Democracy In Decline
After Local Media Disappears, What Comes Next?

Americans are losing trust in journalism. With the widespread consolidating and closing of American media outlets, many are worried that democracy supported by a free press may be in danger. Civic Ventures joins with Town Hall to present a panel of experts to examine whether democracy as we know it can survive without a culture of independent investigative journalism. They delve into the rise of media conglomerates trafficking in partisan broadcasting, and explore strategies for supporting and sustaining a local media that’s relevant for 21st century America.

Matt Gertz is a senior fellow at Media Matters, which he joined in 2007. His work focuses on the relationship between Fox News and the Trump administration, news coverage of politics and elections, and media ethics.

Marcus Harrison Green is the former South King County Reporter for the Seattle Times, the co-founder of the South Seattle Emerald, and a former Reporting Fellow with YES! Magazine. He is a recipient of Crosscut’s Courage Award for Culture.

Erica C. Barnett is a longtime Seattle journalist who worked as a writer and editor for alternative weeklies in Austin and Seattle for a decade before co-founding the website PubliCola in 2009. In 2015, she started the local politics website The C Is for Crank.

Moderator David “Goldy” Goldstein is Senior Fellow at Civic Ventures. He is the former host of KIRO radio’s The David Goldstein Show and is the proprietor of HorsesAss.org, one of the most widely read political blogs in Washington State.

Thanks to Civic Ventures and Town Hall Seattle
Recorded 10/8/19