CUNY J-School Acquires Community and Ethnic News Site

[Source: CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, June 2, 2011]

(NEW YORK) The CUNY Graduate School of Journalism is pleased to announce two major steps toward the development of a Center for Community and Ethnic Media. First, the School is acquiring Voices That Must Be Heard, a weekly online publication that aggregates work from New York City’s ethnic and community press. The School also will take over responsibility for administering the Ippies awards, which honor journalistic excellence in that media sector.

The New York Community Media Alliance created the two initiatives in the months following 9/11 and housed them for nearly a decade. They will now be a core part of the Journalism School’s planned Center, which will also include research and training.





“One of the great things about New York City’s media sector is the rich variety of small publications that cover immigrant communities and neighborhoods. Voices is the only news site that translates that work into English, making it available to a larger audience. We see tremendous opportunities to extend its reach and increase its visibility,” said Sarah Bartlett, director of the Journalism School’s Urban Reporting Program.





The integration of Voices into the CUNY J-School’s masters degree program allows its multilingual student body to assist with translations and produce original stories for the site. “This is a win-win situation for everyone and we are excited to find such an appropriate new home for Voices and the Ippies,” said Juana Ponce de Leon, executive director of the New York Community Media Alliance, who is helping oversee the transition.





Voices fits neatly with a digital training initiative launched at the end of last year to help members of the city’s ethnic and community press strengthen their publications’ online news presence. Thanks to a Ford Foundation grant, “we have already trained more than 120 journalists in the use of multimedia tools, which will increase the role of video, audio and social media on the Voices website,” said Garry Pierre-Pierre, project director for this initiative. The School plans to launch a redesigned site in the fall.