00:00 - Ladies and gentlemen if i can ask you to come in and

00:02 - take your seats we have a very special presentation.

00:07 - We also have an important announcement to make.

00:10 - I'd like to introduce three remarkable women.

00:13 - Who have been working behind the scenes for the past year to create.

00:18 - A new force for Pennsylvania journalism

00:21 - the keystone

00:22 - local news coalition.

00:25 - Sarah bachner cofounder of x squared media an assistant

00:28 - professor of communication at chatham university

00:32 - and Natalie.

00:36 - Ben si venga.

00:37 - Benzie vanga.

00:40 - Co-founder x squared media and owner of

00:42 - benzie productions will be joined on stage by Tara

00:46 - Bradley stack

00:47 - managing fellow for the

00:49 - Patricia dour to yoder institute for ethics and integrity in journalism and media

00:54 - at Duquesne university ladies.

01:13 - We are scraped

01:14 - and tossed out a wild card question.

01:17 - Who's ready to stop talking

01:19 - and start building a task force

01:21 - to actually protect local news through state policy.

01:25 - Response was immediate.

01:27 - The individuals who raised their hands that day became the founding members of the

01:31 - keystone logo full news coalition

01:34 - breaking news that's what we're launching today.

01:37 - Since then we've been meeting regularly with a very clear goal in mind.

01:41 - We want the Pennsylvania legislature to treat local news for what it is

01:46 - a vital

01:47 - public utility.

01:49 - Like water

01:50 - like electricity

01:52 - reliable information is a necessity for a functioning civic life.

01:56 - We are calling for an official study to pave the way toward landmark legislation

02:01 - that stabilizes news outlets across the commonwealth

02:05 - but we aren't just waiting for the legislature to act

02:08 - we are building the foundation ourselves.

02:10 - One of our micro Grant winners.

02:13 - Took our fledgling idea

02:15 - and turned it into a tangible reality

02:17 - by developing a communications infrastructure

02:21 - that will allow us to share resources

02:23 - research

02:24 - and advocacy tools in real time.

02:27 - You're going to see a complete presentation on network in just a minute.

02:30 - Before that though

02:31 - i want you to see the engine behind this movement

02:35 - if you're a member of the keystone local news coalition

02:37 - please stand.

02:44 - Oh.

02:46 - Therapy

02:46 - typically.

02:48 - I.

02:52 - Said look around the room you see leaders from

02:55 - our universities you see nonprofit champions

02:58 - you see the journalists who tower stories every day

03:01 - some of our members are already engaged in lobbying efforts others are conducting

03:05 - research still others are raising money.

03:07 - Our coalition is i'm trying to duplicate those individual efforts

03:11 - instead we are uniting the people behind them

03:14 - into one cohesive organization.

03:18 - We want to make sure legislators are confronted by a synchronized movement

03:23 - not a disjointed series of requests.

03:26 - We aim to be catalyst for engagement and communication

03:29 - and we passionately believe in the need

03:32 - for government support

03:33 - for journalism.

03:37 - Couple of years ago

03:38 - not to play strop

03:40 - i was in a little tiny island

03:42 - off the coast of Portugal called pico

03:45 - six hundred miles from the coast

03:48 - swan at par the azores

03:50 - and

03:50 - three thousand people in this island and i opened up the local newspaper which is in

03:54 - Portuguese and admittedly i don't really get

03:56 - Portuguese but nevertheless i figured it out enough

03:59 - the whole middle spread

04:00 - page

04:02 - of the paper was about the need for government support

04:05 - for journalism.

04:07 - In little tiny pico.

04:10 - So if pico sees

04:11 - the need for this

04:13 - why don't we.

04:14 - So i have an and a direct ask for everyone else in this room

04:18 - we need your voice to make this legislative push a reality.

04:22 - We don't need interest

04:23 - we need partners.

04:25 - If you believe that a healthy democracy require as a healthy local press

04:30 - we want you with us to provide your expertise

04:32 - legislative connections

04:34 - research or gesture organizations perspective.

04:38 - If you're interested in joining the coalition

04:40 - or helping with our legislative outreach

04:42 - contact me or any of the coalition members.

04:46 - On the previous slide.

04:47 - You can all so simply scan the qr code in your

04:50 - program to get started right now and we will respond.

04:54 - So thank you all for being here and more importantly for the work you do every day

04:57 - for your communities so now it's time to see the people who have created the tools

05:01 - that will harness our collective energy please

05:04 - welcome Natalie Pennsylvania and Sarah botnet.

05:08 - Hey.

05:14 - Hi everyone good afternoon thank you Tara

05:17 - it's truly a pleasure a privilege and a pleasure for Natalie and me to be here today

05:21 - on behalf of our team at expired media

05:24 - ah getting involved with this project was really a natural fit for or us because x

05:29 - squared media we are a strategic communication agency

05:32 - that strives to align ourselves mission driven projects just like this one

05:37 - plus at the core of what we do

05:38 - we are storytellers whether that's through social media community engagement

05:43 - initiatives creator collaborations and so much more

05:47 - or all is trying to work with organizations to

05:51 - blend what we call

05:52 - new school meets old school communication strategies and tactics

05:57 - to help them tell their stories in ways that feel

06:00 - meaningful and authentic to them and

06:03 - we know that many of you if not all of you in this room identify a story tellers too

