Agenda

We’ll open with a special musical performance with pianist Michelle Cann, a champion of the music of classical composer Florence Price.

David Rousseau, Chair of the Board of Directors of Media Impact Funders, will outline our objectives for the 2022 Journalism Funders Gathering.

We’ve come a long way since 2002, when a handful of journalism funders got together to compare notes about the most pressing issues facing journalism and how funders could address them. In this session, we’ll explore this network’s origin story—where it started, what was happening in the field of journalism funding 20 years ago, what the network is now, and what it hopes to accomplish in the future.

America’s local news landscape has been shaped by massive technological and economic shifts over the last two decades, and understanding what’s working and where the gaps and opportunities exist will help us support more impactful solutions. In this session, Nancy Gibbs, Director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, will offer a sweeping overview of the current local news landscape, providing important context for the discussions that follow.

Several initiatives of note are making progress against the challenges of local news.

Internist, infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist Céline Gounder, an editor at Kaiser Health News, will share details about Kaiser Health News’ strategies to address health misinformation and disinformation.

Choose between three breakout sessions:

• Taking the long view: Reflections of 20 years of journalism grantmaking and a look ahead at future funding. Learn about new strategic shifts from fellow funders.
  (Location: Freedom Classroom)
  Facilitator: Jennifer Preston, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
• Going deeper on local journalism
  (Location: John C. Bogle Chairman’s Room)
  Facilitator: Taryn Fort, Colorado Health Foundation
• Strategies to fight health and science misinformation and disinformation
  (Location: Private Dining Room)
  Facilitator: Kaitlin Yarnall, National Geographic Society

Grab a bite to eat and connect with the friends and colleagues you haven’t seen in a while in the Grand Hall Overlook and Rooftop Terrace.

Steve Waldman, Co-Founder and President of Report for America and Founder and Chair of the Rebuild Local News Coalition, will share latest developments on federal and state government efforts to help local news.

Founded in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, Word in Black is a new digital national newsroom powered by a collaboration of the nation’s leading Black publishers. Andrew Ramsammy, Chief Content and Collaboration Officer at the Local Media Association, will share details about Word in Black’s mission to confront inequities, elevate solutions, and amplify the Black experience.

In this series of short talks, funders will hear best practices on a few important aspects of media grantmaking:

• Making sense of our media grants: A case study from the William Penn Foundation
• Is landscape research right for you?
• Best practices for supporting journalism with an equity lens

Enjoy some open time to chat with colleagues, catch up on email, or just take a minute for yourself and grab a snack.

This session—moderated by The 19th’s Editor-at-Large Errin Haines—will explore how funders can approach their relationships with nonprofit news organizations to achieve long-term sustainability. We’ll hear a few compelling approaches from media organizations whose trust-based relationships with funders have produced successful outcomes.

This session will highlight two new collaborative initiatives working to elevate civic engagement and dialogue on the local level. Last year, Hearken launched the Democracy SOS program to serve 20 newsrooms investing in long-term change to their civic reporting. And the Lenfest Institute for Journalism recently launched a comprehensive effort in Philadelphia to catalyze broad community engagement ahead of the city’s 2023 mayoral election. The 19th’s Editor-at-Large Errin Haines will moderate.

Special Musical Performance featuring Anthony Tidd and Sanity With Spoken Word Artist Ursula Rucker

Grab a bite, a drink, and network with your colleagues against the backdrop of the U.S. Constitution in the Delegates Cafe.

We’ll hear from Jelani Cobb, Staff Writer for The New Yorker and Dean of the Columbia Journalism School.

In this session moderated by MIF Communications Director Nina Sachdev, we’ll explore how media—and the funders who support it—tells the story of abortion, a polarizing topic that’s only gotten more controversial since the repeal of Roe v. Wade, a landmark Supreme Court ruling that protected a woman’s right to choose for nearly 50 years.

We’ll hear from Maya Ajmera, publisher of Science News, on the relationship between science and democracy, and the importance of supporting science journalism to keep citizens informed on issues that are central to our shared civic infrastructure.

Media organizations such as Documented, Love Now Media, and Black Voice News are transforming relationships with communities. Moderated by WHYY News Director Sarah Glover, this session will explore how we can reimagine the future of journalism.

Enjoy some open time to chat with colleagues, catch up on email, or just take a minute for yourself and grab a drink.

Choose between three concurrent sessions:

• (For grantmakers only) Experienced Grantmakers: Collaborations and balancing newsrooms and infrastructure (Location: Freedom Classroom)
  Facilitator: Melissa Milios Davis, Gates Family Foundation
• International Journalism: Reflections from reporting on Ukraine and strategies to support grantees beyond grantmaking
  (Location: Private Dining Room)
  Co-facilitators: Liz Baker, Humanity United; Alex Jakana, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 
• Local News: Deep dives into local news funds and community news funds
  (Location: John C. Bogle Chairman’s Room)
  Facilitator: Vince Stehle, Media Impact Funders

Grab a bite to eat and connect with the friends and colleagues you haven’t seen in a while in the Grand Hall Overlook and Rooftop Terrace.

After two days of talks, discussions and plenaries, where do we go from here? How does everything we know and learned inform how we adapt and change for the future? Jim Brady, VP/Journalism at Knight Foundation, will lead this closing discussion with a group of key leaders from the field.

Join colleagues for a tour of WHYY, a leading public media organizations in the Philadelphia region.

Meet at the information desk on the first floor of the National Constitution Center at 3:15 p.m. for the tour.

Sign up for this tour by emailing Courtney Eshleman, MIF’s Director of Development and Member Engagement, at courtney@mediafunders.org

Please note: Proof of vaccination and masks are required to attend this tour.