Equity-driven journalism with Resolve Philly’s Jean Friedman-Rudovsky (LNM Episode 37)

Jean Friedman-Rudovsky, executive director of Resolve Philly, delves into the evolution of the nonprofit newsroom and its mission to address the information needs of underserved communities in Philadelphia. She discusses the critical role of equity in journalism, sharing how Resolve Philly has integrated this principle into both its internal practices and editorial work. Jean also highlights the power of collaboration in local news, offering insights into how Resolve Philly has effectively partnered with other newsrooms to tackle issues like reentry and poverty.

Additionally, Jean explores the importance of community engagement and participatory journalism, describing how Resolve Philly involves residents in the news creation process. She provides practical advice for newsrooms looking to incorporate these elements, even with limited resources. Jean also touches on the strategic decisions behind funding, emphasizing the need for diverse revenue streams and the importance of avoiding competition with partner newsrooms.

Episode chapters:
(00:02:19) – The mission and founding of Resolve Philly
(00:06:51) – The evolution and trajectory of Resolve Philly
(00:12:14) – Embedding equity in journalism and its challenges
(00:17:40) – Moving forward with equity despite national polarization
(00:22:40) – Implementing community participatory journalism
(00:28:57) – Designing a newsroom for the future of local news
(00:32:44) – Challenges and strategies in collaboration
(00:39:44) – Seven lessons in collaboration
(00:49:00) – The Philadelphia local news ecosystem
(00:59:09) – Rapid-fire questions
(01:06:35) – Media and local recommendations

Listen to the episode here:

Bio:

Jean Friedman-Rudovsky is Resolve’s Executive Director and a Philadelphia native who believes strongly in journalism’s vital role in creating an equitable and just society. In 2018, she and Cassie Haynes co-founded Resolve Philly, a nonprofit newsroom breaking the mold for local news. Jean is an internationally recognized expert on collaborative journalism and a force for solutions journalism in Philadelphia and around the world. Under her stewardship, Resolve has become one of the most highly regarded young news organizations in the nation. Resolve has also made its mark for its workplace culture that enables staff to show up as their whole selves, being named as a 2023 Best Workplace in by Philadelphia Business Journal. Jean and Cassie have received multiple awards for their co-leadership of Resolve, including the 2022 Al Dia Women of Merit for Non-Profit Leadership Award, the 2023 INN Service to Non-Profit News Award, and the 2023 Online News Association (ONA) Impact Award. Prior to Resolve, Jean spent over a decade as an award-winning longform journalist reporting from dozens of countries and multiple continents. She has been published in The New York Times, Time Magazine, Vice, Cosmopolitan, and Bloomberg Businessweek, among others.

Full transcript:

(recorded via Riverside.fm; transcript automated via Castmagic.io, mostly unedited)

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:00:00]:I think some of us have gotten our shit together, you know, more than we did in those years. And I include myself in that because it is, this is a process. Right? Like, you—equity is whether it's kind of internal in your internal structures or how you're thinking about it in terms of your editorial work. It is not something that you can just, like, check off. Oh, I've done the six things and so now I am a fully equitable business or organization or or, you know, journalistic practice. It's just it is constantly evolving and you have to constantly think about the ways that all of all of the isms. Right? All of the systems of discrimination are impacting the work that you do, are impacting your team, and are impacting the communities that you ultimately want to serve. So, anyway, I think some of us are working and continue to work really hard at this.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:00:54]: Welcome to the Local News Matters podcast, where we explore pathways to stronger journalism, better businesses, and healthier communities. I'm Tim Regan-Porter, CEO of the Colorado Press Association.

This episode, I talk with Jean Friedman-Rudovsky, executive director of Resolve Philly. Jean shares insights into the mission of the nonprofit newsroom which addresses the information needs of underserved communities in Philadelphia through a focus on equity, collaboration and community engagement.

Jean also discusses her journey from international reporting to co-founding Resolve Philly and highlights the organization’s impact through initiatives like the Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative and community participatory programs. With her extensive experience and commitment to equity, Jean provides valuable lessons on creating sustainable, community-focused newsrooms that can serve as a model for others.

If you like this episode and what we're doing more generally, please follow in your favorite podcast app, leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and tell your friends about us. This is a side project and a labor of love, and your support means a lot. You can find past episodes, full transcripts, and relevant links, and sign up for our newsletter at localnewsmatterspodcast.com, or for lazy typists like me at lnmpod.com. You also follow us on most social media channels @lnmpod.

And now I bring you Jean Friedman-Rudovsky. Alright. Well, welcome, Jean. Glad to have you on the podcast.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:02:17]: Thanks. Thanks for having me.

The mission and founding of Resolve Philly

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:02:19]: So you are one of the cofounders of Resolve Philly. Listeners who've paid a lot of attention to what's been going on in local news across the country may have heard about it. It's been doing a lot of interesting things. So why don't you start with just telling us about why you started it? What was the mission? What was the gap you were trying to fill?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:02:41]: Yes. I will start at that beginning. So, Resolve Philly's mission is to develop and advance journalism rooted in equity, collaboration and the elevation of community voices and solutions. And our origin story is interesting, because it really grew out of work that was being done, that had the possibility to have, kind of broader impact and be more powerful over time. So I'll explain a little bit what I mean by that. In 2016, I was working with Solutions Journalism Network, which your listeners might be aware of. Right? It's an organization that advances the practice of reporting, on responses to social problems and not just the problems themselves. I had recently moved back from a decade abroad being a freelance international reporter, had been connected to the folks at SJN, and they asked me to be their Philadelphia chapter coordinator, essentially, you know, doing workshops and trainings for folks in Philadelphia around solutions journalism, which at that time was not very known, and trying to cultivate a community of journalists who were excited about the approach.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:03:55]: So I started doing that work and along the way, met a reporter at the Inquirer named Jane Von Bergen. We went out for a drink one night and we were chatting, and she was like, well, what if we do something a little bit more interesting than just trainings and workshops? And I said, yeah. That sounds great. And she said, well, what about a collaborative reporting project? What if we bring reporters together, a few reporters together from a few different outlets here in Philadelphia to all do reporting on one topic from a solutions journalism perspective. And I said, that's a brilliant idea. And she said, what about the end, the issue of reentry from prison? She was on the employment beat, and it was something that was particularly interesting to her and that she was passionate about reporting about. She didn't know that I had actually done reporting about the same issue, so I saw its potential. And so I brought that back to the folks at SJN, and they were a bit skeptical.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:04:52]: This was, you know, 2016. The field of collaborative journalism was not what it is now. The Center For Cooperative Media was doing some, was doing excellent work. And certainly there was collaboration in the media field, but not much in local media. And particularly not in Philadelphia where we were hyper known as a hypercompetitive media market. But SGN kind of gave me the green light to talk to newsrooms around the city and try to put something together. So long story short, I was able to bring journalists here together, and we conducted the reentry project, which was 13 different news organizations in Philadelphia, doing dedicated solutions journalism around the issue of prisoner reentry. And it went really well.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:05:36]: There was policy impact. There was great community engagement and response from the project. And most importantly, for Resolve's evolution, the newsrooms involved wanted to keep working together. And so we put in for a grant when that ended, to continue this collaborative work in some way, maybe switch editorial topics, but to keep working together. And at that point, SJN said to me, you know, this is great work, but it's not in our long term strategic plan to kind of house this kind of play space work within SJN. You should go do this on your own. And so in the beginning of 2018, I launched Broke in Philly, which was the next iteration of the collaborative project. There was 21 newsrooms focusing on solutions to poverty and economic mobility.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:06:23]: And in the beginning part of that year, came together with Cassie Haines, who is someone I knew in my personal life. She was a friend. We met through our kids who attended daycare together. And she and I together saw the power of having a critical mass of local media organizations wanting to do their work differently, wanting to serve their communities differently, wanting to work together, wanting to do solutions journalism. And so we together founded Resolve.

