The University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication established the Agora Journalism Center in 2014 to drive transformational advancements in journalism and communication to enhance public knowledge, and to enrich civic life for all community members. Put more simply, we care about the future of journalism, because it is linked to the future of healthy democratic communities.
To that end, we support a variety of projects to advance these goals: conferences and workshops focused on evolving practices of engagement, training in the use of new storytelling tools such as drones and virtual reality, and an Agora Faculty Fellowship program. Agora Faculty Fellows undertake a range of important projects that help point the way forward in research, teaching, and practice connecting journalism and civic engagement.
In this report, our colleague Damian Radcliffe explores how local newsrooms around the Pacific Northwest are grappling with the new opportunities and imperatives of engaging with audiences. Beyond new technological ways to tell compelling stories, his report finds journalists learning to listen more deeply to their communities.
We welcome your thoughts on the future of news and the developments outlined in this first full Agora research report.
— Regina G. Lawrence, Executive Director, Agora Journalism Center
— Andrew DeVigal, Associate Director, Agora Journalism Center