Community Conversation with Local Journalists

Thursday, August 6, 7pm

Elberta Heritage Center, 704 Frankfort Avenue

RSVP Recommended as seating is limited.  RSVP to [email protected].

This is the second of two Community Conversations with local journalists, part of WUWU’s Civic Access & Media Democracy Project. This will be an opportunity for community members to get a better understanding of the local media ecosystem and what it’s like to be a journalist in a small town. Some questions we will try to tackle include: What is news? How do you judge if a story is newsworthy? How does a reporter conduct comprehensive research to make sure a story is on solid footing?  What is the role of a reporter in society?  How is AI impacting journalism today?

Participants will be IPR’s News Director Ed Ronco and the Glen Arbor Sun Editor Jacob Wheeler.

Ed Ronco is news director at Interlochen Public Radio, where he also serves as the host of “Morning Edition” and the daily news podcast the “Up North Lowdown.” He came to IPR in 2022 after nine years at KNKX Public Radio in Seattle/Tacoma. Before that, he was a reporter at KCAW Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska, and a reporter at the South Bend Tribune in northern Indiana. Ed grew up in Wyandotte, MI, and earned a journalism degree from Michigan State University in 2004.

Jacob Wheeler publishes the Glen Arbor Sun newspaper and works with student journalists at Northwestern Michigan College. His reporting has won awards from Project Censored and the Michigan Press Association. A native of Denmark, he has filed stories from five continents, and his work has appeared in such national publications as The Rotarian, Teaching Tolerance, Utne Reader, In These Times, the Christian Science Monitor, Detroit Free Press, and San Francisco Chronicle. He has a BA from the University of Michigan and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction writing from Goucher College.