Engaged Journalism Exchange: Libraries

As many look to strengthen local journalism, some are turning to a trusted institution dedicated to providing information that can already be found in most U.S. communities: libraries.

On Monday, June 1, we held our third Exchanged Journalism Exchange, focusing on collaborations between libraries and journalism. Our guest presenters included Ju-Don Marshall, the Chief Content Officer of WFAE, and Laurie Putnam, a lecturer at iSchool at San Jose State University.

Marshall spoke about WFAE’s collaboration with Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, Digital Public Library of America, and Report for America. Her presentation is available here.

Putnam offered an overview of different types of collaborations taking place around the U.S. and beyond — from hosting pop-ups, to media literacy work, to producing newspapers. Her presentation is available here.

On Wednesday, August 5th, at 12pm EST/9am PST we will host a special Engaged Journalism Exchange preconference to the annual Association of Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) meeting. In this two-hour Zoom workshop we will explore perhaps the most pressing question facing journalists today: How is Covid-19 changing the way journalism researchers and practitioners approach news quality and economics?

Engaged Journalism Exchanges are organized by Andrea Wenzel, an assistant professor at Temple University, and Jacob Nelson, an assistant professor at Arizona State University. They are sponsored by Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University, the Agora Journalism Center at the University of Oregon, the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University, and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.