Report for America

     Baby Boomers grew up with the Peace Corps, the Teacher Corps, Volunteers in Service to America, all of which promulgated the idea that we were obligated to serve our communities and our country. 

     Today, the Peace Crops still exists, along with Ameri-Corps and Teach for America. Whether the mindset still exists, I'm not sure.

     Steve Walkman, a speaker at Engage Local, sponsored by the NJ News Commons, proposed an addition to this service -- Report for America.

     He was speaking to a room full of journalists and educators with some community activists sprinkled around the ballroom of the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark. Heads were nodding. This was an audience who got it. 

     Journalism is a service profession, like teaching and nursing. Our job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable as the sainted Finley Peter Dunne once said. Nobody ever went into journalism to make money.
 

The past and current presidents of the New Jersey Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Bob Schapiro and Miriam Ascorelli -- traditional journalists from broadcast and print.

     Report for America would go a long way toward providing news to underserved communities without the necessity of selling advertising, an increasingly difficult mission when there are so many ways to advertise. 

     Of course, Report for America would be a little different from the other government-sponsored service programs.  Since the reporters would serve their communities as watchdogs, private funding would be preferable to public funding. Perhaps Scripps or Poynter or even Kiplinger could serve as sponsors. Grants are important, Waldman said, because "where there is a pot of money," somebody will use it.

     Waldman calls for a highly selective process of choosing reporters.  He advocates national and local recruiting. Perhaps, but the emphasis will have to be on local recruiting because the best local coverage comes from people who know the area. And, since it's likely these reporters will only stay in the program two years, they will need to start off with knowledge. 

     Of course, the downside is the survey that indicated only 28% of Americans believe journalists contribute a lot to society. But, that's a random questionnaire not taking into consideration people who's community is being threatened by a truck stop or a Walmart. Then, suddenly, they know how vital the press can be. 

     Waldman asked how you make people care.  The answer is they care when they need to care. They appreciate the press when they need the press. 

     But Waldman also pointed out when people are asked about the press, they generally are thinking of the national media, not the working stiffs who are trying to make their communities better.