The Public Press will make a prominent showing at the Journalism That Matters conference at the headquarters of Yahoo Inc. at the end of the month.
More than 150 high-tech and media pioneers from a range of industries are meeting for a “concept/design mashup” as part of a nationwide conversation — one aimed at making media reform tangible by creating new products and services that support the core social missions of journalism.
The event, which organizers are calling NewsTools2008, is scheduled from April 30 to May 2; the final day of the event — the Innovations in Journalism Expo and mini-conference, organized by the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and Independent Arts & Media, will take place at the Domain Hotel in Sunnyvale on Saturday, May 3. (Affordably priced tickets to the expo are still available. See below for details.) Both events will host representatives from universities, multimedia startups from across the country, product designers, and journalists from the dominant Bay Area News Group and beyond.
Public Press organizer Michael Stoll will be connecting with more established local startup nonprofits and will give an update on the project at the May 3 expo.
The main conference, starting April 30, is jointly organized by the Journalism That Matters Collaborative and the Media Giraffe Project. Unlike typical journalism conferences, NewsTools2008 is intended to incubate and launch projects through spontaneously organized so-called design circles, “to conceive or deploy the best tools — off the shelf and invented on-the-fly — to put those values and elements into practice.”
One of the participants, Louis Freedberg, who will be moderating a panel on the future of Public Media at the May 3 expo, recently wrote an opinion piece in the Sacramento Bee urging more investment in bold journalism experiments statewide. The op-ed, “State needs new strategies for reporting on California,” presents evidence that such projects — like the Public Press — are sorely needed. Freedberg writes about the findings of a study last fall by the newly formed California Media Collaborative, assessing the quality and quantity of news coverage in the state. The group polled some 70 California leaders who follow the news closely. Their responses revealed that newsmakers themselves find state news coverage to be “fair” or “poor.”
The time is ripe for bold experimentation in business models and modes of communication that support quality journalism. Watch this space for a report back on presentations and evolving ideas from the two conferences.
If you want to attend: NewsTools2008 is nearly sold out (and costs several hundred dollars to participate). But the May 3 journalism innovations expo costs $30 for the day, with discounts available for students and members of sponsoring organizations, and includes individual career counseling sessions for both aspiring and recently displaced journalists. Remember that the venue has changed — all Saturday activities will take place at the Domain Hotel (1085 East El Camino Real in Sunnyvale), not at Yahoo itself.
