The Scoop Foundation for Public Interest Journalism has announced a new $5,000 grant round for significant earthquake related public interest journalism projects. This funding round has been fast-tracked in order to respond constructively to the recent tragic North Canterbury quakes
which have also affected Wellington. At times like this we are reminded of the importance of robust public interest
journalism and independent media coverage which the Foundation was established to benefit.
Earthquakes can have devastating human and economic impacts both on our cities and the nation. Unfortunately, the chaos
they bring can also lead to reduced scrutiny of and a lack of democratic input into decisions affecting the interests of
ordinary citizens. For this reason in depth investigation into the quality and transparency of public decision making
around reconstruction and crisis management is highly important.
The Foundation is to shortly request project proposals from freelance journalists and will allocate the $5000 pool to
the successful applicants as selected by an editorial panel comprising a number of experienced journalists.
This will enable the successful applicants to apply their journalistic craft to this vitally important subject. The
resulting stories may be published on Scoop.co.nz and the Foundation will actively be seeking external publishing
partners for these stories among other New Zealand media outlets.
Scoop has already provided extensive earthquake coverage over the past weeks. See Scoop’s full roundup of coverage here:
However, producing significant investigative journalism projects with in depth reporting on serious issues requires
significant allocation of time and resources that many media organisations today struggle to offer.
The Scoop Foundation’s membership and crowdfunding based model will enable more of this type of reporting which will add
to the serious coverage of important earthquake related public interest issues in the New Zealand media landscape.
Support us to make this happen
None of this would be possible without the generous support over the past year of the 1000 Kiwis who have become the
pioneering members of the Scoop Foundation in our quest to create a new model for independent media in New Zealand.
The Foundation is now nearing the end of our 2016 spring crowdfunding campaign in which we are aiming to attract a
further 1000 members to support this cause.
Our ability to fund more quality public interest of this type over the next year is reliant on the support of our
readers and our crowd so we welcome contributions and donations.
Donations will go towards helping make future investigative journalism funding rounds of this type possible. This will
be especially important for next year’s general election campaign as the Scoop Foundation seeks to ensure high quality
independent coverage of important election year issues from a public interest perspective.
Donors also have the option of becoming a member of the Scoop Foundation which will entitle them to some great donation
rewards including a recently released Freerange press publication on journalism in Aotearoa until 31 November. An
additional member benefit recently added to all members is our weekly ‘in the loop’ newsletter rounding up some of the
week’s top stories published on Scoop.
We thank you for standing with us to create a future for independent media in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The Scoop Foundation Trustees