Here’s our year-end impact review—and our questions for 2021
This year was slated to be our year of impact. We started off with a bang in January at the Sundance Film Festival, where we released Decoding Media Impact: Insights, Advice and Recommendations, our impact report summing up seven years of research in the media impact space.
Media impact and polarization: Science-focused film series offers lessons on breaking through the noise
How do foundation-funded media projects need to rethink their storytelling and distribution models in order to break through in today’s polarized environment? In this guest post, communications strategist and filmmaker Christine Arena of Generous Films shares key insights for funders from the novel approach behind Let Science Speak—a multi-media campaign designed to counter anti-science propaganda […]
MIF is launching a working group focusing on impact
To further explore issues related to media impact and assessment, MIF is forming a working group of funders who want to strengthen the field of practice. Here’s a bit of background on how we arrived at that decision: MIF has been regularly tracking the field of media impact assessment for the last eight years. Every […]
Teacher trainings, foldable microscopes & water testing kits: How “Inventing Tomorrow” is extending its life long after release
As parents and teachers around the country adjust to a new year of largely remote schooling, many are looking for resources to teach effectively about a variety of topics. In the absence of hands-on science classes, parents and teachers can turn to the educational impact campaign associated with “Inventing Tomorrow,” a Peabody Award-winning film that […]
The latest tools for researchers and journalists interested in analyzing media trends
A host of new tools allows journalists and independent researchers to analyze important trends across media including airtime, advertising, digital privacy, and political spending. (h/t to Nancy Watzman of Lynx LLC for sharing the first four): Ad Observatory: Launched last week, this new tool from NYU Tandon School researchers helps journalists and researchers find trends in Facebook […]
How evaluation perpetuates inequity (and how to stop it)
As protests for racial justice continue in cities across the U.S., more and more institutions are publicly reckoning with their own roles in perpetuating systemic racism. In the journalism space, a debate about the concept of objectivity is raging: whose view is considered “objective”? Do “both sides” of an issue always demand equal weight? Some […]
Funding impact work amid a pandemic: A Q&A with Perspective Fund
For the first time in history, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival will take place in at least 20 cities across the country, as well as online. “We want to reach people who we have not been able to reach before—where access to the work is not predicated on being able to afford to travel to […]
Participant, Doc Society share details on supporting impact work amid the pandemic
Media Impact Funders hosted a call back in May with about 50 documentary film funders who shared how they are supporting filmmakers when theatrical screenings and face-to-face engagement are off the table. We caught up with Participant and Doc Society to hear more on how they are supporting impact work during this uncertain time.
Guns & America collaboration pays off amid COVID-19 crisis
Since August 2018, 10 reporters at 10 public radio stations across the United States have participated in the Guns & America collaborative. They report stories from their local communities and share broadcast and digital content among each other’s stations and national platforms, with the goal of bringing context, nuance and a human face to one […]
How does this make you feel? How emotions compel us to act—or not
Now more than ever, we are experiencing a range of emotions based on the media we encounter. Sometimes, these emotions lead us to take action—for better or for worse.
Impact resources specific to COVID-19
Media Impact Funders is tracking impact resources specific to COVID-19. We’ll keep adding to this list as more resources become available. Email us at info@mediafunders.org if you know of a tool, guide or framework that should be added here.
Innovative early childhood initiative empowers Hispanic parents through entertainment television
Children’s early learning and brain development are subjects that I have always cared deeply about. But now, as the mother of three little ones, these subjects have taken on a much more personal significance. I marvel every day at the connections my daughter and two sons are making and all that they are absorbing from […]