The evolution and trajectory of Resolve Philly

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:06:51]: And how would you describe how it's gone? What's the trajectory been like?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:06:56]: Yeah. The trajectory has been fast. We are now pretty different than how we started in the sense that at the beginning, Resolve was essentially a vehicle for a collaborative reporting project. We still maintain that collaborative. Broke in Philly lasted five years. We sunset that project last year. It was incredible. Over 3,000 stories produced tons of policy impact just like really wonderful impact and outputs and kind of evolved into a model.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:07:23]: It's now the Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative. So not kind of rooting the identity in an editorial topic, but really an ongoing sustained partnership amongst now 31 news organizations in Philadelphia. Along the way, we also developed a lot of work kind of around that, and alongside it to the extent that right now, Resolve is in and of itself a newsroom. As we say, really a newsroom designed for community impact and one that we think is a model for the future of local news, and I can talk about kind of what I mean by that. And we base our work on three core principles. Collaboration, right, that remains kind of at the heart of what we do, maintaining the collaborative and always looking to be complementary to what exists, here in Philadelphia to serve information needs. The second pillar is community responsive and participatory journalism. So really making sure that the editorial work that we are doing is informed by those who we seek to serve.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:08:25]: Resolve has six priority communities. They are broadly folks who have been long harmed and excluded by traditional media narratives here in Philadelphia. And trying to get them actively involved in the news creation process. So we have documenters here in Philadelphia, which, you know, a lot of listeners probably know is a wonderful program that was started by city bureau, and there's now, I think, 15 or 16 cities where we all recruit, train, and pay community members to take public notes at meetings to build a new public record. So getting folks really involved in the process, within Resolve, we have a hyperlocal newsroom that serves the Germantown neighborhood, a Philadelphia historically black neighborhood in the city. And we have, within that, our editor and reporter and organizer for that work, just focus on what do folks in Germantown need to know. So that's our 2nd pillar, community responsive and participatory journalism. And the third is bridging the information divide.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:09:25]: We feel really strongly that it's important to meet people where they are with news and information. So in Philadelphia, almost 20% of our city residents do not have steady and reliable access to Internet. And so we try to try to figure out ways that we are getting people vital news and information that doesn't make them come to our website to access it kind of directly. So examples of that are we run a SMS text line. So similar to, you know, Outlier Media who probably a lot of your listeners know as well. You know, engaging with people via text to both kind of answer their questions and concerns. It's an open bilingual Spanish English text line where anyone in the city can ask a question as we say anything related to needing something to survive and thrive in the city of Philadelphia. And our staff, our reporter, Luisa, will answer those questions.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:10:23]: And then twice a week, we use the line to send out news and information that we know is valuable to our subscriber base. So our subscriber base is mainly in low income neighborhoods in the city. So we send out information on job opportunities, where to find a free turkey around Thanksgiving, community fridges, if there is a new, you know, rent relief program or ways to find support for if you are being threatened with an eviction. And we send that out proactively twice a week. We also publish a free community newsletter, that we with evergreen information and stories and narratives that we distribute at rec centers and shelters and public libraries and places where folks are waiting and able to sort of peruse, you know, magazines and reading material that are there and hoping that that is more relevant to them than maybe some of the other material that might be in those spaces.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:11:25]: That is a lot. How big is your staff?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:11:28]: It is. Right. So right. You asked the question about growth. So, you know, Cassie and I started this together in 2018. We hired our first, small group of staff in 2019. We are now 25 full time folks with four interns, and currently two fellows. And we always pay our interns and our fellows.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:11:55]: So that's yeah. It's been a lot of growth. We are focusing now on better not bigger and really making sure that we are doing solid in-depth, reporting and engagement work here in Philadelphia, and not kind of continue the exponential growth that we've had.

Embedding equity in journalism and its challenges

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:12:14]: Yeah. So there's a lot I wanna dig into and talk about, you know, specifics of implementing on those pillars and what other newsrooms can learn, and adapt. But I wanna start with maybe the focus on equity that I think undergirds a lot, you know, undergirds your work. And I wanna quote something you said in a Nieman Lab prediction back in 2020. So you said, we cannot truly consider ourselves stewards of public trust and information if we aren't embodying equity at every level. In 2021, journalism will get its shit together for the sake of democracy, for the sake of our economic future as an industry, for the sake of the communities we serve, for the sake of the people we employ. And I really love that you've encompassed that equity is important for all of it. It's important for, you know, just sort of in terms of our values and our sense of community and democracy writ large, but also for our own economics and for our own staff.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:13:16]: It really is a bedrock principle that affects all of those. So you feel free to elaborate on that, and then I just I'll start by asking, how well do you think we've gotten our shit together?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:13:29]: Good question. Yes. I remember that prediction very well, which Cassie Hanes, my cofounder, and I wrote. And, you know, I think we've I think some of us have gotten our shit together, you know, more than we did in those years. And I include myself in that because it is, this is a process. Right? Like, you—equity is whether it's kind of internal in your internal structures or how you're thinking about it in terms of your editorial work. It is not something that you can just like check off. Oh, I've done the six things and so now I am, you know, a fully equitable business or organization or or, you know, journalistic practice.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:14:07]: It's just it is constantly evolving and you have to constantly think about the ways that all of all of the isms. Right? All of the systems of discrimination are impacting the work that you do, are impacting your team, and are impacting the communities that you ultimately want to serve. So anyway, I think some of us are working and continue to work really hard at this. You know, I think unfortunately, we are seeing what some are labeling the great retrenchment away from a focus on DE and IB, so diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging that be, you know, coined by Maynard Institute in this space, which I think is really important, because I think that that sense of belonging really added so much to kind of the standard DE and I speak and, and and approach. And so I think, you know, right now we're facing a real retrenchment both from funders and kind of the public writ large in terms of how important this is, and not just how important it is, but, you know, all out attacks on it, attacks on affirmative action, attacks on there was just I was just seeing a ruling today. I'm forgetting which state it is, and it just kind of came across my email, in the last couple of hours that that really questions even, funding opportunities that that, you know, specifically target and and privilege folks who have been, you know, long, disempowered or excluded from, you know, certain funding circles. So I think we're in a real kind of dangerous time for the issue of equity, you know, not just in journalism, but kind of in society at large. I hope that we can get back to that place where it is where it is, you know, talked about all the time and everywhere, and where we can focus again on getting our shit together and making that a priority.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:16:03]: Because I think the other thing that we've seen, so what I just described in terms of Resolve's work is our editorial work, the work of our newsroom, and the program programmatic work that we do. One of our alternative revenue streams for Resolve is actually a consulting and professional development practice called modifier. And so, for example, Cassie and I do consulting with – some with organizations, with newsrooms who wanna embed, you know, equity more deeply into their policies and practices, and who wanna do, you know, community engagement. Our community engagement team does wonderful work with newsrooms actually across the world. And so we've even seen from that vantage point this sort of retrenchment. And often it comes in little ways. Right? It is budget cuts across newsrooms, and what are the first things to go. Right? It's professional development lines.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:16:58]: It's things that kinda seem like nice add ons. Right? The kind of nice to haves rather than the needs to have, which, you know, we all as organizational leaders who are in challenging financial times, we always have to make those really tough decisions. But I think often those things are the first thing to go. You know, not wanting to bring on support to, you know, kind of constructively think about how equity is advancing in an organization. And so it's just yeah. It is it's challenging times in all fronts for those of us who are both, you know, wanting to do this work inside of our own organizations and wanting to support others to do it as well.

