NEWS & PRESS


BridgeDetroit, A New Digital Media Offshoot, ‘Reflects The City’s Population’ Deadline Detroit

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Read the article in Deadline Detroit

In support of accessible journalism that reflects the population it serves, BridgeDetroit was launched this week as a sister publication of Bridge Magazine.

Founded on a belief that Detroit’s 700,000 residents deserve a transparent, innovative and diversely staffed news organization, BridgeDetroit is a non-profit news and engagement organization that is laser focused on lifting up the issues that Detroiters themselves identify as important to their lives.

With leadership from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, other partners funding BridgeDetroit include the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Delta Dental of Michigan and the Facebook Journalism Project Community Network program.

BridgeDetroit produces journalism and community information directly responsive to its Community Priorities Model, including:

  • Engagement-Focused Journalism, produced in a way that connects Detroiters to each other, and to decision-makers and journalists, to deepen their understanding of the issues they identify.
  • High-Impact, project-based journalism, produced along themes identified each year that have the highest community importance and the most opportunity for community change.
  • Direct Response Journalism. This is service journalism at its most individual level, directed to Detroiters whose information gaps prevent them from fully participating in the city’s civic life. Often, this is as simple as providing a phone number for someone who needs information about a utility shutoff or an impending eviction, but it can also include information about meeting times and locations, the purpose and function of various parts of government, or the process by which governmental decisions get made.

See the many ways the Community Foundation supports journalism.