Twin Cities

Media Alliance
A NNU A L R E P O R T 2 0 0 9

www.tcdailyplanet.net

local news for global citizens

Twin Cities Daily Planet editor’s report
‘‘
Taking it to court in Minneapolis: Fight against foreclosure and eviction.
Somali hip-hop: It’s a culture. It’s a people’s life.
‘
At a Minnesota market, tales of a hidden Ethiopian war.
T he headlines tell the story: in 2009,
the Daily Planet published more
original reporting and stories from our
neighborhood, community and ethnic
media partners than ever before. We
focused on the issues and communities
that are under-covered by other media –
from home foreclosures to light rail’s
impact on Central Corridor residents
and businesses.
When the recession forced our
community and ethnic media partners
to slash their editorial budgets, many
turned to us for articles they could
’
’ ’
republish. Daily Planet articles appeared
in La Prensa de Minnesota, the Minnesota
Spokesman-Recorder, the African News
Journal, Hmong Today, and many other
publications. In some cases, we even
shared our editorial budget with media
partners so that they could cover
important stories.
As mainstream media cut their budgets
for arts reporting, our knowledgeable
writers made the Daily Planet a top local
venue for reviews and analysis of theater,
music, and dance. Our continually
updated event guide, Arts Orbit, high-
lighted both “on the radar” mainstream
events and “under the radar” lesser-
known events, and our arts section
grew into a go-to place for coverage
of the local arts scene from Tou Saiko
to Tchaikovsky. It’s all tweeted via
@ArtsOrbit, which l’etoile magazine
named the best local Twitter account
of 2009.
Editor Mary Turck / Arts editor Jay Gabler
 Diversity and outreach
F rom the beginning, bringing new
voices into the media mainstream
has been at the core of our mission.
So is giving Twin Citizens from every
segment of our community access to
the media tools and training that they
need to have in order to participate
fully in the life of our community.
In 2009, community engagement
coordinator Lisa Peterson-de la Cueva
and her successor Ann Alquist fulfilled
that mission by reaching out to
neighborhood and community
organizations and recruiting participants
in our citizen journalism classes, media
skills workshops and weekly writers
groups. Classes ranged from Citizen
Journalism 101 and Reporting as a
Two-Way Street to Introduction to
Podcasting, Twitter as a News Tool, and
Accessing Court Documents.
Our monthly brown bag lunch with
a journalist series gave community
members the opportunity for face-to-
face conversation with newsmakers
such as Laura Yuen of Minnesota Public
Radio, Joel Kramer of MinnPost, and
Julio Ojeda-Zapata of the Saint Paul
Pioneer Press. And our fall media forum,
held at the Hennepin County Library
in downtown Minneapolis, brought
together new media creators, activists,
bloggers and journalists to explore the
theme of Networking Across the New
Media Landscape.
Beyond covering under-served
communities, the Daily Planet gave
ethnic and immigrant communities
space to tell their own stories. We
published work by Deb Pleasants,
Nekessa Opoti, Ramla Bile, Diana Vang,
and Dwight Hobbes and many others,
and republished articles from the
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, African
News Journal, Mshale, Hmong Today
and other media partners.

mission and vision statements

Mission: The Twin Cities Media Alliance brings together media professionals and
engaged community members to improve the quality, accountability and diversity of
the local media, and to enable community members to play a more active role in the
emerging media environment.
Vision: We envision a participatory democracy in which citizens from all segments of
society – and especially those who have been traditionally denied access – are able to
use the media to share information, hold the powerful accountable, build community,
and work together for the common good.
The year ahead
20
10
C itizens in a democracy need more
than just information. They need
tools that enable them to act on that
information. Our goal for 2010 is the
transformation of the Daily Planet from
a local news website to a community
resource that helps Twin Citizens share
information, make choices, organize and
connect to their communities. We even
have an interactive Daily Planet iPhone app.
We have added individual pages for all
81 Minneapolis neighborhoods and all 17
St. Paul neighborhoods. Visit any of those
pages, and you will see a description of the
neighborhood, a map of local businesses
and attractions, and thumbnail photos of
every registered user of the Daily Planet
who lives in the neighborhood – or at
least those who have supplied their
addresses and photos.
We want you to be part of that picture.
If you aren’t already a registered user,
please sign up. Our expanded member
profiles help Daily Planet users learn
more about each other. If your favorite
attraction or business is missing from
our listings, it’s easy to add it.
The Twitter feeds that now accompany
many stories give Daily Planet users a
new way to connect with one another
and keeps our stories current with
up-to-the-moment discussion
about a topic.
You can expect many more changes
in the year to come.Your support an
participation can make it all possible.
Executive Director: Jeremy Iggers
Numbers and milestones
Expenses
2008 2009*
Program service $167,450 $152,929
Management and $27,888 $36,185
general operations
Fundraising $11,822 $11,649
Financial statements are
Total expenses $207,160 $200,763
available for review in
the Twin Cities Media
Revenue Alliance office, containing
2008 2009* all required disclosures
 ontributions
C $222,860 $172,123 and financial statements.
and grants
Program service $414,591 $1,975
revenue
Investment income $837 $279
Other revenue $0 $7,722
Total revenue $238,288 $182,099
*Estimated. Final 2009 summary 990 statements will be available on the TCMA website at www.tcmediaalliance.org