Moving forward with equity despite national polarization

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:17:40]: Do you have any thoughts…. You know, obviously, part of that is tied up in the national discussion and politics and, you know, the Supreme Court ruling, on affirmative action in colleges. But it looks very different at the local level when you're on the ground and you're seeing the impact of communities who have been excluded. Do you have any thoughts on how we move forward and get it out of sort of this really polarized national discussion and into something that is more practical and, you know, down to the people who it's actually impacting?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:18:14]: I do. I do have thoughts. So I'll address it kind of in two ways. one, kind of in the internal and then external. So internal, I think some of it is there are things that can be done to advance and instill equity within an organization that don't take outside resources, that don't take dedicated funding. That really just means that you are, you know, thinking about power dynamics within your own organization and making policies and practices that are, you know, more fair or equitable. I'll give an example of what I mean. So within Resolve, we have a tiered, you know, we give annual raises every year and we have a tiered system where those of us who make the most, so our executive team which is me, Becka Gorelick, our chief programs officer, and our new, I'm sorry, our chief operating officer and our new chief programs officer who she has just started with us, but we're making a public announcement so you will soon know.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:19:18]: Anyway, the three of us who make the most in the organization, we receive the smallest raise every year. Whereas the entry level positions, associate positions receive the largest, raise every year proportion to their income. So it is a very small thing that leaders of organizations can do to instill equitable practices like that. There are, you know, things that come up kind of on the spur of the moment. I remember, early on in results history. So in 2020, we were doing work with Play Streets, which is a program run by the Philadelphia recs department where they shut down streets throughout the summer to make play spaces for kids. And our engagement our community engagement team was wanting to visit a lot of these play streets to distribute our newsletter and talk about our text line and just, you know, show up and understand kind of where people are at, because that's a lot of the work of our community engagement team is just showing up and talking with folks to understand what's going on in their lives. And pretty early on, we were told, I'm sorry, but your community engagement editor at the time, he's now our director, Derrick Cain, can't actually come and visit our sites, because he is a returning citizen.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:20:33]: And so, you know, they had policies and practices they had a policy that said someone who, you know, has a prior felony conviction cannot come and visit our space. And so rather than saying, oh, okay, sorry, we'll send someone else from our team, we pushed back and said actually we need to figure out a workaround because he is a vital part of our organization and staff and we're not gonna just send someone else in his place. And so we figured out a solution where he would be accompanied when he is, you know, hosting stuff at a parks and rec site, but he was still able to go. So all of those are just little things that, you know, employers and leaders can do to advance equity. Externally, my firm belief is that doing community responsive reporting, serving information needs, genuinely understanding the information that the folks in, you know, amongst your audience, in your community who are who you are trying to serve, that is a practice of equity in and of itself. Switching sort of our reporter mindset from this kind of all knowing, you know, editorial ivory tower. I'm mixing metaphors here. This kind of all knowing place of, we know what is best.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:21:51]: We know the stories that we should report. We—meaning we as reporters, we as editors, you know, I identify as a lifelong journalist. So this is, like, near and dear to my heart because I know I operated this way for years. I'm just thinking, oh, I know what a good story is. I know what folks need to understand about their lives, and that's the story that I'm gonna do when in fact we don't always know. We can have good instincts and we can have good hunches and it's, you know, important to trust those. And also if we are not in consistent conversation with the folks that we are, like, literally exist to serve, then we're not sustaining, I think, equitable practices in journalism. If there's not an element of that conversation and genuine community engagement, there's something that's missing.

