The Canadian Journalism Project, 2.

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A future of growth and stability for J-Source and ProjetJ
December 15, 2012

A call for expressions of interest This document describes an agreed model for the future organizational and funding structure of J-Source and ProjetJ in light of a decision by the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF) to withdraw as the CJPs principal funder after Dec 31st, 2013. A special meeting of the current partners on December 4th, 2012 agreed to pursue the model described below and entrusted negotiations on future partners commitments to a transition team consisting of John Honderich (co-chair), Franois Tascherau (co-chair), Colette Brin, Ivor Shapiro, Kelly Toughill, and Chris Waddell. In circulating this document, the transition team invites expressions of interest from journalism schools and other organizations that would like to contribute financial or in-kind resources as partners in the new model. For more details about expressions of interest, please see below. The current model The current organizational and funding model of the CJP is expressed by the tagline, "a project of the CJF in collaboration with journalism schools and organizations." CJF is the principal funder, and as such underwrites the project, raises all its external funds (sponsorship, donations, advertising, and core foundation funds) and also houses the administration. This chief funder also pays all the staff, and elects a majority of the membership of the projects management committee. The management committee appoints the French and English editors-in-chief and oversees the projects budget and strategic planning. The partner organizations are responsible for editorial content, with greater or lesser degrees of commitment including responsibility for broad sections, for specific topic areas, and (in the case of Ryerson) for the work of the current editor-in-chief of J-Source. Agreed model for 2014 and beyond Those involved in discussions so far believe that a future of growth and stability for J-Source and ProjetJ is best assured through a combination of the following steps:


We believe that the result of this will be a more dynamically governed and sustained project whose continued success will no longer be depend on a single organization. Optimal success would consist of various partners making a variety of clearly defined commitments. The remainder of this document names and describes the various types of proposed partnership commitments for which expressions of interest are now being sought. 1. Publisher The publishing office(s) of J-Source and/or ProjetJ will be housed in a journalism school. The publisher will be a full-time faculty member of the host school; s/he will be accountable to the projects steering committee (see below). The business manager will be a part-time administrative staff member, hired specifically for the project, who reports to the publisher. The business manager role will include responsibility for the revenue stream (fundraising and supervision of a contracted advertising sales force), financial management, marketing and communications. The school will provide office space, communications support, and the work of the publisher. The business managers salary and other hard costs will require external fund-raising, which will be coordinated with the projects steering committee and the host institutions development office. 2a and 2b. Editorial Centres: (a) J-Source and (b) ProjetJ The editorial centre for J-Source will be based within an anglophone j-school and that for ProjetJ will be based within a francophone j-school. In each centre, student reporters and editors will pursue and tell the stories of Canadian journalists and news organizations with a "masthead" or workshop student-run newsroom/lab similar in structure to that of a student newspaper or radio station and under the guidance of a faculty advisor who will ensure that the fruits of all this work not only contribute to an ambitious news operation covering the country's journalistic endeavors, but also provide a great learning experience for journalism students. The faculty advisor will play a key part in ensuring that work is of professional quality in order the meet the standards of publication on J- Source/ProjetJ. The students will therefore learn, by doing, all the necessary professional, workflow and digital-media strategies involved in leading and staffing a digital-only news operation today. Student staff will be unpaid because they will receive academic credit for the work. The faculty advisors instruction will be provided as part of the schools curriculum, and the faculty advisor will be employed under the schools collective agreement (if applicable) for either full-time or part- time teachers. The advisor might or might not double as the sites editor-in-chief (see below). To facilitate faculty advising for a year-round or three-semester 2 seek multiyear philanthropic commitments; apply for government funding; entrust advertising sales to a professional contractor; and integrate J-Source and ProjetJ operations into journalism schools.


