The Journalism Foundation, a non-for-profit organisation that promotes, develops and sustains free and fair journalism across the world, launched in London this morning.
Its founding Chief Executive, Simon Kelner, former editor-in-chief of The Independent, said
I am delighted to lead this new body, which will show that journalism can be a force for good by supporting initiatives that have a direct and positive effect on people’s lives.
The Foundation, which is backed by the Lebedev family, has a board of Trustees chaired by Evgeny Lebedev, chairman of The Independent and the London Evening Standard. Other trustees of the foundation include, Baroness Kennedy, the renowned human rights lawyer, Lord Fowler, former chair of the House of Commons media select committee, and Sir John Tusa, former director general of BBC World Service.
The Journalism Foundation is launching with two initiatives to show the scope and range of its work. The Foundation, in partnership with the department of journalism at London’s City University, is establishing the first practical training courses for journalists in Tunisia, teaching local journalists how to report in a free and open society.
The second project sees The Journalism Foundation supporting a grass roots website in an effort to increase interest in local politics in the British town of Stoke-on-Trent. The site, Pits n Pots, was set up in response to a lack of coverage of local council matters, and the Foundation is supporting its development with the aim of bolstering public engagement in the area.
Mike Rawlins from Pits n Pots said
I’m delighted that Pits n Pots is going to be supported by the newly launched Journalism Foundation. Having the support of the foundation will allow me to do three things.
First, I am hoping to investigate ways for Pits n Pots to become a more sustainable public service business model while improving the awareness and reach of the site.
Second, I will be looking to find ways to promote better democratic, popular engagement across sections of the population who have not traditionally been engaged with democracy.
Finally, I will hope to use The Journalism Foundation’s support to create a template that can be used by active democratically engaged people across the country.
The launch of the Foundation has been acclaimed by figures across the political and cultural landscape.
Salman Rushdie said
This is an important and valuable – and needed – initiative that aims to uphold and propagate the highest journalistic standards. I wish it the very best.
Jemima Khan said
A vibrant democracy and a free press go hand in hand. I applaud the work of The Journalism Foundation in trying to strengthen this relationship.
Lord Ashdown said
There could not be a better time for an organisation like this to be set up to ensure we get the balance right between strengthening what is best in journalism and rejecting what we all now know to be bad.
Alexander Lebedev said
I am delighted the Journalism Foundation is launching. For over 20 years I have argued that democracy cannot flourish in countries without a free press. And it is only by championing brave, investigative journalists across the globe that international corruption can be tackled effectively. Now more than ever, we must support journalists who hold the powerful to account – and I am certain this foundation will do that brilliantly.
Of course you will read and hear a lot more about this over the coming months here on Pits n Pots.
This is really excellent news Mike – for you; Pits ‘n’ Pots; Stoke; and Hyperlocal news sites across the UK.
It’s really interesting seeing how much attention is being paid to Hyperlocal of late, both with the Journalism Foundation and the Media Trust, joining the groups and publications that have been trumpeting this for a long time.
It appears, finally(?), to be recognised as the force for good that all of those who have been plugging away at it for years have believed.
Simon Kelner’s comment is of note: “This [Citizen Journalism] is journalism every bit as worthwhile as more traditional forms.”
All power to you Mike & the Pits and Pots crew – we will watch your progress, from our far off southern climes, with much interest.
Simon & Sal Perry
Hi Simon & Sal,
It is nice to see that the UK Hyperlocal & citizen journalism scene is being recognised at long last.
Hopefully this will be the launch pad for more hyperlocals to find ways of becoming sustainable.
Brilliant news Mike I can’t wait to see how this progresses
Cheers Matt, it will be good for not just Pits n Pots but all local sites around Stoke-on-Trent I hope.
By having people looking at what we are doing with the foundation will help to highlight the great content that is produced by the other sites.
Yeah whatever. yawn
Who funds The Journalism Foundation?
Who decides how its money is spent?
How does it decide on what is worth supporting and what isn’t?
This is a brand new organisation falling from the clear blue sky that has been set up by a load of very, very rich people.
[quote=Jarrod]Yeah whatever. yawn[/quote]
Why Yawn?
