The digital and local news industry is in full disruption, with legacy players shedding staff and consolidating while an unprecedented number of innovative digital startups seek to create a healthy new ecosystem and order. In this panel discussion, we heard from some of the most innovative entrepreneurs and journalists leading the new wave — about the reality of both the headwinds and the tailwinds in this challenging environment.
Craig Forman, Shorenstein Center Schuster Media & Technology Fellow and former president and CEO of McClatchy & Co. moderated the discussion.
Panelists included:
- Madeleine Bair, founder and CEO of El Tímpano, a pathbreaking community reporting lab focused on the Latino and Mayan immigrant communities of the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Paulette Brown-Hinds, publisher of Black Voice News and founder of Voice Media Ventures, and a leading thinker and investor on digital (and legacy) community media.
- Margaret Coker, founder and CEO of The Current, a local news digital startup focused on coastal Georgia. Previously, Margaret was Baghdad bureau chief of The New York Times and also foreign correspondent at The Wall Street Journal.
- Candice Fortman, cofounder and CEO of Detroit’s Outlier Media, a local digital startup that uses a variety of innovative techniques to reach an underserved audience.
- Jessica Yellin, founder and CEO of NewsNotNoise, where she has built on her outstanding broadcast career at CNN and ABC to create a widely watched and highly regarded video news startups on Instagram.
