A new partnership announced by the LBJ School of Public Affairs on Friday between the Center for Politics and Governance and the Texas Tribune intends to improve the public discourse on politics and governance.
The Texas Tribune will work with the center on a number of projects, including a lecture series, events and student internships. This is the center’s first official partnership with a group outside the University, said center director Veronica Stidvent.
The Tribune is a new nonprofit and nonpartisan public media organization scheduled to launch this November. The Tribune aims to promote civic engagement through online journalism and open-to-the-public events.
“The missions of the Texas Tribune and the center overlap,” Stidvent said. “Both entities strive to increase awareness and political participation in public policy.”
Plans for the partnership began almost immediately after Evan Smith, chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of the Tribune, left Texas Monthly in August, he said.
“The Texas Tribune thinks about politics in terms of journalism. The LBJ School thinks about it in terms of academics,” Smith said. “There’s a natural synergy.”
Based in Austin, the Tribune will publish original news reporting funded by individual, corporate and foundation philanthropy. So far, the publication has raised about $3.5 million.
“The Texas Tribune is nonpartisan and nonprofit and will be an ambitious destination site that will be offered free to other media,” Smith said.
Smith will also teach a course on the evolution and impact of news media at the LBJ School in the spring 2010 semester, which will explore the changing role of the media in covering public policy. Assistant Dean Jeff Patterson will help teach the course.
“This is a time when most people in college are being told that there’s no hope of getting a job, but that’s just not true,” Smith said. “When the old model isn’t working as well as it should be, you shouldn’t climb into your closet and weep quietly, but build a new model.”
Smith has also been named a fellow for the center and will host the center’s Perspectives Series, which brings elected officials, authors and policy makers to the University to discuss policy issues and implementation strategies.
“I hope to impart to my students that there’s hope in the world if you’re simply open-minded when it comes to new models of distribution and funding great journalism,” Smith said. “Politics doesn’t have to be boring just because it’s serious.”
He also said that it’s time to accept and utilize online reporting, databases, polling and blogs.
“If you want to be marketable to employers, you have got to embrace this stuff,” Smith said. “This is the world we live in.”
Currently, three students from the center intern at the Tribune, and there is an open invitation from the Tribune to LBJ School students. The Tribune has a staff of 12 reporters.
Stidvent said the exploration of online news reporting is important in understanding how it relates to traditional media models.
“Students must become savvy consumers for news and information,” she said. “It’s important for students to understand how the media influences public affairs.”
UT law student Morgan Smith has been hired by the Tribune and will work full-time starting next semester.
“After starting work at the Tribune, it evolved in my mind that I’d much rather be doing this than law school,” Smith said. “Law school will be there if I decide to go back, but journalism is what gets me out of bed in the morning.”
Online publication seems to be the future of the journalism industry, Smith said.
“I’m excited to be part of something that has attracted so many talented reporters and that has provided so much hope for people across the industry,” Smith said. “This is all about growth and development in an industry that’s going through some troubled times right now.”
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