About Local News Matters
About the podcast:
Local news is a vital part of American democracy and local communities. In communities large and small, local news outlets hold officials accountable and connect and inform residents. Whether you’re looking for high school sports scores, wondering about the building going up across town, looking for a good restaurant, seeking to understand what’s going on at the school board or needing information about the pandemic, you turn to local newsrooms in print, online, on TV and on social media.
And it has never been a more interesting and challenging time to provide local news. Changes in technology, advertising markets, business climates and cultural and political environments mean that outlets have to continually evolve to remain relevant and financially sustainable.
The Local News Matters podcast explores these issues and the individuals and institutions successfully navigating these challenges. We highlight newsrooms large and small, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and others who are pushing the industry forward.
Whether you’re a newsroom leader, a sales executive or just a citizen who cares deeply about informed communities, you’ll find something here worth your time.
About the host:
The podcast is hosted by Tim Regan-Porter, the CEO of the Colorado Press Association, the nonprofit trade association for print and online news media in Colorado, and the Colorado Press Network, its for-profit ad placement agency subsidiary.
Tim’s background in journalism, entrepreneurship and technology gives him a unique perspective on the challenges of local news. Previously, he served as South Region editor for McClatchy, founding executive director of the Center for Collaborative Journalism, president and co-founder of Paste Magazine, and developer and engineering director at IBM’s e-business National Practice and a couple of startups.
Tim was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, where he studied systems and strategies for innovation and transformation in the Graduate School of Business, Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) and Computer Science Department. He was also a Scripps Entrepreneurial Journalism Fellow at Arizona State University and one of 70 technologists from 37 countries selected to participate in Al Jazeera’s inaugural Media in Context Hackathon in Qatar.
At Paste, Tim was recognized as a “C-Level Visionary” in the magazine industry’s Folio 40. The magazine was a three-time finalist for General Excellence at the National Magazine Awards. Industry magazine Min placed Paste in the top five among all magazines in social media activation, and a Cornell University study cited Paste’s Twitter presence as one of the 100 most influential, ahead of The Washington Post, MSNBC, ABC News and Oprah. The New York Times called the Center for Collaborative Journalism at Mercer University “one of the nation’s boldest journalism experiments,” and Pew Research Center said, “in many ways, the heart of journalism innovation is emerging from Mercer University.” He managed some of the largest projects at IBM and Enterpulse with clients including Coca-Cola, CNN, AT&T, Paramount Pictures, the State of Florida, the NFL and T Mobile. His first full-time tech job was as a webmaster and server-side JavaScript programmer at Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton's Tarkenton Net Ventures, which helped companies put their businesses online (and was promoted via one of his distinctive infomercials).
Tim majored in economics and math, with a history minor, at Olivet Nazarene University, concentrated in management and computer information systems in his MBA program at Georgia State University, and has done further graduate work in computer science, business, economics and math at Stanford University, University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana), and University of Georgia.
About the Colorado Press Association
Founded in 1878, Colorado Press Association is the champion for Colorado print and online media. CPA is the non-profit trade association representing journalists, investigative reporters and truth seekers throughout the state. We are a collective of more than 150 community newspapers, online news sites, nonprofit news outlets, individual members and support organizations. CPA lobbies state government to defend the First Amendment and the rights of a free press, provides training and business support to newsrooms throughout the state, and through its Colorado Press Network subsidiary sells print and digital advertising to national and regional companies wanting to reach a Colorado audience.