Grand State

It exists to keep the important news stories front and center. In other words, we make video and other visual content that highlights local journalism and news in formats local outlets have a hard time producing at a scale that matches audience demand. Our video, graphic and other digital content is meant to:

- turn quality news and other vetted reporting into the formats that travel far and wid

e via social media.
- acknowledge that 6 and 10 people don't read past the headlines and that the majority of audiences demand digital content.
- bridge the gap between great local journalism and legacy news outlets' ability to keep up with digital production.
- amplify the work of great journalists and organizations concerned with civic engagement. draw connections between local news stories and reminders about civics education that help to put it in context.
- fight back against "fake news" by crowding it out with clear, easy-to-understand digital news content, and reinforcing educating around civics.
- maintain deep focus on important local issues.
- provide voice and insight from voices throughout Maine. We at Grand State have written for newspapers, made radio broadcasts, commercial productions, television, produced events. We’ve been bothered by two big things in the news media for years: first, there’s not enough news applicable to our communities where we are, on our social media feeds, our phones, our email inboxes.

84 percent of communications will be visual by 2018. But only a fraction of great local journalism will reach a format that most people will encounter. This is a huge loss considering we also know that levels of civic engagement are tied to how engaged one is with local journalism. When our news does get to us, it’s just… not good sometimes. National news in particular doesn’t get what’s happening here or they frame it in this weird condescending way. Or it assumes we understand some basic info that we just don’t. This year’s election laid these problems bare and added a new one: horrible agenda-driven news filling the digital space where traditional media is missing. One solution to this problem is more outlets that produce smart, reliable content that lives in the formats people are looking for. We are launching Grand State to address this at the state level. We need your help. Think back to this summer, when you probably heard this that profanity-laden voicemail in which Governor LePage threatened Rep. Do you remember why Governor LePage left it? We do only because it’s our job: It started, believe it or not, when LePage had focused on the race of alleged dealers and then unfolded all over the place. The story went from drugs imported into the state, to heated exchanges about racism, to coverage of harassment and threats from the Executive level. Ultimately, we left these series of spectacles none the wiser about the opioid epidemic. Here’s a fact: 286 overdoses were on record by September, 2016. The number already exceeds the record-setting drug-related death totals of last year. People in Maine are dying. The specifics of and stories about this reality are the important elements that tend to get lost during media firestorms. Consider the case of the aforementioned two weeks. When the media—overstretched and sent from one headline to another by a chaotic week in Augusta—is put in the position to bounce topic to topic, Grand State would work with journalists, nonprofit organizations, community advocates and others on the front lines to go deep into pressing subjects. We might produce:

- a video explaining what state powers are doing at a policy level to keep he**in out of the state.
- interviews with journalists to understand the history of opioids in Maine.
- stories of families dealing with addiction and navigating the healthcare system.
- immersive 360 content that helps to show how the economic landscape has changed alongside the elevation of the crisis.
- infographics outlining where rising rates of addiction intersect with education and economic development
- interactive digital features on NPOs, highlighting their knowledge in these areas - in this case The Frannie Peabody Center, where they’ve seen a rising rates of HIV/AIDS related to he**in use. Our lives are busy. When we take the time to get the news, it should be about the things that deeply affect us. We need to know the resources available to us, the opportunities to make Maine communities better, and how to analyze the facts for ourselves. We will know those things by knowing how our government works, what drives our economies, and what roles we play in those systems. Grand State strives to make these connections. When this initial round of seed funding is completed we will:

- create content that will launch a channel on Inauguration Day
- formalize our network of existing media makers and work out how to best we will collaborate.
- convene a council of Mainers from different backgrounds, identities and experiences to ensure we fairly and accurately represent our state.
- create a mechanism that pays producers and creatives, especially emerging talents, for their work. So we need your money, absolutely. This is a cost intensive venture and this money we are asking for is meant as a start up investment. But when Grand State succeeds, we will have established a sustainable network of professionals who will make news media that is important, inspiring, revealing, and empowering. We’ll be better engaged, informed and involved. We appreciate your support in make it a reality.