Lawrence, these are questions better directed to the Journalism Foundation website, but in answer to your questions my understanding is:
The Lebedev family are funding the foundation which is a UK charity. They are also looking for partners to help them fund future projects.
There is a board of trustees
There is a board of trustees
You are probably right, but is that a bad thing?
As an officer of the National Union of Journalists, I’m afraid I’m suspicious of anything involving another load of rich people.
I’m happy for the site to have support and I dearly hope we can all find ways of continuing to fund professional journalism. But I’m afraid a charity funded by a very rich Russian businessman, whatever his political stance, is not something I think will be the answer.
I agree, the Journalism Foundation throwing money at projects isn’t sustainable.
That said giving grants to help people like me explore other options to make sites like Pits n Pots sustainable (not money making), is a good thing.
Easy for me to say as I am going to be supported by them, but I’d like to think that if it was My Tunstall or A Little Bit Of Stone, I’d feel the same way, because at the end of it, what I did, what worked and what failed will be in the public domain and will help other people to find ways of running sustainable sites.
I bet Tony Walley is well upset about this one.
http://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/media/2011/dec/05/simon-kelner-journalism-foundation
Please go to the article about all this in The Guardian and leave comments there that you have made here.
I have left comments, I am Zu1984 on the comments page.
This is a positive initiative that is much much needed!
However, what about things such as http://www.medialens.org/
Medialens has consistently been keeping the British Media in check and is a grass-roots initiative, has no profit motive and is completely independent.
The problem is, how can newspapers be free, when they rely on 70% or more of their revenue to come from Advertisers, who are usually the big corporations and banks. It is very hard to be a paper that exposes the corruption and crimes of big corporations and banks, if they are what fund a paper.
“Mike Rawlins whose website pitsnpots holds the local council to account…”, this is very good and we need more of this.
Yet there is great opposition to such things, just look at this article http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7741244.stm
“The BBC Trust has rejected controversial plans to launch a £68m network of local news websites with video content. The plan has faced fierce opposition from newspaper publishers, who have argued that it could damage or kill off their own local online operations. The trust said the BBC’s proposal did not meet its criteria for offering value to the public. Instead the corporation should focus on improving existing regional services. A study by broadcasting watchdog Ofcom found that if BBC local video services were launched, annual revenues at existing commercial providers would fall by up to 4%. ”
The corporations that own the local media currently are afraid of losing their current monopolies.
Corporations are legally bound to prioritise above all things to increase profits for shareholders.
If newspapers and other media outlets are corporations themselves or owned by corporations, then they are not really based on a priority to get the TRUTH OUT above PROFITS.
Especially when 70% or more of their profits comes from advertisements from banks and other big corporations.
I’ve just seen the Simon Kelner interview on Sky News where he incorrectly stated I was the founder of the site, before any conspiracy theorists start, I have never said I was the founder nor have I tried to say the site is all my own work.
From the initial background document I sent to the foundation:
Pits n Pots was started in September 2008 by Tony Walley using the blogger platform [1]“¦.
…I joined the site in October 2008 some 4 weeks after it had started and started to build a hosted WordPress site to allow for more functionality than the free platform.
Why would he be upset?
Surely seeing something he was involved in getting some further recognition is something to be proud of?
I find this award incredible and the way it has been lauded all over the internet is distasteful.
If this award was forthcoming say a year ago or even as late as May maybe i could buy into it. But the truth is that since the founder of this site and the person who without took it to the top left it has become a shadow of its former self.
Just look at the stories since then. Press releases and the odd blog about Leek from the world’s most negative guy who happens to hail from Stoke. I mean when was the last time this site broke a political story, covered a burning city wide issue, or reported on a single council meeting?
Now it is being funded to reproduce more press releases and and republishing blogs that are already plastered over FB. Hardly cutting edge is it.
I hope that those in control of this site are made to account for every single penny of the award. Perhaps someone on this site could tell us exactly what the award was and how it will be spent?
The bad taste i refer to is how this as been acclaimed that it is the most important thing that as ever happened to the site when those who run it must concede its quality is at an all time low.
Just what criteria was used to award the funding i cant begin to imagine. Maybe its a case of it isn’t what you know…..
