In this 172nd episode of "E&P Reports," we go one-on-one with Steven Waldman, co-founder of Report for America and chair of the Rebuild Local News Coalition, an alliance of local news organizations developed to advance a range of public policies addressing the accelerating crisis in local news. Waldman speaks to why the new coalition is necessary and what its priorities are, what initiatives they are championing and how they can help move public policies along on a state and national level. more

In this 171st episode of E&P Reports, we reveal the story of the re-birth of suburban Philly weekly, The Bucks County Herald, which rose from the ashes of the global pandemic through a transformation from a family-owned to a non-profit foundation-run local news enterprise. E&P Publisher Mike Blinder question Bridget Wingert, founding editor, and her son Joe Winegert, publisher, on how they formed the new entity, what the community support is like and is this business model one that others can easily replicate. more

In this 170th episode of E&P reports, chats with well-known news publishing analyst Ken Doctor, who recently published a lengthy update on the 2-year progress of his innovative Santa Cruz, CA digital news start-up, Lookout Local, while also stating that he is proving that “a robust replacement for suicidal dailies can, indeed, be built. That’s especially important in the age of Gannett’s trainwreck, Axios Local’s skimming, and the misguided Journalism Competition and Preservation act currently before Congress.” Also appearing is Ashley Harmon (Holmes), Lookout Local’s new director of sales & marketing. more

In this 169th episode of "E&P Reports," we go one-on-one with Danielle Coffey, Executive VP & General Counsel for the News/ Media Alliance (NMA), to gain her perspective on what really happened in 2022 to the nearly passed Journalism Competition and Preservation Act” (JCPA). She'll also address why this controversial legislation, designed to allow news publishers to collectively negotiate with “big tech” platforms like Google and Facebook for fair compensation for news content, failed to become the law of the land. Coffey also reviews the next steps the NMA will take for the JCPA and the future of other compensation models like publisher tax credits and several pending antitrust suits currently being filed by local media companies more

In this 168th episode of "E&P Reports," we feature a special, inspirational, and motivational interview with Dave Stevens, an Emmy award-winning broadcaster born without legs, who is helping others with disabilities find careers across all forms of media. Stevens chats with E&P Publisher Mike Blinder about his passion for sports, media, and helping others to look beyond their personal challenges and those of others. more

In hopes to make it easier for the public to recognize trustworthy journalism, Reporters Without Borders created the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI) in 2019 offering a three-step process to help media outlets distinguish themselves from the myriad of other sources sharing information on the internet and social media. In this 167th episode of “E&P Reports,” we chat about the JTI with Beth Potter, Ph.D., U.S. regional manager of the Journalism Trust Initiative; Paul Samyn, editor of the Winnipeg Free Press; and Kevin Rehberg, vice president of client development at the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM). more

In this 166th episode of “E&P Reports,” internationally recognized journalist/ cartoonist Rob Tornoe reviews some of his 2022 monthly contributions to E&P Magazine, which include his March 2022 interview with The New York Times's David Leonhardt on “The polarization of pandemic reporting.” An April 2022 column looked at editorial cartoonist David Fitzsimmons. May 2022’s look at how the Pulitzer prize category changes left illustrators feeling slighted. more

In this 165th episode of “E&P Reports," we review this year's contributions to Editor & Publisher Magazine from consultant Dough Phares's "The Corner Office, his monthly advice column for c-suite executives. Topics we cover include how to better onboard and retain quality talent, increasing productivity with what he calls a "Big Mac Presentation," and how to bolster sales by "Getting to the no," increasing a manager's self-awareness by asking, "Are you managing or doing?" And there's much more. more

In this 164th episode of "E&P Reports," we go one-on-one with Local Media Association (LMA) and associated Local Media Foundation CEO Nancy Lane on her impressions of how the millions of dollars that Meta/ Facebook has donated to the news publishing industry since 2019 has benefited local journalism and the impact it may have in the future as those funds cease to exist. We also posed questions on the future of local news enterprises and what she feels are viable, sustainable business models for local journalism. more

In this 163rd episode of "E&P Reports," we go one-on-one with ProPublica founder Dick Tofel, first on his latest opinion piece on how there may be some flaws in how organizations like LION Publishers and the Knight Foundation award millions in philanthropic journalistic funds. And his views that the only sustainable model for local journalism will be nonprofit enterprises. more

