Community Media Workshop

Spark your communications, tell your story

admin — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:55:49 +0000

One of the Workshop’s key events each year since 1993, our conference is designed for nonprofit communicators: volunteers and staff who are responsible for telling their group’s story through the news media or other channels. We bring them together with journalists looking for stories ‘off the beaten path’ and invite them to join in a dialogue on how to produce news that matters.

NATO Chicago Events, Live Feeds, Stock Photos

admin — Sun, 20 May 2012 14:21:53 +0000

NATO VIDEO FEEDS Provides a list of livestreamers curated and followed during the May 18 – May 20 NATO and other related events in Chicago. Livestreamers may or may have not archived their videos on their respected hosting services. NATO STOCK PHOTOS A pool of creative commons licensed photos of Chicago & NATO-related [...]

On the Workshop’s Bookshelf

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:45:37 +0000

If you register for Making Media Connections on or before May 21, 2012, your name will be entered to win a $50 Amazon.com gift card so you can treat yourself to some supplemental reading post-conference! Need some ideas on how to spend that gift card? Here’s what’s on the Workshop Staff’s reading list: Thom - President Drift: The Unmooring [...]

Blogging belongs in your nonprofit communications plan

admin — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:45:47 +0000

The Workshop new media associate Marissa Wasseluk breaks down some ways to be an effective blogger and invites you to this year’s Making Media Connections conference. Read the complete post on the NPcommunicator blog! Blogs share your stories. Across the web, individuals and organizations are doing what paper newsletters did in the past – connecting [...]

ChicagoStories.org: The Intellectual Crossroads

admin — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:43:24 +0000

Read our latest story on ChicagoStories.org, a website which offers briefing papers and source lists to journalists visiting Chicago for the NATO Summit who are interested in connecting with local stories. Chicago was not exactly an academic hothouse in 1890, though it was a place of wonderment to much of the world, having grown from [...]

Congratulations to DoGooder Nonprofit Video Award Winners!

admin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:51:14 +0000

The winners of the doGooder Nonprofit Video Awards have been announced! The Workshop extends hearty congratulations to Protect Our Defenders (Best Small Organization), Fonkoze (Best Medium Organization), Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (Best Large Organization), and The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (Best Video Storytelling). View the winning videos here! Video is an innovative and creative tool [...]

Fanning the Flames of Your Communications

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:16:44 +0000

The Workshop is excited to announce the lineup for Making Media Connections 2012, our nonprofit communications conference that brings journalists and nonprofit leaders together to talk about news that matters. This year’s conference “Fanning the Flames of Your Communications” will take place on June 14. LinkedIn’s Bryan Breckenridge will keynote the conference and share information about how nonprofits [...]

NPCommunicator: The General Public Is Not Your Audience

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:32:22 +0000

More often than not, nonprofits tell me they want to use communications to reach “the general public.” And, I’m quick to respond, “The general public is not an audience!” Since we are not Coca-Cola or Nike or H & R Block, we will NEVER have enough resources to market to the general public. So, throw [...]

Introducing ChicagoStories.org

admin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:25:06 +0000

The Workshop is proud to announce its new website – ChicagoStories.org – a resource created to provide story leads and sources lists for NATO visitors as well as Chicago’s own story seekers. This collection of briefing papers and source lists aims to connect visiting reporters (and locals) to high impact stories on Chicago’s most complex [...]

Terkel Awards Photo Gallery

admin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:38:57 +0000

Daniel Castro Wins Studs Terkel Scholarship Award

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:03:53 +0000

Columbia College student Daniel Castro, a Television Production major, wins this year’s Studs Terkel Scholarship for his multimedia documentary The Forgotten Mile. Through a series of photographs and video installations in which he conducts man-on-the-street interviews, Daniel gives us a first-hand look at life of Chicago’s homeless on Michigan Avenue – offering a new perspective [...]

Too busy to come in for a training? Join us for a webinar!

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 19:57:36 +0000

Now you don’t have to leave your desk to gain new communications skills! WEBINAR: BECOME A SPOKESPERSON SUPERSTAR! Thursday, February 23, 2:00 to 3:15 pm (CST) Do you get nervous about doing media interviews? If you’re tongue tied and not sure what to say during interviews chances are you’re not getting your organization’s message across. [...]

Two Public Radio Broadcasters & Political Reporter Bring Ordinary People into News that Matters

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:43:29 +0000

Meet the Studs Terkel Community Media Award winners! Thank you to all who joined us in our 23rd Anniversary Studs Terkel Community Media Awards & Benefit! Two outstanding broadcast journalists, serving predominately Latino communities, and an independent reporter steeped in Chicago’s shifting political scene received the 2012 Studs Terkel Community Media Award at last night’s [...]

NPCommunicator: Practice Makes Perfect & Other Interview Tips

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:33:15 +0000

When I work with nonprofit leaders who are preparing for media interviews, one of my first pieces of advice is, “Remember, you’re in control!” The media needs your help to tell the story, and you’re the expert on your organization’s issues. So, if that’s the case, why do we find ourselves floundering in media interviews, [...]

Newstips: Southside AIDS Group at 25 & Other Stories from the Local Reporting Initiative

admin — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:07:11 +0000

Betty Smith was a respiratory therapist who was tired of seeing AIDS patients treated as pariahs when she founded the South Side Help Center in 1987. She started by reaching out to African American ministers. When many were “hesitant,” she started going to their wives. Today the South Side Health Center offers HIV testing, education and outreach [...]

Take Action Against SOPA & PIPA

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:17:50 +0000

On January 18, 2012 the Internet “went dark” in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). Both of these bills would alter the technical operations of the Internet, and threaten Internet Freedom and openness online. If these bills pass, they will change the Internet as we know [...]

Terkel Scholarship Deadline Approaches

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:18:33 +0000

Attention all Columbia College Students! The deadline to turn in materials for consideration for the 2012 Studs Terkel Scholarship is February 3, 2012! Community Media Workshop will award $2000 to the student whose class project best exhibits a Terkelian Perspective. Click here for more details on how you can win this award!

NP Communicator: Workshop helps employment center step up work with local media

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:21:44 +0000

At a time of record unemployment in Illinois and the country, organizations that can help people find employment and build their skills are more important then ever. Yet, CareerPlace, located in Barrington, found that more than 40% of people in their area didn’t know about their services and classes for unemployed individuals. “We struggled with [...]

Hospital Boosts Breastfeeding Efforts After BEZ Story

admin — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:40:28 +0000

Holy Cross Hospital on Chicago’s Southwest Side decided to step up its breastfeeding efforts after hearing a story on WBEZ about the hospital’s newborn breastfeeding rate being the lowest in the Chicago area. That story and subsequent policy change resulted from a pitch made by HealthConnect One’s RoiAnn Phillips to WBEZ Reporter Chip Mitchell at [...]

Community News Project: Entre Nosotras

admin — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:59:53 +0000

Entre Nosotras, a multimedia blog by Radio Arte, has been publishing posts on Latina youth artists, activists and issues since September, focusing on news from Pilsen, Little Village, Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, and Brighton Park. Portions have also appeared in Hoy and Extra, and several programs have been broadcast on WRTE. Topics covered range [...]