VIDEO CONSORTIUM ANNOUNCES NEWSROOM COLLECTIVE AND INAUGURAL “FUTURE OF NONFICTION VIDEO 2025” CONVENING, POWERED BY KNIGHT FOUNDATION, TO BRING JOURNALISM INTO THE FUTURE THROUGH VIDEO
New York, January 13, 2025: The Video Consortium, a global media nonprofit and the industry’s leading documentary journalism network, has launched Newsroom Collective, a community of local newsrooms across the U.S. using video to enhance journalistic impact, expand audiences, and increase revenue. The organization is also convening its first Future of Nonfiction Video event, in partnership with the Columbia Journalism School in February.
As traditional journalism models falter and new ways of reaching the public emerge, video is dominating the conversation. It’s the most powerful tool we have to engage and inform; it delivers intimate and emotionally captivating stories that go beyond images and words. Local newsrooms are working hard to evolve and reach their communities, who are increasingly getting their information from YouTube and social feeds. Now, Video Consortium’s Newsroom Collective, powered by Knight Foundation and in alignment with Press Forward, is stepping in to offer guidance and expertise — as well as connections to its talent pool of almost six thousand nonfiction video creators.
This month, Video Consortium opened its membership to newsrooms in preparation for Newsroom Collective, which launches January 16 via a monthly series of virtual workshops, happening on the third Thursday of each month. Soon, mentorship for newsrooms, a monthly newsletter, and in-person workshops via VC’s dozens of local community hubs will support these sessions. The program’s partners are News Revenue Hub, a nonprofit that helps news organizations build financial sustainability, and the California Local News Fellowship, a multi-year state-funded initiative to strengthen local journalism across the state.
Newsroom Collective’s inaugural session features Oriel Danielson, Video Editor for Linkedin News and an award-winning filmmaker who will offer insight on what makes vertical videos get traction. Upcoming session facilitators and Video Consortium members also include Erin McGoff, an accomplished journalist and creator with millions of followers; Jonah Kessel, Deputy Director of Opinion Video at the New York Times; Sarah Bishop-Woods, News Revenue Hub’s Chief of Staff; Andrés Cediel, University of California, Berkeley faculty; Adriana Lacy, journalism audience consultant; Jake Nicol, Lecturer at UC Berkeley and Stanford; and Krishna Sharma, the Baltimore Banner’s Audience Engagement Editor. A pre-launch session in late 2024 brought together over 30 local newsrooms across the country, who tuned in to garner video expertise together.
Newsroom Collective’s launch will be officially inaugurated at Future of Nonfiction Video 2025, an “unconference” in New York next month, hosted in partnership with Columbia Journalism School and supported by Knight Foundation. Convening 150 industry professionals for a screening and discussion on Friday, February 7, 2025, and an all-day summit on Saturday, February 8, 2025, the event will bring together the brightest minds to collectively question what is and isn’t working in nonfiction video: media students, emerging and established creators, newsroom leads, and industry professionals are convening for a solutions-focused approach to how we can use video for a more impactful journalism future. Media professionals can register at nonfictionvideo.org.
Within the Newsroom Collective, a smaller Video Incubator launched in November and is supporting eight local newsrooms with additional hands-on training and coaching from our expert video and journalism facilitators. The curriculum has been developed to ensure each newsroom leaves the program with a stronger understanding of how to launch sustainable video projects, in respect to their newsroom capabilities. Over sixty newsrooms applied, and the eight newsrooms selected are the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, in Little Rock, AR; Inland Valley News in Upland, CA; Lookout Santa Cruz, in Santa Cruz, CA, Next Generation Newsroom in Pittsburgh, PA; The Post and Courier in Charleston, SC; Deep South’s Mississippi Today in Ridgeland, MS and Verite News in New Orleans, LA; Highway 29’s Yountville Sun/Calistoga Tribune and Napa Valley Insider in Napa, CA.
Behind Video Consortium’s expansion to newsrooms is a stellar team of innovative media builders: Sky Dylan-Robbins, VC’s Executive Director and founder, formerly of The New Yorker and NBC News; Brandon Graves, previously Director of Visual Presentation of 13News Now; Kamaria Roberts, who led teams of visual journalists and spearheaded digital strategies at PBS, McClatchy, and the American Press Institute; and Andy Pergam, the Video Consortium’s Board Chair and former executive at Meta, The Washington Post, and McClatchy.
“It’s time for a paradigm shift in how we deliver the news, and we need more than the written word to reach people, who increasingly want to see who is behind the stories we tell and how we’re telling them. Video is the fastest and most authentic way to connect with the audiences we’re serving. It needs to be holistically built into every newsroom. We’re extremely excited to help make that happen,” says Sky Dylan-Robbins, Video Consortium’s founder and Executive Director.
“The Video Consortium is best in class when it comes to understanding how to produce compelling video journalism and documentary film in partnership with local newsrooms. We’re thrilled to support an expansion of their work,” says Duc Luu, Director of Sustainability Initiatives/Journalism, Knight Foundation.
Both Newsroom Collective and the Future of Nonfiction Video event emerge from Video Consortium’s mission to support individuals and organizations using video to enhance human connection. Established in 2015 as a grassroots journalism nonprofit in New York, VC has become the industry’s de facto nonfiction video community, fusing the fields of video journalism, documentary film, and the creator world through events, education, and production.
Today, VC’s thousands of nonfiction video and documentary filmmaking members have garnered every prestigious award (from Oscars and Pulitzers to Emmys and Duponts) and have worked with every major news outlet and streamer; its vetted membership of emerging and established professionals span over 500 cities and 80 countries, and come together in over a dozen locally-led community hubs around the United States and world. With gratitude for Knight Foundation’s integral support, Video Consortium is also championed by MacArthur Foundation, Skoll Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, SONY Electronics, and others.
Learn more about Newsroom Collective: https://videoconsortium.org/newsrooms
Register for the first Newsroom Collective event: https://videoconsortium.org/events
Learn more about Future of Nonfiction Video: http://nonfictionvideo.org
Apply for membership to Video Consortium: https://videoconsortium.org/join
For more information and inquiries, email info@videoconsortium.org.
