rather i sha a venture in this congress that i soearly love for approximately six months into the 106th congress whereupon i shall vacate my seat and asked my governor to call a special election to take my place. >> c-span, powered by cable. >> up in a come a conversation on local news and democracy hosted by the lbj foundation and the nonprofit more perfect in austin, texas. the ceo of the texas tribune, from journalists and others discuss the importance of local news and its impact on democracy. they focus on challenges facing the newspaper and local news industry, public trust and journalism and how artificial intelligence can be used to increase engagement. >> hello, everyone.

that's it? come on. hi, everyone. i am going to walk through trust, news and democracy and give you some statistics of what to look > to think about what are some challenges we face ahead and what more should we be thinking about as we think about the next 10 years. let me see if i can get this right. right. where are we today? let me start with trust since our conference is trust, news and democracy. 32% of the public has a fair amount of trust in media, 32%.

39 percent have no confidence in news media whatsoever. now let's look at gen z. 3% have a great deal ofnews andf trust. gen z has less trust than the general public. 22% z that identify as democrats and 10% that identify as independent, but you know what they trust? science at 71%. younger gen z from 15 and under trust institutions, particularly

the military, medical system and police. let me talk about news. we know statistics but i want to make sure we have the data. there are 1766 counties in the u.s. that have local news. one third of newspapers will close at the end of this year and employment has gone from 2000 2022 compared to 325,000 n and the landscape is changing. there are more newsrooms than ever.

trust in local news is 14% higher than national or regional and 73% of all organizations believe ai presents new opportunities. they believe the pluto system needs to be reformed. 83% believe government does not care about what they think. amongst younger people, 18 through 35, 50 7% globally feel democracy is preferable to any other form of government. take those combinations, we have

some challenges. let me set out some opportunities at same time according to a university study, 76% of youth believe young people have the power to change the country. 7% believe there are ways to get involved. that is an opportunity to engage a generation looking to be engaged. we can talk about not voting, but they are looking to get engaged. the study shows trust is local. 67% trust local government. six out of 10 americans have more trust in local than national news and eight of 10 americans trust local news to give them the nation toet all

in their community so the question is how do we harness this energy to empower people to stay connected. there are places we can learn, when you look at science, that industry faced challenges and thought about how we become more democratic in our approach to create citizen science. you can test your own water, participate in science, whether it is experiments, schools, other laces assemblies, holding their own assemblies. city councils are budgeting. this started in brazil, the idea

that citizens can take a budget and allocate where the community wants the budget spent is citizens choosing when their money would go. what can we do differently? if the problem is providing accurate information these are questions we might want to ask, who was the public? how does the public want to receive information, not just today, but 10 years from now. 10 years from now a child who is 10 years old will be 20. they will not know a world where generative ai does not exist, keep that in mind.

they will not know a world where ai does not exist how will we behave differently with ai today to prepare for where the future is going and what will news be? i asked three questions, i do not have to answer them, but the question i would ask is how can we think about being democratic? can we provide public participation? how, how do we train ai to build trust today? talk about all the things that are not working, but what do we do to build trust, how can we engage and build trust amongst readers, those who come to us

frequently and infrequently? and what if local news created belonging? if we did that could we engage more people to want to artist a in changing communities? if 77% of young people believe they can do something, how do we harness the energy? these are hard questions we have to ask ourselves. what do we want local news to look like for a generation that is changing in texas where demographics are younger, how can we engage communities? thank you very much. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please

welcome sarah, wally, john, elizabeth and evan. [applause] >> good afternoon and welcome. i am evan smith, senior advisor at emerson collect the, and the cofounder and former ceo of the texas tribunal. i was the warm-up act for 13 years. i'm pleased to welcome you to the first pel. as karen swisher p inight, no bo journalism. if we embrace the connection

society, giving people a credible source of information allows them to be productive, engaged and empowered, we need functional models to enable this. we cannot do things the way we've always done them. we will generate, disrupt the way we think about economics. with me are for people devoting their lives to solving that problem over the short and long-term. on my left is sarabeth, the first venture for lanter fee -- venture philanthropy. supporting new enterprises and partnering with existing ones to sustain their business.

