Inside Joplin to debut next month

For the past 36 years, I have been one of the fortunate few who has looked forward to going to work every day because I was doing something I loved.

For the first 22 years of that time, I worked as a reporter and editor for southwest Missouri newspapers, including the Carthage Press, Lamar Democrat, and Newton County News.

The next 14 years were spent teaching in classrooms in the Joplin and Diamond school districts.

That part of my life came to a conclusion, as regular readers of the Turner Report know, when the Joplin R-8 Board of Education voted last month to fire me. Comments made during my termination hearing, duly reported by the Joplin Globe and the area television stations, despite having no basis in truth (and no connection to the charges against me) show up quickly in Google searches, and despite my experience and accomplishments in the classroom and in the schools where I have taught, at this point, I have not been called in for interviews at any of the schools where I have applied. And that includes a school where the principal is one of the persons who has served as a reference for me.

So my thoughts have turned to a way that I can combine the things that I love doing, make a living, and make a contribution to a community that has stood behind me through all of this.

That new project, which will be launched next month is called Inside Joplin.

Inside Joplin is a news project that will combine what has been lost in community journalism with what has never been.

I am not the only one spearheading this project. The plan is to have three experienced reporters, including me, who will concentrate on coverage of government, politics, education, the arts, and the Joplin and area communities. We also have a business manager/advertising director who has experience both in running a small business and in working with people who are involved in the arts.

Obviously, education is an area that interests me because it is a beat that has been poorly covered by most American newspapers, despite the fact that it is so important to everyone- parents, grandparents, students, those who work in the educational community and, of course, taxpayers Yet most people have no concept what goes on inside the classroom and what the basis is for decisions that cost thousands, sometimes millions, of dollars.

At a time when the Joplin community is still rebounding from the May 22, 2011, tornado, we have millions of dollars being spent to rebuild and revitalize this city. It is vital that we know how this money is being spent- whether that information is positive or negative.

And Inside Joplin will not be a negative force in this community. Anyone who recalls my days in newspapers knows that good news will be no stranger.

Obviously, four people cannot offer blanket coverage of a community the size of Joplin, which is why we are taking three steps that will significantly improve the value and coverage of Inside Joplin.

1. For the past several weeks, I have been recruiting some of the most interesting writers I can find to contribute columns and features. Some of these, and I will be announcing some names as we draw closer to the launch date, are people who have worked with me before, either when I was in newspapers or in education, some are interesting people I have come across since I started doing the Turner Report 10 years ago, and several are former students, ranging in age from high school to college graduate. These are people who have something to say and now they will have a place where they can say it.

2. For the last 14 years that I worked in newspapers, I had a training program for young reporters, some of whom later worked at newspapers like the Kansas City Star, the Topeka Capitol-Journal, the Jefferson City News Tribune, the Joplin Globe, and even Country Music News. Some are teaching journalism now. One of the people who worked for me as a college student at the Lamar Democrat and then again as an adult at the Carthage Press is current Jasper County Sheriff Randee Kaiser. I have taken steps to revive that program at Inside Joplin. We will have contributions from the younger set beginning the first day we go live. We hope to provide them training, experience, and some spending money, while at the same time augmenting our coverage of school and community activities.

3. We are encouraging the community to contribute photos, videos, and news items to help fill the holes on the news we are unable to cover. When we talk about coverage of the arts, for instance, we are talking about everything from middle school plays to Joplin Little Theatre and Stone's Throw, with music, elementary band concerts to college recitals.

No Charge for Obituaries, Engagements, Weddings

In previous Turner Report posts, I have written about the disconnect between area newspapers and the public, a disconnect that started when the business departments decided they could make money by charging people for obituaries, adding another cost at a time when people are at their lowest point. Even some of the newspapers that initially said they would never follow that path did so, usually after they were bought by yet another out-of-state chain that has no interest at all in the people of the local community. Soon it was not just obituaries, but weddings, engagements, and anniversaries that were raking in the dough. Things that had always been considered news were now just another way of bringing in revenue. Inside Joplin does not plan to charge for obituaries, wedding stories, engagements, or anniversaries. Those are news. It is about time that we eliminated the concept that if you don't have enough money your life doesn't mean as much.

Building a Community

Inside Joplin is also going to represent a step into the present for news. I am not going to call it 21st Century Journalism; that sounds too much like the 21st Century Learning concept I have been criticizing on this blog. We have had 21st Century Journalism ever since the turn of the century; we just need to start using the tools we have at our disposal.

Inside Joplin will have a Facebook page, Twitter account, and YouTube page, just like most news operations. The difference is we plan to use them the way people, mostly non-journalists, have shown they can be used.

We will have Facebook town hall meetings with our readers on a regular basis. Sometimes these will address specific issues, or we may do them with a Joplin or area newsmaker joining in the conversation. Sometimes, it will be just like the talk radio open line segments where we will talk about various issues.

We also plan, whenever possible, to have live updates on our social media components as events are happening.

Other media sources have this capability; we intend to use it.

How Will Inside Joplin Make Money?

Every business, even ones that are a labor of love like this one, has to make money in order to survive. Inside Joplin is no exception. One thing we will not do to make money is force you to pay for the website after you a view a handful of articles. Here are some of the ways in which we plan to pay for this project.

Advertising- In addition to the business manager/advertising director I mentioned earlier, we have an additional ad salesperson, who will be working on commission. Both of these people have considerable experience in selling advertising.

Inside Joplin Products- Yes, there will be t-shirts. Plus, we will likely be selling photos, CDs, and DVDs from some of the events we cover. Other items, including e-books and souvenir magazines are also being considered.

Voluntary Subscriptions- We intend to follow the NPR model. We will ask people to pay what they think Inside Joplin is worth. If enough readers think what we are doing is worthwhile and should continue, they can send however much they want, whenever they want.

Indiegogo Campaign- The video that accompanies this blog post is the one that goes with the Indiegogo open sourcing campaign that started today. We are using this campaign to get Inside Joplin started on a high note, with enough money to bring in our reporters, who are currently working at other jobs, sooner, and to begin paying contributors. By going to the Inside Joplin page of Indiegogo you can see the incentives that are being offered (mostly signed copies of 5:41, Spirit of Hope, and Scars from the Tornado) for contributions to this project.

I will be the first to tell you that I am a bit nervous about going back into the field after years of doing nearly all of my reporting from my living room. Through all of these years, though, I have never stopped reporting and I have never stopped teaching. Thanks to Inside Joplin, I will be able to continue both.