LHENA Talks Speaker Series
LHENA Talks is a monthly speaker series that takes place on the 4th Wednesday of every month from 7 to 8 p.m. Each talk features a guest speaker and focuses on community issues of interest and is sponsored by a local business. LHENA Talks strives to bring together residents, businesses, and community members alike to foster a space for fruitful discussions while highlighting the amazing work being done in our communities. Interested in being a speaker or sponsor? Take a moment to fill out this form.
LHENA Talks #11: Rebuilding Local Journalism
Wednesday, April 27
7-8 P.M. CST
Zoom
7-8 P.M. CST
Zoom
Speakers:
Tesha Christensen is the owner and editor of the Southwest Connector, a local newspaper launched in December 2021 that covers Southwest Minneapolis. Tesha also owns TMC Publications and runs two other papers in Minneapolis, the Longfellow Nokomis Messenger and the Midway Como Frogtown Monitor. Tesha believes in the importance of the local newspaper to collect the stories of the neighborhood it serves and thinks there’s a potential market in covering neighborhoods previously served by the now defunct Southwest Journal.
Melody Hoffmann is the founding editor of Southwest Voices, a digital news and information service for Southwest Minneapolis. Melody joined the news organization in December 2021 after a 15-year career teaching media and communication courses at Midwest universities and colleges. She is originally from the Milwaukee area and moved to Minneapolis in 2009 for a doctoral program in communication studies. In her spare time, Melody likes to play with her young nephews, bike around Minneapolis, and rotate through numerous art projects. She currently lives in the East Harriet neighborhood.
Tesha Christensen is the owner and editor of the Southwest Connector, a local newspaper launched in December 2021 that covers Southwest Minneapolis. Tesha also owns TMC Publications and runs two other papers in Minneapolis, the Longfellow Nokomis Messenger and the Midway Como Frogtown Monitor. Tesha believes in the importance of the local newspaper to collect the stories of the neighborhood it serves and thinks there’s a potential market in covering neighborhoods previously served by the now defunct Southwest Journal.
Melody Hoffmann is the founding editor of Southwest Voices, a digital news and information service for Southwest Minneapolis. Melody joined the news organization in December 2021 after a 15-year career teaching media and communication courses at Midwest universities and colleges. She is originally from the Milwaukee area and moved to Minneapolis in 2009 for a doctoral program in communication studies. In her spare time, Melody likes to play with her young nephews, bike around Minneapolis, and rotate through numerous art projects. She currently lives in the East Harriet neighborhood.
Topic: This talk focused on how local journalism is being rebuilt in Minneapolis. Tesha talked about her work with the Southwest Connector, and Melody talked about her work with Southwest Voices. How are these two local journalism organizations informing and engaging the community? How are they building community and helping advance local solutions? What are the challenges of local journalism today? What are the opportunities? What has been the response from the community to these new local news organizations? What impact are they making? Tesha and Melody answered these questions and more.
When: Wednesday, April 27, 7-8 p.m. CT
When: Wednesday, April 27, 7-8 p.m. CT
Sponsors: The local business sponsors for the talk are Minneapolis Yoga, Becoming Machinic and Sortilege. Minneapolis Yoga is locally owned by Melissa Sargent and has served the community with hot yoga and other yoga practices for more than 20 years. Their mission is to help every student improve their health and wellbeing.
Becoming Machinic and Sortilege are owned by Jordan Peacock, a LHENA board member. Becoming Machinic creates business process automation solutions for legacy IT environments on-premise and in the cloud for small to midsize businesses. Sortilege is an independent game design studio, making card, board, and roleplaying games.
Becoming Machinic and Sortilege are owned by Jordan Peacock, a LHENA board member. Becoming Machinic creates business process automation solutions for legacy IT environments on-premise and in the cloud for small to midsize businesses. Sortilege is an independent game design studio, making card, board, and roleplaying games.
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Other talking points for Tesha and Melody in their LHENA Talk included:
- How are the Southwest Connector and Southwest Voices serving Southwest Minneapolis, which covers the neighborhoods of Tangletown, Kingfield, Lyndale, West Maka Ska, East Bde Maka Ska, East Harriet, Lynnhurst, Fulton, Cedar Isles Dean, Kenwood, Stevens Square, Windom, South Uptown, Kenny, Armatage, Lowry Hill East/The Wedge, Whittier, East Isles, Lowry Hill, and Linden Hills.
- How do you view your role in the community as a local news organization? What is your approach to covering the community when you are part of the community? Where does local news fit in the community equation?
- How do your local news organizations engage with the community? How are you connecting us to our community and our neighbors? How are you helping empower the community?
- How big are each of your newsrooms? Who are your reporters? What is your approach to covering city government, civic issues and community news?
- What are the biggest issues that the community wants covered? What have you learned by listening to the needs of the community? How can local news strengthen civic engagement? How can the community help support local news?
- What are the business models for the Southwest Connector and Southwest Voices? Do you have diversified revenue strategies that include advertising, sponsorship, events, and/or memberships? How is business going?
- What is the future of for-profit local journalism? Can it be sustainable?
- Local news in the Twin Cities. We have many news options in the Twin Cities. They include print, hybrid and online-only options, as well as radio and television. Why is it good for the community to have many local news sources? What are your approaches to collaboration? What do you think about partnerships with other organizations (media or otherwise) or community members?
- How can local journalism boost the local economy and support local businesses?
- Building trust and staying power. What lessons have you learned from your on-the-ground reporting? What are effective ways to engage the community and build trust?
- How can the community get involved with the Southwest Connector and Southwest Voices?
- Has anything surprised you in your first year of operation?
- What are your goals for this year? What are your long-term goals? Where would you like your local news organizations to be in three years?
- What encouraging signs have you seen with regard to community building and local journalism?
- What is the future of local journalism? Where do we go from here?
LHENA Talk #11 on Facebook