Civic Media 2.0
How might communities better support the journalism, storytelling, culture, and civic information they need? This collection begins with sources cited or directly referenced in the Shorenstein research series about Rethinking Public Media and follows an editorial arc connecting the history of public media to emerging ideas and models for what comes next.
Contents
Section 00
Read in order. These four essays build the argument the rest of the list supports.
Jax Deluca · Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School · January 15, 2026
Opening framework for reconsidering the institutional form, governance, funding, and public purpose of American public media.
https://shorensteincenter.org/resource/rethinking-public-media-together/
Jax Deluca · Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School · February 5, 2026
Moves from legacy public-interest obligations toward a broader public-media infrastructure and a full-stack approach.
https://shorensteincenter.org/resource/reclaiming-the-public-interest/
Jax Deluca · Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School · March 12, 2026
Connects media consolidation and changing revenue models to the need to actively design civic-media infrastructure.
https://shorensteincenter.org/resource/if-we-dont-shape-the-future-of-civic-media-the-wbd-psky-merger-will/
Jax Deluca · Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School · April 22, 2026
Proposes a regional civic-media framework and explores durable local cultural-funding models as precedents for public-interest media.
https://shorensteincenter.org/resource/building-civic-media-2-0-a-regional-design-for-public-interest-media/
Section 01
Carnegie Commission on Educational Television · Carnegie Commission on Educational Television / Harper & Row · January 26, 1967
Foundational report behind the modern U.S. public broadcasting system and its public-service rationale.
https://current.org/1967/01/carnegie-i/
Newton N. Minow · Federal Communications Commission / National Association of Broadcasters · May 9, 1961
Classic articulation of broadcasters’ public-interest responsibilities and the relationship between communications infrastructure and civic life.
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/newtonminow.htm
Bernardo Ruiz · Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School · July 14, 2025
Traces how independent filmmakers organized for a place within U.S. public media and connects that history to current threats, institutional evolution, and the continuing role of independent creators in shaping public media.
https://shorensteincenter.org/resource/independents-pbs-fight-free-speech/
Wyncote Foundation · February 2018
Defines public media broadly as mission-driven media in the public interest and frames it as a public commons alongside other civic assets, while emphasizing systems change, independent production, journalism, and community engagement.
https://www.wyncotefoundation.org/_files/ugd/225a1d_94415827bf9e49b4bbe84516534aee95.pdf
Donald J. Trump · The White House · May 1, 2025
Primary-source policy context for the contemporary federal conflict over public broadcasting.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/ending-taxpayer-subsidization-of-biased-media/
Brian E. Humphreys · Congressional Research Service · February 25, 2026
Provides authoritative history and policy context for U.S. public broadcasting, including CPB’s defunding and dissolution, impacts on stations and producers, and options Congress could consider for future federal support.
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R48545
Harvey J. Levin · Russell Sage Foundation · 1980
Historical economic study of broadcast regulation examining network power, diversity, scarcity, public television, and alternative policy approaches—useful background for contemporary debates about media structure and public-interest obligations.
Laurie Ouellette · Columbia University Press · 2002
Examines the cultural and policy contradictions built into U.S. public television: universal service versus elite audiences, public culture versus popular culture, and democratic aspirations versus paternalism and commercialization. Useful for thinking about who public media is designed for—and how civic media infrastructure might be built with communities rather than simply for them.
Section 02
Pat Aufderheide and Jessica Clark · Center for Media & Social Impact, American University · April 2008
Defines public media as media that help people form, understand, and act as publics—not simply as content delivered by legacy institutions. The FAQ explores participatory media, democratic engagement, infrastructure, funding, and policy, including taxpayer support and community investment in public-media experiments.
https://cmsimpact.org/resource/1924/
Jessica Clark and Pat Aufderheide · Center for Media & Social Impact, American University · February 2009
Advances an expanded vision of public media centered on engaged publics, participatory media, cross-platform experimentation, and the democratic capacity to inform, connect, and mobilize people.
https://cmsimpact.org/resource/public-media-2-0-dynamic-engaged-publics/
Katie Donnelly and Jessica Clark · MediaShift / Center for Social Media, American University · November 19, 2010
Reviews emerging public-media experiments and argues that interactive features alone are insufficient without deeper public participation, collaboration, shared learning, funding, and systematic assessment.
https://mediashift.org/2010/11/public-media-experiments-show-promise-need-to-involve-public323/
Ellen P. Goodman and Sanjay Jolly · German Marshall Fund of the United States · July 26, 2021
Proposes a new civic-information infrastructure spanning production, distribution, physical infrastructure, institutions, protocols, and public-interest content.
https://www.gmfus.org/sites/default/files/Jolly%2520and%2520Goodman%2520-%2520public%2520media.pdf
Victor Pickard · Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University · May 19, 2026
Argues for rebuilding U.S. public media around de-privatization, democratization, and localization, proposing locally controlled Public Media Centers and a layered public-media infrastructure spanning funding, governance, community needs, technology, and engagement.
