NBC 5 Chicago announced a partnership Tuesday with an icon in Chicago race and poverty reporting.
The Chicago Reporter will join forces with the NBC 5 Chicago to create hard-hitting investigative stories on social and economic issues.
The Chicago Reporter is an investigative news organization that publishes a website, blog and bi-monthly magazine. It identifies, analyzes and reports on the social, economic and political issues of metropolitan Chicago with a focus on race and poverty. The Reporter serves a wide, diverse and influential audience of policy makers and government officials, traditional and new media, social service providers, the academic community and members of the general public.
"The recent recessions have taught us many things, among them is that there is a great need for the voices of the disenfranchised to be illuminated," said Kimbriell Kelly, Editor and Interim Publisher of The Chicago Reporter.
"The Chicago Reporter is looking forward to combining our 40 years of investigative reporting and analysis around race and poverty with the heft of the investigative staff at NBC. As newsrooms cut back on resources, it’s refreshing that NBC/Comcast has remained committed to expanding its capacity through strategic community partnerships.”
The Chicago Reporter and NBC 5 Chicago partnership is part of a larger announcement for the NBC Owned Television Stations.
Non-profit news partners also have been selected in New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles
NBC Owned Television Stationshave entered into agreements to create new and innovative cooperative news gathering and reporting arrangements with locally-focused, non-profit news organizations in four of the markets it serves. These partnerships with ProPublica in New York, The Chicago Reporter, WHYY in Philadelphia and KPCC in Los Angeles are the result of NBC’s longstanding commitment to localism, which was affirmed through a voluntary commitment made by Comcast and NBCUniversal during the regulatory review of their transaction by the Federal Communications Commission. These four agreements, plus an existing one in San Diego, mean that the NBC Owned Stations division is engaged in similar partnerships in 50 percent of its markets. The new partnerships are expected to start immediately.
The model for the new arrangements is based on the successful partnership between the NBC-owned station in San Diego and voiceofsandiego.org, a non-profit news organization that has been providing news and information to the local San Diego community for the last six years.
Local
“Over the last several months, we’ve made significant investments in our 10 stations to boost our news gathering capabilities and deliver the best local news and information in the marketplace,” said Valari Staab, President of the NBC Owned Television Stations. “Our new partnerships will complement these efforts, giving us even more resources to enterprise stories that are important to our viewers in the communities we serve and helping us offer even more diverse programming and viewpoints. They will also offer an even larger platform for these non-profit news organizations to have their independent and diverse voices heard.”
The other three non-profit news partners include:
ProPublica, New York
ProPublica (www.propublica.org) is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. In 2010, it was the first online news organization to win a Pulitzer Prize and in 2011, ProPublica won the first Pulitzer awarded to a body of work that did not appear in print. ProPublica is supported primarily by philanthropy and provides the articles it produces, free of charge, both through its own website and to leading news organizations selected with an eye toward maximizing the impact of each article. Based in New York, ProPublica will work with all 10 NBC Owned Stations.
WHYY, Philadelphia
WHYY (www.whyy.org) is a leading public media provider in the Greater Philadelphia area, serving Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and all of Delaware and reaching over 400,000 radio listeners each week, and 750,000 television viewers and 170,000 unique website visitors at www.newsworks.org each month. Their coverage focuses on news, education, arts and culture. WHYY will work with NBC 10 Philadelphia.
KPCC, Los Angeles
KPCC (www.kpcc.org) is Southern California Public Radio’s flagship station, reaching more than 650,000 listeners every week in the Los Angeles area and Orange County with award-winning local news and public radio’s signature programs. KPCC’s news is available online at www.kpcc.org along with public event schedules and membership information. KPCC will work with NBC4 Los Angeles.
Earlier this year, NBC issued a multi-city call for potential partners, searching for non-profit organizations with robust news gathering capabilities, a track record of accuracy, fairness and independence in their journalistic efforts and an ability to provide diverse viewpoints and programming. After a thorough and rigorous evaluation process of more than 30 applicants, which included in-person interviews with the finalists, the four organizations were selected. The partnerships will feature a variety of elements, including developing stories, conducting research and investigations, sharing footage and other content across multiple platforms, providing promotional assistance and cross-linking websites.
“ProPublica is very excited about our partnership with the NBC owned stations,” said Richard J. Tofel, General Manager of ProPublica. “We’re confident this agreement will extend the reach and impact of ProPublica’s groundbreaking news applications and result in great local stories for NBC viewers around the country. Beyond that, we’re very grateful for NBCUniversal’s commitment to supporting innovative non-profit journalism in the public interest.”
“We’re really looking forward to working with NBC 10 Philadelphia on this partnership,” said William J. Marrazzo, President and CEO of WHYY. “When you combine the strengths of WHYY’s radio news operation and our respected NewsWorks website with the substantial reach of NBC’s local news team, there is tremendous potential to focus attention on issues in ways that will benefit the whole region.”
“Working with NBC4 Los Angeles is a natural for KPCC,” said Bill Davis, President and CEO of Southern California Public Radio. “Combining radio and TV and our commercial and non-commercial newsroom talent will let us report on more stories in greater depth. The audience for both KPCC and NBC4 LA will benefit from this new relationship.”
To watch a NBCU Direct video featuring interviews with each station and non-profit organization, please visit this NBCUniversal Direct link.
NBC Owned Television Stations is the division of NBCUniversal that includes 10 local television stations and their digital channels and websites, as well as a group of out-of-home properties and a production company. The 10 stations produce and deliver compelling and unique local news, information and entertainment programming to viewers in the communities they serve, which include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas-Fort Worth, Washington, D.C., Miami, San Diego and Connecticut, with a goal of connecting to their audiences anytime and anywhere.
