Ground Level: Public Interest, Local Trust Member Only

Public media in the United States—and across much of the democratic world—is under pressure from political interference, funding withdrawal, and the gravitational pull of multinational platforms that have little interest in local communities. But the institutions best positioned to serve those communities may not be the existing national ones fighting to survive. A new generation of local and regional media in the public interest are reimagining what it means to be publicly supported: building trust through proximity, forging coalitions across cities. This conversation brings together practitioners from across public (interest) media, in the U.S. and internationally, to ask what a new localism for documentary might look like, and what it would require to build it.

Moderator: Justine Nagan (Actual Films)

Panelists: Kevin Colligan (Local Public), Chris Hastings (WXXI, The Little Theater, CITY Magazine), and Sharese Bullock-Bailey (Manhattan Neighborhood Network)