Local youth spent part of their summer immersed in journalism. Here’s their take on the state of it.

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Gen Zers Giovanni Burch, 17, and Selah Jacoway, 22, are passionate about making music and telling stories through their art. What they didn’t know is that the same passion they had for music would lend itself to a passion for journalism.

“I’m a storyteller before anything else,” Burch said.

Both Burch and Jacoway grew up in the St. Paul area, pursuing music in their youth. Jacoway started rapping at the age of 3 and produced her first song, “Don’t bully,” at 10. She’s performed across Minnesota for more than 40 venues, including schools and community events. Burch said he got his start in high school, recording music on his iPad with the $50 microphone his grandparents gifted him. For both, music has been an outlet to express their thoughts about the things most important to them.

In July, Burch and Jacoway were presented with an opportunity to pursue their storytelling in a new way.

“I knew I wanted to do this but didn’t know journalism was the word for it,” Burch said.

The Center for Broadcast Journalism, an educational media organization that aims to “transform media by empowering storytellers with diverse backgrounds,” launched its first youth-focused intensive program in July and the two were accepted as a part of the cohort. In four weeks the aspiring journalists would learn with support from the St. Paul News Network, the art of writing journalistically and formatting stories into audio and video format, along with job readiness skills and networking. They received a $1,200 stipend for their work funded in partnership with Ramsey County Workforce Solutions.

“This was really a community effort of multiple different organizations coming in and investing in the development of a workforce pipeline for journalists,” Center for Broadcast Journalism president and intensive director Georgia Fort said.

During the first week, each program member received their own personal camera, microphone and recording equipment that they’d get to keep even after the program finished. They met journalists like MinnPost managing editor Harry Colbert and sat in on a Sahan Journal editorial meeting, which Jacoway said was life changing because it allowed her to see herself in a similar space in the future.

“All I knew was that journalists wrote stories, I didn’t really know what that looked like,” Jacoway said.

Becoming journalists

Members of the inaugural Summer Journalism Intensive, a collaboration between the Center for Broadcast Journalism and SPNN, with funding support from Ramsey County Workforce Solutions, are from left: Selah Jacoway, Rachel Ashley Littles, Ciara Brooks, Angeline Patrick Pacheco, Gloria Ngwa, Tyshawn Spearman and Giovanni Burch. The intensive taught journalism, job readiness and networking skills. (Connor Anderson / Center for Broadcast Journalism

Center for Broadcast Journalism chair and intensive director Marianne Combs said she loves working with young, talented people and helping them discover the storyteller within themselves.

“This is really part of the core work of the Center for Broadcast Journalism,” said Combs, who also is managing news director for the center. “We are a radio station, we are a newsroom and we are an education wing, and our whole goal is to transform media to better reflect the increasingly diverse communities we serve.”

She said the young journalists were hungry and blew away her expectations. She recalled nights when cohort members like Burch and Jocaway texted her asking for advice on stories they were working on long after their work day had ended. Combs said the intensive proved what she’d suspected: that there is a lot of local journalistic talent in Minnesota from diverse and marginalized communities. She said all they need is the opportunity, the access to training and the resources to do the work, learn and thrive.

“I want to see these young people transform Twin Cities newsrooms in the years to come,” Combs said. “With this group I have no doubt that’s going to happen.”

The Pioneer Press interviewed Burch and Jacoway about their experiences as young journalists and what they imagine the future of journalism to be. Here’s what they said.

How Gen Z stays informed

Burch and Jacoway said people their age often get their news from social media apps like Tik Tok and Instagram reels. It’s short form content that’s easily digestible. But Burch and Jacoway don’t think this necessarily is a positive thing.

“I think that when you start getting to a point where all the information you’re consuming is in 30-second clips, then you start looking at life in 30-second clips and you don’t start building any longevity for yourself or your future,” Burch said.

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Jacoway said that the danger of short form content is that it’s not always fact checked and people become quick to believe anything they hear or read without questioning it. She believes this is the case because people, especially her age and younger, aren’t being taught how to find credible sources. Though she feels there’s value in reading long form news, she said the US doesn’t provide people the opportunity to live slowly, so short form content might be the best option for most.

