The Knight Media Forum 2020 kicked off this morning and though the conference is (a) invitation-only, (b) in Miami, and (c) at capacity, there’s a livestream if you want to tune in.
Last year, Knight — the most journalism-focused of the major national foundations — pledged an eye-popping $300 million to local news, free speech, and media literacy organizations so it’s no surprise that their forum focuses on “strengthening local news, community, and democracy.”
You can view the livestream schedule or see the forum’s complete agenda. For an idea of what the group of funders, journalists, and publishers were talking about this time last year, read Christine Schmidt’s roundup of Knight Media Forum 2019.
This afternoon (Tuesday), Recode cofounder Kara Swisher will appear in conversation with Jorge Ramos, the well-known Univision news anchor (and persistent interviewer).
More conversing will take place between top editors from Anchorage Daily News and Salt Lake Tribune and philanthropic organizations that hope to crack the code for new local journalism business models. The schedule for Wednesday includes talks by New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger and Knight president/CEO Alberto Ibargüen.
This morning’s first sessions — on how communities can succeed in the 21st century — had journalists and media types tweeting about work by McKinsey’s André Dua that showed job growth concentrating in just a couple dozen urban centers. The unequal job creation forecast leaves shrinking opportunities other, more rural and suburban, areas of the country.
60% of future job growth will be centered around 25 urban centers according to @McKinsey @andredua …job displacement is a real threat to those other areas. #kmf20 pic.twitter.com/wVHECrMfKQ
— (@AdamWiener) February 25, 2020
The forum kicked off Monday night with The Washington Post’s Marty Baron, Knight’s Jennifer Preston, and Miami Herald publisher Mindy Marques discussing the urgency of investigative journalism at the local level.
“We need the community. We need the audience to support the journalism,” said @MindyMarques, in a discussion with @PostBaron and @JenniferPreston on local investigative journalism, during the opening session of #KMF20. pic.twitter.com/AaF9et1ZoA
— LaSharah S. Bunting (@LaSharah) February 25, 2020
.@PostBaron says, “There are whole parts of this country where there are no journalists, no real journalists … There are a lot of local officials who know they can get away with things they couldn’t get away with before.” #kmf20 pic.twitter.com/z2uheJu7EU
— Alan C. Miller (@alanmillerNLP) February 25, 2020