Implementing community participatory journalism

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:22:40]: You mentioned sort of that all knowing perspective, which brings me back to one of your core pillars. You know, we have a pipeline problem in terms of not diversity, certainly, but also just in general. You know, I worry about, you know, the number of people we're attracting into the field who are really devoted to it. We're just not gonna have the finances or the people to do the work we did in our you know, when news was at peak from an industry perspective. And so we have to open our platforms to our communities and tap into their expertise and their knowledge as well as their needs. And so I just think it's such an important pillar. And can you talk to me a little bit about what does that look like? How do you actually put that into practice? How, you know, how do you tap into your community and have them participate?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:23:41]: One example, of course, is documentaries that I've already, you know, discussed, and I think, I think it's yeah. It's just – it's such a wonderful program. It's such a wonderful way to kind of clearly tap into that and also in a really accessible way. Right? Because it is a two hour training that anyone can take, and you come out of that really prepared to be a documenter. And it doesn't mean, you know, I think it's really important for folks who don't know about this program to understand that it's not like we're sending people out to document, public meetings and city council hearings and other things and then they just are directly throwing their notes onto a website. You know, we have two people who lead that program, here within Resolve, and they spend a lot of time editing and fact checking and making sure because that's important too. Right? In order for us to remain a trusted and verified source of news and information, we have to have those backstops. So I think often when people hear participatory journalism, they think it's essentially, like sort of a going back to like a blog model if you just open something up and anyone can write anything.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:24:49]: And that's not what it is for us. There is still the rigor that is involved in, you know, any true journalistic practice, but it just—Yes, it is participatory. It includes people who are not trained journalists. Few other ways that we incorporate folks into this process, so the newsletter, the commune, the free community newsletter that I talked about, that is editorially guided by a group that we call our info hub captains. So these are folks around the city, who are already kind of neighborhood level leaders who even before we, you know, are working with them already play sort of an informal role as information conduits in their neighborhood. They are the block captains, the ward leaders, you know, the woman who runs a home daycare on her block and who is connected to everyone. And so we connect with them both to better understand information needs at a block to block level but then also so that we're ensuring that our newsletter is again responding to information needs.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:25:57]: And so they're the ones who often help us choose a topic for each newsletter. They're often writing pieces, again, that are edited by us, but contributing and participating in the production of that work. And then I would say the last example of this, we also do work on what we call community narratives. So Dia Roberson is our associate editor of community narratives, and she works with folks who wanna tell their own stories and works with them to craft pieces for op eds or for publication around the city. So with going back to that collaborative that I talked about at the beginning and working with people who, again, have long been either harmed or excluded by media narratives who don't actually want someone to just come and report on something that happened to them, but they want an opportunity to talk about it themselves. And so she works with them and gives community narrative workshops to help people be better prepared when they wanna take those, you know, the avenues that do exist in other outlets for writing something yourself and not just being reported on.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:27:08]: If you have any thoughts on, you know, if I'm I'm thinking about small newsrooms or even, you know, maybe slightly bigger newsrooms, but they're, you know, they're lean, they're in the daily grind, They don't have funding to do participatory journalism. Do you have any thoughts on an on ramp? You know, how can a busy editor and reporting team start reaching out and incorporating the community into what they do?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:27:33]: Yeah. Well, I think that there are real small steps that folks can take without dedicated funding and without adding new staff members. You know, one easy way is to host, you know, your version of a community listening session. At Resolve, we call them sound offs, because the idea is literally for folks to just kind of come in and sound off about what's going on in their lives. And going into it without an agenda, without a story idea that you have in your head, without thinking about what are the quotes that I'm going to pull for this for a story, but genuinely just to give people a place to talk about what's going and talk about what's going on in their lives and to have that help inform how you do coverage going forward. So that is, you know, it's the lower end of participatory because it's not necessarily people who are writing. But I would say it is participatory because you are inviting them into your process. Right? So instead of just, again, in the editorial meeting, thinking about what stories should we be doing and coming up with ideas and work shopping those ideas, you are opening up that part of the process, to people who are not trained journalists and to people who you ultimately want your, reporting to be of use for.

Designing a newsroom for the future of local news

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:28:57]: And earlier, you used the phrase newsroom design for the future of local news. So, yeah, can you expound on what you meant by that?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:29:04]: Yeah. I think those three pillars of collaboration, community responsive and participatory journalism, and meeting people where they are with news and information are just really vital for any local news organization to be thinking about into the future to be sustainable. And sustainable in the sense of like, being relevant in people's lives. I'm not talking I mean, obviously, this is tied to financial sustainability. But when I say sustainable, I just mean, yeah, being relevant, and being a source of news and information in journalism that that your audience wants to go to. I think everyone needs to be thinking about those three pillars. It—that does not mean that everyone should have the exact scale or structure of Resolve because that would be wild. Because, you know, we Resolve was developed for this particular space and place of Philadelphia.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:30:00]: And it, and that is why, you know, we didn't sort of go the network model approach of, like, Resolve Dallas and Resolve, you know, Chicago and that was never in our plan because it, that wouldn't have worked because it has to be built from the ground up. And so I but I really believe we really believe that those three core pillars are the future of local news. There are probably others, I'm not saying it's all encompassing. But if you're a local newsroom and you're not thinking about those three things, I would ask you, why not? And I would urge you to be thinking more actively about them, because I think each one is really vital, to sustaining, you know, the work that you do and the work that we do as an industry writ large. What it also means though is that it may lead you to a different structure of your newsroom than, you know, than the model that we've seen for centuries, essentially. It may lead you to not having a structure where it is a bank of reporters, a bank of editors, and then, you know, quote, unquote business side folks. For example, we have a four person community engagement team, and that is like the work that they do is, as I described, you know, hosting sound ops, being out and out in the in communities and really developing those relationships of trust so that people want to, you know, read our reporting, wanna sign up for the text line, And so that our editorial content is is better serving their their needs. It may look like having less separation than sort of the firewall between business and editorial.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:31:45]: And I don't mean that in the sense of, okay, now, you know, whatever potential, you know, money lines there are that should influence the editorial practices because, of course, that does not happen here and should not happen anywhere. But to our editorial meetings, are working our editorial meetings are open to our entire staff because we genuinely believe that everyone on our team can, like, give great input and feedback on stories that we're thinking about and projects that we're working on. Our staff is highly representative of the communities that we seek to serve here in Philadelphia. And so why wouldn't, when given the opportunity, invite them into conversations on what we're thinking about editorially? And so there's little ways, I think, that we can be challenging ourselves to rethink even the structures of the newsrooms and how we are putting together staffing going forward?

