Hi, reporters. A lot of you are probably still reeling from the U.S. election, not least because so many reporters and data crunchers predicted it wrong. There’s been quite a bit of self-recrimination (a lot of it deserved) among journalists for living in a progressive, East Coast, middle-class bubble.
I have a project in the works that tries to alleviate that, at least where I’m based in the Deep South. If you have any ideas, interest or leads along those lines, please get in touch.
In the meantime, I want to bring your attention to the Public Insight Network, which aims to connect reporters with sources across the country.
It’s an ambitious project. For 13 years, hundreds of thousands of regular people have opted-in to be available for comment from reporters. White farmers in Missouri, Latino mail carriers in California, Mormon churchgoers in Utah – the idea is, anyone you might need for a story.
But only 58 newsrooms are taking advantage of this network so far. PIN does charge a fee to join the network as a client, but its founder American Public Media includes training and support for journalists who do join.
It’s an incremental first step, but it’s still one easily doable step in connecting with people outside the media bubble. Again, if you’ve got other ideas, or even already have something percolating, please let me know.