They also expressed concern that digital algorithms feed into people’s personal biases and don’t allow for nuanced perspectives. Instead, news consumers are stuck in a bubble of their device’s making. Burch said it’s like when someone grows up in a household with specific religious or political beliefs that they naturally adopt as a part of their identity.

“It’s kind of blissful ignorance,” Burch said. “You don’t have to face the real world until you have to face it.”

General distrust in news

A challenge they’ve encountered is the public’s distrust of journalists. Burch said it makes sense that people find it hard to trust others when times are uncertain in politics, finances, healthcare and more. Jacoway said she thinks the country is the most divided it’s been since the Civil War.

Giovanni Burch, right, interviews James Garrett Jr., co-founder of 4RM+ULA architectural design firm, on Tuesday, July 9, 2024 in St. Paul. (Tyshawn Spearman / Center for Broadcast Journalism)

“I don’t know if I’d tell anybody to trust journalism,” Burch said. “I think I’d tell everybody that you need to hear everybody out.”

Burch said the public often believes individual journalists have an agenda because of their personal beliefs. People have a hard time separating the job of a journalist from who they are, he explained. Because it’s difficult to speak directly to the wealthy or those with positional status, journalists become easy targets to place blame.

“I think you shouldn’t shoot the messenger, but we have,” Burch said.

Jacoway said journalism is a form of democracy and is still the best way to receive the most adequate information. She suggests that people research different news outlets and journalists to do so, then subscribe to the ones they like and trust.

“For most journalists, our entire motto is to just tell the truth,” Jacoway said. “That’s what we’re here to do, and expose the things that may need to be exposed.”

Fort said she believes it’s essential to invest in the future of journalism, especially in programs that will cultivate BIPOC storytellers. She said if news is to reflect the communities newsrooms serve, the workforce must be diversified.

“The need for news and information is never going to go away but how it’s delivered and how it’s consumed will continue to evolve,” Fort said. “I think that this group of young people will be at the forefront of creating those formats in which their peers and younger generations will ultimately use to consume news.”

Applying their learning

During the intensive, Burch said he discovered his news voice, developed patience and learned to keep going even when challenges present themselves. As a young Black journalist beginning to explore his career, Burch said he wants to focus on covering stories in the Black community. Through this experience he was connected to the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, and is now a reporting intern.

“I feel like we tell the same stories over and over and over again, so if there’s anything I can do in the journalism field, it’s telling stories that people aren’t hearing,” Burch said.

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Jacoway is pursuing broadcast journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead and wants to tell the stories of diverse communities while covering a multitude of topics. She’s especially excited to lean into investigative journalism; she said that as a Black, multicultural person she’s seen first-hand the injustices her family and communities have faced. She is now interning for the Center for Broadcast Journalism’s radio station, POWER 104.7.

“My dream is to just be able to impact our world in a positive way and to expose institutions and systems who have gotten away with abusing their power for so long,” Jacoway said.

The two thanked Fort, Combs, director of workforce solutions for Ramsey County Ling Becker and everyone who gave them the opportunity to pursue journalism. Burch said the experience was a breath of fresh air.

“I think every student needs an opportunity to experience that in some capacity,” Jacoway said. “I think it was the most beneficial opportunity to me in my life.”

More than just entertainment, music at the State Fair builds community partnerships — and a more inclusive Get-Together

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A few months after the musician Prince died, in 2016, Monique Linder hadn’t seen as strong a local tribute as she believed the artist deserved, she recalled.

Linder, a longtime radio executive and talent agent who’d worked with Prince on media and marketing in the mid-2000s, thought the State Fair would be the perfect place to celebrate an iconic Minnesotan. She didn’t know anyone at the Fair, but no matter: She cold-called the Fairgrounds one day, from the car, and hung up the phone with an appointment with Fair leaders scheduled for the next day.

The result was Unite in Purple — a full day of Prince music curated by his resident DJ, purple lights on Fair buildings and rides, themed Fair merch giveaways and a shoutout from Grandstand performers Charlie Wilson and Fantasia.

After the Fair ended, marketing leaders asked her to attend what she thought was a recap meeting.

