President's Message | April 27, 2020

PEN AMERICA

ACM has joined a coalition effort to preserve local media during the Covid-19 pandemic.  Led by PEN America, the effort is asking the Federal Government and state governments to fund efforts to ensure that local media and journalism is not wiped out by the economic effects of the outbreak.

Advertising in particular has been devastated by business closures throughout the US, and has forced newspapers and other media outlets to either close or layoff staff.

The coalition has sent letters to the House and Senate leadership in Washington DC and to all state governors throughout the US. View article here. We expect to continue to press the case in future aid efforts – along with efforts to support state and local government, whose financial health is very much interdependent with community media.

As part of that effort, expect to see a survey from ACM this week asking about the economic and program impacts on your organization from Covid-19.

There was an interesting piece on how local governments in the DC area are handling remote meetings during budget season. It roughly parallels what we are seeing across the country as organizations and local government are trying to adapt to social distancing.

Here is another example of how media centers have been adapting to the Covid-19 crisis. SPNN in St Paul, MN has been hosting artist talks with film makers of color and their community producers to share perspectives and inspiration.  The project was funded by the NEA, but it has now gone virtual because of the pandemic – and it’s doing the job of community building and media education that’s at the heart of the organization’s mission.

Here’s a nice summary of some recent talks and their next talk coming up is with producer Leya Hale of the Sisseton Wahpeton Lakota and Dine Nations.

ACM Member Brooklyn Free Speech TV has won a regional Emmy for their PSA work promoting voting. It’s a pretty great piece and well worth two minutes of your time.  Here’s the video. 

Be well and good luck this week!

Mike Wassenaar
President & CEO
The Alliance for Community Media