Macon Magazine

46 maconmagazine.com | DECEMBER/JANUARY 2023 "Knight Foundation believes that local journalism is crucial for an effective democracy. In Macon, we support Mercer's Center for Collaborative Journalism because it is a community-led partnership that produces fact- based journalism for all Maconites," said Jim Brady, vice president of Knight Foundation's journalism program. "In the early days, the CCJ, in collaboration with The Telegraph and Georgia Public Radio, produced a powerful reporting on blight in Macon, a project that led to the County Commission passing a $14 million bond for blight remediation. Today, we're proud to say that outlets like WMAZ-TV are also partnering in the program, and we look forward to a future of sustainable local journalism that helps build a more informed and engaged Macon." Karen Lambert, president and CEO of the Peyton Anderson Foundation, agreed: "As owner and publisher of The Macon Telegraph and The Macon News, Peyton T. Anderson Jr. was often called a 'newspaperman's newspaperman.' He was dedicated to the ideals of journalistic ethics and gave his editors great freedom to report the news without interference. Mr. Anderson also firmly believed in giving back to this community that made his success possible." It's why the Peyton Anderson foundation continues its strong support of the CCJ and Macon Newsroom. "The Macon Newsroom complements and fills gaps in our local news ecosystem by covering important issues that other local news organizations don't have the resources to cover, primarily in the areas of municipal government, public safety, education, and healthcare," explained Larry Brumley, senior vice president for marketing communications and chief of staff for Mercer University. "Citizens need reliable information about these fundamental components of our community, as well as the decisions elected officials make on a daily basis that impact our lives. It's crucial to a well-functioning democracy." The Newsroom is meant to fill those omissions in local reporting, Blankenship continued, but its content is also available to other media outlets to use free of charge. "The CCJ collaborative is involved in some of the decisions we make in terms of where we will put our reporting resources, but the content is open to anyone in the community," she said. The Newsroom distributes its reporting through its website and its partners' news sites and maintains both digital and print newsletters distributed through the library. "I see The Macon Newsroom as an extension of Mercer and the CCJ's service mission to the community," Blankenship said. "The Center for Collaborative Journalism continues Peyton Anderson's dedication to truth and transparency in the local newsroom and combines it with an innovative, boots-on-the-ground approach to educating and preparing journalists to sustain these ideals — creating connection with the community whose stories are being shared. He would be proud of the CCJ newsroom named in his honor but even more so of the investment into where journalism starts — at the local news level. Without that engagement and dedication to sustaining news and information, our communities will not thrive and prosper," Lambert concurred. Corley said she strongly believes The Macon Newsroom fills a journalistic deficit in Central Georgia. "When people talk about news deserts, they think of places without newspapers or TV stations," she explained. "But news deserts exist even in those places because there is still a dearth of information the public needs to know about." Though Macon has a newspaper and several television stations, Corley said that their parent companies had cut staff and gutted resources significantly. "The basic nuts and bolts government isn't being covered," she said. "In that way, Macon is a sort of news desert mirage." Corley said she is frequently the only reporter at regular meetings of the governmental bodies that make consequential decisions in the community, such as the B U I LT I N 1 8 2 0

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