2018 Knight Media Forum

Note: The forum will begin with an event Monday evening, and conclude at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 21. See the agenda below.

I hope you will join us in Miami Feb. 19–21, 2018 for the Knight Media Forum on strengthening local news, community and democracy. The evolution of Knight Foundation’s Media Learning Seminar, this gathering will be oriented toward action in our cities. We expect you to leave the forum with:

• Awareness of cutting-edge issues and major trends in community news and information.

• Practical tools and replicable ideas.

• New partners and relationships to help execute projects.

The Knight Media Forum will gather leaders of all foundations - whether they are national, corporate, family or community and place-based - who fund or seek to fund local news and community information. This event complements the Media Impact Forum, the gathering of national media funders organized each summer by Media Impact Funders.

The Knight Media Forum is designed for foundation presidents, their board members and executive staff. With support from Knight Foundation, there is no fee to attend. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis until the forum is full.

The JW Marriott Marquis conference hotel is now sold out, but there are other hotels in walking distance.

I hope you will join the conversation on how to address one of the most pressing issues of our time.

Best,

Alberto Ibargüen

President

Knight Foundation

Read about the Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy, which will be featured at the forum, in the Huffington Post and in USA Today.

Knight Media Forum

Strengthening local news, community and democracy

Agenda

Monday, Feb. 19, 2018

10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. : Registration (Met Ballroom Foyer - Third Floor)

5 – 9 p.m.: Olympia Theatre reception and screening of the new movie "The Post"

The screening will be followed by a conversation with Floyd Abrams, attorney, Cahill Gordon & Reindel, Jameel Jaffer, director, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and Dana Priest, journalist and educator, Washington Post and University of Maryland, Knight Chair of Public Affairs Journalism. Welcome and introductions by Jennifer Preston, VP/Journalism at Knight Foundation.

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Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018

7:30 - 9 a.m.: Breakfast buffet and final registration (Met Ballroom Foyer - Third Floor)

9:15 a.m.: Welcome

Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO, Knight Foundation

(Met Ballroom)

9:30–10:30 a.m.: Knight Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy

Moderator, Jennifer Preston, VP/Journalism at Knight Foundation.

Panel: Co-Chair Tony Marx, president and CEO, The New York Public Library and and Commission members Mizell Stewart III, vice president, news and operations, Gannett/USA TODAY Network, Charles Sykes, Talk-show host and author, MSNBC contributor, Nuala O’Connor, president and CEO, Center for Democracy and Technology, Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer, Frontline PBS, and Anthea Watson Strong, product manager for news, Facebook. Moderator, Jennifer Preston, VP/Journalism at Knight Foundation.

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10:30 - 10:45 a.m.: Break

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10:45 a.m.– 12 p.m.: Small group breakout sessions

1) News literacy and libraries – Alan Miller, The News Literacy Project and Leila Khalil, Miami-Dade County Public Library System (Gallery One, Fourth Floor)

2) The science of storytelling – Ann Elizabeth Christiano, Matt Sheehan, Annie Neimand, University of Florida, College of Journalism and Communications (Junior Ballroom B, Fifth Floor)

3) Trust in the media: Findings from a Knight/Gallup Poll – Kimberly Fitch and Jeff Jones, Gallup (Plaza Room Five, Fifth Floor)

4) News Match: How a local and national funder collaboration created the largest journalism fundraising campaign ever – Sue Cross, Institute for Nonprofit News and Josh Stearns, Democracy Fund (Gallery 2, Fourth Floor)

5) Funding local media collaboratives – Marcelle Epley, Long Beach Community Foundation, Wendy Thomas Russell, journalist and Mauricio Palma, Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Jon Funabiki, San Francisco State University; Moderator, Lilly Weinberg, Knight Foundation (Plaza Room Two, Fifth Floor)

6) Community-focused journalism: Inspiration and how-to for funders – Paul Waters, Democracy Fund and Molly de Aguiar, News Integrity Initiative (Plaza Room Four, Fifth Floor)

7) Virtual Reality; exploring VR and immersive storytelling – Nonny De La Peña, Emblematic Group and Raney Aronson-Rath, FRONTLINE PBS – (Junior Ballroom C, Fifth Floor)

12:15–1:30 p.m.: The future and why it’s up to us

Introduction: Emmett Carson, president and CEO, Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Speaker: Tim O’Reilly, founder and CEO, O’Reilly Media

(Met Ballroom)

