Event – Detail

Does local news inform citizen engagement?

Philadelphians have a critical stake in determining the city’s future at the ballot box this November. Though voters are able to access news from multiple sources to inform their decisions, can those sources be trusted and are the stories thorough? October’s Salon discussion will examine local news outlets, their biases and impacts.

The Salon: Spirited conversations in a convivial setting

The Salon provides an opportunity for Athenæum members to discuss issues impacting Philadelphia’s future. Twenty participants and a moderator gather around the boardroom table for discussions sparked by invited topic experts. The Salon is akin to a graduate school seminar: a moderated discussion in a safe, intimate setting. The moderator opens each 90-minute Salon with a brief welcome, introduces the presenters, and asks a question to the presenters to open the session before posing the same question to participants.

David Boardman is Dean of the School of Media and Communications at Temple University. Previously, he was Executive Editor and Senior Vice President of The Seattle Times which won four Pulitzer Prizes under his leadership. He is a board member and immediate past president of the American Society of News Editors, president of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the immediate past chairman of the National Advisory Board of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and a Poynter Ethics Fellow. Boardman served as a director and president of Investigative Reporters and Editors, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Investigative Reporting, and the Steering Committee of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. He is a charter member of the Advisory Board of ProPublica, the investigative-journalism nonprofit.

Roxanne Patel Shepelavy is the Executive Editor and co-Executive Director of The Philadelphia Citizen, a solutions-based media outlet whose mission is to revive citizenship and democracy in the American city where it was born. In addition to overseeing the workings of The Citizen, including its editorial content, she also writes stories about solutions to problems in Philly. Shepelavy has been a Philadelphia journalist for more than two decades. She is an award-winning magazine writer whose work in national and regional magazines explored the effects of war; the moral and literal cost of healthcare; kick-ass female athletes; art capers; self-help scams; and a range of women’s and social issues.