I’m heading into San Francisco now for this event:
Support Independent Journalism in the Bay Area!
Benefiting: Newsdesk.org and The Public Press
When: Dec. 4, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Where: Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin (bet. Geary & O’Farrell), San Francisco
For more information: Support Independent Journalism in the Bay Area!
About The Public Press: "The San Francisco Public Press is a new nonprofit local news organization whose aim is to increase the coverage of important but under-covered news topics through a daily print newspaper and the Web. The paper will stress government and private-sector accountability, consumer protection and issues of social inequality. We are developing a business model unique in the newspaper world, balancing subscription revenue with public-broadcasting-style pledges and philanthropy."
About Newsdesk.org: "Since 2000, Newsdesk.org has led commercial mass media with groundbreaking, nonpoliticized coverage of veterans’ health care and PTSD; the 2004 presidential election and the 2003 San Francisco mayoral runoff; the energy industry in the developing world; genetically engineered agriculture, and much more. Newsdesk also is the producer of News You Might Have Missed, a unique source for important but overlooked news from around the world, published every Wednesday since February 2002."
Update: Just back from tonight’s event. Had hoped to chat with Christina Azocar, director of SF State’s Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism, but she left before I had the chance. Instead caught up with Chris O’Brien of the San Jose Merc, David Cohn of Spot.us, Margaret Rosas of Public Camp fame and Marc Smolowitz of TellyTopia. Also met Lauren Riggs of the Wall Street Journal and Ricardo Sandoval Palos, assistant city editor of the Sacramento Bee, my former paper.
Two San Francisco journalism efforts that deserve wider attention:
• Missionlocal.org, a youth reporting project that operates out of San Francisco’s Mission district.
• KALW Public Radio (91.7 FM)’s Crosscurrents, an independent daily news program in the San Francisco Bay Area providing context, culture and connections for all communities.
The 20/30 somethings behind Newsdesk and Public Press, Josh Wilson and Michael Stoll, spoke and stirred the 80-member crowd with reminders of how journalism has historically served the public interest, and will do so again regardless of the medium or format. I’ll be watching the progress of Newsdesk.org and the Public Press with great interest.
JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.
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