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Lyn Whitley, a member of the state Local News & Democracy team since its inception in 2022, participated earlier this week in a 90-minute “Why Local Media Matters” presentation sponsored by the Northern California LWV of Northern & Central San Mateo County.
Whitley, of the Whidbey Island League, titled her presentation “It’s Not a Journalism Problem. It’s a Democracy Problem,” a perspective shared by Washington State University journalism professor Benjamin Shors in the Washington League’s study, “The Decline of Local News and Its Impact on Our Democracy.”
The Zoom presentation also featured a vice president of the American Journalism Project and the publisher of the San Mateo Daily Journal.
Whitley discussed the efforts involved by the LWVWA to secure national adoption of the Local News & Democracy position in 2024 and shared details about the team’s recent advocacy and education work.