News Futures Convention Aims to Grow Civic Media Field

The inaugural News Futures Convention, held in San Francisco in March, brought together approximately 70 participants to foster collaboration within the civic media field. Darryl Holliday, introducing the event, described the current landscape as a "polycrisis," emphasizing the need for new approaches to information access and community thriving. News Futures, fiscally sponsored by the nonprofit civic media organization City Bureau, aims to reimagine how communities obtain and utilize necessary information.

Attendees included founders and key contributors from various civic media organizations such as Bureau Local, Conecta Arizona, Documented, El Tímpano, the Listening Post Collective, Outlier Media, and Resolve Philly. These participants engaged in working groups that addressed critical issues like inter-organizational collaboration beyond traditional journalism, support for Spanish-language media, and the development of sustainable economic models for civic information dissemination. The convention's primary objective was for participants to collaboratively develop and vote on campaigns that would guide future News Futures initiatives and working groups.

Despite acknowledging the challenging environment for journalism and information, the convention's tone was action-oriented. Journalist and educator Vanessa Maria Graber highlighted the value of community and collective problem-solving, stating, "It feels really good to be in community and to have a collective freak-out with our peers, but also figure out the ways that we can support each other and be there for one another." Holliday also noted News Futures' deliberate strategy to remain small and nimble, avoiding direct competition for funding with its network members. The organization's scaling efforts are focused on expanding its network of signatories rather than increasing its core staff, which currently consists of part-time contractors.