The self-isolation of early 2020 inspired Alex and me to sort out the time zones and revisit what had happened since our last edition. Recorded in mid April 2020, here’s some thoughts on what happened in media industries in 2019. We mostly set aside commentary on Covid implications as unknowable, so it holds up surprisingly well given its mid-year release. The conversation is a little looser than normal; my repeated laughter (painful to listen to) reveals just how welcome the conversation was amidst weeks of isolating.

Amanda and Alex finish the year in review wrap up with a look back at a few more industries and a look forward at the issues to watch in 2019. We close with our “favorites” of 2018 and a big announcement about the show.

2018 was full of news in media industries and we discuss some of the biggest stories in this two-part wrap up. From mergers, to #MeToo, to MoviePass (and some things that don't start with M) we address not just what happened, but why it matters in 2019 and going forward.

Megan Sapnar Ankerson joins Amanda and Alex to talk about her new book Dot-Com Design: The Rise of a Usable, Social, Commercial Web. Megan's book sets the stage for many of our conversations about internet and web-based businesses by reminding us of the forces that led it to take its contemporary form.

It's an "extra" episode in which we put the five local media interviews in conversation to see what we can take away on this complicated subject. (Sorry about the slow production of late)

In our final interview of the Local Media series, Amanda and Alex talk with Joseph Lichterman, a senior business associate at the Lenfest Institute for Journalism. We talk about the insight he gained researching and writing stories 300 stories about news outlets on six continents for Nieman Journalism Lab. Lichterman produces the Solution Set newsletter that examines experimentation in local news.

Amanda and Alex talk with Zoe Clark to learn about the challenges of managing a “local” mission of state-wide service and how NPR stations are filling the gaps in communities that have lost local newspapers.

Zoe Clark is Michigan Radio's Program Director. Clark oversees all programming on the state's largest public radio station - including the station's award-winning newsroom, and co-hosts It's Just Politics, a weekly look at Michigan politics airing Monday mornings on Morning Edition.

Alex and Amanda talk with Neil Chase, Executive Editor of the Bay Area News Group. He is a veteran journalist and marketer with deep experience in print and digital news, who got his start at the San Francisco Examiner, and has been as a professor at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and held top spots at the business news site MarketWatch.com, The New York Times and Federated Media Publishing. 

Neil gives us a nuanced look at the role of ownership and types of local--it might not be about who owns you, but their approach to the business.

Alex and Amanda talk with Evan Smith, CEO of The Texas Tribune, a digital-only, not-for-profit news organization that operates in Texas. Evan joins us to discuss what he's learned about the opportunities and challenges for local, digital journalism, and be sure to note his definition of journalism around the 16 minute mark.

In the second episode in our series on the Business of Local Media, we pose many of our questions about the challenges facing local media to expert Christopher Ali, author of Media Localism: The Policies of Place (University of Illinois Press, 2017).