operation, the schools existing budget will be supplemented by external funding channeled to the school itself, perhaps in the form of a funded "Visiting Journalist" role.1 In addition, J-Sources and ProjetJs fulltime salaried editorial staff (i.e. the roles filled by the current associate editor of J-Source and Redactrice en chef of ProjetJ) will be housed in or adjacent to these two newsrooms (although there might be merit, in ProjetJs case, of a geographic split between Montreal and Quebec City operations). The responsibilities attached to these two salaried roles will be substantially unchanged from the current ones, ensuring that there is always, throughout the year, someone who wakes up and goes to sleep knowing that it is her/his full-time paid job to report, edit and disseminate information about journalism in Canada for the CJP. The editor-in-chief role (making the final decision on key news judgments) will (as at present) be carried out by an experienced journalist. This person could be (as for the current J-Source EIC) a j-school instructor (in which case the position might or might not double as faculty advisor, see above). Or the position could be a freestanding contractor (as for the current ProjetJ Redactrice en chef) overseen by a partner. These appointments will need to be consistent with the host schools collective agreements (if applicable), and funding will be coordinated between the projects steering committee and the host institutions development offices. 3. Bureaus In addition to the two editorial centres, there will be several bureaus hosted by journalism schools across the country. For instance, there could be Atlantic, Pacific, Prairies, Northern, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and/or Montreal bureauswith locations chosen to complement the locations of editorial centres. There could also be subject-specific bureaus: e.g. a Parliament Hill bureau, a health/science journalism bureau, or a national sports-journalism desk. Each bureau will be staffed by at least one senior journalism student reporter (bureau chief). His/her part- time salary will be funded by government- or university-subsidized work-study or research-assistant allowances. The bureau chief will be appointed by and supervised by a faculty advisor, whose work will be an in-kind contribution by the hosting school. The faculty advisor will also ensure that work is of professional quality in order the meet the standards of publication on our site. 4. Section editors As at present, section editors will normally be faculty members at partner schools or officers of partner organizations, whose commitments to the project will be seen as part of their service or scholarly duties. Their contributions will be recognized as in-
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While the creation of an editorial centre will be pivotal to the sustainability of the project, it could also become a model for other, similar editorial undertakings, where students would engage with a course and thereby produce editorial content a special section on a particular issue, perhaps. This would allow schools that are unable to host an editorial centre to nevertheless make a substantial contribution to editorial content.


kind contributions by their institutions. Universities and colleges currently providing active section editors to J-Source and ProjetJ include Carleton, Concordia, Kings, Laval, Loyalist, Sheridan, Western, UOttawa and UQAM. (In addition, David McKie of CBC volunteers time as the current Ideas editor for J-Source.) The transition team hopes and assumes that current section editors will continue to serve within the new model without interruption. 5. Contributing editors As at present, these will provide topic-specific content consistent with their organizations' communications mandates. Their contributions will be recognized as in-kind contributions by the respective organizations. Current partners supporting equivalent roles include the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence & Trauma, and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, plus five universities (Kings, Laurier, Regina, Western and Wisconsin- Madison). The transition team hopes and assumes that currently active contributing editors will continue to serve within the new model without interruption. 6. Columnists and contributors In addition to students working for academic credit or as bureau chiefs (see above), contributors will mostly be drawn, as at present, from the ranks of working journalists as well as educators and others with knowledge of the field. A freelance contributor will normally be offered an honorarium. 7. Information technology Web, social media and newsletter technology will be provided by one or more partners with compatible IT (currently Drupal-based) infrastructure. The IT partner could be the CJF or one of the host schools. If the latter, a seamless, carefully staged transfer of the technology will be vital. 8. Major funding partners One or more major funders will provide the bulk of the necessary funding. Major funders could include foundations, corporations and private individuals. Funding for the entire project will be channeled to the school hosting the publishing office while funding for an editorial centre will go to the school that provides that centre. Major funders will not have a role in the editorial process. 9. Supporting partners Any university, college or other organization that makes a substantial in-kind contribution (e.g. structured student and faculty participation, IT facilities, editorial bureau, faculty advisors, regular columnists) will be prominently recognized as a supporting partner. Recognition will be placed both on appropriate web pages/sections and on any promotional materials. Alternatively or in addition, universities, colleges and other organizations may be recognized as supporting 4


partners through providing financial support. Supporting partners will elect a defined number of members of the steering committee. 10. Steering committee This committee will include representatives of partners in numbers consistent with nimble oversight. The committee will approve the budget, major editorial and staff appointments, and other strategic decisions. It will have no role in editorial content decisions. The committee will define a minimum annual contribution that represents major funding, and could establish various categories of partnership (e.g. gold, silver, bronze). The business manager will provide administrative support to the steering committee. EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST Those interested in contributing to the new partnership are invited to express interest by January 31st, 2013, when development of the new business plan will begin. In expressing interest, please: indicate for which type(s) of activity (sections 1 to 10 above) your organization might be willing to take responsibility; who, within your organization, would be in a position to make a commitment decision; the earliest date by which such a decision might be reached; and what details you would need in order to arrive at such a decision.

An expression of interest will not be understood as a commitment, but rather as a desire to participate in further consultations regarding the activity for which you see your organization as being in a position to take responsibility. As in the past, the Canadian Journalism Project will always be open to new suggestions of partnerships. Bureaus, section editors and other editorial contributors can be added at any future time. The commitments most urgently needed now are for the publishing and editorial centres described in sections 1 and 2 above. For more details, or to discuss or submit your expression of interest, please contact any member of the transition team: John Honderich (co-chair) Franois Tascherau (co-chair) Colette Brin Ivor Shapiro Kelly Toughill Chris Waddell