The California Media Collaborative is developing the following programs:

CalExpress will comprise a team of experienced reporters, based in different
regions of the state, who will report on selected issues to do in-depth reporting on
key California issues not covered sufficiently by the existing news outlets. In addition
to news, investigative and feature reporting, CalExpress will provide informed
commentary and analysis of current challenges facing the state.

To enhance the impact of CalExpress, the following projects will also be established:

The California Journalism Corps will team talented recent journalism graduates
with experienced journalists who have left traditional newsrooms for a variety of
reasons. The Journalism Corps will undertake short-term reporting projects, focusing
intensively on various aspects of state, regional and local government, and on other
California issues not sufficiently covered by existing news outlets.

The California Database Project will draw on state-level databases to localize
statewide issues, as a way to engage Californians on issues that too often appear
unrelated to their own lives and concerns. It will use mapping and other new media
strategies to make statewide data more user-friendly for local news outlets (both print
and broadcast), as well as for on-line news engines, bloggers and on-line citizen
journalists.

The California News Cooperative will use emerging new media tools to aggregate
high quality California news reports already being produced by existing news outlets –
in broadcast, print and on-line formats – in order to enhance their impact by making
them available for wider use throughout the state.

Collaboratives
The California Media Collaborative will continue to convene forums on the role of the
media in shaping key state issues, as well as to enhance their ability to engage
Californians more fully in the democratic process. As a follow up to the successful
conference at UC Berkeley on the California media in September 2007, the
Collaborative is organizing an invitational meeting in Southern California in November
2008 on the impact of media coverage on health care reform, in California
and nationally, and the impact of new media on health coverage in the future.