Last week I attended the most honest tech conference I can remember. The ironic thing was that it wasn’t a tech conference at all. If was the California Press Foundation (CPF) annual conference.

The CPF traces its history back to 1878 when it was formed originally as the California Press Association to represent the journalism industry in the state. It morphed and partnered with different journalism groups over its existence, and today it operates independently as a statewide nonprofit supporting the next generation of journalists. At its core, it works to keep the shrinking industry alive.

Journalism is crucial to the survival of democracies worldwide, and this organization is doing yeoman's work in pushing it into the 21st century.