Last week, the California Local team went on the road, heading to the state capital for CapCon 2023, a conference organized by the California Newspaper Publishers Association. As its overarching theme, the conference looked at “Rebuilding Trust in an Age of Disinformation.”
Amid the steady stream of information were provocative talks by a spectrum of White House denizens: veteran news correspondent Brian Karem, two-time Attorney General Bill Barr, Obama administration political adviser David Axelrod and Clinton administration press secretary Dee Dee Myers. And two state legislators—Assemblymember Heath Flora (R-Ripon) and state Senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg)—struck an optimistic tone, sharing bipartisanship ideas on how to tackle some of California’s biggest problems.
Other speakers took on the topic of rebuilding trust with assertions bolstered by field research. Benjamin Toff of the Reuters Institute shared data from a study on attitudes about journalism in four different countries. And Claire Atkin of Check My Ads described how her organization helps companies ensure their ad dollars don’t support sites promoting hate and disinformation. (Read more in a Forbes article titled “How Check My Ads Is Helping Brand Marketers Protect Their Brands (and Avoid Accidentally Funding Fake News, Disinformation and Hate Speech”).
Another inspiring speaker was Regina Brown Wilson, executive director of California Black Media, who spoke on one group panel and led a breakout session called “Stop Hate Speech.” Just as inspiring is her organization. California Black Media is a network of more than 30 print, digital, radio and streaming news organizations that produce stories about and for African American communities around the state. Many of the news outlets cover specific regions but also provide fresh perspectives on national news. This is particularly true of the Sacramento Observer, which also focuses on news coming out of the state government. The site’s daily newsletter is a worthy addition to a well-rounded media diet.