It took the founder of this site a considerable amount of time to build up the reputation of this site. It took a Saturday nights worth of outrageous tweets to nearly ruin it.
Still at least the site ‘has regained control’ of its Twitter account.
I bet this comment doesn’t get through, maybe its because it tells the truth!
Ahh I didn’t think it would be long before you turned up again.
Yes before May everything was rosie and now it isn’t..
Where does it say it is being funded to reproduce more press releases?
What burning city wide issues do you want this site to cover?
I’m sure that ‘those in control of this site’ will indeed account for every penny.
Please do expand on your ‘Maybe its a case of it isn’t what you know”¦..’
So the founder of this site did it all, I played no part in helping to build it up?
Yes I am back in control of the twitter account, after someone decided to make some mischief with it, I am still waiting for some evidence of what went on.
And of course your comment got through, why wouldn’t it?
If your disgust and feelings of bad taste are so strong then I suggest you head over to the Journalism Foundation site and contact them, I’m sure they will be delighted to hear from you.
Steve C
“Press releases and the odd blog about Leek from the world’s most negative guy who happens to hail from Stoke.”
And you are not negative at all are you?
isn’t this good news fro Stoke-on-Trent that the site is getting recognised or is everyone going to keep banging the Tony was great Mike is crap drum ?
I think it is excellent news and should be applauded that the city has a site that has been recognised yes the site is quester since Tony left but isn’t that part of life ? I think Mike has done a good job keeping the site alive and hey you never know, Tony may decide to come back from his break or some other writes might come along.
I think there is more than a hint of jealousy and for whatever reason you dislike Mike,,
as for it being lorded all over the internet, what is the problem with that if othe rpeople and and newspapers are interested, i think the way this site has shown itself today has been very good. They certainly haven’t been shouting look at us look at us we’ve got money have they ?
you just need to stop being so jelous
Stevie C
“odd blog about Leek from the world’s most negative guy who happens to hail from Stoke”
Bill Cawley here. For some reason I cannot post comment directly. I felt I had to. I deeply resent the ” negative” comment. Over the last 2 years I have posted something like 120 articles on Pits and Pots. Many of them, if Stevie C was bothered to look, have been around the green economy and cooperatives.
The last article on the Leek Cooperative was a few weeks ago. I am heavily engaged in that project and I have worked on encouraging new enterprise which does not suggest the worlds most negative man.
On the 15th October I went to the Stoke Stories conference at Staffs University and fully participated and I am currently engaged in developing a North Staffs foodbank with Jayne Fair, again hardly the action of a negative person.
I am certainly sceptical about what has happened in Stoke, I doubt whether I am on my own, and think as a former Hartshill Councillor in the 80s that Stoke has since been badly served by its Councillors and its officers. I would have thought that Stoke has had 4 CEOs since 2006 and the RENEW debacle rather proves my point.
As far as my recent involvement in Pits and Pots Mike asked me in the late summer and I said that I would help out and have offered up a dozen pieces some of which have been posted on the site. I did it because I did not want Pits and Pots to go under and hoped that my involvement might encourage others to get involved. I hoped that it would grow again. I don’t know whether Stevie C has ever submitted an article tp Pits and Pots, but I won’t take criticism from someone who has few comments whether they be positive or negative.
Finally I am glad of the success of the site been recognised by the Journalism Foundation.( I was unaware of this but I am pleased)
Its very good news
[quote]For some reason I cannot post comment directly.[/quote]
There is a problem at the moment where all comments are being held for moderation regardless of whether you are a using a an account or posting anonymously I’ll get it sorted ASAP in the mean time I’ll be releasing comments manually as I see them.
Just to back up what Bill has said,
I asked him if he wanted to write a few articles, I am fully aware that some of them are not fresh and new as our anonytroll Steve C would like.
The site is different since Tony left just the same as it would be if I had taken a break so I don’t see what the problem is, I think it is called evolution. Go back to the very early days and look at how we started that was different to how it was in 2010. Things change, if people don’t like the change then they can vote with their feet so to speak and not visit the site.
Of course the negative anonytrolls will keep visiting to post about how good it was before May and how bad it is now and how much they hate the site and hate me and hate Bill and hate Stoke..
