Build the Echo is dedicated to amplifying the voices and values of independent, progressive media, and is maintained by Jessica Clark and Tracy Van Slyke. Formerly the executive editor and publisher of In These Times magazine–the 2006 winner of Utne Reader’s Independent Press Award for best political reporting–the two are now working on book about the evolution of the progressive media sector for the New Press

Why “Build the Echo”?

When we started our research in 2005, it was all the rage to talk about how progressive media needed “infrastructure”–an echo chamber to mirror and combat the right’s noise machine. Now that the sector’s more organized, we want to to examine how it’s growing and transforming. (Plus, we just like the idea of building things, rather than just sitting around and complaining all the time!)

This site will cover several overlapping issues that are reshaping the progressive media landscape. We’ll be looking at external factors: technology, business models, and the rise of citizen journalism. We’ll also look at how the progressive media is attracting new audiences, organizing itself, and making an impact on political coverage, cultural battles and other news of the day. Our daily links and blogs will not only feed into the book but will regularly reach influential progressive media makers. We invite you to comment, offer suggestions about related stories and projects for us to cover, and join us as we continue to follow the intersection of media, politics and change.

Who we are:

Jessica Clark is a multifacted writer, editor and researcher, with more than a decade of experience spanning commercial, educational and independent media production. She is currently the Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media, where she directs the Future of Public Media project, and recently returned from a research fellowship at the University of London’s Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media.

Clark is also the editor-at-large of In These Times, and a regular contributor. From 2002-2007, she served as the magazine’s executive editor, managing editor, associate publisher and assistant publisher; her work included managing editorial planning and production, overseeing the publication’s transition to its current monthly format, helping to orchestrate a successful redesign, and spearheading strategic planning initiatives.

Clark has been producing and fighting for independent media since the late ’90s. She helped to bring Stay Free! magazine’s controversial and widely covered exhibit, Illegal Art: Freedom of Expression in the Corporate Age, to Chicago. She also served on the steering committee for the Midwest office of the Independent Press Association, and has been involved in a wide variety of media activism efforts. As a co-editor and writer for LiP Magazine from late 2001 2002, she helped to broaden the magazine’s audience by transitioning the publication to the Web. During that time, LiP–which championed “dangerous humor, liberated eroticism and informed revolt–was nominated for an Utne Independent Press Award in the “Best Online Cultural Coverage” category.

Clark has also worked in editorial and marketing positions at Britannica.com, the Library of Congress, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Field Museum and the University of Chicago Press. She holds an MA in Social Sciences and a BA in English from the University of Chicago.

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Tracy Van Slyke has dedicated much of her career as a journalist, communications professional and media producer to building a strong independent media infrastructure. She is currently the Program Director of The Media Consortium–a network of the nation’s leading, independent progressive media outlets. Through The Media Consortium she works to organize effective partnerships and innovative projects that will change the terms of the American political and cultural debate as well as create a cooperative infrastructure that supports a sustainable future for independent media.

Van Slyke is the former publisher of In These Times magazine, a national, award-winning monthly magazine of progressive news, analysis and cultural reporting. In 2005 and 2006, she and Jessica Clark co-authored the landmark articles on strengthening the progressive media landscape including, “Making Connections: Why is the news so bad? What can progressives do to fix it?” and “Welcome to the Media Revolution: How today’s media makers are shaping tomorrow’s news.”

Van Slyke is on the leadership council for the Progressive Communicator’s Network–a network of professional strategic communications professionals working with grassroots and social justice organizations. She is also a member of the Spin Project’s Advisory Board of the Communications Policy Initiative, a new project designed to help university-based researchers, grassroots advocates and policy experts communicate more effectively as they advocate for improvements in media content and information policymaking.

Prior to joining In These Times, she was the Communications Director for the National Training and Information Center, a national non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening grassroots organizations. In 2000, she worked in Knight Ridder’s Washington, D.C. bureau during the presidential campaign, covering national politics and events. She also covered city and county government for the Iowa City Gazette in Iowa City, IA in 1999 and 2000. She holds a double BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and Literature, Science and the Arts from the University of Iowa.