Challenges and strategies in collaboration

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:32:44]: Collaboration has been something that's been crucial to, you know, not only Resolve Philly, but your efforts before this. And collaboration can be really, really hard. And so I wanna talk about seven lessons that you and a couple coworkers wrote for LMA. But first, just in general, how would you describe the challenges of collaboration?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:33:06]: There's there's a lot of challenges of collaboration. I think one of the biggest challenges actually are that it is misunderstood sometimes. I think that folks approach collaboration too often from a framework of equality and not equity. Meaning, equality, we all need to do the same thing. We should all be, you know, like kind of putting in the exact same amount of time, receiving the exact same amount on the other end when that, at least in the media space, doesn't work for collaboration because we're all starting from such different vantage points, and and such different and and all starting with a genuine and and deep power imbalances most likely if you're working in a local media space. Because often you're bringing together, you know, 150 year paper of, you know, record with new start up over here, with small Spanish-speaking outlet over here. And so you, are you are coming to the table from really disparate places. And so the idea that just because we're all sitting down in collaboration, we can erase all the history, we can erase all the power imbalances, and everything that that folks are bringing to that table and just kind of create a one size fits all working relationship, I think I think we need to do away with that idea and I think too many people approach collaboration with that mindset.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:34:33]: And so one of the things that I think has really impacted the success of our ability to sustain this collaborative year after year, here in Philadelphia is that we don't try to like, we think about equity rather than equality and we don't try to kind of shove those power imbalances under the rug. So I think that's a key that's a key challenge. I think that kind of misconception of what people show up to a collaborative expecting.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:35:05]: Mhmm. And one of the things that I think gets people in trouble too is not understanding why they're collaborating in the first place and what the benefits are and why, in some cases, you know, for the sake of your community, it might even be a necessity. So what would you say to those points?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:35:22]: I think you're absolutely right. I think that’s right. Just doing collaboration for the sake of collaboration also doesn't make sense. There needs to be some unified goal or mission and also there needs to be space for an understanding that we are all trying to get something different out of this. Right? And so, for example, like within broke in Philly, right, there was a there was a agreed upon mission, that we are going to be doing, you know, improved solutions journalism rooted in community engagement around this specific topic to be able to, you know, frankly try to like lift our city out of poverty. Like, you know, or like decrease poverty numbers and to be really clear about the fact that, you know, we believe that there needs to be better reporting on this topic and we can't just focus on the problems. That's unified mission. Right? We're all kind of in agreement that this is the thing that we are doing.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:36:18]: And also every single news organization who was part of BrokerPhilly was also there for different reasons. Some wanted to expand their audience. Some wanted to be able to, you know, test the power of bilingual joint reporting. Some folks wanted to be able to, have opportunities to, you know, do more engagement and host more events because they know that their newsroom wasn't capable of doing that on their own and so they could partner with someone else. And so understanding that we have to have these layers for what we each wanna achieve, there has to be that agreed upon unified, you know, mission and what we're striving for. And also, there should be space for everyone to have a clear understanding why they are showing up specifically.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:37:03]: Yeah. And I think embedded in that discussion of understanding the mission is just the sense of the power that can come from collaboration. So not only can you do work that you might not be able to do on your own, you know, when you have multiple outlets in Philadelphia reporting on a topic, you know, it's no longer just a lone voice in the wind. And there I think there are good examples of that in Philadelphia where we've coordinated coverage and really gotten people's attention, including policymakers.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:37:32]: Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. It is right. The total is greater than the sum of its parts. That is sort of what you're aiming for with collaboration. And you're right. There's someone actually who now sits on Resolve's board, his name is Glenn Bergman for a while.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:37:47]: He was the director of Philabundance, which is the largest kind of food sustainability organization and, you know, providing food to folks who are hungry here in Philadelphia. We he was the head of field abundance when Broke in Philly started, and he hadn't really he hadn't it's not like he had heard that this collaborative reporting project on poverty had started. But all of the sudden, he started getting so many more calls about the work that his organization does with, like, questions who are equipped with I'm sorry, reporters who are equipped with better questions and who were really trying to kind of dig more under the surface than they ever had been about the work that Philabundance does. And he was genuinely perplexed. Right? He, like, tells the story anytime that anyone asks him about why he eventually joined Resolve's board after he left his position at Philabundance. He was just sort of blown over by the fact that a group of newsrooms, a large group of newsrooms in Philadelphia, wanted to dedicate their attention to this. And he said it mattered materially. Like, it absolutely mattered materially in the work that Philabundance could do and that he saw sort of in the broader conversation around poverty in that nonprofit sector that, of course, he was a part of.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:39:06]: And so, yeah, it's just you know, someone who is on our staff now, our senior development director Lee Whack, was when Broke in Philly was part, was happening, he was actually the communications director for the superintendent for the school district. He also was starting to get all of these calls of, you know, connecting more education with poverty issues in the area and economic mobility. And he too was like, what is going on? Like, why is this happening? So, yes, it was noticed sort of on all sides of the spectrum, and that's what you, that's what you want. That's the power of it.

Seven lessons in collaboration