1:45–2:45 p.m.: Breakout sessions

1) Public media meetup – Laura Walker, WNYC, and Charles Kravetz, WBUR (Gallery Two, Fourth Floor)

2) Trust in the media: Findings from a Knight/Gallup Poll – Kimberly Fitch and Jeff Jones, Gallup (Plaza Room Five, Fifth Floor)

3) News Match: How a local and national funder collaboration created the largest journalism fundraising campaign ever – Sue Cross, Institute for Nonprofit News and Josh Stearns, Democracy Fund (Plaza Room Four, Fifth Floor)

4) Funding local media collaboratives – Marcelle Epley, Long Beach Community Foundation, Wendy Thomas Russell, journalist, Mauricio Palma, Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Jon Funabiki, San Francisco State University; Moderator, Lilly Weinberg, Knight Foundation (Plaza Room Two, Fifth Floor)

5) Funding local coverage with your major metro – Sharon Chan, Seattle Times and LaSharah Bunting, Knight Foundation (Junior Ballroom A, Fifth Floor)

6) Battling mis-information: Fake news, real news – Craig Silverman, BuzzFeed (Junior Ballroom B, Fifth Floor)

7) The role of community and ethnic media – Sarah Barlett, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism; Sara Lomax-Reese, WURD Radio and Lenfest Institute and Martin Reynolds, Maynard Institute (Gallery One, Fourth Floor)

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2:45 – 3 p.m.: Break

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3 - 4 p.m.: Civility, technology and community

Moderator: Sam Gill, vice president, communities and impact, Knight Foundation

Panelists: Emily May, co-founder and executive director, Hollaback, Rashad Robinson, executive director, Color Of Change, Frank Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow and Mosbacher Director, Center of Democracy, Stanford University, Lisa Adkins, president and CEO, Blue Grass Community Foundation

(Met Ballroom)

4:15 – 5:15 p.m.: Overload

Introduction: Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO, Knight Foundation

Speaker: Bob Schieffer, former CBS news anchor and host of “Face the Nation”

(Met Ballroom)

5:30–7:30 p.m.: Reception/Networking

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Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018

7 – 8:30 a.m.: Breakfast buffet

8:30 – 9:45 a.m.: What’s new; what’s next

Amy Webb, founder and CEO, Future Today Institute

(Met Ballroom)

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9:45–10 a.m.: Break

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10 - 11 a.m. Foundation partnerships meeting local information needs

Moderator: Lilly Weinberg, Community Foundations Program Director, Knight Foundation

Panelists: John Thornton, Texas Tribune, LaMonte Guillory, chief communications officer, LOR Foundation, Anne Galloway, founder and editor, VTDigger, Christopher Kaufman-Ilstrup, chief operating officer, VTDigger, David Haas, vice chair, Wyncote Foundation and Sandra Clark, vice president of news and civic dialogue, WHYY

(Met Ballroom)

11:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.: Breakout sessions

1) Information needs in rural communities – Kelly Ryan, Heather McKellips, Incourage Community Foundation, Dana Coester, West Virginia University and Tim Marema, Daily Yonder; Moderator, Chris Barr, Knight Foundation (Plaza Room Five, Fifth Floor)

2) On the Table – Lisa Adkins, Blue Grass Community Foundation, Cheryl Hughes, The Chicago Community Trust and Jamie Rodgers, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (Plaza Room Two, Fifth Floor)

3) Immigrants and access to information – Efrain Escobedo, California Community Foundation (Plaza Room Four, Fifth Floor)

4) Reporting on local issues with a focus on solutions – Liza Gross and Jean Friedman-Rudovsky, Solutions Journalism Network (Junior Ballroom A, Fifth Floor)

5) The Detroit approach: Making this happen in your community - Katy Locker, Knight Foundation, Mariam Noland, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Sarah Alvarez, Outlier Media and Ashley Catherine Woods, Detour (Junior Ballroom B, Fifth Floor)

6) Public radio: New models for local news – Sandra Clark, WHYY, Philadelphia and Joe O’Connor, WFAE, Charlotte; Moderator, Karen Rundlet, Knight Foundation (Gallery One, Fourth Floor)

12:30 – 2 p.m.:

Introduction and conversation: Helene Gayle, president and CEO, The Chicago Community Trust

Speaker: Jimmy Wales, co-founder, Wikipedia and founder, WikiTribune

(Met Ballroom, Third Floor)