In May, the Minnesota Society of Professional Journalists named the Daily Planet

‘
“Best Independent News website” for the second year in a row. Here’s
what the SPJ judges said:
The breadth and depth of this site is terrific. It connects on

’
multiple fronts: reader engagement, neighborhood coverage,
local opinions, 24/7 updates and a strong commitment to a
diversity of voices. Tcdailyplanet.net really taps the power of
the medium to make the community part of the conversation...

Daily Planet readership, measured by Google Analytics, increased by25 percent

in 2009 to 641,000 unique visitors. We published more articles than ever
before – about 100 every week, including more original, professionally edited
news stories and reviews by citizen journalists than any other local news site
in the US.
Twin Cities Media Alliance Board and Staff
Chair: Sheldon Mains, independent
technology consultant
Vice chair: Barry Madore, web developer,
Advantage Labs
Secretary: Pam Colby, executive director,
Minneapolis Television Network
Treasurer: Troy Pieper, ARP! (Art Review
and Preview)
Sarah Bauer, executive director, Minnesota
News Council
Richard Broderick, professor, Anoka-Ramsey
Community College
Leola Johnson, professor, Macalester College
Howard Kling, director, Labor Education Service,
U of M
Ann Treacy, web consultant, Treacy
Information Services
Laura Waterman Wittstock, Wittstock &
Associates, past president Migizi Communications
Staff: Mary Turck, editor, Twin Cities
Daily Planet
Jay Gabler, arts editor, Twin Cities Daily Planet
Emily Pearson Ryan and Luce Guillen-Givens,
operations managers, Twin Cities Media Alliance
Jeremy Iggers, executive director,Twin Cities
Media Alliance.
Ann Alquist, community outreach coordinator.
Previously, Lisa Peterson-de la Cueva.

Thanks to...
F.R. Bigelow Foundation •The Minneapolis Foundation • The Otto Bremer Foundation •The Saint Paul Foundation •
The McCormick Foundation • The McKnight Foundation • The Still Ain’t Satisfied Foundation

In-kind contributions
Advantage Labs • Triangle Park Creative • Hennepin County Public Library • The Databank

Individual donors
Kathleen C Anderson Paula L Fleming Emily P Lala Paul J Schadewald
Anne Aronson Kathee Foran Amy Lange Dennis Schapiro
Tracy and Luke Babler Daniel E Freese Kristal Leebrick Neala J Schleuning
Mary Kay Bailey Lara Friedman-Shedlov Annie Levenson-Falk Andrea R Seebach
Leann Lisana and James Fuller Pat Lindquist David Weissbrodt and
Joe Bartsh James and Jean Gabler Lu J Lippold Pat Schaffer
Kristin Henning and Dyane Y Garvey Catherine Lundoff Lara and Dan
Tom Bartel Wendy J Gaskill Barry R Madore Friedman-Shedlov
Pearl L Bergad Beth Gauper Sheldon and Alan P Shilepsky
Kathrine A Blauvelt Paul A Gilje Beverly Mains David H Skarjune
Peg Bouska Carl H Griffin Polly Mann Niki T Stavrou
Carol J Bouska Steven J Gulitti John and Connie Marty Mark S Sulander
John and Marie Braun Kit Naylor and Susan Maryn McKenna Karen (Kaia) O Svien
Rich J Broderick Thurston Hamersk Maggie and Dennis Amanda L Tempel
Mary McFarland and Stephanie Hankerson Montgomery Pat Thompson
James Brooks Dianne C Heins Jill A Nicholson Elizabeth j Tisel
Alan & Jill Carlson Susan L Herridge Kelly M O’Brien Ann T Treacy
Melisande Charles Curt Hillstrom Joanna O’Connell Elaine Treacy
Steve D Clemens Janet M Hively Nancy B Olsen Mary Turck
Joel Clemmer Jill Meyer and Randy R Peabody Kate Hoff and
Tyler M Cohen Louise Hotka Lisa M Peterson Bob Weidman
Pam R Colby Kate Hoff Troy D Pieper Luke Weisberg
Bruce Corrie Georg and Wilma Iggers Deb Pleasants Barbra Wiener
Leslie Davis Elaine Wynne and Lisa Pogoff Shayna Berkowitz and
Richard L Dechert Larry Johnson Dominic J Postiglione Phyllis Wiener
Martha Delaney Nancy R Johnson William Price Linda J Winsor
Brian DeVore Howard L Kling Barbara E Raye Adam Zielie
Beverly J Ferguson Nancy A Klock Joann G Rice
Henry Fischer Barb Kucera Scott Russell
Debra Fisher Goldstein Gabriele Kushi Laurie Savran