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:39:44]: So I do wanna go through those seven lessons just really quickly because I think there's some specific points you call out that could be useful for people. So the first two are independent leadership, someone whose sole job is the collaboration and having a project manager that's not housed at any one of the participating organizations. Can you talk a little bit about why those two are important?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:40:05]: Yeah. That was really important when we first started the work, because there had been such you know, folks had tried local news collaboration here in Philadelphia. There had been collaborative reporting projects. And there was a sense that it was often they were often kind of housed or initiated within larger newsrooms in the city, and that felt really uncomfortable for smaller newsrooms who are being asked to participate because they felt like they didn't have as much of a say in what was going on, because it was, you know, the the person at the largest organization in the room who was kind of running the show. And I think particularly in forming the collaborative, it was helpful that I had literally no allegiance and sort of no history in the Philadelphia journalism area. I am originally from Philly, but I had left here for college and then, you know, was abroad for a decade and had just moved back. And so I didn't know folks here which, you know, obviously I then needed allies to help me to, you know, have introductions and connections so I couldn't have built it on my own as an outsider. And also I think I think, you know, for me particularly it was helpful.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:41:22]: It was like, oh, it's not like Gina's, you know, she used to be at the Inquirer or she was at this place or she was at this place. And so it doesn't mean that you need someone exactly like me to start a local media collaborative, but I think having that independence at the outset is really important.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:41:39]: And the next two really relate to understanding the relationships and the among both the publications, including histories of competition and also, you know, among all the collaborative participants including the community.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:41:55]: Yeah. So I think, you know, that goes back to sort of what I was saying earlier about, you know, one of the one of the things that's really important, particularly at the outset, is just not trying to kind of sweep that history or power imbalances under the rug because they exist. And and if you try to ignore them or don't and not just try to ignore them, but if you're not if you're trying to put together a collaborative and you're not actually actively asking to understand some of that history, if you don't already know it, then I think it is important to even just try to surface it because, again, it exists there whether you're talking about it or not. So you may as well create a space where you can talk about it, where it can be heard. And I don't necessarily mean, you know, large conflict resolution or anything like that, but just being aware of what's happened in the past. Like, it was incredibly important that I understand the history of collaborative projects here in Philadelphia as I was putting together the reentry project, both to learn lessons of what went well and also to understand what didn't go so well and to be able to try to, you know, rectify that moving forward.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:43:05]: And the fifth one is choosing a topic that minimizes competition and doesn't really activate that scoop mindset.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:43:12]: Yes. This was really key, again, particularly at the beginning because, you know, if it's an initial collaboration, and folks are just working together for the first time, you know, we all as journalists have this kind of scoop mentality. It is embedded in us kind of from the beginning. It's, you know, there's so much wrapped into it, whether it's journalism teachings or even just like – personal ego. You wanna be the one to do the thing that gets, you know, the story that has a lot of likes or a lot of impact, whatever it is. And so finding I mean, first of all, I think that, is that is changing bit by bit, which is great. But it, we have to admit it still exists, within the industry and within a lot of us as journalists. And so finding an area where, again, yes, it minimizes it.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:44:00]: Right? So I think a lot of political reporting is not the best thing for a sustained collaborative of this nature because I think there is, you know, a tendency to wanna get scoops. And so finding a topic that you know is relevant to the community that you wanna serve and also is not the one that folks are already scrambling to try to cover and be the first out the door with. So, you know, reentry in that way was really perfect because, you know, Philadelphia at that time, had the highest incarceration rate proportional to population of any city in the country. And at that time, we had, you know, around 200,000 people or more who had criminal backgrounds, in the city. And so, you know, there were so many returning citizens and there were going to be so many more as, you know, the years continued on. And yet and and there were certainly news outlets that were covering reentry, but it wasn't its own beat. It wasn't something that folks were, you know, kind of elbowing each other out of the way to get story angles and ideas for. And so that, I think, made it really appealing and much more safe, particularly at the beginning.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:45:18]: I do just wanna add, though, on this. I think we've evolved the collaborative here in Philadelphia to not have a specific topic like reentry or poverty, to be more sort of in-depth in systems reporting and for there to be a range of topics that that covers, to allow for deeper collaboration. We did that only after six years essentially working together as a collaborative. There was, you know, we went through a process with the newsrooms to try to decide what to do next, and there was a lot of interest in exploring sort of a 2.0 or a revised, you know, or in our case, maybe a 3.0, a revised concept of what a local news collaboration can be that isn't grounded in one single topic. So I think, you know, you can evolve over time, but starting out with that one concrete topic that mediates competitiveness is great.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:46:14]: And then the sixth is finding the right champion at each participating news organization. What makes for the right champion?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:46:22]: Finding a champion is key. And what makes a good champion is, couple things. One, that person themselves is interested in this, like bring some collaborative spirit. You don't want someone to be as we call them, like your kind of newsroom rep, the person who is kind of representing the newsrooms who the collaborative to be someone who's just wholly uninterested in this work. That's not gonna work because a lot of it is gonna hinge on this person, you know, bringing back information to their newsroom, actively engaging in Slack channels, in meetings, in all of the things that it takes, all of the little things that it takes to get the reporting, moving forward and to keep the collaboration moving forward. So you want someone, first and foremost, someone who wants to be there. And wants to be there because they are excited about all of the wonderful benefits of collaboration that we have already talked about. second, it's really great to have someone who has enough power within the newsroom that they can make things happen, but also is not so kind of far removed from the day to day editorial editorial and reporting work that there's, like, six steps between before it gets to, you know, or reporter or editor who needs to work on a story.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:47:41]: So often that's kind of, you know, it can be, you know, it really depends in each newsroom, but a news director level, a managing editor level, if it's about a specific beat, it is, you know, the editor that is responsible for that beat, perhaps. We also work with a lot of small newsrooms where it's just one or two people, and so it's really clear who it's gonna be. But for larger newsrooms, finding someone that has some power to make things happen, but not kind of too, quote, unquote, powerful that they are really far from the work.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:48:13]: The other thing I would add to that, and I'm thinking it just, you know, my history and myself as a, you know, leader in business development or editorial collaborations or anything else is being able to communicate back to your own team. Sometimes, particularly as leaders, we hold on to things, and we have a vision and we've had this conversation with someone and it's all in our head and we don't share that back.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:48:35]: Exactly. Exactly. Someone, yes, who is a great communicator and understands that that's part of their role. Like, part of their role is showing up and having great ideas, and then the other part of it is that communication. Yes. Great addition.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:48:47]: And then seven, we've already talked about, be sure, everyone understands the value in the collaboration and also understanding that the organizations have different perspectives and will get different things out of it.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:48:59]: Yeah.

