The crisis of disappearing local news readership and news literacy has resulted in the proliferation of misinformation, political polarization and mistrust of democratic institutions. The forum will examine the consequences of shrunken newsrooms, absentee ownerships, and the death-throes of the legacy newspaper business model dependent on subscription and advertising revenue. Our speakers are: • Margaret Sullivan, Washington Post media columnist, formerly with the New York Times and the Buffalo News, and author. • Hedrick Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times reporter and Emmy award-winning producer of more than 50 PBS documentaries. • Bob Ferguson, Washington State’s 18th Attorney General and a leading supporter of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act of 2021. The event is sponsored by nonprofit newsroom Salish Current, serving Whatcom, Skagit, and San Juan counties, in partnership with Village Books. Registration is free and required. Salish Current is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, online local newsroom serving Whatcom, San Juan and Skagit counties. We report local news with independence and strict journalistic integrity to provide fact-based information and a forum for civil commentary, open to all to read.
