Tag Archive: Knight Foundation

Sunlight Weekly Round-up: Citizens demand more open government

by Zubedah Nanfuka Aug 26, 2011 12:09 pm

The tide has turned for the transparency movement. A unified voice in demand for more openness from the government has... View Article

Celebrating the Knight News Challenge Winners

by Ellen Miller Jun 22, 2011 2:46 pm

The Sunlight Foundation would like to extend a hearty congratulations to the 2011 winners of the Knight News Challenge just... View Article

Pew Study Confirms Importance of Sunlight’s Work

by Ellen Miller Mar 1, 2011 10:02 am

A study of three cities released today by the Pew’s Internet & American Life Project and the Monitor Institute finds that... View Article

Knight Foundation Awards Sunlight New Grant for “National Data Apps” & Sunlight Live

by Ellen Miller Oct 18, 2010 2:25 pm

I’m thrilled to announce that the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation just announced a new $1.2 million two-year... View Article

Sunlight Live Wins Knight-Batten Award!

by Noah Kunin Jul 19, 2010 4:41 pm

I’m thrilled to announce that our real-time investigative reporting platform, Sunlight Live, has won the prestigious Knight-Batten Award for Innovation... View Article

Knight Foundation Seek to Find Out What People Want to Know

by Nisha Thompson Apr 23, 2008 3:34 pm

Via PJNet.org, last week the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Aspen Institute announced that they are funding a $2.3 million study to see if citizens are being provided the information they need in order to participate in a democracy. The goal is to find out is the information needs of communities is being met and to recommend solutions if they are not. According to the Knight Foundation press release:

“The business models we’ve relied on to provide news and information to our communities are stressed and changing. New platforms offer an astounding array of choices, creating the most connected world we have ever known with the greatest volume of available data,” said (Alberto) Ibargüen (Knight Foundation president and CEO), a longtime newspaper executive and former PBS chairman who also chairs the Newseum board. “But as those choices proliferate and as those virtual communities connect us globally, the need for local, reliable, contextual civic information remains and, I believe, is being met less and less effectively.”

I think this is long overdue. The need for transparency in government isn’t just about getting the powers that be to open up, but to also make that information readily available to citizens so they can use it to keep tabs on their representatives. It will be interesting to see what information people feel they need and how they are receiving it. Needless to say, I look forward to the results of this study.

Here’s a Cool Thing From WeMedia

by Ellen Miller Mar 3, 2008 6:34 pm

There was a very diverse and interesting group assembled for the WeMedia conference last week in Miami. (I was there...that's my excuse for not blogging most of the week). One of the really interesting sessions was the one in which Ashoka, an international organization promoting social entrepreneurship, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, announced the launch of a new program to recruit journalist social entrepreneurs. (Full disclosure: The founder of Ashoka and I have known each other for more than 20 years and I worked with him there for a brief period.)

The Knight Foundation has given $3 million to Ashoka set up a program to find and incubate 30 socially entrepreneurial journalists. Like all Ashoka Fellows, these journalists will have a stiped that will allow them to focus full-time on their efforts to provide "lasting, visible, systemic change," as the foundation's press release stated. They are looking for nominations so send them in.