[Music]
when I started in journalism the
Internet has been around for 15 years I
was covering the Arab Spring engulfing
Libya Tunisia and Egypt really using
social media and I was helping to
produce a nightly news show PBS newshour
when the small town of Libya was being
shelled by Gaddafi forces I use social
media
to locate a professor there hunkered
down in his house afraid for his life
but he was willing to share his story we
couldn’t identify his identity but his
story was gripping it felt powerful and
important and in a very small way it
felt like a pinnacle of my journalism
career here I was a girl from Kazakhstan
who used to sell shock absorbers out of
human’s apartment covering the biggest
international story of the world of the
of the world really for the American
news show
but then weeks passed and I keep
thinking about that professor what
happened to him was he okay I tried to
get in touch to no avail
and then when I started working for a
local newspaper here in Pittsburgh I
realized what was missing in that story
and that is I wasn’t really the
stakeholder of the Zawiya story you know
I was with a show we moved with a new
cycle new countries new social media
connections and what was I really doing
was a holding Muammar Gaddafi
accountable the Libya dictator as
powerful as PBS is I’m sure he didn’t
care and that’s the world we’re in right
from the streets
of Pittsburgh to the penthouses of Paris
we you know everybody with internet
connection can get access to all human
knowledge available on the web and then
the curators of that information are
also have different understandings of
what those responsibilities are you know
who decides what Fitz what’s fit to
print on the web what’s fit to publish
everyone who is holding anyone
accountable no one really and here we
are in the world where the newspapers
have been disappearing and their
business models have been eroding in the
past 40 years 25 percent of the
newspapers have completely disappeared
the newsroom staff again have been
caught in 2017 the newspaper reporter
has been determined to be the worst job
to have worse than a lumberjack or a
pest control worker but in all of these
you know pursuit of cliques clickbait
listicles meaningless stories speed we
have we forgot that the production of
public service journalism is really
important for our society the type of
public service journalism that Thomas
Jefferson had said that he would prefer
in the absence of government rather than
vice versa
instead what we have is what we feed our
readers are you know the what Morgan
Spurlock fed his stomach you have you
know the body politic really suffers on
a steady diet of waterskiing squirrels
in propaganda but what is journalism why
do we need it why is it so important why
is the Free Press enshrined in the First
Amendment it is about truth
why truth is important well democracy
depends on truth because without true
we don’t have trust without trust we
don’t have the rule of law and without
the rule of law we don’t have democracy
historian Timothy Snyder said it
eloquently and another thing is that
journalism is really public service
journalism it is supposed to serve the
public to afflict the comfortable and
comfort the afflicted to rock the boat
to shake the status quo what do you
think when I say journalism you’re
probably thinking of this you know
name’s Walter Cronkite dan Rather
Anderson Cooper you might be thinking of
big names like the New York Times Fox
News and PR or you might be thinking of
these guys Jon Stewart Trevor Noah and
John Oliver with his beautiful British
accent but these are national big
organizations that are not really in
trouble you know they’re called fake
news and but good journalism is being
being produced in America and we see it
every day what is really in trouble is
local news don’t take my word for it I
don’t know how the editor of the New
York Times got hold of my slides but he
did say say this week that the biggest
crisis in American journalism is local
news I couldn’t verify if the Russians
were involved but then what do you think
of when I say local news you’re probably
thinking of big you know channels you’re
thinking of the local newspaper you’re
thinking of the radio stations or you
might be thinking of this guy right Ron
Burgundy you know we like to laugh at
local news but no wonder right because
is it public service to know the three
ways the Steelers can win the game is it
public service to know that six ways elk
mating is gets Pennsylvania going or
seven
Strong’s you had no idea existed in your
city well that’s not really public
service but public service journalism is
important to the fulfillment of the
dream that we have as the city to take
us to the next level because as the city
we need journalism that actually it
tells us how could we do better how
could we become the society we really
want to be pittsburgh for all the city
for all the kind that our mayor likes to
talk about well you know and then there
are the stories like this public service
to talk for a week about catfish I’m
with the Penguins fan by the way then we
have stories like this about power
outages the stories that get a life like
that live for 15 minutes then you have
stories like where you can find the
cheapest gas or you can see you know
endless weather stories that just
consume us and we hear again and again
who gets to report the first raindrops
first but then you know you hear well
