Progressive Media Lab(s)

Founded and operated by a former Reuters television producer and a team of seasoned reporters and editors, Public News Service (PNS) proposes building out its network of state-based progressive AP-style news services, which currently provide news used by mainstream, alternative, independent and ethnic outlets, both local and national in scope. Integrating progressive voices with new and existing technologies, PNS’s charge is to build editorial and infrastructure capacity to provide a vehicle to “mainline” progressive content as ubiquitously and quickly as possible. PNS’s expansion will:

1. add local progressive coverage for five additional key states (FL, PA, MI, VI and TN) to the current coverage in 15 states;
2. increase the number of nonprofits brought into the network of strategic communicators as well as the range of issues that PNS reports on, in particular by creating a new Congressional Progressive Caucus beat to localize and “translate” national stories; and
3. add new capabilities to its internet distribution, thus widening its audience.

Faith Voices for the Common Good proposes collaborating with The New Press to integrate traditional publishing with innovative online technologies; to expand the number and impact of progressive books; and to facilitate grassroots conversations of progressive ideas, both online nationally and offline in local communities. In partnership with The New Press, using its proprietary software, Synanim, Faith Voices will create an echo chamber effect around new progressive ideas by broadening and more deeply engaging progressive audiences and developing a line of books on progressive religion, as well as developing new forms and uses of social software technologies. Such an integration of traditional and innovative communications strategies will allow for widespread impact of progressive ideas and strategies, which can supplement or bypass traditional, mainstream, broadcast-media marketing approaches. This infrastructure component will influence the way progressive messaging, community building, and mobilization are done in the future, helping to bring about long-term social change.

Based on its contribution to progressives’ success in Colorado’s 2004 elections, ProgressNow will work with MoveOn and progressive organizers in individual states, to replicate its state-level model through the development of PCNIC (pronounced “picnic”) – the Progressive Communications Network Incubation Center – which will create, nurture and support independent state-level networks in every state in the nation. PCNIC will provide assistance to state-level progressive entrepreneurs by helping them get launched, get funded and become self-sustaining, and by providing services including communications platform, technical, financial and legal assistance. The PCNIC project can quickly be scaled up to build out the most successful elements of these state-level networks across the country. The resulting network of networks will provide a nimble, multi-level communications and advocacy network for the each state’s entire progressive movement. Ultimately this will allow all fifty states to experience the same success as Colorado in shifting from a top-down “one-to-many” approach to organizing voters and progressive communications to a bottom-up truly grassroots “many-to-many” approach.

Operating on the principle of “connectivity”, the Progressive Media Lab (PML) is a multidisciplinary effort to link organizations and experts in the development and delivery of innovative technologies for grassroots and net-roots organizing, communications development, blogosphere enhancement, and content creation. The PML will create a cross-cutting communications apparatus to address the need for integrated progressive communications strategies and implementations. New technologies and distribution strategies will be created and tested and integrated into the progressive movement through on-site training and an application service provider (ASP) approach. Utilizing virtual connectivity across organizations and a research center for the creation and distribution of innovative technologies and innovative uses of existing technology, PML will facilitate long-term and rapid response messaging; grassroots activation; a disciplined, integrated approach to linking digital strategy and data; and creative content innovation. This unique organization will bring together corporate and technology partners to enable more rapid commercialization of the innovations developed.