Today the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University launched its Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, a niche pro-am journalism initiative covering juvenile justice issues in Georgia. It combines professional journalism with community-based financial and content support.
The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE) provides continuing news and information focused on juvenile justice issues and shines a spotlight on the system’s strengths and weaknesses. In the past, mainstream journalism organizations filled that function. Today, because of shrinking resources, they do not.
Leonard Witt
Leonard Witt, founder and executive director of the Center for Sustainable Journalism, says, “Thanks to a generous Harnisch Foundation gift the Center is able to launch this project with the belief that enough people in the state will find it valuable enough to support it over the long haul. Community financial support is crucial, but we also want citizens to augment the work of our professional journalists with content ranging from blog posts to insider information to details on the latest research to story tips.”
Ellen Miller
The JJIE is overseen by the Center’s editorial director Ellen Miller, who has more than 25 years of TV newsroom management experience. Miller, says, “Our first centerpiece story is an in-depth interview with Garland Hunt, the recently appointed chief of the state’s Department of Juvenile Justice. He oversees 6,000 employees and 20,000 kids in the system. He was appointed in mid-May, and we are the first statewide news organization to write anything substantial about him. That just shows the need in these niche areas.”
Chandra R. Thomas, a former award-winning Atlanta Magazine staff reporter, will join the team on July 6, after completing a Kiplinger Fellowship in Public Affairs Journalism at Ohio State University. For now Miller is working with freelancers including former Atlanta Journal-Constitution staffers, Kennesaw State University student interns and community members to provide the news and information.
Chandra Thomas
Coverage will focus on all elements of the juvenile justice system, including the courts, schools, probation officers, public defenders, prosecutors, detention centers, victims, treatment and rehabilitation, mental health, best practices, current research, grants and funding, and ,of course, the thousands of children and families who come into contact with the system.
Witt says the JJIE, is an outgrowth of his Representative Journalism concept, which aims to provide professional journalists to cover neglected niche markets and then seek support from people passionate about the issues to fund the projects. The original concept included a network weaver, who would work to build a community around the niche being covered. Pete Colbenson is the JJIE’s network weaver or community builder. He is retired director of the state’s Children and Youth Coordinating Council and previously ran a detention center. Witt says, “We asked people in Georgia’s juvenile justice circles who was the most connected person. The answer repeatedly was Pete Colbenson. So when we heard he was getting tired of just fishing in his retirement, we reeled him in. And I might add he is a keeper.”
Harold Lewis
Witt, Colbenson and Harold Lewis, the Center’s business development officer, are developing various funding and sponsorship angles as well as reaching out to a wide array of citizens interested in the issue. Noah Echols, the Center’s Creative Technologist, is building social media strategies to keep audiences engaged, and Carole Arnold, the Center’s Marketing and Logistics Specialist, will provide online marketing. The project was developed with input from approximately 80 community advisers. The site is viewable at JJIE.org .
The Center for Sustainable Journalism is housed at Kennesaw State University, located just outside of Atlanta. Kennesaw State University with 22,000 students is the state’s third largest university.
