Building Community By Rebuilding Journalism

We had been hosting an in-person writers group before the pandemic in the city of McKeesport, a place that lost its daily newspaper after 131 years. We had started out with the goal of helping citizens start telling their own stories to replace the professional journalists who longer existed.
 
About 8 to 16 people were coming out a couple of times a month to work on journalistic storytelling with Martha Rial, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who heads up the community newsroom, and Nicole Peeler, an English professor from nearby Seton Hill University. The Pittsburgh Foundation has put $150,000 into the two-year program.
 
The pandemic threatened this project: Several of the participants do not have computers or smartphones. One participate uses a typewriter to craft his stories, while another hand-writes her stories and we use an optical scanner to turn them into digital text. We could hold virtual events, but who would attend?
 
It turns out that almost everyone found a way to attend. Martha worked to keep everyone connected, and she provided a laptop computer to the woman who did not have one. When the writer’s group celebrated its one-year anniversary this summer, Martha drove around to each person’s house and delivered a boxed-up cupcake so everyone could celebrate when they met online.
 
Through this year, the group not only has continued to meet – but the citizens created an anthology of their writing (detailed below). We learned two things: Citizens are able to generate meaningful original content, and they are building community as they do so.
 
This year has presented many unique challenges, and many hardships with people dying, getting sick, losing jobs, suffering in isolation. Moments such as these ones with the McKeesport Community Newsroom have carried us through the difficult times and helped us see the value we find in those around us.
 
Happy holidays, and happy new year from all of us at the CMI.

– Director Andrew Conte and CMI staff

Header: Holiday greetings from the CMI team. 

Tube City Writers and Mon Valley Photography Collective Debut Anthology

Doris O'Donnell Fellowship Returns in 2021

New Podcast Series Features Conversations on Business and Economic Issues

A Tribute to a Storyteller who Made an Impact

Every person we meet leaves their mark on us, for good or ill, (often a little of both). One man I knew through the All-Abilities Media Project left an undeniably positive impact on me, though we only talked briefly before he died.

His name was David Hale, and in January he came to the Center for Media Innovation to read a passage from the Americans with Disabilities Act. The reading was in a video as part of ADA at 30: Accessibility in Pittsburgh, co-published by PublicSource and Unabridged Press.

After recording David’s reading, our production crew had extra time. David was happy to share more of his story for over an hour. He started by saying he had spina bifida. “When I was 4, my mother told me that there was a purpose for my life,” Hale said. “And that really helped me to feel like there was something for me here in this world to do.”

What he did was share personal stories to encourage youth and others. He didn't gloss over the difficult parts of life. He speaks of isolation and faith in this podcast.

“He was passionate about opening minds to the lessons found in the lives of great people of the past — and within each of us,” said local disability advocate and writer Tina Calabro. “David affected many, many people through his openness for sharing himself and caring for others’ personal growth.”

The All-Abilities Media Project amplifies the stories of people with disabilities, and we were incredibly privileged that David allowed us to share his story.

Read the full tribute to David.

– Jennifer Szweda Jordan, project manager and founder of Unabridged Press



 

Above: All-Abilities Media Project member David Hale at the CMI studio spaces.

Writers for The Globe Student Newspaper Honored at 2020 Robert L. Vann Media Awards

The Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University is a state-of-the-art incubator and collaborative space designed to prepare students for success in a media industry intertwined with the latest technology, while also supporting professional journalists and educating the public at large. The Center features TV and radio/podcast studios, a photo studio, a multimedia newsroom, and a transformational presentation and gallery space. The Allegheny Foundation provided a $2.5 million grant to start the CMI in 2016. Visit CenterForMediaInnovation.com to learn more.
 

Point Park University, immersed in the heart of Downtown Pittsburgh, focuses on student success through innovative experiential learning opportunities. Point Park enrolls approximately 4,000 students in over 100 undergraduate, master’s and doctoral programs offered through its Conservatory of Performing Arts, Rowland School of Business, and schools of Arts and Sciences, Communication, and Education. The University’s alumni and students represent all 50 states and 34 countries around the world. Visit PointPark.edu to learn more.