06:09 - but journalists you all are focused on telling

06:12 - the stories of the communities you serve

06:15 - and therefore newsrooms particularly smaller ones don't

06:18 - necessarily have always the resources or the capacities

06:23 - to uplift their own stories and their own brand identities and so

06:27 - the coalition is here here to help with that

06:30 - we are going to work together as Tara said

06:33 - to help spread the word across Pennsylvania to make

06:36 - sure that people especially our legislators know

06:39 - the importance of having a

06:41 - vibrant sustainable community news ecosystem and

06:44 - the challenges that this landscape is currently

06:48 - navegar dating and

06:50 - before i turn over to Natalie to

06:51 - tell us a little bit more about what a coalition is

06:54 - we're just so thrilled to be here x squared

06:56 - media because we love projects like this one

06:58 - the intersect thus are situate us rather at the

07:01 - intersection of journalism and strategic communication but

07:05 - if you're wondering

07:06 - what exactly

07:07 - is a coalition and

07:08 - why coalition for this

07:10 - project Natalie

07:12 - you tell us more.

07:18 - Thanks Sarah so yeah what is a coalition well this

07:21 - is something that we've had some experience with

07:24 - working with other coalitions in the state to help

07:28 - get policy across finish lines that

07:30 - better our communities so a coalition

07:33 - in this instance it's brings together a cross section

07:36 - of perspectives

07:38 - and experiences

07:39 - because of that it allows us to deepen the understanding of

07:43 - what we're dealing with and the potential paz for solutions

07:47 - it's important that we're listening to a lot of different voices across sectors and

07:52 - this helps for us to strengthen a message ej

07:55 - if you're talking to

07:56 - an elected official

07:58 - and you're coming from one vantage points

08:00 - and you approach them once or twice they might go okay that's nice thank you so much

08:04 - but if they're hearing that message or a similar resounding message

08:08 - coming from multiple people and multiple perspectives

08:11 - then they're going to go what is going on here

08:13 - we probably should listen so there really is

08:16 - a power and a strength in numbers

08:19 - and when when we're talking about what a coalition can do at a state level

08:23 - we're not looking as a coalition itself to influence policy but rather

08:28 - bring together like-minded people in a space so that they can be a conduit

08:33 - to foster connections for or change that positively

08:36 - impact in this case the local news industry

08:39 - and strengthen

08:40 - the economy with good paying jobs

08:43 - and economic

08:44 - development.

08:47 - Alright so we're now going to take you behind the scenes a little bit a lot has been

08:51 - happening since we all gathered together almost

08:54 - a year ago just down the road in Harrisburg

08:57 - Natalie and i were at that event and we left feeling

08:59 - really inspired by the energy in the room and

09:02 - by that question that Tara had mentioned have

09:04 - you know who wants to work together to dj join a task force and like Natalie said

09:09 - she and i we have experience with our agency supporting

09:12 - other communication and coalition building work

09:14 - that so that inspired us

09:16 - to apply for one of the inaugural keystone new

09:18 - summit micro grants to see if we can be of support

09:22 - by developing a communication infrastructure

09:24 - to support this coalition

09:26 - and if you're interested as a plug for some future programming

09:29 - if you're interested in learning more about what

09:31 - is a communication infrastructure for coalition

09:33 - I'll be speaking more about that tomorrow as part of the micro Grant winners panel

09:38 - but once we were

09:40 - honoured to receive one of those micro grants alongside

09:42 - a lot of other fabulous people who will meet tomorrow

09:45 - we've been hard at work over for the past year

09:48 - meeting monthly with members of the coalition leadership team who

09:52 - you saw in some previous slides

09:54 - trying to figure out what exactly

09:56 - is this coalition what is it called

09:59 - what does it do

10:00 - what is it's mission what does it look like

10:03 - and so based on that research and that feedback

10:06 - we've developed

10:07 - i have a communication infrastructure that includes social media

10:11 - emails and so much more and so that brings us to today where we are launching lots of

10:16 - things starting this week you're going to be able to find us on social media

10:19 - you're gonna be able to find us in your inbox is

10:22 - and we want to hear from you too as calm

10:24 - part of our

10:25 - first kick off meeting

10:27 - where we're going to be having

10:28 - from twelve thirty to one thirty pm on Thursday may twenty first

10:32 - a chance for community members to come together

10:34 - and weigh in and with that

10:36 - Natalie tell us more ways that we can get involved.

10:41 - Thank you Sarah

10:42 - okay

10:42 - you can definitely follow us on social media we are currently on Instagram Facebook

10:48 - and LinkedIn we just

10:49 - joined and probably less than a week ago so we are just

10:52 - kicking things off we've got some great updates

10:54 - and more to come so please

10:56 - join us there

10:57 - you can

10:58 - obviously scan this amazing qr code and see sign up

11:00 - for email updates as well if you want to stay involved.

11:05 - Alright and then you can also join the coalitions community champions kick off

11:08 - virtual meeting if you're interested in what we're doing

11:11 - this is the time and the place

11:13 - twelve thirty Thursday

11:15 - may twenty first and also

11:17 - coming up later this afternoon we're going to take more

11:20 - of these initial steps so join us for the legislator panel

11:23 - where we're going to be connecting some of our state

11:25 - representatives about the current media landscape

11:28 - and ways that they can help enact policies to set the stage

11:31 - for a more robust local news industry in

11:33 - Pennsylvania so a lot of ways to get involved

11:36 - and we look forward to seeing you there thanks.

11:40 - Huh.

11:51 - While many thanks to

11:53 - Sarah Natalie and Tara for the exciting news thank you

11:56 - and we look forward to seeing the good work that

11:58 - will come from the keystone local news coalition.