The FilAm online magazine has launched a campaign to raise funds to support investigative reporting on the Filipino-American community in the New York area. The crowdfunding campaign is live until July 21 on Indiegogo.
The FilAm founder, Cristina DC Pastor, launched the campaign to “take reporting to the next level,” citing the need to bring heightened discussion of (Filipino-American) community issues.
“After three years, The FilAm would like to take its reporting to the next level. We would like to start an investigative reporting project that will explore deeper reporting on the community and engage Filipino-American journalism students or media majors who might want to write about issues. The topics are not limited to exposing problems and wrongdoings among community leaders and organizations, but will discuss in-depth serious topics that are current or of wide interest. One largely untold story is the plight of undocumented Filipinos in immigration jails. Another relevant but under-reported issue is the financial viability of Filipino restaurants: why some thrive and others can’t seem to have a command of the market. The challenges faced by Filipino nurses is another topic worth exploring: Are those challenges the same whether they work in hospitals or in nursing homes?
The FilAm is an online magazine serving Filipinos in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It has won community journalism awards and was featured in Voice of America as “bridging” Filipinos in New York with their motherland during the powerful storm wrought by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (Typhoon Haiyan). It is also among the publications currently featured until January 2015 at an interactive exhibit on 100 of the most influential ethnic media publications in the United States organized by the Smithsonian Institution at the Newseum in Washington D.C. The Inquirer is one of its content partners in the Philippines.
Pastor hopes to initially raise $5,000 to support at least four articles a year for the next three or four years. “Hopefully, it will support the reporters’ gas money, some meals with sources, batteries, photocopying documents and other expenses,” Pastor added.
She explained that “because of lack of resources, some in the ethnic media shy away from investigative reporting. It takes a lot of time and resources, which community newspapers do not always have.”
Link to: https://www.indiegogo.co
m/projects/watchdogging-the-filipino-american-community-an-investigative-reporting-project