“They went, ‘So, what are we going to do next year?’” said Linder, who runs a company called OMG Media Solutions and a recording studio at Vandalia Tower in St. Paul. “Talk about a challenge!”

Linder and Fair leaders developed a marketing and promotional partnership called Celebrating Culture and Community, which is now in its eighth year of highlighting a diverse lineup of Fair musicians.

Throughout the year, Linder works with Nate Dungan, who’s in charge of booking the Fair’s free stages, and Renee Alexander, who oversees the Grandstand and is also now the Fair’s CEO, to identify potential musicians for that year’s Fair. Once the entertainment schedule is finalized, Linder and the marketing team meet to determine which artists will be featured under the Celebrating Culture and Community brand and receive additional promotional support from Linder and OMG Media’s outreach team.

State Fair crews set up the Leinie Lodge Bandshell Stage for duo The War and Treaty on Aug. 26, 2024. The Grammy-nominated band is one of about 30 artists that media agent Monique Linder has helped book and promote during the 2024 Minnesota State Fair. (Jared Kaufman / Pioneer Press)

At the 2024 State Fair, the Celebrating Culture and Community concerts included Ludacris and T-Pain’s sold-out Grandstand show, Grammy-nominated duo The War and Treaty’s free concert at the Leinie Lodge Bandshell Stage and nearly 30 other acts. Previous Grandstand headliners included under the brand include Usher; Earth, Wind & Fire and Diana Ross.

“What’s guiding all this — we’re known as the Great Minnesota Get-Together,” State Fair marketing director Christine Noonan said. “And from a marketing perspective, that’s a great advertising slogan, but those are also words we try and act on. We really take the idea of accessibility and inclusivity and embracing our community in as wide of a circle as we can.”

Linder is one of several community partners that help the State Fair reach out to and serve groups who haven’t been as able to connect with the Fair previously, Noonan said.

La Raza, a local Spanish radio station, and its owner Maya Santamaria also identify and promote musicians on the Fair’s free stages and help coordinate Pan-Latino Day at Dan Patch Park, Noonan said. Hmong Minnesota Day, another themed day at Dan Patch Park with stage shows and cultural programming, came about through community partnerships, as have the significant expansion in disability and accessibility options at the Fair in recent years.

Dancers with the Blue Sapphire group practice their form before going onstage during Hmong Minnesota Day at the Minnesota State Fair, Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. The 12-14 year-old dancers perform Hmong, Thai and Chinese dances. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

“We’re really trying to be that place where Minnesota comes to celebrate itself and celebrate each other — and what does that look like?” Noonan said. “We try and develop relationships that are mutually beneficial. I think it’s important that the Fair doesn’t just use these partnerships to benefit what we do, but ask what the Fair can do for these partners.”

To that end, the Fair pays musicians who perform on free stages and gives stipends to the community partners who help promote them, Noonan said. Buying ads on Spanish radio stations like La Raza, for example, doesn’t only benefit the Fair but also represents dollars flowing back into the Latino community, she said.

And in and of itself, booking up-and-coming local artists of color on high-profile State Fair stages is huge, Linder said — both for the artists’ own careers and for bringing people through the Fair gates who might not otherwise show up.

As part of their promotional efforts, Linder and her team give out flyers and free State Fair tickets, and she calls on Celebrating Culture and Community artists to meet with youth participants in the Innovation Lab, housed at OMG Studios.

This year, Chance the Rapper, who performed at the Grandstand, met with Innovation Lab youth, as have The War and Treaty and local big-band The Men of Motown.

From each of their perspectives, both Linder and Noonan expressed that the relationships between the State Fair and community partner organizations help the Fair better live up to its potential as, frankly, a fairly powerful cultural institution.

“These are partnerships that have come from individuals contacting us and saying, how about this? Or, I’d love to come to the Fair, but there’s this issue,” Noonan said. “We hear, every day, stories from people who say, ‘I’m so glad to be here because I hadn’t been able to come to the Fair before.’”

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Today in History: September 2, Diana Nyad swims from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage

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Today is Monday, Sept. 2, the 246th day of 2024. There are 120 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 2, 2013, on her fifth attempt, U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage.

