to practice journalism to do so accurately, ethically and fairly.
Participants will explore topics such as:
— Journalism ethics. The new-media landscape is rife with dilemmas for anyone wanting to report accurately, fairly and outside the bounds of special interests.
— The basics of media law. The same longstanding laws concerning libel, slander and access to people and information apply to 21st-century news-gatherers.
— Access to public records and meetings. Public information can add substance and value to every news story. But knowing where to look for it can be tough.
— Standard and responsible reporting practices. With media ethics and law in mind, how else should news-gatherers approach sources.
— Tips on smart writing. SPJ instructors want to help ensure your voice is clearly understood.
— The use of technology. We’ll show you an array of tools you could start using – or continue using even more effectively.

The cost to attend is $25, which includes lunch and course materials. For more information or to register, visit http://spj.org/cja.asp.

Please note, the registration deadline is June 8 and seating is limited.

Funding for this program is provided by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) public foundation organized for the purpose of supporting the educational programs of the Society of Professional Journalists and to serve the professional needs of journalists and students pursuing careers in journalism.