The Walton Family Foundation: A journey from nonmedia funder to nontraditional media funder
By Kristin Tracz | program officer, Walton Family Foundation Christine Schneider | senior communications officer, Walton Family Foundation Drew Jacobs | strategy, learning and evaluation officer, Walton Family Foundation Although we at the Walton Family Foundation (WFF) wouldn’t characterize ourselves as media funders, in early 2017 we came to realize that we were making significant […]
Lessons from the 2018 International Symposium on Online Journalism
By Lindsay Green-Barber, PhD, Founder & CEO, Impact Architects Since 1999, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin has hosted the International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), and it is unique among journalism conferences for its international focus and participation. Last month’s ISOJ conference of nearly 500 […]
New evidence shows that documentary films can improve women’s and girls’ lives
By Kimberly Sevcik | Director, International Engagement, ITVS Many of us who work in media believe that social documentaries and storytelling can change hearts and minds and even behavior—and with the field’s growing emphasis on impact measurement, Independent Television Service (ITVS) set out to prove it.
It took a group of heartbroken teenagers to move the needle on gun violence. Here’s how they did it.
In the month since the school shootingat Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which left 17 dead and numerous others wounded, the student leaders of the #NeverAgain movement have been able to move the needle on gun issues—even as many adults had thrown up their hands on the issues long ago. What’s more, […]
Why measuring media’s impact matters
Editor’s note: In November 2017, Science magazine published the results of a multi-year study—funded primarily by Voqal, a national collaboration of EBS licensees that work to advance social equity—in which 48 small media outlets were recruited to write articles on specific subjects on randomly assigned dates. Harvard Professor Gary King and his team wanted to […]
The 2017 Media Impact Festival honorees: Where are they now?
You may have heard political commentator Charlie Sykes talk about polarization in this country. He examined it in several newspaper op-eds. He hosted a show about it in President Trump’s first 100 days in office. And he talked about it at our 2017 Media Impact Forum back in June.
Total eclipse of the news: What happens when the president dominates the media cycle?
What can be said about President Trump that hasn’t already been said? With an overwhelming amount of news media coverage devoted to his every comment—whether on Twitter or IRL—it’s hard to even imagine waking up to a headline that’s not about him. And for the last year, we barely have.
With support from the WestWind Foundation, AMAZE project removes barriers to common-sense sex education
What impact can foundation-funded media have in the contested discourse over reproductive rights around the world? In this guest post, Kristen Mahoney of the WestWind Foundation, based in Charlottesville, Va., explains the strategy behind supporting AMAZE—a project designed to make sex education approachable, engaging and informative for very young adolescents.
The Fledgling Fund offers insights on funding virtual reality
Editor’s note: Earlier this month, Media Impact Funders brought funders together at Philanthropy New York with organizers and presenters from the first VR for Change summit to explore how immersive platforms offer new ways to engage and mobilize users around social issues. Because this is a new and quickly evolving medium, attendees had many questions. The […]