The Struggle to Save and Revivify Local Media
Since 2005 nearly a third of the newspapers in the U.S. have folded up for good, many at the hands of rapacious capital firms intent on squeezing every last drop of profit out of the “Third Estate.” Local news, so vital to the practice of democracy on the ground in communities, is seriously at risk. Half of the counties in the country now qualify as “news deserts,” but against this specter of corporate domination, a booming expansion of nonprofit newsrooms, along with a renewed public interest in local news, is pointing the way towards a truly innovative media future. In this session, some leading editors and journalists will share their visions about what a future of news built on collaboration, community engagement and a commitment to exceptional journalism could look like, if enough of us get involved. Hosted by Christa Scharfenberg, Director of the California Local News Fellowship program at UC Berkeley. With: Larry Ryckman, Editor and co-founder of The Colorado Sun, previously Senior Editor at The Denver Post; Jacob Simas, Community Journalism Director at Cityside Journalism Initiative; Madeleine Bair, founder of El Tímpano.
The Marsh Theater
March 28th | 3:00 pm to 4:15 pm
Panelists
Madeleine Bair
Founder
El Tímpano
Madeleine Bair is the founder of El Tímpano, an award-winning civic media organization designed with and for the Bay Area’s Latino and Mayan immigrant communities. Madeleine, who has been carrying a microphone in her backpack since she belonged to the Oakland bureau of Children’s Express, has taught radio production to young adults, worked on a morning show at Chicago Public Radio, produced multimedia for Human Rights Watch, and collaborated with media activists from around the world. Her stories have appeared in the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, Colorlines, and Orion, and broadcast on PRI’s The World and Independent Lens.
Larry Ryckman
Co-Founder and Editor
The Colorado Sun
Larry Ryckman, co-founder and Editor of The Colorado Sun, was previously: Senior Editor at The Denver Post; Managing Editor at The Gazette in Colorado Springs; and City Editor at the Greeley Tribune. Ryckman also spent 22 years at The Associated Press (AP), where he was Assistant Managing Editor and a National Editor and Supervisor of the AP's national desk in New York. He also spent nearly four years as a Moscow correspondent for AP and helped cover the fall of the Soviet Union and supervised AP's coverage of the Columbine High School massacre and directed its coverage of the presidential election recount in Florida in 2000.
Jacob Simas
Community Journalism Director
Cityside Journalism Initiative
Jacob Simas, Oakland-based Community Journalism Director at Cityside Journalism Initiative, previously managed social-impact initiatives at Univision, established a youth journalism training program with Fusion Media Group, and was a Senior Editor and Director of Youth and Community Media at New America Media/Pacific News Service. Before journalism, Simas was a school-based counselor and program director for Latino youth and families at the nonprofit Horizons Unlimited in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Christa Scharfenberg
