At a time when pillars of American journalism such as The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times are crumbling at the hands of their billionaire owners, leading lights of journalism and philanthropy came together last week for the annual gathering of journalism funders at public media bulwark KQED in San Francisco to explore how best to strengthen public interest journalism.
Convened by Media Impact Funders, JFunders24 brought together leading journalism funders from around the country for two days of presentations and discussions with journalists, media executives, academic scholars, political figures and policy experts. We covered a wide range of urgent topics, including frank and practical conversations about mergers and acquisitions, the myriad implications of artificial intelligence and the urgency of addressing the balance of power in journalism and storytelling.
Our first day of programming began with an all-star panel of media leaders from PRX, KERA and the Center for Investigative Reporting, as they navigate the challenging passage through mergers and acquisitions, with expert moderation by MIF board chair Kayce Ataiyero, Chief External Affairs Officer at The Joyce Foundation.
Then, California State Sen. Steve Glazer spoke with Rebuild Local News board member Lenny Mendonca about his courageous efforts through legislation and negotiations to require Google and other tech giants to provide substantial financial support for journalism through significant taxes on their massive advertising revenues.
We also heard about the personal and human impact of large-scale organizational shifts from podcasting stars Glynn Washington and Anna Sale. And with the insightful guidance of KQED “Forum” host Mina Kim, we explored the ways that philanthropy can continue its commitment to racial justice in the face of legal challenges such as the federal court case against the Fearless Fund. Mina also led a probing discussion about the need for reparative justice for native people in California, with the state’s Secretary of Tribal Affairs, Christina Snider-Ashtari, filmmaker Jacob Kornbluth and Elena Chavez Quezada, Senior Advisor for Social Innovation. There were many more speakers and topics, too numerous to name in this post. In the coming days we’ll be posting all the details, including video recordings of our main stage presentations.
I am sure that I speak for the entire MIF team in saying that KQED is the ideal partner in presenting our conference. We’ve been lucky enough to do this twice with them now and it has been a dream to work with them each time. The new facilities are spectacular, the auditorium has great AV tech equipment, and the production team is first-rate. And the staff could not be more creative and hospitable. Special appreciation for Tim Olson, Senior Vice President for Digital Partnerships at KQED, who has been our principal partner in these convenings.
As we often do, we also presented an excellent musical performance, in this case by members of SF Jazz Collective, who performed selections from their latest program, “About Place,” including new compositions inspired by an art exhibit of the same name at the de Young Museum.
Along with all of this, we were happy to see that conference participants had an opportunity to network and connect around their own interests and projects, with several side meetings, receptions and dinners held by allied organizations like New Media Ventures, the Institute for Nonprofit News and the American Journalism Project.
On a personal note, this year’s gathering was particularly gratifying for me, as it was my last JFunders meeting as executive director of MIF. I was surprised to hear an abundance of personal testimonials about my tenure here, including from current and former board members, staff members and various colleagues from the field, providing a heart-warming sendoff after close to 13 years at the helm. It was almost too much.
For someone like me, who came into philanthropy in the Surdna Foundation school of self-effacing invisibility (they spell their name backwards!), it can feel awkward to receive this much attention. But I appreciated all the testimonials. And while each and every one of them was touching, it was particularly heart-warming to have the entire staff of MIF on stage with me, sharing their sometimes amusing and also deeply personal reflections on our time together. It has been a tremendous gift to work with a team that cares equally about the fate of the field and each other.
Now, the board of directors at MIF has begun a search for my successor. And I am proud to say that this team is the greatest asset the new leader will inherit.
