Thursday, October 22, 2009

Delicious Today: All Together Now

All Together Now
"All Together Now is a collaborative journalism endeavor by news media in Madison, Wisconsin, to produce print, broadcast and online reports on a common theme. ... The inaugural topic of All Together Now aims to look at the difficulties encountered by people seeking access to health care in the Madison, Wisconsin area."
I'm delighted to see this collaboration journalism project, right in my city! And hooray, both Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television are part of it. As in many cities, serious journalism is in financial crisis. One of the two major newspaper in town, the Capital Times, has abandoned its print operation and gone online only. I'm very glad and relieved to see that these local media competitors have chosen to collaborate at the worst and best time for journalism. The worst time because the traditional business model of journalism is broken with advertisers migrating online. The best time because journalists have never had so many powerful yet affordable technologies at their disposal to reinvent journalism and achieve its highest potential.

I'm also excited to see that UW-Madison is involved in the project. The academic institution can not only bring insights from research to help guide the reinvention of journalism, but also address the needs and desires of journalism in classrooms to educate a new generation of journalists. That's the spirit of Wisconsin Idea that education should be relevant to and have a positive influence on people’s lives beyond the university boundary.

1 comment:

Bnardi said...

ATN organizers thank you for our words of encouragement! We are so gratified by the local journalism community's willingness to come together to try something new at such a difficult time. Sifting and winnowing, sifting and winnowing...