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Chicago Tribune
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Heidi Stevens: When newsrooms shrink, so does our capacity to know and understand one another
In my son's high school journalism class a few months ago, the teacher introduced them to 'All The President's Men,' the Oscar-winning film about Watergate, based on the explosive book by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the Washington Post reporters who took down President Richard Nixon and forever changed American history and journalism. My son was unimpressed. I don't blame him, really. The film was released in 1976. It's heavy on procedure and light, by modern standards, on action. The actors use pay phones. I might have chosen 2015's 'Spotlight' if I were in charge of getting a room full of high schoolers excited about the power of the press. Still, I'm glad he glimpsed that moment in time — one that had no parallel before or since. And one that, I'm afraid, could never happen now. It's important, obviously, to understand Watergate, an event that shaped and shifted American politics and, indeed, America. I'm grateful he got that lesson. But I'm also grateful he got a look at a time when American discourse and American opinion could be swayed by the facts in front of them. Because America back then was, for the most part, looking at the same set of facts in front of them. In 1974, three networks — ABC, CBS and NBC — owned the evening news, and daily newspapers were still the primary source of news and analysis for people. In 1974, the number of people who said they had 'a great deal' or 'a fair amount' of trust in newspapers, TV and radio was close to 70%, according to Gallup polling. By 2024, that percentage had shrunk to 31. Some of the mistrust plaguing mainstream media is self-inflicted, to be sure. The industry has long been too homogenous, too insular and too slow to evolve. You likely have your own 'too' to add to that list. A healthy dose of that mistrust, though, is being fed to us by corporate conglomerates, crooked politicians and other folks with a vested interest in hoarding power and keeping knowledge and truth away from the masses. And it's working. More than 3,200 newspapers have closed since 2005, according to Northwestern University's Medill Local News Initiative. More than 200 counties across the country don't have a single news source, Medill found, which means entire communities have no one chronicling and illuminating their lives. The same week I was writing this, my former employer — The Chicago Tribune — laid off 10% of its remaining newsroom staff, which had already shrunk precipitously since I joined in 1998 and left in 2021. Who's to blame? The aforementioned mistrust, for sure. Corporate greed and mismanagement, definitely. But also shifting consumer habits. Outdated business models. The disappearance of classified ads. Our phones. It took a village to dismantle mainstream media. But now the village is less connected than ever. What we're left with is an increasingly fractured and polarized media landscape that means voters arrive at polls, families arrive at dinner tables, neighbors arrive at block parties, students arrive in classrooms, colleagues arrive in workplaces and parishioners arrive at houses of worship with a vastly different set of news and narratives in their heads. This isn't all bad. Stories that were going untold, voices that were long ignored, perspectives that went unexplored fill some of the spaces that opened up when the too homogenous, too insular, too slow to evolve publications started to shrink. But the situation is certainly not good. It's not good for getting to know each other. It's not good for understanding each other. It's not good for creating and cultivating a collective conscience — one that knows and believes our fates are intertwined and our communities are connected and suffering serves no one. And, as Robin Wall Kimmerer reminds us: All flourishing is mutual. It's not good for popping the bubbles we sometimes place ourselves in. The bubbles that tell us we're safest when we stay away from people who don't look like us or love like us or worship like us. The bubbles that tell us those people don't deserve our protection. Don't deserve our advocacy. Don't deserve our grace. Don't deserve our hearts. When I used to walk into Tribune Tower, greeted by soaring ceilings and marble walls etched with inspiring quotes, the words that always stopped me were from playwright Arthur Miller: 'A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself.' So many of you take the time to write and tell me, week after week, what you think of my words. Sometimes you hate them. Sometimes you hate me. But then sometimes you read something that complicates that. My politics don't match yours, but you