So I kind of want to talk about that today with Catherine and also just learn about her take on what the future looks like for media. So, Catherine, welcome to swell. It was really great to meet you, and I'm excited to kind of dig in, especially for someone in your position who has seen so much growth in the media world and also is compelled individually to really do stuff that's fun and challenging for you. So I really want to learn about that
Katherine Lehr
@klehr · 5:00
And I was recruited by another former editor at The Hotline who had gone over to Politico, and I was brought in to fill a newly created role, which seems to be the theme of my career. And it was the editor of its new upcoming section called Click, which, for lack of a better word, it was the gossip section, but really was more of a sophisticated look at kind of the goings on of Washington and what happens after work. So I started there. We had four reporters
Katherine Lehr
@klehr · 3:35
I ended up leaving in 2016 for another opportunity after seven years, which is a lifetime, especially in media and you've asked my feelings and I could not be a bigger champion for the journalism that they are producing at Politico and I think continuing to exceed expectations
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:46
When you open up a local bureau for an institution like Politico, you're doing it to have boots on the ground, I'm assuming to really be first responders, if you will, to what's going on and to be sensitive to local issues and to really do some deeper journalism, to really create a presence in that market and become a really trusted voice. Is that something that particularly interests you? Because it's not throwing a huge net over in a huge area
Katherine Lehr
@klehr · 3:52
They had different legislative calendars, they had different policy issues that were important to their constituents and that required time on the ground, listening and being very thoughtful about the news gaps that were in these communities. Since Politico, most of our work at Old Town Media has focused on the creation or acquisition of local news bureaus. There's been no shortage of coverage about news deserts in America, and you mentioned Sinclair
phil spade
@Phil · 2:57
Katherine, first of all, thank you so much for the work that you do. Especially as we talk about the future of news and media, it just becomes so much more critically important in the role that you play. And I have two concepts that I always kind of discuss with people about the future of news and media that I wanted to run by you and maybe get your thoughts and comments on. The first is that we seem to be lacking a single source of truth
Katherine Lehr
@klehr · 1:44
I majored in journalism college, and the education I received was necessary for me to explore opportunities at independent, nonpartisan news organizations. I learned even more from my newsroom colleagues, but I had the foundation to report properly. Now, I'm not saying a reporter must have a masters in journalism
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:38
I spent several years teaching adults media literacy stuff after the Trump administration came into being based on a lot of mistakes people, I think, made feeling like they were doing the right thing and they weren't doing the right thing for themselves because they were sold up a river with lies
So it will in some ways you will take advantage of the builtin buttons but you have to make the effort to make it widely available to everybody without any friction. So getting good reporting into everybody's hands I think is super important. The media organizations have to do the work to figure out the business model to make that happen
