PCC Luncheon: The Chicago News Cooperative and Changes in Chicago Media
1/14/2010
By Libby vanBuskirk
The Publicity Club of Chicago hosted a luncheon Jan. 13 featuring guest James O’Shea, former editor of the Los Angeles Times and managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, who now serves as the editor of the Chicago News Cooperative, a recently launched news organization focusing on public service journalism in Chicago.
The news organization attracted attention at its launch in November 2009, when it began supplying Chicago news coverage to The New York Times on Fridays and Sundays. The outlet is also sharing its news stories with Chicago PBS/Public Broadcasting Service affiliate WTTW-TV.
O’Shea discussed this new initiative, which he sees as an attempt to find a new way of providing public service journalism.
Given his experience at both the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, O'Shea was quite clear that the newspaper industry is in trouble.
"These are real problems these papers face... very serious problems," he said. Even with staff cuts, O'Shea is concerned that newspapers have not yet come up with a lasting solution. "There's a real question as, going forward, whether they are going to be able to support the level of staffs that they have now."
Having witnessed funding cuts at the Los Angeles Times, O'Shea believes that the current business model of journalism, which relies heavily on advertising, is flawed.
"I just don't see [advertising] being the force, the support that it was in the past," he said. When faced with coming up with a business model for the Chicago News Cooperative, he rejected the idea of relying on advertising revenue and instead suggested the idea of a cooperative.
"No one seems to want to pay for journalism," O'Shea said. "So why don't we create a cooperative and create some intended benefits to being in that cooperative."
For a small fee, members can join the cooperative and access the news organization's Web site, which focuses on public service journalism in Chicago. O'Shea's goal for the cooperative is to "get enough members to support that and move away from a model that is supported by advertising." The Chicago News Cooperative also receives funding from The New York Times and the MacArthur Foundation.
But O'Shea is not only looking for a new business model in launching the Chicago News Cooperative. He also saw a real need for public service journalism, which he views as crucial for the survival of any democracy.
"Public service journalism, in my view, is journalism that holds the public officials and public institutions accountable for the actions that they take. And you're acting really on behalf of citizens," he explained.
One story the Chicago News Cooperative covered is about an interpreter who worked alongside U.S. forces in Iraq but was unable to attain a green card. Once the cooperative ran the story, they received calls from the Pentagon and Congress, who are now looking into the matter.
"This is an individual who is powerless," O'Shea said. "And we went and told his story and we gave him a voice that he could not get on his own. And to me, that's the epitome of public service journalism."
Because the staff of the Chicago News Cooperative is currently only 13 people, the news service is "not a breaking news organization." Instead, O'Shea and his reporters are focusing on the stories that they feel are being neglected by other news organizations.
"I look around and say, where are the gaps in coverage? Where can we produce something that people are not covering?" O'Shea said.
Given the staff cuts at newspapers, the staff has found plenty of stories to investigate, from the county board races to the privatization of parking meters in Chicago. Although these topics may not have the flash and appeal of national or entertainment stories, O'Shea believes they are providing a value to specific readers.
"All the studies you can see over time, about somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of the population is really interested in serious news. That has remained constant for decades," O'Shea said. "That is our target audience; that's who we want to develop. Those are the people who we're trying to reach."
O'Shea sees the Chicago News Cooperative as not just a resource for public service journalism, but also an experiment that concerns the very future of journalism. When asked how he would define success for the cooperative, he replied, "Survival."
He continued, "I don't think anybody in this country, anywhere in this world, knows what to do about the decline in journalism. I don't think anybody is going to sit around in a newspaper office, in a university, think tank or anywhere and come up with the answer. I think the only way you do it is you go out and you start trying things. And you will eventually hit on something."
For O'Shea, the Chicago News Cooperative is just that.
Making the Pitch
O'Shea encouraged PR professionals to contact the staff at newstips@chicagonewscoop.org. This e-mail is the best way to get hold of the staff.
"We read that very carefully, every day, and if we get a pitch that we're interested in, we'll get back to you," O'Shea said.
Contact Information
Chicago News Cooperative
70 E. Lake St., #80
Chicago, IL 60601-5959
newstips@chicagonewscoop.org
James O’Shea, editor
joshea@chicagonewscoop.org