The Fresno Bee’s importance to its community must be honored in bankruptcy sale
I have a confession. Before serving as mayor of Fresno, I did not understand the importance of local journalism to our community. I took it for granted. Local journalism was like daily background noise — I knew it was there but didn’t focus much on its impact.
During my time in office, I lived the local news every day. And while I had plenty of disagreements with The Bee about what its editors and reporters chose to cover, I became acutely aware of just how important the institution of local journalism was. One call from a newspaper reporter to City Hall could put a stop to legislation that may have served a single interest, but at the expense of the general public — or at least slow it down enough to allow the public to catch up, ask questions, and make their voices heard about the future of their community.
Just as developers hire lobbyists, and employees elect unions to represent their interests at City Hall, local journalists represent the interests of the general public. When at their best, they function as “community floodlights” shining brightly on the daily actions and government processes that impact generations of Fresnans. Using transparency and accountability, local journalism balances the power wielded by government institutions, elected officials, and special interests.
Civic infrastructure
Since my term as mayor concluded, I have served as the president and CEO of the Central Valley Community Foundation, an institution serving the greater Fresno region for more than 50 years. Our mission is to cultivate smart philanthropy, lead, and invest in solutions that build stronger communities in the Central Valley. Over the last decade, we have invested more than $125 million in philanthropic grants to hundreds of community organizations in a six-country region. More than charity, we invest in “civic infrastructure” that empowers community residents to be informed and engaged in shaping the future of their own communities.
For nearly 100 years, The Fresno Bee has also been an institution in our community — there for all our important moments — from world wars to the Great Recession, to now covering COVID-19 and the most significant race and equity movement our community and country have experienced in over a half century. With a fraction of the journalists it employed before, The Bee has provided comprehensive news coverage generating nearly 11 million pageviews a month between March and June — a 30% increase over the previous three months.
Like most newspapers around the country, The Bee has had to quickly adjust its business model to meet the changing media landscape. However, unlike most newspapers, The Bee has done so in a region that faces extreme challenges. The Central Valley provides more than half of the fruits, nuts, and vegetables grown in the United States, but Fresno, the Valley’s capital city, is consistently ranked among the poorest, most racially disparate and environmentally challenged in the nation. These conditions are unacceptable and can only be changed by a unified community that chooses and aggressively works to create a different future. Local journalism provides the information, transparency, accountability and engagement that is mission-critical for those efforts.
That’s why in 2019, CVCF established the Impact Media and Measurement Fund to support local journalism. In one year, we’ve received more than $1 million in grants and donations to support projects like the Education Lab and the Fresnoland Lab at The Fresno Bee and other local media outlets. Each of these labs has four talented, diverse, dynamic journalists who are dedicated to covering local education, land, housing and neighborhood issues.
Worthwhile work
The Education Lab produced more than 100 stories in its first three months, providing weekly enterprise stories, hosting parent engagement meetings in both English and Spanish, and developing partnerships with other local media outlets, including Univision Spanish-language television and Valley Public Radio. The Fresnoland reporters recently explored how the pandemic has exposed deep racial inequality in Fresno County and, recently hosted a Facebook Live community conversation with over 6,000 residents on race and community safety.
The largest cities in our nation don’t have to worry about whether local journalism will be there. What happens in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, or Washington D.C. is national news that is served up for the rest of the country to consume in the nonstop, 24-hour news cycle. But, the future of local, independent journalism hangs in the balance for Fresno and 30 other cities across the country as a bankruptcy court in New York City evaluates bids next month to purchase the McClatchy Co. newspapers.
I implore Judge Michael Wiles to consider our community’s interest when selecting the successful bidder and to evaluate the proposals on their commitment to investing in and improving local newsrooms. I also urge the new owners of McClatchy to honor The Fresno Bee’s 98-year legacy as the institution-of-record for our community and to maintain the paper’s enduring commitment to its people and its transformation.