The Philadelphia local news ecosystem

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:49:00]: So, you know, when I think about news ecosystems that are doing interesting work, that are very collaborative, you know, I think of Chicago and North Carolina, New Jersey, and Colorado, but maybe no place more than Philadelphia. What's in the water there?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:49:21]: Well, that's a separate question. My husband used to work for the water department. We could have a long, I'm just kidding. I mean, he did work for the water department, but the water is perfectly safe here. I think, you know, it is—this is a city of folks who are, for lack of a better word, just, like, gritty and resilient. I mean, some of you know, some folks who are listening may know that we actually have a mascot called Gritty. He is this, like, crazy orange monster. He is the mascot for the flyers.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:49:50]: I think it's you know, he is obviously such a favorite here in Philadelphia, because I think it really embodies this Philadelphia spirit of just like, yeah, like, let's just try it. And we're gonna be direct and we're gonna be honest with, you know, ourselves, and we're not gonna kinda beat around the bush. We're just gonna, like, try a thing. And if it doesn't work, great. But if it works, like, let's keep doing it, and, you know, keep giving each other the feedback and candid conversation that we need to have to continue to grow and to work together. You know, when I look at the success that we've had here in terms of collaboration and just like the wonderful amount of attention that is being put towards local news and information and, you know, folks every year starting new things and starting wonderful new startups in the new space. I think Resolve came at the right time here in Philadelphia. Timing is so important in so many things.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:50:49]: And I think us being able to begin a collaborative at a moment in journalism when, you know, the flow – the rug had been taken out from under us. Right? And and and there was a bit of just kind of chaos and unbelievable uncertainty in the industry. And I think the silver lining from that is that when it's so clear that the thing that you have been doing for so long isn't working anymore and isn't going to keep you relevant and sustainable, you are forced to try something new. And I think that's part of what collaboration offered at this specific moment in time in Philadelphia. And so I think we were able to, you know, within the work of the Reentry Project and Broke in Philly and then kind of Resolve over time, just be here at the right time. And I think it was, you know, it was so core to our mission and who we are that even as we evolved as, you know, a newsroom unto ourselves and doing our own reporting and editorial work, it still is just the core of what we do. So I think, yeah, there was something about timing and something about just the kind of Philadelphia spirit. And it's, you know, the credit goes to the collaborative partners who have stuck in this for so long.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:52:07]: You know, again, last year when broke in Philly ended, everyone could have been like, yeah, no, that was fun. We're done. And every single newsroom who was a part of broke wanted to stay in it and be actively involved in deciding what the future of the collaborative would look like. And to me, that's sort of the biggest testament is just like their persistence and dedication to this work because as we talked about earlier, it's hard. It is not easy. And I think the fact that folks still wanna be doing this, is because they're great Philadelphians.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:52:40]: One of the things I find fascinating about the ecosystem there is just how diverse it is in terms of the local news ecosystem. So you've got you know, it's one of Knight Foundation's core eight cities. You've got Temple. You've and then, you know, Lenfest and, you know, all the way down to, you know, a lot of smaller newsrooms. And, you know, Jim Brady started his experiment with Billy Penn there in Philadelphia. And so just the number of different groups working together, this is not dominated by, you know, just a Knight Foundation coming in or something like that. And so that makes for a lot of interesting experiments, and I think something that a lot of communities can learn from and hopefully, to aspire to to have that diversity of voices, and types of organizations. Yeah.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:53:25]: I think that's true. I think that's true. So many different organizations like that, you know, so many funders and, you know, other institutions at play. And then, yeah, so many different folks who were just, as I said, 31 now partner newsrooms within the collaborative. There are more out here in Philadelphia, and each one is doing something distinct. And I think that's just a really wonderful thing for the people of the city.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:53:51]: And one of the things you've written about for your own relationship to that ecosystem and your funding, and forgive me. I forgot to note where I found this at and when it was written. But you wrote about that, you know, you've avoided asking audiences directly for money, because you don't wanna compete with, you know, the members of the collaborative. So you're largely depending on, you know, big foundations, for funding. I think you were talking about doing a high net worth individual campaign. But could you talk a little bit about that decision and why you think that's important?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:54:27]: Yeah. So it has been really important because I think, you know, we do play such a, we just have to walk a really fine line here in Philadelphia in terms of our role. And so from the beginning, didn't want to feel like we were, yeah, sort of capitalizing off of other folks' you know, readers and editorial work that they're doing within the collaborative by building up that, you know, reader revenue. Because we also, the work that is produced within the collaborative, we will post it on our site, but when we are, you know, doing the newsletter that we send out that's the collection of, you know, PJC, Philadelphia Journalism Collaborative Reporting or in social media. We are always pointing people to the newsrooms that produce that work and not, you know, to our site where we have it listed, but more as just kind of a catalog or like a repository of the work that's being done. And so it felt really important that we continue to direct people to the reporting where it's happening, and that folks be able to, you know, generate their own reader revenue off of that and not have us try to come in and interrupt that relationship. So, yes, you know, for us, certainly, you know, foundation funding is incredibly important. We do have a major giving program, and so have, you know, built that up over the past couple of years which is hard work, but we are, you know, keeping at it.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:55:50]: We have the modifier practice that I talked about, the professional development work, and we'll be exploring some other revenue streams going forward. We've known from the beginning that having an overreliance on foundation funding is also not sustainable. And so, you know, these other streams are great. And also we just need to keep adding more of them because the more, you know, as I'm sure people have said on your podcast before, the more diversified the better. So that if one, you know, has a tough year, the others can compensate. So, you know, it's a challenge for us as it is with others, but we're in a strategic planning process for the next three years and really a core part of this is gonna be thinking about how we are also being able to generate some revenue in other areas.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:56:45]: Yeah. And I I think the thoughtfulness to how you approach funding that you've shown is really important and, you know, something all nonprofit and even for profit leaders should think about. I mean, in the startup world, you hear about smart money and you wanna really be strategic, and I think the same is true, certainly in the nonprofit world. And, you know, there's an institutional pull. You know, you're leaving money on the table. You probably had individuals wanting to become a member, give you money in some way. And so understanding your mission and your relationship to, in the ecosystem, I think, is crucial.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:57:20]: Yeah. Yeah. It is. And to be clear, you know, there is a donate button on our site. If someone wants to go and donate money, they can. But that's different than trying to you know, than spending a lot of organizational time and resources dedicated to building that up. And, yeah, it's, you know, we as humans are, we are wired for scarcity. It is how we evolved as a species.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:57:44]: It is what brought us here. Right? It is what kept us alive in past times was being scarce with our resources, of being, you know, hoarding resources, having a scarcity mindset because resources literally were scarce. And resources, you know, meaning food and shelter and water and the things we needed to survive. Our world has evolved so much and certainly a lot of folks right now are living in scarcity. I don't mean to say that that is not a reality for a lot of people, in this country and of course across the world. And also even those of us who are not kind of living in scarcity on a day to day basis, that is how our brains have developed at a just a genuine biological level. There's a 100 to one bias essentially for scarcity over abundance. And so we have to work really hard to reframe how we're thinking about things and it's hard.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:58:39]: I am a fundraiser. Right? I see a limited amount of, you know, there's a, you know, call for applications. They will take six of them. There are 50 candidates. Right? It's like we are forced into this scarcity mindset too. But it's really important to try to pull back and under and see things from an abundance framework and that Yeah. It's just Anyway, it's a constant struggle and it's because we're, we are struggling against, kind of our human genetics in a way.

Rapid-fire questions

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:59:09]: Alright. So now time for the rapid fire questions, And my questions will be fast, but your answers don't have to be.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:59:16]: Okay.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:59:16]: So compared to a year ago, are you more or less optimistic about the future of local news?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [00:59:23]: More. Because every week, every month, every year, there are more and more of us who are doing work or starting things to address community information needs, and I think that is vital. I think it's vital to the well-being of our cities and towns and counties. I think it is vital to our increasingly fragile democracy. And so, you know, there are more of us now. I'm not, I don't mean in term I know that there's been lot of layouts, but what I mean is that there's so many of us who are starting new things and who are seeking to kind of create change within larger institutions and that inspires me.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [00:59:59]: Does AI fill you with more hope or dread when it comes to journalism?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:00:04]: Oh, I don't know. I would say kind of I'm a little bit middle of the road here. I don't actually think it's gonna take away reporters' jobs. And I think if it is, then that is not a job that we should continue to be doing in the sense that, like, the whole point of reporting is to provide new and fresh perspectives on things. If the reporting that you're doing can literally just be sourced by a Google search, then that's not great journalism. And so how do we there's so many people in this space who are thinking about how we leverage AI for operational needs within newsrooms. Like, I think there is a lot that can be done. And, also, I know that it—I don't know. I'm just a little bit scared of AI in general. So

