A new initiative will train Akron citizens to produce original journalism for ohio.com, the online home of Akron’s Beacon Journal.
Formerly based in Akron, Florida’s John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has awarded $350,000 to the Akron Community Foundation for the project. (It awarded similar grants to 23 other communities with connections to the Knight family, whose organization owned the paper from 1903 through 2006.) The Akron foundation contributed another $100,000.
According to an Akron Community Foundation press release, “Project coordinators expect the portal to become a hub for neighborhood news, locally produced videos, student art projects, social networking, sports and business information, and more.”
Citizen journalists will learn how to write news and use new-media technology, from cameras to video-editing software.
“The purpose of this project is to strengthen community news and information-sharing by creating a new digital media academy that trains residents to share news and information about their neighborhoods using cutting-edge technology,” says Knight Foundation vice president of communications Marc Fest.
This article appears in Jan 20-26, 2010.