Maine Public Interest News Service

Short Synopsis

Using Radio and Online News Media to Build the Social Change Movement in Maine.

Description/Treatment

Media in the Public Interest’s vision is a more just, sustainable and equitable future. Our goal is to play a meaningful role in leading our country to that future by partnering with non-profits, foundations and others to improve the quality and increase the quantity of public interest media.

We believe a more informed citizenry is better equipped to participate in our democracy and make educated decisions on matters of public policy. So we focus on journalism that reaches both mainstream and alternative audiences with reporting that helps people “connect the dots” and have an adequate understanding of the issues.

One of our objectives is to midwife the creation of and support the growth of media projects that strengthen communities and report on critical issues that affect people in their daily lives, and to create opportunities for non-profits to participate in those media projects. One way we do this is by increasing participation in Public News Service, thereby helping move the American public and policy debates back to foundational democratic principles.

This project is a replication of projects MPI is doing across the country. We can do this work nationwide, in any and multiple states. For additional information, please contact bobrien AT mediainthepublicinterest DOT org.

Public News Service (PNS) is a member-supported, independent, ubiquitous, multi-platform, bilingual news service that lifts up marginalized voices to ensure that the public interest perspective is included, and amplifies those voices in mainstream, alternative, independent, ethnic, religious and community media. Across all services we are reaching a combined audience size of more than 24 million a week. PNS stories are used by stations across the political spectrum, from Clear Channel Network to Pacifica as well as other national networks like CBS and Native Network News, and online outlets, too. Because of this service, millions of people get exposed to stories and points of view that otherwise would not have been covered by the mainstream media, helping communities make decisions leading to more sustainable, just and compassionate public policy.

MPI is raising $17,000 for a project that will build the social change movement in Maine through a collaboration that will increase mainstream media coverage for a wide spectrum of environmental and social issues, generating demonstrable public opinion and policy results. Foundation support will enable Media in the Public Interest (MPI) to facilitate the launch of what will become a self-sustaining public interest news service in Maine.

MPI, through its relationship with PNS, has been able to strategically insert public interest perspective and nuanced debate into mainstream media at a penetration rate that has not been seen by progressive groups before. Founded in 1996, PNS now has more than 350 non-profit, coalition, foundation, individual and “triple bottom line” business members supporting its independent news services in the existing 30 news service states in AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, IA, ID, IL, KY, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, ND, NH, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, SD, TN, VA, WA, WI, WV, and WY. We deliver high quality, commercially formatted public interest news to thousands of commercial and non-commercial media outlets, including radio, television, web and print, as well as in podcasts and searchable RSS formats.

Overall, in 2009 PNS produced 4,101 news stories nationally on a wide variety of issues. These stories were aired over 199,599 times on more than 6,114 radio stations, and on the websites of more than 1,061 print and television outlets, with an average of 60 media outlets using each story.

Also available to PNS members is a Spanish-language component that includes translation of all our stories, a talk show booking service where Spanish speaking experts may be interviewed in depth on local and national radio, and Spanish-language media advisory and consultation services.

MPI works in collaboration with PNS because it is such an effective public education vehicle with very wide distribution. We are keenly interested in using it to amplify the voices of grassroots advocates in Maine.

The idea of a collectively supported independent news service as pioneered by PNS works like this: A group earmarks its annual membership to cover up to four specific issue categories, with the understanding that it is contributing to an independent news service committed to the public interest. Each contribution provides resources to report on about 8 stories per year. Participation in the news service is based on a sliding scale from $2,000 to $5,000 annually, based on an organization’s budget size. The member organization and the news service work collaboratively to generate stories. Each news script, with available sound bites, is sent out to all radio stations and the Web-ready version is sent out to all print and TV outlets statewide, providing mainstream media outlets with voices and perspectives they would not likely get on their own. Additionally, widgets, podcasts and RSS feeds are available. Shortly thereafter, PNS sends out a detailed media usage report so that member organizations can track media pick up and easily report to their stakeholders this media coverage on their issues. There is no obligation on the part of the journalists to cover any story, and editorial decisions are based on newsworthiness and balance.

Maine News Service We are keen to expand this vehicle for advocates’ voices into Maine. Due to the smaller population of the state, and therefore fewer non-profits with smaller budgets, foundation support is more critical to get the service off the ground. This service will not only benefit Maine, but strengthen all the news services in the New England region. Exploratory conversations with several key coalition organizations in Maine have helped us gain insight into the strength of the non-profit infrastructure and gauge the general level of interest in bringing a public interest news service to the state. Feedback has been positive. The Maine News Service (MNS) will produce at least 100 stories in its first year and distribute each story to all 200 radio stations and 300 print and TV outlets in the state. Our aim is to reach audiences in Maine and border markets through 25-35 outlets with each story by the end of the first year.

Funds are needed to help launch the MNS and foundation support is helpful in three ways:

1) Funding of Critical “Orphan” Issues

“Orphan” issues are the ones that no (or few) organizations have come forward to support, but that need to be addressed for three reasons: the community needs to hear the information; the broadcasters want them covered and serving their needs is critical to the success of the project; and, it’s critical to the long-term sustainability of the news service that the journalists are able to reach out to non-participating organizations and allow them to see firsthand the benefits of the project. - $5,000

2) Scholarship Funds for Non-Profits in Maine

PNS memberships are extremely cost-effective, at a fraction of what it would cost organizations to achieve similar results on their own. Yet, it is still out of reach for some. To that end, MPI and PNS work to provide scholarship opportunities. All members, regardless of their scholarship status, enjoy the same benefits; so it costs the same to provide for each member, which is $5,000. We want to maintain our ability to provide scholarship support and increase scholarship availability to attract an even greater number of organizations for whom scholarships are necessary. For organizations with budgets under $500,000 we offer scholarships ranging from $1,000 – 3,000, enabling the smallest (with budgets under $200,000) to join for just $2,000. Scholarship benefits in Maine are anticipated to be about $12,000 annually. To maintain our commitment that organizations with limited means should have access to this media solution, we work with foundations and others that share our vision and goals to make this possible. - $12,000

3) New Memberships
Foundations can enroll with their own membership directly with PNS in one or more of its news service states. Each membership allows the journalists to produce around 8 stories per year on up to four issues areas of your choice. This is a unique and tested tool for your foundation to increase visibility and recognition, contributing to the strategic communications of your foundation as a whole, while supporting an independent media provider. Participation in the news service is based on a scholarship-supported sliding scale from $2,000 to $5,000 per state, based on an organization’s annual budget size. Most foundations fall in the highest two categories, $4,000 and $5,000. New foundation memberships are not part of this project proposal request.

The total cost for launch and initial operations of the Maine News Service is $42,000. Public News Service is raising a total of $25,000, and has reached $4,500 in pledged and received funds. MPI serves as a collaborator and works to connect resources to problems in the most strategic and cost-effective ways to achieve those last dollars that can make the difference as to whether a new service can be launched or has to be put on hold. To that end MPI is seeking foundation support for the remaining $17,000 (of which $4,500 has been raised from the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation) to launch the Maine News Service and increase news coverage of issues from a public interest perspective.

In addition to the audio attached to this project, you can read and listen to Maine News Service stories at www.publicnewsservice.org.