maybe that’s what people want this is
what people want we give them what they
want but is it really what they want we
asked a few people what do you want from
local news what they say is I want
stories that relate to me I want the
story with accurate information
I want stories that cover inconvenient
topics unsatisfied by trivialities
I want depth so what’s the solution you
know the Internet has given us a lot of
powerful tools but it also has you know
disintegrated the fabric oh that used to
rely on newspapers and I think that the
solution does not lie on the legacy news
organizations that have been there and
not fulfilling the purpose of public
service journalist making it survival
though with they do try to do that work
but it becomes harder and harder the
future of
public service local public service
journalism lies in smaller nonprofit
newsrooms that believe that that type of
journalism is important for the
communities that we want to live in as
Clay Shirky said society doesn’t need
newspapers what we need is journalism
let me ask you what kind of society do
you want to live in do you want to live
in a society that is diverse that is
informed that is comfortable in taking a
closer look and what’s wrong and how key
we can fix it or do you want to this lit
to live in a society that is scared
lives in its own online bubbles that is
alienating important members of the
community I hope you believe you want to
live in the society that is the former
so that’s where public service
journalism is really important because
what does what do we do what does public
service journalism I do it gives voice
to the voiceless
it gives it covers stories that are not
about just you know shooting happen
amend that shot but it cut it looks into
you know that 50% of murders in
Pittsburgh in 2016 were not solved and
Cassidy’s mom is one of them and it’s
important to tell his story it’s the
story like Mona Spencer who has been
homeless and really an orphan and she
finds resilience and strength in
fulfilling her dreams of pursuing
education is journalism that covers
voices like Gary Reeves who has been a
victim of gentrification and has been
when his story is told feels very
grateful for it it’s the stories that
drive change that tells us what’s wrong
with our education with our perception
that the stories that educate our
teachers on how to be better at what
they do it’s the stories that serve you
as as a watchdog to tell you how yet
tax money is being spent it’s the
stories that give you tools that teach
you how to use publicly available
records to be an active and engage
citizen there are organizations that
support that type of journalism public
service journalism journalism that sees
its mission for public good there are a
lot of foundations locally and
nationally who have been advocates and
supporters of that type of journalism
and we are eternally grateful for that
support but there is also an important
component and that is you so what can
you do what can you do to empower public
service journalism well first of all
reward good journalism it’s really
important that you read it right and you
also it’s really important that if you
have young people in your life you teach
them with kind of stories a meaning
meaningful stories you also you know
with so much choice on the web it’s also
important for you to make your choices
deliberate because it’s an opportunity
cost when you’re reading meaningless
stories you’re not reading these stories
that are important to your community
well so you should use your brain use
your critical thinking see is it an
opinion piece that you’re reading is it
a news report is it a breaking news
story is it actually a story that relies
on good sourcing and has gone through a
thorough check and also see who’s quoted
in those stories you would actually be
surprised in how many times you will see
just men being quoted in those stories
it happens quite often in Pittsburgh and
also hold media companies accountable if
you are not satisfied with the type of
reporting they are doing call them out
on it write letters to the editor
comment call the editor and if you know
get to know your journalists that cover
your community in the issues that you
care about they’re people too
and speak up be heard if you feel like
there is a story that is not being
covered right now talk about it find a
news organizations that actually will
find that your story is important to be
told and will tell it and support good
journalism you know all of that all of
those hours of fact-checking and finding
good stories and including all of these
sources it costs money so support good
journalism and lastly I am I’m an
optimist that the that public service
journalism is going to survive and it’s
going to thrive as we are figuring out
what the future of journalism looks like
I also am NOT going back to Washington
DC to cover Libya stories I am the stake
holder in Pittsburgh success and I it’s
my home and I hope that all of these
moments and stories that matter to
Pittsburgh that Mona Spencer story of
her being able to fulfill her dream with
a Jerry Eve story of him of him being
able to speak up and get his voice heard
they are all important but they are just
moments we need to make public service
journalism a movement please help us
make it a movement help us speak truth
to power Pittsburgh thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
you
when I started in journalism the
