New England First Amendment Institute Fundraiser

Please support our campaign on Indiegogo.

We only have until December 27, 2013, to reach our goal of $10,000.

You learn more and contribute here.

Statement of Need

We believe that the media — newspapers, television, and online journalism — is part of the fabric of our culture in important ways.  However, a media hampered by fewer investigative resources to tackle the real needs of our society — education, health care, economic development, affordable housing and public safety among others — will not be effective in connecting people to civic life or as a vehicle for social betterment.

Particularly suffering from the economic forces of our times are smaller media outlets, where the economic downturn has significantly reduced staffing and eliminated training budgets.  Enter New England First Amendment Institute, a non-profit educational endeavor created to bring a rigorous and intensive training course that media organizations desperately need for their staffs but cannot afford and do not have the manpower to organize.

The Solution We Offer

New England First Amendment Institute has designed a quality training program for journalists now in its third year.  We have brought together a fleet of highly respected media lawyers and acclaimed journalists to offer a rich and collegial training program to our participants.  This year’s faculty included three time Pulitzer Prize winner David Barstow, Selding Ring Award winner Alexandra Zayas, and Emmy Award winning investigative producer Anna Schecter, among our thirty plus faculty members.  Last year’s faculty members included 2012 Pulitzer prize winners in the categories of investigative reporting, local reporting and public service.  We train our participants on federal and state freedom of information laws, database reporting techniques, understanding Securities and Exchange Commission documents, effective sourcing, narrative writing techniques and much more.

Measurable Results

We are committed to training reporters with the skills they need to do quality investigative journalism. We are also seek to have a ripple effect on the culture of journalism in New England. We require each of our trainees to give a training at their media organization within 3 months of attending our Institute and give us an update in writing.

We conduct both short term and long term evaluations of our effectiveness.  The first evaluation is by the participants after they take part in the Institute.  We follow up after a year to see what they have produced in terms of investigations after attending the program.