SACRAMENTO, Calif.,
Nov. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/
-- McClatchy (NYSE American: MNI) announced today an
initiative that aims to help erase the medical debt of veterans,
servicemembers and their families in partnership with the nonprofit
RIP Medical Debt. To kick off the campaign, the McClatchy
Foundation has approved a donation that will enable RIP Medical
Debt to abolish $1 million in medical
debt for military families.
The campaign will run in conjunction with "The War Within," a
10-episode McClatchy Studios documentary series launching
November 28 on Facebook Watch, which
will chronicle the lives of three Afghanistan war veterans who are helping their
brothers and sisters in arms cope with the myriad effects of war
while themselves grappling with PTSD and the other challenges of
reintegration.
"We're proud to join with our communities across the country to
tap into the collective force of our compassion to support our
veterans and their families -- beyond our profound gratitude -- in
this meaningful way," said Craig
Forman, CEO of McClatchy. "We're confident that our viewers
and readers across the country will be motivated to contribute to
this effort, inspired by the extraordinary work our journalists
produce in honor of Veterans Day and beyond."
"Our military servicemembers give selflessly everyday to defend
the values and freedoms of this country," said Jerry Ashton, former U.S. Navy journalist and
RIP's co-founder and EVP. "We're enormously pleased to partner with
McClatchy in advance of Veterans Day to let service men and women,
veterans and their families know that their communities care for
them."
McClatchy will launch its "War Within Initiative" on Veterans
Day with a call to action encouraging viewers and readers across
its 30 newsrooms to donate to RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that
buys bundles of medical debt at a steep discount and forgives it.
McClatchy will also support the fundraising effort with a social
media campaign on the Facebook pages of these local newsrooms
across the country and after each episode of "The War Within" on
Facebook Watch, which will run until the end of January 2019.
Profiles of the three main characters featured in "The War
Within" will be published by the McClatchy news sites of their home
states -- Washington State: The
(Tacoma) News Tribune, The
Olympian, The Bellingham Herald and The Tri-City Herald; and eight
sites in the Carolinas including, The (Raleigh) News & Observer, The Charlotte
Observer and The State in Columbia, South
Carolina. During the week of Veterans Day, McClatchy's
Florida newsrooms -- the Miami
Herald, el Nuevo Herald and the
Bradenton Herald -- will feature profiles of veterans of multiple
wars and stories about the challenges they face.
More than half of McClatchy's newsrooms across 14 states are
located about an hour's drive from a U.S. military base.
McClatchy has a history of community-based campaigns to support
good causes. From Eleanor
McClatchy's support for the war effort in the 1940s — which
included, among many other projects, a Fresno Bee campaign to
collect and send pictures of local newborn babies to their fathers
overseas — to the Charlotte Observer's annual Summer Camp Fund that
raises money in the community to send children to camp,
McClatchy newsrooms have always played an active role in helping
their communities.
About McClatchy Studios
McClatchy Studios is the
documentary production arm of McClatchy and is dedicated to
revelatory nonfiction storytelling driven by local characters with
national appeal. We tap into the rich, on-the-ground reporting by
our team of of multimedia journalists based in local communities
across the US and package it in formats that engage audiences on a
variety of platforms. We find compelling ways to embrace everything
storytelling can be — inspiring, motivating and entertaining.
About RIP Medical Debt
RIP Medical Debt is a nonprofit
that buys and forgives medical debt across America. RIP works with
individual donors, philanthropists and organizations to purchase
medical debt for pennies on the dollar to provide financial relief
for those burdened by impossible medical bills. Founded in 2014 by
two former collections industry executives, Craig Antico & Jerry
Ashton, RIP rose to national prominence on an episode of
HBO's "Last Week Tonight" with John
Oliver in which RIP facilitated the abolishment of
$15M in medical debt. To learn more
visit www.ripmedicaldebt.org
About Facebook Watch:
Facebook Watch is a place to discover and enjoy shows on Facebook.
Home to a wide range of shows – from scripted comedy and drama, to
competition and reality series, to individual creators and live
sports – Facebook Watch is a video platform where episodic content,
community and conversation come together. This is a personalized
viewing experience, where you can discover new series based on what
your friends are watching, and catch up on the shows you follow.
Facebook Watch is available for free on mobile apps across Apple
and Android, on desktop, laptop and on TV apps listed here:
https://videoapp.fb.com/.
About McClatchy
McClatchy operates 30 media companies
in 14 states, providing each of its communities with strong
independent local journalism in the public interest and advertising
services in a wide array of digital and print formats. McClatchy is
a publisher of iconic brands including the Miami Herald, The Kansas
City Star, The Sacramento Bee, The Charlotte Observer, The
(Raleigh) News & Observer, and
the (Fort Worth) Star-Telegram.
McClatchy is headquartered in Sacramento,
Calif., and listed on the New York Stock Exchange American
under the symbol MNI. #ReadLocal #WatchLocal
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SOURCE McClatchy