Mission
People’s Production House is a journalism training and production institute focused on producing stories that bring unheard voices to the fore. We teach students, immigrants, and working families how to create ground-breaking news critical to a vibrant democracy.
We are founded on the principle that a nuanced, balanced, and diverse news media is both a human right and a public good. We believe that participation in the information age requires that a person be a smart media consumer, as well as a media maker, whose voice shapes and informs public policies.
History
People’s Production House started in 2000 when a team of journalists began teaching the art of radio journalism to students in a under-resourced public high schools in New York City. Since that time, we have provided college-level journalism training to hundreds of under-represented youth in all five boroughs of New York City as well as Washington, D.C. In 2004 we expanded to provide media training to adults - primarily immigrants and low wage workers.
Recognized for their unique perspectives, our trainees have received numerous journalism awards and their reportage has been regularly broadcast through media outlets such as PBS Newshour, the BBC, the Australian Broadcast Corporation, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Huffington Post, ProPublica, NPR, Democracy Now!, GRIT TV, the Pacifica Network, The New York Times, and more.
Impact
A free and diverse press allows democracy to flourish. Today, however, newsrooms across the nation are shutting their doors. People of color remain underrepresented in the press corps, making up just 13 percent of newsroom staff in 2009. People’s Production House aims to reverse that trend by training a new generation of reporters, diversifying the existing reporter pool, and providing additional coverage of local and national issues.
We have trained over 1000 individuals, of whom 95% are underrepresented minorities from low-income backgrounds. Of these, 70% of our adult trainees continue pursuing their work as citizen journalists; some have gone on to work for media outlets such as USA Today and NPR as well as local radio stations. In addition, 85% of our youth trainees produce quality radio work that is aired locally or nationally. Our work reaches millions of listeners, viewers and readers across the nation.