https://knightcolumbia.org/blog/reimagining-and-reconstructing-us-public-media
zhangjia · MIT Center for Civic Media · January 11, 2018
Defines civic media as communication that strengthens social bonds or civic engagement, explicitly extending beyond journalism to technologies, practices, and forms of participation that turn civic knowledge into civic action.
https://civic.mit.edu/index.html%3Fp=26.html
Eric Gordon and Paul Mihailidis (editors) · The MIT Press · 2016
Foundational collection examining technologies, designs, and practices that support connection through common civic purpose.
https://direct.mit.edu/books/edited-volume/3469/Civic-MediaTechnology-Design-Practice
Katerina Cizek and William Uricchio; with contributing coauthors · The MIT Press · November 1, 2022
Core resource for understanding co-creation and communities as active participants in media systems.
https://cocreationstudio.mit.edu/collectivewisdom/
Section 03
Zach Metzger (project director and primary author); Tim Franklin (research oversight/introduction); Medill Local News Initiative research team · Medill Local News Initiative, Northwestern University · October 20, 2025
Major evidence base documenting the continuing contraction and transformation of local news, including news deserts and public broadcasting.
https://localnewsinitiative.northwestern.edu/projects/state-of-local-news/2025/report/
Elizabeth Green, Darryl Holliday, and Mike Rispoli · The Roadmap for Local News · February 2, 2023
Reframes the local-news crisis around communities’ civic information needs rather than the survival of individual news organizations.
https://localnewsroadmap.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/The-Roadmap-for-Local-News-Feb-2-23.pdf
Media Power Collaborative · n.d.
Tracks local-news policies across the United States and provides a practical bridge from diagnosing the local-information crisis to seeing policy interventions being proposed and implemented at the state and local level.
https://mediapowercollab.org/policy-tracker/
Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) · State of California · n.d.
State program supporting a robust California press corps through matched public/private funding; useful as a current policy model.
https://business.ca.gov/california-civic-media-program/
Antoine Haywood, Ph.D., in partnership with News Futures and the Community Media Alliance Working Group · Alliance for Community Media · August 2025
National survey of community media centers documenting their operational models, physical and distribution assets, training programs, local-government coverage, community news production, and partnerships. Especially relevant to Civic Media 2.0 because it identifies existing locally controlled infrastructure that could support regional civic media ecosystems and recommends state-level organizing, cross-sector partnerships, stronger impact data, and a national civic media policy agenda.
https://allcommunitymedia.org
Section 04
Documentary Film in the Public Interest · Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School · 2025
Convening and field resource informing analysis of systemic pressures facing documentary and public-interest storytelling.
https://dfpi.shorensteincenter.org/convenings/doc-ideas-2025/
Lauren Wissot · Documentary magazine / International Documentary Association · November 3, 2025
Field perspective on instability, collaboration, and changing conditions for documentary filmmakers.
https://www.documentary.org/online-feature/hot-springs-2025-uncertainty-and-camaraderie-characterize-3rd-annual-filmmaker-forum
Anthony Kaufman · Documentary magazine / International Documentary Association · April 1, 2026
Reports on structural challenges in international documentary financing and emerging coalition, coproduction, and platform responses.
https://documentary.org/online-feature/my-desirable-friends-cphdox-2026-industry-hopes-european-netflix-and-more
California Common Cause · January 28, 2026
Connects documentary film, journalism, community storytelling, public investment, and civic participation within a shared public-interest media framework.
https://www.commoncause.org/california/articles/sundance-highlight-public-interest-media-as-civic-infrastructure/
Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) · n.d.
R&D program modeling locally rooted public-media experimentation, independent production, and community engagement.
https://airmedia.org/programs/localore-labs
Ethan Zuckerman · Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University · January 17, 2020
Uses the history of public-service broadcasting to argue for civic-minded digital infrastructure and public-service digital tools as alternatives to platform systems dominated by surveillance advertising and monopoly power.
https://knightcolumbia.org/content/the-case-for-digital-public-infrastructure
Culture, Media and Sport Committee · UK House of Commons · April 10, 2025
Examines the full film and HETV ecosystem and recommends stronger support for independent film, domestic production, cinemas, workforce sustainability, screen heritage, and public-service broadcasting alongside inward investment.
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/47474/documents/246529/default/
Sonya Childress and Sahar Driver · Color Congress · March 2024
Documents the infrastructure built by POC-led documentary organizations and argues that field-serving groups are essential narrative infrastructure connecting filmmakers, communities, audiences, and social movements.
https://www.thealliance.media/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2024/05/COLORCONGRESSTHEPEOPLEOFCOLORECOSYSTEM_Update.pdf
Jax Deluca and Simon Kilmurry (executive credits); Michael Bracy and Cynthia Lopez (chief consultants) · National Endowment for the Arts and International Documentary Association · August 2017
Identifies cross-sector connectivity, stronger peer networks, public-sector engagement, research, and shared stakeholder responsibility as core conditions for a sustainable documentary ecosystem.
https://www.documentary.org/sites/default/files/images/articles/StateoftheField_mediaartssummit2017.pdf
Patricia Aufderheide, Sharon La Cruise, and Garry Denny · Independent Television Service and Center for Media & Social Impact · 2021
Argues that independent documentary filmmakers and public television are mutually important civic infrastructure and calls for stronger, ongoing investment—especially in relationships with BIPOC independent filmmakers and field-support organizations.
https://cmsimpact.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Stories-for-a-Stronger-Nation.pdf
Section 05
Free Press · n.d.
