The Solutions Journalism Network is leading a systems-level change in journalism so that all people – no matter how or where they get their news – have access to rigorous reporting not only about problems, but about promising and evidence-based responses to them as well. This is especially critical for the coverage of our changing climate, where apocalyptic, unsolvable, doom and gloom stories far outweigh those that examine meaningful efforts to advance environmental repair, resilience and adaptation. The news plays a pivotal role in making this information widely available.

To advance this work, SJN is launching the Climate Beacon Newsroom Initiative in partnership with Covering Climate Now and Climate Central. This year-long program (through September 2023) will bring together five newsrooms in the U.S. to work individually and collectively to transform their coverage of the changing climate throughout their organizations. In addition, each newsroom will select a Climate Fellow to take part in the Solutions Journalism Network Train-the-Trainers program (ToT). These five fellows will each create a climate solutions journalism training module that they will use to spread the practice of solutions journalism in covering our changing climate. Each Climate Fellow fellow will receive $5000 stipend for their work, in addition to the $20,000 stipend awarded each newsroom. All programming will be conducted virtually.

Click here to review the full application and apply. All U.S.- based newsrooms ready to shift their climate reporting coverage toward rigorous, evidence-based reporting on solutions to the climate crisis are encouraged to apply.  Mark your calendars for the October 10th application deadline. Semifinalist newsrooms will be announced on October 14th. Click here for our application FAQs.

Learn about SJN’s other work to advance climate solutions journalism on our Climate Solutions page; scroll down to read the latest climate solutions journalism from a variety of news outlets.

The 82nd annual National Newspaper Week is a recognition of the service of newspapers and their employees throughout the United States and Canada and is sponsored by Newspaper Association Managers. This year’s observance will be held Oct. 2-8, 2022.

Organizers of National Newspaper Week have prepared a special presentation that can be given by Association Managers, publishers, editors, or sales directors.

Ideally, presentations could be delivered to community groups or to others interested in hearing from the newspaper about its role in producing trusted journalism.

The material is based on resources developed by The Relevance Project and its partners, including Metro Creative Graphics. For additional information, consult www.relevanceproject.net or, contact Executive Director Tom Silvestri at tas@relevanceproject.net.

Feel free to localize or supplement this message with your own logos, examples, statements, or relevant points. Note: The Relevance Project content is free to all local newspapers, thanks to its sponsor, Newspaper Association Managers.

Download Presentation

In addition to the presentation, there is a complete package of resources available to use during National Newspaper Week to help promote newspaper media.

Download Editorials
Download Ads
Download Social Media

Visit https://www.nationalnewspaperweek.com/ for a complete list of resources available.

Please let us know if you will be participating in National Newspaper Week and send us links or tear sheets to anything that you publish.

We will gather them to feature in a follow-up article in this month’s eBulletin. If you need additional resources, have any questions, or need assistance, contact Tara Cleary at t.cleary@nenpa.com.

The Maine Press Association’s 2022 Fall Conference will be held on October 22 at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel & Event Center in Bar Harbor.

A full day of events is planned, including informative sessions, The Hall of Fame Induction Luncheon with 2022 inductees, Earl Brechlin and Chris & Paula Roberts and 2021 inductees Dorothy “Dot” Roderick, Dieter Bradbury, and Judy Meyer; the annual Scholarship Auction & Reception with Auctioneer Extraordinaire Aimsel Ponti, and the 2019 Better Newspaper Awards Dinner & Banquet with Master of (All) Ceremonies Greg Rec.

Conference Hotel Room Information & Reservations ($165) for Oct. 21-22 must be made directly with the hotel. Please call the Atlantic Oceanside reservations office at 800-336-2463 to reserve your room and identify yourself as part of the MPA, Group # 65279. Reservations may also be made online: www.aobarharbor.com. Hotel reservations are going fast so book your room as soon as possible.

There is no registration fee for Hall of Fame inductees or guests and the registration fee covers all workshops/sessions, Scholarship Auction, and Awards Dinner & Banquet.

Learn more

The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education is now accepting applications for its new Equity & Belonging Newsroom Transformation program, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Newsroom Transformation Program leverages an embedded coaching model to help news organizations better inform underserved communities and establish workplace cultures of belonging. Our goal is to help newsrooms become more equitable and inclusive in their reporting, workplace, and communities they serve. The team of consultants piloting the program curriculum will work closely with Maynard Institute facilitators who are steeped in the Fault Lines® training methodology. Two media outlets will be selected through the application process.

Is your news organization ready to establish a more equitable workplace and provide better coverage of underserved communities? This program is an opportunity to make transformative changes to stay relevant to and reflective of your community by making structural changes to your business models and organizational culture.

Now accepting applications through October 7, 2022.

Learn more at The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education

The National Press Foundation is offering a new journalism fellowship: Your Body, Their Data? Reporting on Privacy, Tech and Biometrics.

This training will equip journalists to cover technical, legal, and policy developments on the new frontier of privacy — and turn them into stories that will resonate with audiences.

The application deadline is October 10, 2022, apply at this link.

From wearables and life-saving medical devices to apps that track location health, fitness, sleep and menstrual periods, consumers’ bodies are being tracked and quantified as never before. And yet, the data is not theirs alone. “Smart” devices that can be attached to our bodies – or implanted or ingested – are coming to market faster than lawmakers can regulate and the public can grasp their implications.

Whether your beat is Silicon Valley or Washington, U.S.-based journalists working in any medium are invited to apply. The fellowship covers hotel, airfare to Washington D.C., and most meals.

Before the pandemic, about 1 in 5 Americans wore a smartwatch or fitness tracker, according to Pew Research Center. That number has only grown since, with market penetration expected to increase by about 6% by 2024, according to Statista. But smartwatches are only a fraction of the devices that monitor the human body and transmit their data as part of the Internet of Bodies (IOB). Products range from pacemakers to insulin pumps, ingestible pills to implantable brain microchips being developed by Elon Musk’s Neuralink and the U.S. military.

Medical devices are regulated by the FDA, and the companies that produce them must comply with HIPAA and cybersecurity guidelines. But who owns patient data is often unclear. Many apps and devices are unregulated, allowing their biometric or behavioral data to be stored, sold, hacked or mined. A host of states have introduced or passed various types of data-protection measures but as of yet, there is no federal data privacy law.

The Supreme Court abortion decision has poured new fuel on the debate. The My Body, My Data Act of 2022 was introduced in the House in June to protect personal reproductive or sexual health information. A month later, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce approved the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA) with bipartisan support. This “data minimization” bill, if passed by the full House and Senate, would be one of the most significant internet civil liberty bills in U.S. history, advocates say.

A 2022 poll found that 56% of voters want Congress to pass a data privacy law, while another found that 70% of Americans agree that controlling who can access their digital personal information has become more challenging.

During the fellowship, we will discuss where these stories will go in 2023 and beyond.

Speakers are likely to include federal regulators, scientists, lawyers, doctors, privacy experts, lawmakers or their staff, and those who work in Big Tech or oppose it.

As always, National Press Foundation sessions are on the record and allow ample time for Q&A.

U.S.-based journalists working in any medium (print, TV, radio, digital, podcast) are invited to apply by Oct. 10, 2022. Employed journalists will need a letter of support from their editor. Freelance journalists should submit a letter from a news outlet interested in publishing their work.

For questions, please contact program manager Alyssa Black at ablack@nationalpress.org.

Support for this training comes from Arnold Ventures and Medtronic. NPF is solely responsible for the content.