appreciated that tribute to my friend's dad. I'm all wrong about the president, but you had similar feelings dropping your kid at college. My hair is horrendous, but you also bought your Christmas tree at Costco. That's what happens when we read and watch and listen to things that aren't pre-set to mirror our tastes and our belief systems. When every voice that enters our head isn't echoing and amplifying what's already in there. When we turn a page and see a take we loathe, next to a take we love. That's what happens when a nation talks to itself. I hate to see that go. For me, a newspaper softie and a journalism romantic. But, honestly, for all of us. We do so much better when we stop and listen to each other's stories.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Inside Charlie Levy's new Arizona concert venue — and who's playing first
Tucson's newest music venue, a converted monastery called La Rosa, announced its first wave of concerts and events ahead of its highly anticipated grand opening with Calexico the weekend of Oct. 17. With a mix of international icons, beloved locals and genre-defying performers, this initial lineup offers a first glimpse into the kind of entertainment La Rosa will bring to Tucson. There are rock shows, jazz shows, blues shows, Latin, metal, classical, country, world music, indie rock, EDM, swing, burlesque, EMO, flamenco, singer-songwriters and an ambient music legend. La Rosa finds former Hotel Congress entertainment director David Slutes (of the Sidewinders and Sand Rubies) joining forces with Charlie Levy, the longtime Phoenix concert promoter at Stateside Presents who changed the face and sound of downtown Phoenix with the opening of three great venues, The Van Buren, Crescent Ballroom and Valley Bar. The venue will open in the chapel of the beautifully restored historic Benedictine Monastery at 800 N. Country Club Road in Tucson on Friday, Oct. 10, with a La Gran Noche celebration featuring Tucson's Orkesta Mendoza, followed on Friday, Oct. 17, by the official grand opening weekend with Tucson legends Calexico. Other highlights among the first events announced include a talk with Carl Bernstein, DeVotchKa, Built to Spill, La Santa Cecilia, Tatiana Eva-Marie and Ladysmith Black Mambazo as well as Arizona favorites (Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers, Brian Lopez, Ryanhood, XIXA). There are themed events (Club Pride, Dolly Hoot, Candlelight Concerts), and genre showcases, from flamenco to emo to New Orleans jazz and indie shared a statement saying, 'We've dreamed of creating a home for music and performance that reflects the full range of Tucson's styles and performers… This first announcement is just a taste of what's to come, and we have a pile of exciting shows we will be announcing over the next couple of weeks.' La Rosa aims to become a new cultural anchor for Tucson, hosting everything from concerts to speaker series and community celebrations. Tickets for the announced shows will be available at Follow La Rosa on Instagram and Facebook for more announcements, artist features, and surprises on the way to October. These are the shows announced so far for La Rosa: Oct. 10 — La Gran Noche with Orkesta Mendoza. Oct. 17 — Grand Opening with Calexico. Oct. 19 — The White Buffalo. Oct. 23 — Tatiana Eva-Marie. Oct. 29 — Bitchin' Baja. Oct. 30 — Lizzy and the Triggerman. Oct. 31 — Halloween Ball. Nov. 1 — DeVotchKa. Nov. 4 — History as a Warning: Carl Bernstein on Watergate, Politics and the 2025 Election. Nov. 6 — Coco Montoya. Nov. 7 — EMO Brooklyn. Nov. 9 — LEISURE. Nov. 11 — Darrell Scott. Nov. 12 — Sun Kil Moon. Nov. 14 — YEBO! Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra, Pijama Piyama, Djents and Herm. Nov. 18 — Built To Spill. Nov. 22 — CLUB PRIDE. Nov. 26 — XIXA. Nov. 28 — Ryanhood. Dec. 5 — Omnom. Dec. 6 — Steve Roach. Dec. 11 — La Santa Cecilia. Dec. 13 — Sophia Rankin & The Sound. Dec. 26 — Brian Lopez. Dec. 27 — Live From Laurel Canyon (Celebrating the artists of Laurel Canyon (1965-1975) with music and stories. Jan. 3 — Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers. Jan. 13 — Tommy Castro. Feb. 8 — Tucson Flamenco Festival featuring world-class artists from Spain, New York and the Sonoran Desert. Feb. 14 — Lola Torch 20th Valentine's Burlesque. Feb. 20 — Ladysmith Black Mambazo. More: How Crescent Ballroom proved the doubters wrong and helped make downtown Phoenix vibrant Ed has covered pop music for The Republic since 2007, reviewing festivals and concerts, interviewing legends, covering the local scene and more. He did the same in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. Follow him on X and Instagram @edmasley and on Facebook as Ed Masley. Email him at This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona concert venue La Rosa opens soon. Everything to know