they have raised $170 million and supported 44 news organizations and incubated for start across 33 states. ■3program officer on the ford foundation free expression teame 2021, making grants to support journalism. she managed the storytelling portfolio in chicago where she put emphasis on local news that served underserved communities. she spent 20 years as a journalist and 15 as a order. on her left is elizabeth schapiro, cofounder of the trust were local news, dedicated to connecting people to places where they live. the trust has acquired and

operates 64 papers. previously she was a senior research fellow at columbia and led sustainability research at harvard. john is in his fifth year as president of the macarthur foundation, consistent with its mission to build a just and peaceful world with lupressing , their focus on the news crisis. press forward secured $500 millioni thought it was more tho dozen funders but it is more. give them a big hand, thank them being here. what an impressive group. i want to ask a big picture

question. talk about the problem. >> good afternoon, it is a the newspaper industry, the research is clear.

studies show when communities lose a local paper it is voter participation declined. people become more polarized instead of turning to neighbors. they tend to cle news and social media so we believe that the crisis in local news is a crisis that is necessary to resolve and fundamentally a market failure business problem that we need a sustainable solution to to uplift new organizations across the country to play the r newspapers used to play. and what has bn thrilling is there is emerging new generation of news, texas tribune is a leader of that. we now support 44 news organization and all of them are ushering in a new wave of

support for local news. they think of themselves and we think of them as civic institutions in the same way we support libraries, museums and others that our role is to work with philanthropy to bring in more philanthropy and prioritize then we take the capital and invest in organizations to build the business capabilities to become sustainable. >> 170 million committed to this purpose, raised for this purpose. lali, i have had the good fortune to know your boss, the head of the ford foundation. they've been an enormous supporter, talk about how you

inc. about these issues. guests: thank you for inviting part of this conversation. i spent more than 20 years at the chicago tribune and we like to get it right. the sun-times is the competing paper. moderator: i'm going to go to moderator jail. it is a distinction. >> we like to get it right in case anyone wants to look into it, they will know it is the chicago tribune. as you pointed out, the ford foundation has invested in journalism in part because we know good journalism is vital to strong democracy. when people have information they are empowered to make strong decisions. we also know journalism is the

route toward justice. woodward and bernstein minded us that when journalists are revealing the truth of what happened, when people get the truth they are mobilized. there are newspapers closing down every■; week, every month, every day. for all of us that can compel strong dealings because many of us woke up in the mornings and saw parents reading the paper for turned on the radio and tuned into mainstream news. that was our daily hygiene. getting our news from these outlets. i have to mind you many times those outlets were not reflective of our full and broad community. while some open up the paper and

got news and information, a large bit of the population could not. they were not in this relationship with news outlets. we have identified that is one of the central problems. this has been a long problem, a problem identified more than the years ago. our journalism strategy is supporting journalism.

we see ripples in journalism. looking at historically marginalized communities, ensuring they have news and information needs that is an interesting proposal that we are engaged in because there is a local news crisis impacting communities. by investing in organizations like mlk 50, the texas tribune, we are learning one opportunity

is the ability to learn from organizations doing the work on the ground in a much different way. >> elizabeth, talk about the national trust. >> we were founded to solve the problem of news [indiscernible], so sarabeth encapsulated the real problem. there is a glass half-empty perspective and we have a glass half old perspective. we looked out there and see 6000 newspapers in operation, 4000 still independent in family's hands. they have owners that have served for decades with titles that have been around for

centuries and they do not have a those news sources are really what is standing between their communities and information blackout. in texas 200 50 counties, 29 of which have no remaining local news. 130 one still have a county paper and in counties across texas it is owned by a family owner. they do not want to sell to a politically motivated buyer or shut their paper, but they are out of time and capital and their communities love their papers. no room for growth and our diagnosis of the crisis is it is a business model problem.

it is an ownership problem. on except they don't have investment so our approach to the problem is to acquire papers that still have margins and put them together in a way that realizes efficiencies and under ownership looking out for sustainability of local news in small places. we have no interest in buying the statesman, but we are interested in communities of 250000 and fewer. there are 3 million pple in texas who live in rural communities and their vital to democracy so we are not willing to give up the fight. we see a path forward. >> mccarthy foundation supports

journalism. i knew the middle initial because growing up on public broadcasting i would hear the support of the macarthur foundation and i was like i know their middle initials. you've been in this conversation but over the last six months you have accelerated and supersized your involvement. >> let me start with a thank you you to you for the leadership in texas. you are amazing. [applause] >> you made so much possible. to the amazing co-panelist, one reason we are excited by this moment is entrepreneurship from those who have been journalists and philanthropy. elizabeth, sarabeth and others. we are on a solutions day here

in the midst of a crisis. i'm with you, but back on the crisis. macarthur has funded journalism and media, independent films, making sure newsrooms are diverse much as ford has done. you have to keep doing it. you are really important in this and there is a crisis in local news. staff said yes and we've got to keep doing this. we increased the budget and they said we're going to double what we are doing over five years and vi in. even if we put hundreds of there's too many things

