If you’re in the mood for a high-level discussion of the local media landscape, you’re both in luck and probably in need of a new hobby.
Thursday night’s “Media on the Media” event will take place from 7-9 p.m. over Facebook Live. It will feature representatives from several Western Pennsylvania-based media organizations talking about the state of journalism in this region, what’s working and the areas in desperate need of improvement.
Most of the participating organizations are members of the Pittsburgh Media Partnership, which aims to support its 20-plus partners (including the Pittsburgh Union Progress) in an effort to provide news consumers with “stronger media outlets, resources and community storytelling than ever before,” according to its website.
Thursday’s event will be hosted by YaJagoff Media duo Rachael Rennebeck and John Chamberlin. It will be recorded and eventually made available via an episode of the “YaJagoff Podcast.”
Other participants include:
• Halle Stockton, editor-in-chief of PublicSource.
• Andrew Conte, director of Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation.
• Bernie Ankney, dean of Point Park’s School of Communication.
• Jim Busis, CEO and publisher of the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.
• Donna Baxter Porcher, founder and CEO of Soul Pitt Media.
• Sonja Reis, publisher and editor of McKees Rocks-based Gazette 2.0
Chamberlin and Rennebeck said this event was the brainchild of Stockton and Conte, who looped them and the rest of the panelists in on their idea for a wide-ranging chat about Pittsburgh media. Chamberlin made a point to distinguish YaJagoff and its purpose of providing a platform for distributing messaging — as opposed to originating news — from the outlets set to be a part of Thursday night’s conversation.
“The media is just so different these days,” he said. “We’re going to talk about the fragmented media that it’s become in addition to the traditional media.”
One way local media has noticeably changed, as Rennebeck mentioned, is its relatively newfound willingness to work together in service of creating better journalism for everyone.
“We come from this place where journalists were always taught to be guarded and not share their information and input with other entities,” she said. “Now, we’re finding that everyone wants to collaborate and figure out how we can do that in different ways.”
Joshua covers pop culture, media and more at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Contact him at jaxelrod@unionprogress.com.