New America Media
Encyclopedia
New America Media is a multimedia ethnic news agency
and a coalition of ethnic media. Founded in 1996 by the nonprofit Pacific News Service
, NAM is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC. In addition to producing and aggregating news by and for ethnic communities, NAM also engages in social marketing
campaigns, partners with journalism schools across the country, spearheads various youth media programs, and produces a National Directory of Ethnic Media, which contains over 2,500 media partners and functions as an emergency messaging service.
, founded in 1969 PNS was created by historian Franz Schurmann
and journalist Orville Schell
as an alternative news source on the United States’ role in Indochina
during the Vietnam War
. After the war ended in 1974, PNS shifted its lens from the Far East to the American West under the guidance of executive editor Sandy Close, who would become the nonprofit organization’s executive director.
In 1991, PNS created its first youth media project, YO! Youth Outlook, a multimedia collective of youth-centric news content. YO! publishes a monthly print magazine, hosts youth forums, speakouts, and blog-a-thons, offers youth journalism internships, and produces live radio and YO! TV broadcasts.
In 1996, PNS became New California Media. NCM maintained PNS’s status as an alternative news source providing support for ethnic media voices, and expanded it with editorial and marketing workshops for ethnic media at the organization’s annual Expo & Awards, dubbed the “ethnic Pulitzers” by the News Hour with Jim Lehrer. NCM also initiated multilingual polling on issues affecting ethnic Californians: the role of ethnic media in their daily lives, the impact of September 11, the progress of American race relations.
Also in 1996, Sandy Close co-founded The Beat Within with social worker David Inocencio. The Beat provides a weekly writing and discussion program in Bay Area juvenile detention centers, and from those programs, compiles material into a weekly magazine of written and visual work by incarcerated youth. The Beat model has expanded into over 40 Bay Area juvenile halls, with pilot programs in several other regions including Washington, D.C.
In 2005, the organization expanded from New California Media into New America Media. The James Irvine Foundation
has called NAM “...the most diverse media organization in the country,” and Sandy Close has been honored with an Ashoka Senior Fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship and an Academy Award.
• YO! Youth Outlook
• The Beat Within
• Silicon Valley De-Bug, a multimedia online magazine by and for South Bay Area youth
• Roaddawgz, a drop-in space and artistic outlet for homeless San Francisco youth
• The kNOw, a Fresno-based youth multimedia program
• The California Council for Youth Relations, which seeks to connect at-risk youth with decision and policy makers
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...
and a coalition of ethnic media. Founded in 1996 by the nonprofit Pacific News Service
Pacific News Service
Pacific News Service is a nonprofit media organization founded in 1969 by Franz Schurmann, the historian, and Orville Schell, a noted author, journalist and Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley...
, NAM is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC. In addition to producing and aggregating news by and for ethnic communities, NAM also engages in social marketing
Social marketing
Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing, along with other concepts and techniques, to achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. Social marketing can be applied to promote merit goods, or to make a society avoid demerit goods and thus to promote society's well being as...
campaigns, partners with journalism schools across the country, spearheads various youth media programs, and produces a National Directory of Ethnic Media, which contains over 2,500 media partners and functions as an emergency messaging service.
History
New America Media represents the third generation of ethnic news coalitions descending from the non-profit Pacific News ServicePacific News Service
Pacific News Service is a nonprofit media organization founded in 1969 by Franz Schurmann, the historian, and Orville Schell, a noted author, journalist and Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley...
, founded in 1969 PNS was created by historian Franz Schurmann
Franz Schurmann
Herbert Franz Schurmann was an American sociologist and historian who was best known for his research and writings about Communist China during the Cold War period. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley in the Departments of Sociology and History for 38 years, and he also served a...
and journalist Orville Schell
Orville Schell
Orville Hickock Schell III is an activist and writer working on China, and is the Arthus Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York...
as an alternative news source on the United States’ role in Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. After the war ended in 1974, PNS shifted its lens from the Far East to the American West under the guidance of executive editor Sandy Close, who would become the nonprofit organization’s executive director.
In 1991, PNS created its first youth media project, YO! Youth Outlook, a multimedia collective of youth-centric news content. YO! publishes a monthly print magazine, hosts youth forums, speakouts, and blog-a-thons, offers youth journalism internships, and produces live radio and YO! TV broadcasts.
In 1996, PNS became New California Media. NCM maintained PNS’s status as an alternative news source providing support for ethnic media voices, and expanded it with editorial and marketing workshops for ethnic media at the organization’s annual Expo & Awards, dubbed the “ethnic Pulitzers” by the News Hour with Jim Lehrer. NCM also initiated multilingual polling on issues affecting ethnic Californians: the role of ethnic media in their daily lives, the impact of September 11, the progress of American race relations.
Also in 1996, Sandy Close co-founded The Beat Within with social worker David Inocencio. The Beat provides a weekly writing and discussion program in Bay Area juvenile detention centers, and from those programs, compiles material into a weekly magazine of written and visual work by incarcerated youth. The Beat model has expanded into over 40 Bay Area juvenile halls, with pilot programs in several other regions including Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
In 2005, the organization expanded from New California Media into New America Media. The James Irvine Foundation
James Irvine Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation is a philanthropic nonprofit organization established to benefit the people of California. It seeks to promote social equity and enrich the cultural and civic life of America’s most populous state through its grants in three areas: the arts, youth and education, and...
has called NAM “...the most diverse media organization in the country,” and Sandy Close has been honored with an Ashoka Senior Fellowship, a MacArthur Fellowship and an Academy Award.
Youth Programs
NAM’s youth programs include:• YO! Youth Outlook
• The Beat Within
• Silicon Valley De-Bug, a multimedia online magazine by and for South Bay Area youth
• Roaddawgz, a drop-in space and artistic outlet for homeless San Francisco youth
• The kNOw, a Fresno-based youth multimedia program
• The California Council for Youth Relations, which seeks to connect at-risk youth with decision and policy makers