Internet has been around for 15 years I
was covering the Arab Spring engulfing
Libya Tunisia and Egypt really using
social media and I was helping to
produce a nightly news show PBS newshour
when the small town of Libya was being
shelled by Gaddafi forces I use social
media
to locate a professor there hunkered
down in his house afraid for his life
but he was willing to share his story we
couldn’t identify his identity but his
story was gripping it felt powerful and
important and in a very small way it
felt like a pinnacle of my journalism
career here I was a girl from Kazakhstan
who used to sell shock absorbers out of
human’s apartment covering the biggest
international story of the world of the
of the world really for the American
news show
but then weeks passed and I keep
thinking about that professor what
happened to him was he okay I tried to
get in touch to no avail
and then when I started working for a
local newspaper here in Pittsburgh I
realized what was missing in that story
and that is I wasn’t really the
stakeholder of the Zawiya story you know
I was with a show we moved with a new
cycle new countries new social media
connections and what was I really doing
was a holding Muammar Gaddafi
accountable the Libya dictator as
powerful as PBS is I’m sure he didn’t
care and that’s the world we’re in right
from the streets
of Pittsburgh to the penthouses of Paris
we you know everybody with internet
connection can get access to all human
knowledge available on the web and then
the curators of that information are
also have different understandings of
what those responsibilities are you know
who decides what Fitz what’s fit to
print on the web what’s fit to publish
everyone who is holding anyone
accountable no one really and here we
are in the world where the newspapers
have been disappearing and their
business models have been eroding in the
past 40 years 25 percent of the
newspapers have completely disappeared
the newsroom staff again have been
caught in 2017 the newspaper reporter
has been determined to be the worst job
to have worse than a lumberjack or a
pest control worker but in all of these
you know pursuit of cliques clickbait
listicles meaningless stories speed we
have we forgot that the production of
public service journalism is really
important for our society the type of
public service journalism that Thomas
Jefferson had said that he would prefer
in the absence of government rather than
vice versa
instead what we have is what we feed our
readers are you know the what Morgan
Spurlock fed his stomach you have you
know the body politic really suffers on
a steady diet of waterskiing squirrels
in propaganda but what is journalism why
do we need it why is it so important why
is the Free Press enshrined in the First
Amendment it is about truth
why truth is important well democracy
depends on truth because without true
we don’t have trust without trust we
don’t have the rule of law and without
the rule of law we don’t have democracy
historian Timothy Snyder said it
eloquently and another thing is that
journalism is really public service
journalism it is supposed to serve the
public to afflict the comfortable and
comfort the afflicted to rock the boat
to shake the status quo what do you
think when I say journalism you’re
probably thinking of this you know
name’s Walter Cronkite dan Rather
Anderson Cooper you might be thinking of
big names like the New York Times Fox
News and PR or you might be thinking of
these guys Jon Stewart Trevor Noah and
John Oliver with his beautiful British
accent but these are national big
organizations that are not really in
trouble you know they’re called fake
news and but good journalism is being
being produced in America and we see it
every day what is really in trouble is
local news don’t take my word for it I
don’t know how the editor of the New
York Times got hold of my slides but he
did say say this week that the biggest
crisis in American journalism is local
news I couldn’t verify if the Russians
were involved but then what do you think
of when I say local news you’re probably
thinking of big you know channels you’re
thinking of the local newspaper you’re
thinking of the radio stations or you
might be thinking of this guy right Ron
Burgundy you know we like to laugh at
local news but no wonder right because
is it public service to know the three
ways the Steelers can win the game is it
public service to know that six ways elk
mating is gets Pennsylvania going or
seven
Strong’s you had no idea existed in your
city well that’s not really public
service but public service journalism is
important to the fulfillment of the
dream that we have as the city to take
us to the next level because as the city
we need journalism that actually it
tells us how could we do better how
could we become the society we really
want to be pittsburgh for all the city
for all the kind that our mayor likes to
talk about well you know and then there
are the stories like this public service
to talk for a week about catfish I’m
with the Penguins fan by the way then we
have stories like this about power
outages the stories that get a life like
that live for 15 minutes then you have
stories like where you can find the
cheapest gas or you can see you know
endless weather stories that just
consume us and we hear again and again
who gets to report the first raindrops
first but then you know you hear well
maybe that’s what people want this is
