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The vicious cycle.
Posted by Kat Greene. Updated
05.02.08 at 10:00 a.m.
Why we think the world needs this site.
Posted by Kat Greene. Updated
3.29.08 at 10:00 a.m.
Providing resources for a noble pursuit
Edward Wasserman
As you can see, it's a news-driven Web site, which finds and links to
print, broadcast and online coverage that journalists in the field need
to know about. But it's meant to be more than that. We want to create a place where professionals can talk with one another
about covering poverty -- the obstacles and opportunities.
Welcome to OnPoverty.org, the
online meeting place for journalists who cover issues of poverty and
class in the United States.
OnPoverty.org is the work of students, most of them journalism majors, at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va.It’s intended for professional journalists who cover issues related to poverty, class, and economic justice.
The site provides up-to-date news, links to valuable resources, and opportunities to exchange ideas and insights with one another. The Web site started in a class on The Journalism of Poverty, which combines readings from the past century and a half of great reporting on the poor with outreach projects meant to enable students to understand and, perhaps, help upgrade the state of poverty coverage in the United States.
The Web site began life as one of those projects. Our hope is that the site will serve as a springboard toward creating a broader American Poverty Journalism Center. The center would act as a clearinghouse for poverty-related coverage initiatives and a source of curriculum innovations for journalism instruction and mid-career workshops.
In time, we also hope, the site will catalyze formation of a professional association of poverty journalists. This association would help confer on coverage of the poor the same specialty status that coverage of the other end of the economic spectrum receives, thanks to the professionalization of business and financial journalism.
Most of OnPoverty.org’s staff are unpaid volunteers, though we also benefit from some financial support from Washington and Lee’s work-study program, the Department of Journalism and Mass Communications, and the Knight Program in Journalism Ethics.
As for our home, Washington and Lee University, it’s a liberal arts school located three hours southwest of Washington, D.C., at the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley. Founded in 1749, W&L is the cradle of U.S. undergraduate journalism education, since the country’s first such journalism training was created under university president Robert E. Lee in 1867.
The university also offers a uniquely favorable setting for anti-poverty initiatives such as ours, thanks notably to the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability. This broad-gauged effort has offered students a combination of classroom study, internships, and hands-on experience since 1997, mainly in impacted communities of the Southeast.
We’re eager to hear what you think of the site and, of course, we’re especially eager to hear from you if you would like to help out by posting to our blog, making sure we link to your work or work you want to draw attention to, or hosting discussion forums.
Edward Wasserman
On Poverty.Org is organized by students at
washington and lee university in Lexington, VA.
Supervisor: Prof. Ed Wasserman.
WEBMASTER: Kat Greene. Site Editors: Kat Greene, Melissa Caron.
Marketing DIrectors: Abby SteinBock, Betsy Chaplin.
Technology Supervisor: Michael Todd, Nicole Mooradian. Technology Team: James Dick, Ilgiz Soubanov