Public Media Reports

Public Media 2.0: Dynamic, Engaged Publics (2009)

This white paper lays out an expanded vision for “public media 2.0” that places engaged publics at its core, showcasing innovative experiments from its “first two minutes,” and revealing related trends, stakeholders, and policies. Public media 2.0 may look and function differently, but it will share the same goals as the projects that preceded it: educating, informing, and mobilizing its users.

The New Deal: Version 1.5 (2007)

Public broadcasting has carved out a hard-won place in media over the last 40 years. Now, with the explosion of new technologies, we’re facing unprecedented opportunities. The new media landscape invites us to create new kinds of public media for a participatory era, to open the rich public media archive to new audiences, and to find new ways to champion the independent filmmakers whose work makes public broadcasting unique.

Media for Social Change: Partnerships (2002)

Funders, media makers and nonprofit organizations in the U.S. have increasingly formed teams to
produce highly strategic, often interactive, but still richly storytelling media. Propelling this
teamwork has been:

• a combination of new technologies,
• changing funder strategies in which funders have often taken the initiative in designing
projects, and
• the awareness of nonprofit organizations that media are central to any strategic objective.

This paper will discuss several recent cases of such creative partnering.

Spreading the Zing: Reimagining Public Media Through the Makers Quest 2.0 (2010)

Public media projects are moving from familiar broadcast forms to multiplatform models that are often more open and
participatory. In light of this, how can we best evaluate their impact? And what elements of impact are most salient in
the public media context, in which mission is as central as sustainability or reach?

This paper sets out to examine these questions through the lens of a particular set of projects designed to demonstrate
how “public radio” can be transformed into “public media.”

Rethinking public media (2010)

More Local, More Inclusive, More Interactive

The Center for Media & Social Impact (CMSI), based at American University’s School of Communication in Washington, D.C., is a creative innovation lab and research center that creates, studies, and showcases media for equity, social change, and social justice. Focusing on independent, documentary, and entertainment media, the Center bridges boundaries between scholars, producers and communication practitioners across media  industries, social justice, public policy, and public engagement. The Center produces resources for the field and academic research; creates original  media; convenes conferences and events; and works collaboratively to understand and design media that matter. www.cmsimpact.org
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