what people want we give them what they
want but is it really what they want we
asked a few people what do you want from
local news what they say is I want
stories that relate to me I want the
story with accurate information
I want stories that cover inconvenient
topics unsatisfied by trivialities
I want depth so what’s the solution you
know the Internet has given us a lot of
powerful tools but it also has you know
disintegrated the fabric oh that used to
rely on newspapers and I think that the
solution does not lie on the legacy news
organizations that have been there and
not fulfilling the purpose of public
service journalist making it survival
though with they do try to do that work
but it becomes harder and harder the
future of
public service local public service
journalism lies in smaller nonprofit
newsrooms that believe that that type of
journalism is important for the
communities that we want to live in as
Clay Shirky said society doesn’t need
newspapers what we need is journalism
let me ask you what kind of society do
you want to live in do you want to live
in a society that is diverse that is
informed that is comfortable in taking a
closer look and what’s wrong and how key
we can fix it or do you want to this lit
to live in a society that is scared
lives in its own online bubbles that is
alienating important members of the
community I hope you believe you want to
live in the society that is the former
so that’s where public service
journalism is really important because
what does what do we do what does public
service journalism I do it gives voice
to the voiceless
it gives it covers stories that are not
about just you know shooting happen
amend that shot but it cut it looks into
you know that 50% of murders in
Pittsburgh in 2016 were not solved and
Cassidy’s mom is one of them and it’s
important to tell his story it’s the
story like Mona Spencer who has been
homeless and really an orphan and she
finds resilience and strength in
fulfilling her dreams of pursuing
education is journalism that covers
voices like Gary Reeves who has been a
victim of gentrification and has been
when his story is told feels very
grateful for it it’s the stories that
drive change that tells us what’s wrong
with our education with our perception
that the stories that educate our
teachers on how to be better at what
they do it’s the stories that serve you
as as a watchdog to tell you how yet
tax money is being spent it’s the
stories that give you tools that teach
you how to use publicly available
records to be an active and engage
citizen there are organizations that
support that type of journalism public
service journalism journalism that sees
its mission for public good there are a
lot of foundations locally and
nationally who have been advocates and
supporters of that type of journalism
and we are eternally grateful for that
support but there is also an important
component and that is you so what can
you do what can you do to empower public
service journalism well first of all
reward good journalism it’s really
important that you read it right and you
also it’s really important that if you
have young people in your life you teach
them with kind of stories a meaning
meaningful stories you also you know
with so much choice on the web it’s also
important for you to make your choices
deliberate because it’s an opportunity
cost when you’re reading meaningless
stories you’re not reading these stories
that are important to your community
well so you should use your brain use
your critical thinking see is it an
opinion piece that you’re reading is it
a news report is it a breaking news
story is it actually a story that relies
on good sourcing and has gone through a
thorough check and also see who’s quoted
in those stories you would actually be
surprised in how many times you will see
just men being quoted in those stories
it happens quite often in Pittsburgh and
also hold media companies accountable if
you are not satisfied with the type of
reporting they are doing call them out
on it write letters to the editor
comment call the editor and if you know
get to know your journalists that cover
your community in the issues that you
care about they’re people too
and speak up be heard if you feel like
there is a story that is not being
covered right now talk about it find a
news organizations that actually will
find that your story is important to be
told and will tell it and support good
journalism you know all of that all of
those hours of fact-checking and finding
good stories and including all of these
sources it costs money so support good
journalism and lastly I am I’m an
optimist that the that public service
journalism is going to survive and it’s
going to thrive as we are figuring out
what the future of journalism looks like
I also am NOT going back to Washington
DC to cover Libya stories I am the stake
holder in Pittsburgh success and I it’s
my home and I hope that all of these
moments and stories that matter to
Pittsburgh that Mona Spencer story of
her being able to fulfill her dream with
a Jerry Eve story of him of him being
able to speak up and get his voice heard
they are all important but they are just
moments we need to make public service
journalism a movement please help us
make it a movement help us speak truth
to power Pittsburgh thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
you
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