Midwest Grassroots Journalism Network

Submitted by kpaul.mallasch on Thu, 05/03/2007 - 11:32pm.

I was out shooting pics with the D80 Nikon is loaning me and happened on a fireman working on a Ford Snorkel truck, one of the oldest in Indiana. It's a 1950s bucket truck. I got some great shots of him coming down a rope from 60+ feet in the air. After coming down and unhooking himself, the fireman went back to the firehouse, returning a minute later with a soda. I took the opportunity to go over and talk to him. I jokingly said he probably couldn't take me up. Ben Clark replied with, "You wanna go up?" Heh. I'm afraid of heights. My head shook no, but my mouth said yes.

Got some great shots of Downtown Elwood from the air. Afterwards, I went to Al Jordan's house to give him a copy of the photos ... for free. We work together like that. It's a Midwest thing. Well, maybe not. More a grassroots journalism thing. You can see what he did with the material here. We make a pretty good team.

And maybe I should be concentrating on Muncie like this for my own site, but I'm settled in Elwood at the moment and comfortable. And as revenue comes in, I'll be able to hire stringers and photographers to cover Muncie and direct it all from HQ in Elwood (again, which is strategically located in the heart of Hoosierland...) So, it's ok for me to help Al and his site grow. MFP and the other sites are still growing.

And I'm even closer possibly to getting a dedicated sales rep. for kpaul media. That's going to change things. We're really moving now, I think.

Here's another idea to throw out there for those thinking regional like me. I want to (eventually) purchase a motorcycle (or small car - electric? bio-fuel??) and hire someone to make the circuit from Elwood to Anderson to Muncie to Marion to Kokomo to Tipton to Elwood. (Look at a map and you'll see what I mean.) In each town/city the person would collect the Daily logs from Police and Fire. Once we had that info back at HQ, we process it and publish on various sites. The 21st century pony express kinda. ;)

I can see that moment. I can feel it becoming reality each and every day. Our first meet-up is this Saturday. Should be really interesting to see who shows up. If any J-Hope readers in the tri-state area are interested, we're having it at kpaul media HQ:

1536 South B
Elwood, IN 46036

...this Saturday, May 5, from 1pm to 7pm.

Anyway, like I said, it's getting really interesting here in the Midwest. One thing I've noticed of late is that it's a lot different to do a grassroots site in a small/small town (5,000 or so households...) I wouldn't say it's easier or harder at this point, but it's definitely a different approach. Maybe by the time I finish the Grassroots Journalism Handbook I'll have a better idea. ;) Anyway, if you check out ElwoodIndiana.org, you can see the photo essay is very, very popular. It's something the Elwood Call Leader can't/won't replicate online. Al's winning the war for media in this small/small town. He has no 'real' competition online, though. (The Call Leader's website just moved to 'color' a few months back. Seriously!) That's another difference in this small town. It's easier to grow when the local paper doesn't have the resources or chooses not to cover the town and surrounding area like a 'newspaper' should.

Gannett's The Star Press is a good product due to a lot of the people working there. They're vulnerable, though. And competition is good for everyone involved. (Except maybe the stockholders, but they've had a stranglehold on journalism for way too long, imho... it's time to give the media back to the people. And from what I'm seeing out here on the frontlines, the people want it - from politicians to business owners to average every day joes.

And we're going to continue to give it to them.