TIM REGAN-PORTER [01:00:48]: Alright. What's the best single piece of advice you've been given?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:00:52]: I'll give two on this, and I will also say who they're from. One feedback is a gift. This is from Corey Ford who leads the Sulzberger executive leadership program at Columbia University. Feedback is a gift. It's not a demand for change. There's no such thing as positive and negative feedback. There is affirmative feedback and there is developmental feedback. Right? Feedback that can help you develop into, you know, being a better version of yourself or your organization.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:01:17]: And I think if it is it is hard to really embrace that and live by it. But if you think of feedback as just more data from which you can make better decisions, it opens up a world of possibilities. And aligned with that, take your work seriously, not personally. This is something that Mark Hecker, who is the strategic planning consultant that we're working with, has reminded us, because it is so easy to take things personally. I mean, particularly in my position is, you know, Resolve as an organization that I founded. I take so much of it personally. I am working so hard to take it seriously and not personally.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [01:01:57]: Do you have a favorite failure of yours?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:02:00]: I don't know if it's a favorite, but we tried to do some tech product development, like, as a nonprofit newsroom, And we weren't able to do it, and it was for a lot of reasons. But I think what I've really focused on is, you know, the lessons that we learned from it. I think we learned lessons on, you know, needing to experiment small really early rather than kind of going big on a big thing right from the beginning. I think we spent a lot of time and resources just trying to kind of shoot for the stars rather than, you know, prototyping, doing something small, testing it, testing it, testing it. It taught me a lot about what this space was ready for at the time we were looking for folks who wanted to do impact investment. So, you know, investment with real low return, on the dollar, over time, and that was they, were not ready for a few years ago, and now, of course, we have people who we had those conversations with three years ago who are like, wait. Now we're ready. Now we got our board, like, on board with doing some impact investment.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:03:05]: It's like, well, sorry word. So it is another lesson about timing and just kind of understanding, that you can have a great idea. And also if the timing is not right, it's not gonna move forward and being able to understand both the situation that you're in and also looking a bit into the future.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [01:03:24]: Running an organization can be draining. Being in news can be draining. Just being alive these days can be draining. What's one thing you do to restore yourself and maintain your sanity?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:03:36]: I have to move my body. I'm an athlete. I've been an athlete since I was young, running, biking, swimming, going for walks. That restores my sanity, you know, on a daily and weekly basis. But then bigger picture restore—I'm an introvert, and so I get restored literally when I'm, like, in nature in the woods away from people.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [01:04:01]: Yeah. And as a leader, you know, particularly one whose organization is really founded on the bedrock of equity, the people who work for us, you know, have their own, you know, needs for mental health and particularly people who come from different backgrounds, disadvantaged backgrounds, might have unique needs. What do you do or what recommendations do you have for leaders in, who are just trying to help their team stay sane?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:04:28]: Yeah. This is so important because as I mentioned earlier, so much of our staff are, you know, very, very representative of the communities that we seek to serve. I think we – gotta we gotta make space for people to take care of themselves as humans. A real simple thing is, you know, I go to therapy, a lot of folks on my staff go to therapy. We encourage people to schedule their therapy appointments during the day. Right? Like, you shouldn't have to take—especially, I am also a parent of two youngish kids. My kids are nine and four and a half, and I don't really wanna have to, like, sacrifice the very few hours that I have with them in the evenings or on the weekends doing therapy. And so I take it during the day and that's what other people on my team do.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:05:11]: We have an unlimited paid time off policy, which is, you know, it is, that is something that you have to give a lot of attention and care to. It's not something, as Cassie used to say, it's not a crock pot policy. You can't just set it and forget it. But also that, you know, is helpful. We've done a lot of different things with our staff. We've done trauma informed psychoeducation courses like as a group that folks could take. And just really, yeah, understanding that if you are for the work feels infinitely harder, you know, making space for conversations that need to happen. We've even had conversations about, you know, kind of rules and guidelines of presenting things in Slack that could be really, really, hard to hear for folks on our staff.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:06:02]: So, yeah, even little things.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [01:06:05]: Do you have a favorite or unusual time saving hack?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:06:09]: I really try to, you know, do the hardest thing that I have to do that day in the morning or earliest. And the hardest thing can vary. Right? Sometimes it's writing a grant report, sometimes it's like writing an email that is challenging to write, whatever it is. But like the thing that I most don't wanna do, I try to do first and that ends up being very, very time saving because you get out of the way and then you can kind of whisk through other things.

Media and local recommendations

TIM REGAN-PORTER [01:06:35]: And then what are three to five places or activities you would recommend for someone visiting Philadelphia?

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:06:43]: Yes. So definitely visiting the Wissahickon, which is a part of Fairmount Park, which is the largest kind of city park system in the country. The Reading Terminal Market is, of course, a winner for all of the different wonderful foods that you can get and eat. And I would say, I mean, where our offices are is old city. It's where Independence Hall is, and you don't necessarily need to go in and visit the Liberty Bell, but it's a really cool place to walk around. And then I would also say Germantown, which is the neighborhood that I talked about earlier where we have a hyperlocal. It's just, it's a really, really cool place, and I recommend visitors to go there.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [01:07:27]: And then the final question, do you have three to five pieces of media that you could recommend to the audience? And this can be newsy, entertainment, any format, podcast, movies, books.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:07:38]: I will recommend a book called Connect, by Carole Robin. It's actually kind of based on a course taught at Stanford, but is all about interpersonal dynamics. And, it's connected to that feedback as a gift thing, and it's really excellent. Four Thousand Weeks is another really, really good book, especially for folks like me who, you know, try to be as productive and overachieving as possible, and it really helped me just kinda calm down a little bit. Yeah. So highly recommend. Manhunt. Yes.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:08:20]: Manhunt is a new series that is out on Apple TV. It's historical fiction, a miniseries based on the hunt for John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln's assassination. It was made by a childhood friend, Monica Beletsky. She was the show's creator and showrunner, and it's just really excellent.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [01:08:46]: Well, thank you very much for your time. This has been wonderful.

JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY [01:08:48]: Thank you, Tim.

TIM REGAN-PORTER [01:08:51]: Thank you for listening to the Local News Matters podcast. Never miss an episode by subscribing in your favorite podcast player and sign up for our newsletter at lnmpod.com.

And thanks to our production partners at Pirate Audio. Pirate Audio believes every community deserves great things to listen to, and they're on a mission to help local newsrooms reach their communities via audio. If you're interested in starting a podcast or need production support for an existing one, let me know, and I'll be happy to connect you.

If you have guest recommendations, others doing interesting and innovative work in local news, let me know through the contact form at the website, lnmpod.com.

Past guests on the Local News Matters podcast include: Jay Rosen (NYU), Sue Cross (Exit interview, INN), Mary Margaret White (Mississippi Today), Amy Kovac-Ashley (Tiny News Collective), Michael Shaprio (TAPinto), Kenny Katzgrau (redbankgreen and Broadstreet), John Garrett (Community Impact), Shannon Kinney (Dream Local Digital), Larry Ryckman (The Colorado Sun), Frank Mungeam (Local Media Association), Kelly Ann Scott (Alabama Media Group), Sara Lomax and S. Mitra Kalita (URL Media), Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro (National Trust for Local News), Mike Rispoli and Richard Young (via When the People Decide), Sarabeth Berman (American Journalism Project), Rabbi Hillel Goldberg and Shana Goldberg (Intermountain Jewish News), Lyndsay C. Green (via The Journalism Salute), Rashad Mahmood and Mark Glaser (New Mexico Local News Fund), Christian Vanek and Barbara Hardt (The Mountain-Ear), Dan Grech (BizHack), Zack Richner (Easy Tax Credits), Tracie Powell (Pivot Fund), Dan Oshinsky (Inbox Collective), Linda Shapley (via What Works), Yehong Zhu and Jake Seaton (Zette, Column), Charity Huff (January Spring), Joaquin Alvarado and Dave Perry (Aurora Sentinel), Steve Waldman (Rebuild Local News), Maritza Félix (Conecta Arizona), Michael Bolden (American Press Institute), Jeff Roberts and Corey Hutchins (CFOIC, Colorado College), Eve Pearlman and Erica Anderson (Spaceship Media), Jennifer Brandel (Hearken, Democracy SOS), Corey Hutchins with Bay Edwards, Todd Chamberlain and Raleigh Burleigh (Sopris Sun).