In this 162nd episode, we go one-on-one with Jeff Jarvis asking his reasons for not supporting current congressional big-tech fair compensation efforts and antitrust legislation. Why is the industry making a big mistake moving toward paid content models, Why he believes "Media forms have half-lives, newspapers & magazines are fading, and broadcast's age is ending." more

In this 161st edition of “E&P Reports,” we go one-on-one with John Garrett, CEO and founder of Community Impact, a community newspaper publishing company that mails over 2.5-million editions monthly to over 60 Texas communities while employing over 200 journalists, salespeople and support staff. E&P Publisher Mike Blinder and contributing writer Victoria Holmes ask Garett how he maintains growth and profitability in a news ecosystem that has compressed and shrunk its commitment to people and print. more

In this 160th episode of “E&P Reports,” we interview veteran reporter-turned-educator Andrew Conte, who founded the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. He is also the author of “Death of the Daily News,” his latest book, which takes an in-depth look, via local reporting, at what happens when one local community loses its newspaper of record and flounders to find other forms of local journalism. more

In this 159th episode of "E&P Reports," we interview Ned Seaton, the GM and editor-in-chief of the Manhattan (KS) Mercury and the Times of Pottawatomie County Kansas, the newspaper of record of Westmorland, KS. The town decided to suspend the placement of public notices in the local newspaper and then reverse itself when reminded by Seaton of the value and overall benefit the practice itself has for the community as a whole. Also appearing is Emily Bradbury - Executive Director of the Kansas Press Association. She offers her perspective on how important it is that news publishers help in all ways possible to keep this practice in place. more

In this 158th episode of “E&P Reports” we interview Bill Patterson, Publisher of the Denton (TX) Daily Record-Chronicle, Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro, CEO and Co-Founder at The National Trust for Local News (NTLN), Senior Research Fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism and Nico Leone, President & CEO of KERA the public broadcasting outlet in North Texas that just announced the purchase of the Daily Record with the assistance of NTLN. Patterson speaks to how and why he sought out the sale of his 3-generation family-owned media company, while Leone talks about the benefit to public broadcasting expanding into local legacy news and Shapiro explains how deals like this are made and how they may be become much more common in the future.   more

In this 157th episode of “E&P Reports,” E&P Publisher Mike Blinder speaks with Nicole Carroll, president of news and editor-in-chief of USA TODAY, about the past 40 years for this iconic news media brand and its evolution to a multi-platform national information outlet. Their conversation occurred in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ian, a devastating storm for Florida, where Gannett operates 18 daily operations, including in Ft. Myers and Naples. Carroll reported to Blinder that at least three of their journalists’ homes were no longer habitable. more

In this 156th episode of E&P Reports, meet Kevin Dilley, the director of Kent State University Media, where we explore the work the 400+ students produce for 10 distinct media outlets and 30+ media platforms. Plus, E&P Publisher Mike Blinder and contributing journalist Victoria Holmes ask Dilley how he feels about the future of News Publishing as being one of the educators that helps today's students become tomorrow's industry leaders. more

In this 155th episode of “E&P Reports,” we go one-on-one with Chris Stirewalt, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), contributing editor for The Dispatch and author of his new book, “Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides America and How to Fight Back,” where he writes about his time as the top political editor and election forecaster for the Fox News channel and how he became famous (and subsequently vilified) for being the first to correctly call the 2020 election results for the state of Arizona in favor of Biden. Stirewalt offers some inside intelligence and perspective on how the biased reporting of news media outlets like MSNBC and Fox News channel are helping divide our country and advises on how we, the news consumer, can help find some common ground. more

In this 154th episode of "E&P Reports," we go one-on-one with Cheryl Smith, Publisher/ Editor of I Messenger Media News Group & 2022 inductee in the National Association of Black Journalists’ (NABJ) Hall of Fame, where we discuss her career not only as a successful news publishing executive, but also her views on the industry as a whole, where it is heading, and how we can achieve more diversity, equity and inclusion to better represent the communities we serve. more

With elections, law enforcement agencies, the courts, elected officials, branches of the government and the very rule of law under sustained and concerted attack by its own citizens and elected leaders, there is no question that the media has an essential role to play in addressing these important issues. In this 153rd episode of “E&P Reports” Publisher Mike Blinder goes one-on-one with well-known TV commentator and journalist Mike Barnicle, where they discuss the state of the news media industry, and the challenges journalists are facing in reporting on the culture wars and political polarization that is affecting our society. more