Special projects orchestrated by Melinda
Letters to the Future—an SN&R-led national project involving 40-plus newspapers and media outlets across the United States—set out to find authors, artists, scientists and others willing to get creative and draft letters to future generations of their own families, predicting the success or failure of the Paris Climate Talks of 2015. And what came after. Here’s the SN&R feature article and the project website, which includes letters from Pulitzer Prize winners, students, a MacArthur “genius,” hair dressers, an astronaut, retired people, and so many more.
In 2011-2013, the SN&R obtained grant funding to underwrite independent reporting on food access issues, especially related to CalFresh (food stamps) for low-income Californians. Here’s the original project
In June, 2011 SN&R tackled the “taboo” subject of death and begin an interactive discussion with readers, about what it means to seek a better end, a good death. Here’s the original article and a sidebar.
In 2011, more than 50 newsweeklies across the country were organized to print a thought-piece by anti-war activist Tom Hayden that explored, 10 years later, why America was still fighting wars in the name of 9/11. Here’s the original article.
In the week leading up to inauguration in January 2009, SN&R published (in print and online) a special issue containing hundreds of letters from readers expressing advice, fears, and hopes for the new American president. Capital Public Radio aired companion audio versions in “Letters to Obama.” Here’s the original project.
In January 2009, The Sacramento News & Review led a national effort, in league with the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies in Washington, D.C., to organize weeklies across the country to join together to mark the 10th anniversary of the Kyoto Protocol. More than 50 newsweeklies (with a joint circulation surpassing 10 million readers) observed the anniversary. Here’s the original project and a sidebar.
In spring of 2005, National Public Radio launched a national media called “This I Believe” to get Americans from all walks of life writing, talking and thinking about their core beliefs. In partnership with Capital Public Radio, SN&R launched of a local version; on the last Thursday of each month through 2005-2006, a regional “This I Believe” essay appeared on the inside back cover of the SN&R issue. A local audio “This I Believe” aired each month on Capital Public Radio. Here’s the original project.