Interview with Evan Smith, CEO of The Texas Tribune
There is a new voice in Texas news: The Texas Tribune went live at midnight last night. But the Texas Tribune is not just a new source for news and information; it is a new model for multi-platform nonprofit news. In fact, CEO and Editor Evan Smith sees the Tribune as a new kind of “public media.” He wants the Texas Tribune to build community, to be a central hub for ideas and innovation in Texas, and to inspire citizens to engage in the world around them. It’s a big, bold project that has built upon the successes and failures of numerous other nonprofit journalism ventures.
I sat down with Evan Smith last week to talk about how the Texas Tribune is different from any other news site out there, and about the role journalists should play in fighting for the future of news.
Interview with Evan Smith, The Texas Tribune
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Other important voices in Texas
While the Texas Tribune is new and doing some very innovative things, there are a few other great sites worth checking out in Texas news.
Be sure to explore the Texas Observer, which has been around since 1954 (http://www.texasobserver.org) writing about "about issues ignored or underreported in the mainstream press."
Also take a look at Dallas South News, (http://www.dallassouthnews.org) "a nonprofit news organization utilizing technology, social media, and journalistic principles to empower and inform diverse communities."
Like the Texas Tribune both of these great sites are pushing boundaries and using innovative new techniques to provide local communities in Texas with more news, better analysis, and a chance to participate in the news.
The site looks wonderful
I didn't know much about Smith or the Texas Tribune before launch other than that it was well financed and ambitious.
It's wonderfully reassuring that in this interview he speaks so fluently about the value to society of public-interest journalism, and aware that in order to pull that off you have to first gather the information that's most necessary to bring accountability to powerful institutions in the community.
Thanks, Free Press, for bringing us this additional context on an exciting startup venture.
Texas Tribune
Evan Smith and I serve on the Medill Board of Advisors together. He described this project to me at our last meeting in early Oct. It's even better than he described. He has a healthy, community-oriented approach to journalism. And he has a crack staff to boot. We all need to make sure ventures like this survive and thrive. Texas Tribune provides a credible outlet for professional journalists who are serious about their work. Thanks to FP and Save the News for recognizing this venture.