More journalism startups are building their businesses around a community-first approach

Award-winning journalist, educator and former SOJC senior instructor, Lisa Heyamoto shares her insights on the intersection of media startups and community-centered journalism. As the director of Teaching & Learning at Local Independent Online News Publishers, she’s seeing that “the path to a successful news business isn’t simply about doing great journalism — it’s about meeting communities where they are, understanding their information and civic needs and providing clear utility and value.” In September, Lisa served as the guest curator on Gather, the platform led by the Agora Journalism Center to support community-minded journalists.


The Agora Journalism Center Launches New Website Announcing Our Renewed Vision

After an 18-month strategic visioning process that included many interviews, conversations and reflections with dozens of colleagues, collaborators, and fellow travelers, a renewed vision for the Agora Journalism Center emerged: to be the forum for the future of local news and civic health in Oregon and beyond. Along with this vision, we launched a new website that better tells the story of the insights and connections Agora has collaboratively produced, along with our many projects and reports.


OJA/Gather Award in Engaged Journalism 2021 Finalists Announced

Congratulations to the five finalists of the Gather Award in Engaged Journalism. We’re thrilled to see the diversity of engagement projects highlighted from El Tímpano, The Marshall Project, The New York Times, Arizona Daily Star/ProPublica and Anchorage Daily News/ProPublica. Check out all of the finalists for the 2021 Online Journalism Awards! Winners will be announced on October 15. The Agora Journalism Center is proud to be the sponsor of the OJA/Gather Award in Engaged Journalism.


Navigating Remote Learning

No one has all the answers to those questions, but journalism instructors across the United States developed workarounds to make the most of COVID era education for their students. Along the way, they’ve discovered opportunities to rethink their own practices