About Us

The Voices Listening Project is a collaborative research initiative studying online news consumption and misinformation in Arizona.

It began in 2021 thanks to funding from the Google News Initiative’s North America Innovation Challenge. Read the original funding announcement here.

The project is a partnership between Wick Communication and the News Co/Lab at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Our team of 10 students came from eight distinct majors across the fields of journalism, user experience and sustainability. This multidisciplinary approach was an important and unique aspect of VLP.

Two news product professions from Wick and two Cronkite faculty members rounded out the team, overseeing the project and providing training and guidance for the students. The project involved frequent brainstorming, community visits, research and product iterations, and synthesis of interviews and findings. Our work on product research and development benefited from our students’ varied fields, from journalism to public relations to sustainability.

Background

Wick Communications is a family-owned local media company based in Sierra Vista, Arizona. It operates newsrooms in 25 markets across 11 states, ranging from Alaska to Louisiana. In early 2020, Wick Communications launched NABUR, the Neighborhood Alliance for Better Understanding and Respect, a journalist-moderated community conversations platform that allows members to discuss local issues using facts, not vitriol.

The News Co/Lab advances digital media literacy through journalism, education and technology. Since launching in November 2017, it has partnered with news organizations and community stakeholders to help people better understand the news and information environment.

Both organizations are also previous individual recipients of GNI funding. Wick Communications’ NABUR project was selected in 2019, the initiative’s first North America challenge. 

The Cronkite School was also selected that year for the Interactive Story Wall, a way to visualize and explain data-driven stories on broadcast and digital platforms using a touch-screen that helps audiences better understand complex issues, according to GNI.

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VLP’s research project period ended in November 2022, but it will continue to share its learnings through industry outreach through 2023.

Contact the team at contact@voiceslisteningproject.org.

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Cronkite News Co/Lab initiative spent a year researching how to bolster, improve news for small communities

By Marshall Terrill, ASU News

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Collaborative Journalism Database

The Center For Cooperative Media at Montclair State University included our project in their database, along with other collaborative journalism initiatives across the world. Browse it here