• Manny Fernandez comes home to Fresno State to discuss The New York Times’ Cesar Chavez investigation

    Manny Fernandez comes home to Fresno State to discuss The New York Times’ Cesar Chavez investigation

    A packed audience heard Fernandez describe the extensive reporting and fact-checking behind the investigation and engage in a candid discussion about its findings. In the region where the farmworker movement was born, and where generations of families have deeply personal ties to agriculture, New York Times journalist Manny Fernandez sat on a Fresno State stage… Read more

  • When the reporters disappear, who’s watching city hall?

    When the reporters disappear, who’s watching city hall?

    As McClatchy cuts reporters, local politicians lose a headache—and communities lose a watchdog. Now that the smoke is clearing from the hedge-fund-inspired cuts at McClatchy newspapers, we’re getting a clearer picture of its “news” strategy across 30 newsrooms from California to Florida. The direction is stark: fewer reporters, fewer local voices and, especially, fewer journalists… Read more

  • Journalists’ lament: PIO gatekeepers are deliberately blocking access to public officials

    Journalists’ lament: PIO gatekeepers are deliberately blocking access to public officials

    The people hired to help journalists reach public officials are instead becoming the barriers who keep them apart. One of the concerns journalists raised during Thursday’s First Amendment program at Fresno State was a troubling barrier to access: Public officials are increasingly becoming less available to the journalists whose job is to cover them. Instead,… Read more

  • The hedge fund that owns McClatchy newspapers has forfeited the right to use the McClatchy name

    The hedge fund that owns McClatchy newspapers has forfeited the right to use the McClatchy name

    Maybe Chatham Asset Management can call the newspaper group the “Artificial Intelligence Chronicle.” When I heard the news Thursday that the hedge fund that owns McClatchy’s 30 newspapers had decimated what was once one of the nation’s great newspaper groups, I immediately thought about two members of the McClatchy family I had the privilege of… Read more

  • Telling the stories of health care in the San Joaquin Valley

    Telling the stories of health care in the San Joaquin Valley

    A health reporting fellowship amplifies vital stories of health care in the Central Valley, making impactful journalism accessible to newsrooms across the region. One of the challenges in this era of shrinking newsrooms is giving enough attention to important public policy issues that don’t drive clicks in the way crime, restaurant openings, traffic, weather, and… Read more

  • Valley Public Radio overcomes Congress’ move to silence public radio in America

    Valley Public Radio overcomes Congress’ move to silence public radio in America

    Congressional defunding of public broadcasting has created challenges for many stations, but KVPR is using the cuts as a catalyst for growth. It has been just over a year since the Republican-led Congress cut federal funding for public broadcasting, citing allegations that PBS and NPR stations exhibited a liberal bias. The intent was clear: to… Read more