A few months ago, the Canadian documentary After Fact premiered online. I'm one of four journalists featured in After Fact. The documentary team followed me during three years, 2017 to 2019, ending shortly before I won my journalism fellowship (I think that would've been a fun ending).
It was an interesting experience, and documentaries are a medium well equipped to explore the day-to-day reality of life.
Next Wednesday, a new documentary which looks at what happens in one rust-belt community which lost its newspaper.
The Local News Initiative, at Northwestern University, will host a panel discussion on "Newstown" with director Craig Duff on Wednesday. "The event, moderated by Medill Senior Associate Dean Tim Franklin, features a prominent panel: Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; Pulitzer prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz; chief media correspondent David Folkenflik of National Public Radio; Youngstown Mayor Jamael “Tito” Brown; and Nancy Lane, CEO of the Local Media Association."
What promises to be most interesting is to learn about the large efforts of other companies to fill the news void in Youngstown.
The panel discussion runs from 5pm to 6:15pm central time on Wednesday.