On the heels of the election of a new board and an energizing national conference, AWC Seattle is ready to engage members and appeal to newcomers with a powerful presentation about the ever-changing local news landscape.
The plight of bricks-and-mortar newsrooms that were once the foundation of an informed American society has reached a perilous state of play. From 2008 to 2018, newspapers across the US lost nearly half of their workforce, and newspaper circulation has hit historic lows as more people consume news online.
The loss of people and publications hit some print news sections particularly hard -- local news and investigative news, two sections with generally lower ad revenue, have had to scramble to survive and continue to provide news essential for a thriving democracy.
Passionate and committed journalists had to break new ground, find new audiences, embrace new business models and adapt to new distribution archetypes to be sustainable and remain credible.
Against all odds, three local journalists launched three very different digital newsrooms that have staked a claim in the Puget Sound news scene.
Join us for lunch as we find out what inspired them to create their online news platforms, what challenges they face, what they see for the future of journalism, and how they work with communications professionals.
Panelists:
Monica Guzman –
Co-Founder of The Evergrey, www.theevergrey.com Founded 2016
The Evergrey is a digital news publication that helps Seattleites make the most of their city. Each weekday morning newsletter explains how the city is changing, brings together people with different perspectives and highlights communities and fun things to do that will help you “live like you live here.”
The Evergrey is financially supported by sponsored projects and branded marketing content, and is committed to transparency about the nature of their business relationships.
Mónica Guzmán is Vice President of Local at WhereBy.Us, leading a team of entrepreneurial journalists who are helping locals in five cities “live like you live here." She is the cofounder and former director of The Evergrey, the essential newsletter for Seattleites who want to make the most of their city, and a former columnist at The Seattle Times, GeekWire, The Daily Beast and The Columbia Journalism Review. Moni studied how to connect journalists and the public as a 2016 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and is studying political and social divisions as a 2019 Henry M. Jackson Leadership Fellow.
Robert McClure -
Founder of non-profit InvestigateWest, www.invw.org Founded 2009
InvestigateWest offers a new nonprofit model for watchdog journalism that enriches the Puget Sound community. The editorial team invests in original reporting — on public health, the environment, and government accountability — and produces powerful stories with a clear bearing on public policy.
By partnering with commercial media and public broadcasters, InvestigateWest creates new opportunities for individuals and teams of journalists to take on ambitious reporting assignments and learn new skills.
Robert McClure is executive director of InvestigateWest, a nonprofit journalism studio based in Seattle with a focus on the environment, public health and government accountability, and a 10-year track record of change-making journalism. A veteran newspaper reporter, McClure has been a Pulitzer Prize finalist and the winner of the John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism from Columbia University. In 2013, he was named as one of Seattle Magazine’s “most influential” people in the city. He has been the recipient of two prestigious professional fellowships funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that allowed him to study at the University of Michigan, MIT and Harvard University. A Florida native, McClure started his professional career at United Press International in Miami and later worked at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Teresa Wippel –
Owner and founder of the My Neighborhood News Network https://myneighbornewsnetwork.com Founded 2009
The My Neighborhood News Network encompasses three local news sites in Snohomish County, My Edmonds News, Mountlake News and Lynnwood Today. The sites are independently owned, dedicated to providing a valuable community service, and committed to journalism. All three sites are supported by online advertising and reader donations.
Teresa says, “Journalism is an essential cornerstone to American democracy and in a small town, it connects people to their neighbors and the institutions that they value: their schools, city government and community organizations as well as activities and events.
Teresa Wippel is the publisher of the My Neighborhood News Network, with three online community news sites just north of Seattle, My Edmonds News, MLTnews and LynnwoodToday. A graduate of Seattle University, Teresa has worked for more than three decades as a communications professional in weekly and daily newspaper journalism, and magazine and online publishing. She also sits on the national Board of Directors for the Local Independent Online News Publishers Association.