The state of local news has been a serious issue over the past few years.
“Today, true stories are challenged across America due to the loss of key storytellers — trained journalists,” according to Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation. “Nationwide, nearly 60% of those newspaper jobs have been eliminated in the past decade or so.”
The center will take a look at the challenges the industry faces, celebrate local news and strengthen ties between communities and journalists with its first Newsapalooza, Sept. 27-28, mostly Downtown at Point Park and its Pittsburgh Playhouse.
“We’re seeing massive disruption in the relationship between journalism and the community in the past several decades,” said Andrew Conte, assistant vice president and managing director of the center. With this event, “We’re hoping to reconnect people in Western Pennsylvania with journalists who tell the stories and do it in a fun way.”
Organizers want to show that local journalists are part of the communities they cover — neighbors seen at Friday night football games, at fish fries and other events, Conte said. “It’s not some foreign thing. We want to remind [residents] of the authentic power of stories well told.”
He said the event will be an opportunity for people who care about local news but don’t know what to do about it.
The slate of speakers will kick off with keynote Robert Costa, CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent and a Pennsylvania native, at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.
“We thought it would be great to have someone talk about the unique dynamics of Pittsburgh being the swingiest corner of Pennsylvania,” Conte said.
When CMI reached out to Costa, Conte said, the correspondent loved the idea of what Newsapalooza was putting together, as were others who will be participating in discussions.
“We didn’t want to just pay for anyone to come; we wanted speakers who believed in the mission,” Conte said.
At 3 p.m., Robby Robinson, now editor at large at the Boston Globe, will lead the discussion “Who Watches the Powerful” with Chris Baxter of Spotlight PA. The Globe’s investigation of child abuse and cover-up within the Catholic Church was the focus of the 2016 movie “Spotlight.”
Local topics and speakers also featured that Friday include:
Presidential Politics in the Rust Belt & Appalachia with Annafi Wahed, founder of The Flip Side; Marita Garrett, a former mayor and founder of Civically; and Salena Zito, political columnist at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Washington Examiner.
Is Pittsburgh Still a City of Champions? with Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News, Big Ten Network and FoxSports; and Jennifer Bullano Ridgley, Pittsburgh Penguins chief communications officer; and others.
Pennsylvania Colleges Can Help Water Local News Deserts with Richard Watts, director of the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News, and others.
New Report: Where Pittsburgh Gets its News, with University of Pittsburgh professors Lara Putnam and Elise Silva and findings of a groundbreaking study.
Diverse Communities Need Stronger Newsroom Support, with Letrell Crittenden, director of inclusion and audience growth at the American Press Institute.
Press Forward Pittsburgh: Philanthropy Support for Local News with Christina Shih, associate director of the national Press Forward initiative, and other local foundation leaders.
Friday will wrap up with The Pittsburgh Pitch, a party and story-pitch contest during which 10 journalists — five professional and five not — will pitch a story idea in front of a live audience, “Shark Tank” style. Winners will get $1,000 each to help them report and publish their stories.
The competition is hosted by YaJagoff Media’s John and Rachael, and celebrity judges include Sally Wiggin, Rick Sebak and Miracle Jones.
Newsapalooza will have offerings for future journalists as well.
“We’ll also be doing specific programming for high school students,” Conte said, adding that organizers are hoping to get at least 250 students to participate.
College students will also take part, he said. Point Park has been working with other local schools such as the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne, Chatham and Robert Morris universities in the planning and having students attend for free.
Newsapalooza also will introduce CMI’s Next Generation Newsroom, an initiative to fill gaps in local news, create pathways to journalism careers, support the existing news ecosystem and serve readers through 29 regional publishing partners who make up the Pittsburgh Media Partnership.
In advance of Newsapalooza, PMP members, including Pittsburgh Union Progress, have been publishing and sharing profiles of “community doers,” all of whom are invited to be guests Friday evening.
And on that Saturday, several of those outlets will hold community events in their newsrooms or other places. For example, Soul Pitt Media will be at Everyday Cafe in Homewood from 1 to 3 p.m. Pittsburgh Latino Magazine will have a table at Kennywood Park’s Latino Day from 1 to 5 p.m. with part of ticket sales benefiting Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corp. OnStage Pittsburgh will be podcasting from the lobby of South Side’s City Theatre before its 5:30 p.m. and later shows with “Yinz Are Good” podcaster Tressa Glover, Richard Parsakian and some other theater folks.
Newsapalooza will not be a one-and-done effort.
“We are hoping to do this annually. We hope it becomes a movement for local news, to raise awareness of local news. People are not aware of the massive disruption that is going on across our industry,” Conte said.
“We have a role to provide access to the free flow of information to support our democracy.”
Tickets are $10 for all-day access to Newsapalooza events on Friday. A $300 membership level includes a Newsapalooza kickoff reception at the National Aviary on Thursday; Newsapalooza access with preferred seating at all events on Friday; a fall/winter 2024 guided tour of CMI with founder Conte, opportunities in 2024-25 to engage the founding team of the Next Generation Newsroom; and a Newsapalooza T-shirt and tote bag.
Information: newsapalooza.org.
The Union Progress’ Bob Batz Jr. contributed.
Karen is a copy editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she's currently on strike. Email her at kcarlin@unionprogress.com.