Alliance for Community Media 2016 Annual Conference

Most community news operations focus on reporting "breaking news" essentially recounting events for the general public without really digging into the issues surrounding them. Answering the who, what, when, and where questions of stories without addressing the why and how. A big reason for the prevalence of that kind of "this happened" journalism is budget.

It takes time and money to do more in-depth investigative reporting in your city or town. Most PEG access stations can't even afford the professional staff time necessary to manage volunteers to run regular local news roundups, let alone do any independent journalism. So the thought of investing in producing investigative stories is completely off of the vast majority of stations' radar.

However, a new wave of nonprofit reporting initiatives nationwide is showing that it's possible to produce high-quality, in-depth journalism with community support for a fraction of the cost of similar work produced by major commercial and public news outlets. In this workshop, the staff of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalismwill walk you through the basics of how to: put together an investigative reporting unit, identify potential investigative news stories, raise money for reporting, producing the stories, publicize the finished product, and engaging your community in discussing the issues at stake. You'll walk away with a solid idea of how you can take your station from having little impact in community affairs to playing a leading role in shaping public discourse on key events of the day.

While the franchise renewal process as guided by Federal Law has not changed, the outcomes of franchise renewal are changing with the evolving business and technology environment. For example, for the first time in many years companies like CenturyLink and Google are seeking initial franchises. How do these new entrants affect the relationship with the incumbent cable company regarding PEG issues during and after renewal? This session will provide answers to questions about needs assessment, HDTV and EPG for PEG access, capital vs operating funding issues, and how to prepare for and maximize your opportunities during renewal and franchising negotiations.

2016 is a big election year – what will 2017 bring for telecommunications and local communities? We’ll try to predict what the next year holds for federal policy priorities, and get your input on what should be the priorities we work on with coalition partners across the United States.

Local communities across the United States are increasingly looking at using franchise negotiations to solve the equity and inclusion issues associated with the Digital Divide. As cable providers now call themselves broadband providers, will PEG centers begin to identify themselves as centers for digital inclusion? Or is that work being done elsewhere in the community? This is a key question for program development and strategy for community media. Join us as we discuss why community media needs to be a part of this discussion in every community.

We’ll hear from community media centers which have recently built out new facilities and embraced new strategies to grow their mission. Production, exhibition, distribution, training and convening are all possible ways that media centers can envision their use of space. Come to talk about the possibilities and share your ideas!

Competitors and over-builders continue to enter the Multichannel Video market.   New entrants such as CenturyLink and Google Fiber hope to compete with cable incumbents and are offering video - and are offering local PEG solutions.  Do they pose a danger or an opportunity for communities to consider?  And how will the traditional cable industry react?  What are areas that PEG operators and communities need to consider?  We'll talk about several communities that are facing these issues and how PEG operations should consider future services.

We’ll walk through the ins and outs of developing a strategic plan. This session will allow you to work with a professional strategic planner to develop and start the process of creating a roadmap for your organization’s future.

Colin Rhinesmith and The Benton Foundation are convening organizations around the U.S. who are involved with Digital Inclusion work to determine evaluation-needs and help organizations develop program models that will help organizations get support from philanthropies and government programs.

Join us as we discuss challenges organizations face when they are asked to evaluate their work, and help us determine what outcome-based tools can be used to solve these challenges. The discussion will help build models that can be used to build better cases for community media and digital inclusion.