Life and websites move on unlike anonytrolls
Guest: I find this award incredible
I find it incredible as well, it is a fantastic accolade for this site! While I don’t always agree with the site and what it does, I think that the recognition is fantastic.
Well done to everyone involved
I’ve never once thought of Bill as negative. Not once. Thoughtful and forward thinking yes, but never negative.
I like his articles and insights and has been a championing schemes that I’m utterly amazed this council hasn’t taken up. Why the urban farms hasn’t been in the news astonishes me. In a city where unemployment is high and food is becoming pricier I’d have thought it an excellent place to start rebuilding communities smashed to bits by regeneration.
As to press releases, you really have no idea how thin the Sentinel would be if it wasn’t for the press releases, they’re bread and butter for any news organisation.
To the teapot calling kettle, if you feel so negative towards the site along with those who run and contribute towards it, why do you feel the need to visit and comment if it is not to your liking ?
As for the site I consider that it has greatly improved recently, with it’s (now) neutral position on the political news.
With this support and recognition hopefully the site will continue for many years.
Nigel Howle here, I seem to have a problem logging on.
Firstly, congratulations to Mike. I come from the old world of newspaper jpurnalism but really do not think that a suspicion of new media/hyperlocal etc is going to get the newspaper industry anywhere.
I applaud the work done by the likes of PitsnPots, A Little Bit of Stone and My Tunstall. These services are giving people information they cannot get from elsewhere – they are needed.
Secondly, anyone who reads the bulk of Bill Cawley’s articles and then dismisses them as negative isn’t concentrating very hard.
Yes, they can be challenging, but always have the best interest of Stoke-on-Trent and other local areas, at heart.
Surely having an insight into the local political machine, Bill has a greater ability than most to criticise and praise our civic leaders than most?
This is great news! Well done to everyone concerned.
Nobody is more aware than me that when I decided to take a break that it would effect the site and as i said at the time it wasn’t a decision i took lightly. My reasons were numerous and varied.
Mike is right, why would I be anything but delighted by the award of this funding? There is no need to keep reminding everyone that I founded the site, that may be true, but it would never have become what it is without Mike and others who have the knowledge to create a vibrant debating platform. Thankfully the guys didn’t trust me to plug a 13amp socket in let alone mess with the gubbings of the site!
As long as Mike and me know the history thats all that matters.
MattB you’re a top man thanks for you kind words and keep up supporting this site… and others.
Bill Cawley is from the Abbey – like me – nuff said!
Andi, Slightly miffed at your comment – As far as I’m concerned when I write an opinion piece [blog] that’s what you’ll get – my opinion. I agree its no hard to see where my politics lie, but that’s no different to any political writer, all our articles are based on our political views. I’ll not make or offer any apologies for that.
When I wrote a news report or covered a council meeting of any sort, I wrote it absolutely balanced as the article was dictated by what i observed. No politician I ever interviewed or reported on ever had any complaints about that.
Some did have an issue with some of my opinion pieces but hey that’s politics!
So in other news, I’m glad this site is to go on to bigger and better things and that Mike is trying to get others involved in it.
Good times
Tony
It seems I unintentionally touched a nerve somewhere with yourself. As far as I’m concerned it is just my sole opinion but hey thats what happens on these threads !
Cheers Wol,
Good to see you back. Hopefully the support will help to build on the foundations that we built over the past 3 years.
Stevie C, you checky git, I’ll get something done when I have time Mike, we all need to step back for a time, which is what I did. Won’t be as regular as before but I’d enjoy doing something.
Wozza, have you created a new account or linked it to Facebook?
Let me know when you have something to go on the site mate and I’ll sort it out for you.
Will do mate, whipped on on Face book but I’ll reregister later. Get round to doing something, promise.
Stevie C:
You are so amateurish that even a simpleton such as myself knows exactly who you are.
Your politics is so spiteful(and amateurish)that throwing your toys out of the pram is par for your daft course.
I’m not the only one who sussed you out many times before and your juvenile attack upon ‘the negative one from Leek’ was only put out because he actually keeps on going.
You are a control freak with a warped sense of why real and proper political thinkers and activists take the stance they do.
You attack under a false name simply because you have no guts.
I feel sorry for your wife.
He has a wife?