Background resource on media ownership concentration and its consequences for localism, diversity, competition, and public discourse.
https://www.freepress.net/issues/media-control/media-consolidation
Future Film Coalition and coalition participants · Block the Merger / Future Film Coalition · n.d.
Field testimony connecting consolidation to independent production, distribution, labor, exhibition, and market access.
https://blockthemerger.com/testimony
Bilal Baydoun, Shahrzad Shams, and Victor Pickard · Roosevelt Institute · December 4, 2025
Traces structural crises in journalism — ownership consolidation, local news collapse, and platform dependence — to four entrenched policy constraints: erosion of public interest standards, deregulation favoring market solutions, underfunded public media, and diminished constitutional protections for press freedom.
https://rooseveltinstitute.org/publications/political-economy-of-us-media-system/
Section 06
IAB and PwC · Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) · April 2025
Documents the scale and growth of U.S. digital advertising revenue, providing context for revenue-recapture proposals.
https://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/IAB_PwC-Internet-Ad-Revenue-Report-Full-Year-2024.pdf
Lee Shaker and Antoine Haywood · Alliance for Community Media of New York · February 20, 2022
Explores revenue mechanisms for community media as legacy cable-franchise revenues erode.
https://acmny.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/NYACM-Revenue-Streams-Final-2-20-22.pdf
Olivier Sylvain · Knight Foundation · n.d.
Argues that policy should address the advertising-driven political economy of social platforms rather than treating them only as speech intermediaries.
https://legacy.knightfoundation.org/articles/solve-the-underlying-problem-treat-social-media-as-ad-driven-companies-not-speech-platforms/
Free Press Action · June 2025
Proposes a 1% tax on advertising revenue of the largest corporations to capitalize independent Civic Information Consortiums, pairing a durable revenue source with governance firewalls between government and editorial decisions.
https://mediapowercollab.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/local-news-ad-tax-grantmaking-proposal.pdf
Section 07
Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) · Scientific and Cultural Facilities District · n.d.
History and overview of the Denver-region voter-approved sales-tax district supporting scientific and cultural organizations.
https://scfd.org/who-we-are/our-history/
Dinah Zeiger · WESTAF (now Creative West) · n.d.
The long-form origin account: the 1982 collapse of state funding, the fight between the “Big Four” and the excluded performing-arts organizations, the 65-25-10 tier compromise, and the penny-on-ten-dollars campaign that carried the 1988 vote.
https://wearecreativewest.org/wp-content/uploads/HistoryofSCFD.pdf
Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) · Scientific and Cultural Facilities District · n.d.
Current information on SCFD’s funding structure, participating organizations, and regional cultural infrastructure.
https://scfd.org/
Washington State Arts Commission · n.d.
State-level cultural access framework enabling local public funding for arts, heritage, science, and cultural organizations.
https://www.arts.wa.gov/doors-open/
4Culture · n.d.
King County implementation resource for a durable public investment model supporting cultural organizations and public access.
https://www.4culture.org/doors-open/
Duncan M. Webb, AMS Planning and Research · Institute for Community Development and the Arts, Americans for the Arts · 1996
Comparative resource on communities using dedicated sales taxes to generate public revenue for arts and cultural activity.
https://www.giarts.org/article/tax-mechanisms-support-arts-and-culture
Martha Ramirez · Inside Philanthropy · August 12, 2025
Maps major philanthropic funders supporting NPR, PBS NewsHour, and public news, while warning that philanthropy cannot fully replace public funding and may raise questions about donor influence as federal support contracts.
https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/whos-funding-public-news-media
Alex Frandsen · Media Power Collaborative · September 2, 2025
Frames CPB’s closure as an impetus for bottom-up state and local public-media infrastructure, highlighting Civic Information Consortiums and independent public grantmaking as emerging models rather than substitutes for federal investment.
James Ledbetter · 1998
Explains the unusually decentralized and mixed funding structure of U.S. public television, tracing the shift from government support toward viewer contributions, corporate underwriting, entrepreneurial revenue, and other private sources—and the implications of those incentives for programming and public-service goals.
Shayne C. Kavanagh · Government Finance Officers Association · 2020
Sets SCFD inside the wider field of regional revenue sharing, alongside the Twin Cities Fiscal Disparities Program and Pittsburgh’s Allegheny Regional Asset District, and asks why so few have been replicated. Its answer — that locally created arrangements attract support where state-mandated ones do not, and that contributors must see benefit too — is the strategic argument a civic-media district would have to win.
https://www.gfoa.org/materials/addressing-resource-inequities