undercapitalized. doing the math wcould not do son invitation with others. ford jumped in and we launched with 22 funders, half $1 billion in september. we are substantially over 500 million committed. the point is by working together at a national level and local level, we can do more. call is to join us and as we have been doing, part of it is saying let's ensure local donors see this as something to sustain democracy. yes there are national funders

and strategists like a.j. pe, but we need local solutions. we started with zero local chapters, six in november, 17 in february, 20 today. we are encouraging local funders and community foundations, the bottom-line message is everyone has to pay for local news or else we are not going to have democracy. that is why we are here, we have to invest. if you do not have the facts about climate change, jump into it. you have to have agreement on the topic. we will not have democracy without this so we need to jump in, we need a mechanism to do that. moderator: if i believe we need

more journalism and i come to you and say help us be, part of the solution, what are you looking for? i've spent 15 months traveling around across the country after and it occurs to me that weesk. funds at least four things, mission, need, products, leaders. depending on where i go, one might rise to the top. what motivates you to go in a community? >> thank you for that question because when i receive pictures or decide on organizations, one of the first things this community and the relationship between the news, business and

the community. are they serving in a way the community has a stake in the organization? another thing, because our s focused on serving marginalized communities, i'm looking at the geographic area that is underserved. you have in the mail newsletter going out to thousands and thousands of leaders, you are observing a lower income community.

we lk for leadership in the organization, ensuring that we are getting fact-based news and information and that information is available for free. those are some criteria. moderator: mary beth you getexl more organizations than you can support. )'what is the differentiator whn an organization comes to you? guest: we are focused on how to build sustainable business models to endure in the long term. we need to make sure communities have local news and invest in leaders that really understand what it takes to build

businesses, how to get in the hands of readers on their phones, on tiktok, we need innovative leaders and to see a path toward how you build revenue. there's a lot of different revenue streams and we want to have a clear strategy. we see these organizations expanding, making the case to communities that if you care you should invest in local news. smart appeals to readers to say if you care about news you should care whether your neighbor has it, so become a member, become a supporter. there is added revenue out there, it's diminished because of market dynamics so we support

these organizations to become sustainable and we are focused on making sure they have the leadership team. moderator: if you've seen one nonprofit, they are all different by definition. every set of leaders is different so what philanthropy can bring to the table is different. there is no one-size-fits-all. >> there sure is not. it is america and that is amazing. we havenities of every type and size and i think partly that means it is a hard problem to solve, but lots of different things will need to be supported.

ford needs to be laser focused and what sarabeth is doing, figuring out what works, all that has to work. local news is crushing it with different strategies. these will be necessary. one thing i would say joins all efforts is demand. if nobody is paying for local news, there will not be any and this is the sustainability question. whether it is individuals subscribing -- think how many people have subscribed to netflix but then do not obstruct the local news, there's plenty of money. there are ads that are being spent, there are of fence.

all of these things are happening, we need a way to find this. to change that is crucial is we shift from a world in which these are great businesses in any community, made great fortunes, it is now a lousy business. almost impossible to make money. it is going to be nonprofit or low profit and it is doable. on the nonprofit side you're showing it is doable. moderator: polarization, red and blue america, lands you on the side of communities where they may not be open to the idea of

journalism as a public good. there are people who resist the idea that journalists are honestly providing something of value. you are in a little bit of a different situation, talk -- talk about how you make that argument. >> you do not have to make that argument in small towns and texans who live in those places will understand. nationalization of media and polarization happens in big cities. there is controversy.

that is what people rely on, it is not about national media, it is about high school sports. that drives a lot of revenue and everyone, no matter how you vote, everyone cheers for the same team. >> are people willing to pay for news? this comes in different forms, subscribe or see it for free and

make a contribution in the form of membership. >> people absolutely see the value. we are $3 million earned, not locally. we have subscribers in small towns across the country. are they paying a netflix level? no, one dollar, but they are paying for it. say absolutely not, it is an indication we are doing something right. >> people do not have the money to pay for a newspaper. >> absolutely, people are making

difficult decisions, there are those of us who netflix, hulu, new york times subscriptions. people are making difficult decisions and these people should have access to quality news and information and that is why dropping the pay wall is important. there are different ways to show connection. sometimes it is through of fence like the texas tribune has. you have more people connected to the product, but not the funding. %'on the flipside, because we ae talking about solutions, the other side is people who are able to support a news

organization, support for the entire community, it's not just so you get your subscription. it so your entire community has access to it. >> is free to consume, not produce. if you find the ability to make ■óit free to consume, you are doing a public service. >> news organizations across our portfolio are making that case that what -- what they need is for readers to give what they can give. they need philanthropists to give what they can give and they hope advertisers will see value.

