May 23rd 2019

How would you change local media in Chicago? How would you change coverage of the West Side, Austin?

On April 4, 2019, we partnered with Chicago’s Newberry Library for our 102nd Public Newsroom to answer this question by about looking at news coverage of the 1919 Race Riots and what, if anything, has changed in today’s media. (Check out City Bureau Co-Founder Darryl Holliday’s recap of the event here: https://medium.com/city-bureau/whats-in-your-local-news-contract-a849b4497602)

Attendees crafted 30 declarative sentences to describe their thoughts and feelings for what equitable local news should look like based on their lived experiences and in-person conversations. These “declarations” got us off to a great start, but we wanted to give more people the opportunity to draft a new contract for local news.

So we’re bringing this workshop to Austin May 23rd with the Austin Weekly News. We want this discussion to be a space where residents across the city can reimagine local news and put those ideas into action, either individually or as coordinated campaigns.

The evening will feature a conversation about local reporting in Austin both past and present. Then participants will break into groups to generate declarations to add to our list. If you can’t make the event feel free to add your own thoughts via this form (https://airtable.com/shrjGJIEYCqvRxHG8) and check out the list already generated here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18QMarGsZd2OqUpqHcjNfE4WEmxgK7fRZLtY3Y5N6n9U/edit.

If you can’t make this workshop, we’ll be hosting another declarations workshop on May 30th at Monarca restaurant in Back of the Yards with The Gate Newspaper.

City Bureau’s #PublicNewsroom is a series of free, weekly workshops and discussions aimed at building trust between journalists and the communities they serve while shaping a more inclusive newsroom.

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