A new effort will bring together nearly all of Delaware’s media members to collaboratively cover the state and advance solutions to the community.
The Delaware Journalism Collaborative (DJC), which includes 18 news outlets or partner agencies, ranging from small online-only outlets to the largest newspapers, is the product of nearly a year of conversations led by the nonprofit Local Journalism Initiative of Delaware and the national nonprofit Solutions Journalism Network.
Delaware Business Times is one of the founding members of the collaborative.
“We are excited that so many newsrooms have embraced the Delaware Way in coming together to examine and address problems in the First State,” said Jacob Owens, editor of Delaware Business Times. “We look forward to participating in that work and being a part of those solutions.”
The other founding members include the Cape Gazette, Delaware Business Now, 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, Out & About Magazine, TELEDUCTION/Hearts and Minds Film, WDEL, WHYY and well-known freelance writer and editor Larry Nagengast.
The DJC will research, write, and publish content across the member outlets about the increasing polarization of Delaware’s communities on a variety of topics, ranging from politics to race relations, land use to crime, economic development to health care, and much more. The goal is to not only examine problems in the community but put forward potential solutions as well.
In addition to producing content, the DJC will lead community conversations through events to engage the public in the work as well.
The DJC is funded by a two-year, $200,000 grant from the Solutions Journalism Network’s Local Media Project. It is one of 14 collaboratives 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 at ljidelaware.org/collaborative.