>> on this question i want to ask about income and i appreciate you saying you have a significant earned income business. some of us were at the forum in miami and the head of the night foundation, marybelle wadsworth, said philanthropy is not a business model. she said we have to think more broadly and go beyond expecting full and their feet to pay -- philanthropy to pay, we have to include increased earned income. where do the uc your income peak?

is it realistic to generate revenue and how important is it for you that you see the diverse revenue pie chart? it will not work everywhere, but it will work some places. >> what is critical is a business model that is enduring. a thriving news organization. you know what it is? all donations and 40,000 donors. some giving small numbers, some giving significant. that is enduring. se revenue? yes, that is the path toward sustainability and can look like diversifying the number of donors. and the number of revenue streams.

what we need is to be smart about building businesses that diversify revenue in two different streams and within them. lots of examples of organizations doing that. important to you to support communities wherd you will invest in helping the local chapters? is it important that they support a path forward? a five-year commitment. guest: at some point people need the baton. >> there has to be a sustainable plan and it will look different in different communities. this is where the portfolio approach can be one or another. it's an essential piece of the

puzzle, but not always the same and the shift is we thinklocal k about arts, culture, hospital, universities. this could be a great university but it is a truly great one because others have said we are going to do something remarkable.where investing in te universities. community hospitals, to get the care you need and, you need philanthropy. think about a symphony. people sponsor, but you will not get a great violinist. we're getting to that place for news. some will thrive, others will not.

if there is no traction we will not invest. if you are just serving yourself you will not get funding. i'm trying to shift donors to think different and also the demand side for journalists to say you have to provide community connection. >> i want to build on what john said. you have to know how deep full into b should be because if you rely on earned revenue community would not have the quality. client if he has to be in the room and playing a large role. what i talked about earlier

about newspapers should not be lost on us that on the stage are three women talking about journalism and 20 years ago the picture would be different. if we rely on women to find journalism then we would not have the paperwork, podcasts, materials that we have today because philanthropy has insured diveity. moderator: as someone with a or the chicago reader, is that right? that is a call back to my earlier mistake. we have not talked about the for-profit model that communities need. is that model a foregone conclusion that it is gone? guest: model, we

believe it's not the business model that is broken, it is the ownership model and we can use philanthropic dollars to create businesses that will have margin for a while. moderator: i'm asking if traditional models like big city ÷enewspapers are coming back? >> the for-profit venture newspaper days are over, we can say. >> i'm nostalgic for many things. a day when papers were functional. i'm not sure that they all are or that they cano nostalgic. guest: data is clear on that. american news in the metro that we grew up reading, those are diminished and market conditions

do not allow them to come back. >> pour one out for the newspaper business? >> it is the case that the business model is done and we have to shift from for-profit to a nonprofit for low profit business. philadelphia is an example where a nonprofit holds in trust the philadelphia inquirer. i'm going to go west or congo for a second. part of our goal is to make chicago a news oasis and there is real opportunity, great innovation and chicago public media acquired the number two newspaper, the sun times. it was donated to a not for

profit. a bunch of us gave it to chicago public media for five years to prove you can have a nonprofit connectedo a powerful station and we will see. two years and they are heading their mark so there is the possibility that this is one model, but will you have the tribune competing in chicago? no chance. >> the word nonprofit was in there. we won't see these profitable. moderator: we have about two minutes left. if the model is beyond repair, are the papers going to go away or be ghost ships. in texas we have five of the 13 largest cities, more than any state.

are the papers in those cities going to list all along forever, not go away, but exist as a shadow? or is there an extinction event coming and they will disappear? >> i think on the big city metro front, we are seeing experiments. a billionaire buy-in experiment, turning it into a nonprofit. >> a successful conversion. >> there is room for nonprofit convergence. if you look under the hood there are some newsrooms that they have maintained some critical mass and a long tail of ghost properties. i would encourage us to think

broadly because of the 6000 papers there are maybe 1000 that fall into that category. 95%, i encourage us to think harder about what the landscape looks like and how it can be a sort of asset and how there are experiments like the chicago tribune or the salt lake tribune and different ownership models. there are still journalists in newsrooms doing incredible work. >> there will be a transformation of old school newsrooms, those brands will hold the mayor's office accountable, hold the governor accountable, do investigative work that you will not see with smaller news outlets. so those brands th