Also on this date:

In 1666, the Great Fire of London began, which would destroy more than 13,000 homes and hundreds of additional structures, including St Paul’s Cathedral, over the ensuing three days.

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In 1789, the United States Treasury Department was established.

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces occupied Atlanta.

In 1935, a Category 5 hurricane slammed into the Florida Keys on Labor Day, claiming more than 400 lives.

In 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act, which provided aid to public and private education to promote learning in such fields as math and science.

In 1963, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace prevented the integration of Tuskegee High School by encircling the building with state troopers.

In 1969, in what some regard as the birth of the Internet, two connected computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, passed test data through a 15-foot cable.

In 1998, a Swissair MD-11 jetliner crashed off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people aboard.

In 2005, a National Guard convoy packed with food, water and medicine rolled into New Orleans four days after Hurricane Katrina.

In 2018, a huge fire engulfed Brazil’s 200-year-old National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, as firefighters and museum workers raced to save historical relics.

In 2019, a fire swept a boat carrying recreational scuba divers that was anchored near an island off the Southern California coast; the captain and four other crew members were able to escape the flames, but 34 people who were trapped below died.

Today’s Birthdays:

Former Sen. Alan K. Simpson, R-Wyo., is 93.
Horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas is 89.
Former United States Olympic Committee Chairman and former Major League Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth is 87.
Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw is 76.
Basketball Hall of Famer Nate Archibald is 76.
Actor Mark Harmon is 73.
Tennis Hall of Famer Jimmy Connors is 72.
Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson is 64.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is 62.
Actor Keanu Reeves is 60.
Boxing Hall of Famer Lennox Lewis is 59.
Actor Salma Hayek is 58.
R&B singer K-Ci is 55.
Electronic music DJ/producer Zedd is 35.

Pork Chops and Politics: Tim Walz Gets Minnesota Homecoming at State Fair

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For Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, August was a dizzying climb to the highest echelons of politics. Since being selected as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, he has been the featured guest at glitzy private fund-raisers, flown to more than a dozen states and headlined a night at the Democratic convention in Chicago, with thousands in the arena hanging on his every word.

On Sunday, Mr. Walz was back in more familiar territory: the Minnesota State Fair.

He chomped on a pork chop on a stick. He admired the dairy princess butter carvings. He handed out ice cream at the Dairy Goodness Bar counter and waved at the crowd, which was eager for a glimpse — or a selfie — with the governor, who, for once, got to eschew the formal suit and tie for his more comfortable T-shirt and Carhartt pants.

It could have been just another one of Mr. Walz’s many state fair appearances over the years, where he has burnished his profile as an approachable Midwestern dad by wearing socks with a corn-dog pattern and riding the Slingshot, a nausea-inducing ride, with his daughter, Hope Walz.

Except for the presence of the Secret Service. And the motorcade that whisked him to and from the fair. And the officers stationed on the roof of the dairy building for an aerial view of the crowd, which was clamoring to see the man who has a chance this November to complete a meteoric rise from little-known Midwestern governor to vice president.

Mr. Walz, clutching a vanilla milkshake, acknowledged the obvious: Things were different this year.

“A little bit more of a disruption,” he told reporters, noting that he had to cut down from his usual 12 days of appearances. “But it’s exciting — I think people are seeing that we’re getting to talk about Minnesota across the country.”

Indeed. Supporters of Mr. Walz were bursting at the seams one after another, echoing Minnesota state pride as they waited to greet the governor with the enthusiasm of concertgoers meeting their favorite rock star. People from 50 states and 36 countries bought tickets to this year’s fair, according to Keri Huber, an archivist at the fair. Many of them grew up in Minnesota and return home annually for what is affectionately known as the Great Minnesota Get Together.

“We’ve never had this big of a politician come here,” Brittney Arnold, the manager of the Dairy Goodness Bar and the All You Can Drink Milk Stand, said before Mr. Walz arrived behind the ice cream counter. She clarified: Mr. Walz had come by as governor, but it wasn’t quite like this. “We’re really excited to showcase dairy,” she said.

Leslie Beller of Minneapolis was in line with her husband, Tyler, and their three children, when Mr. Walz began serving ice cream.

“I’m really proud to have Tim represent our state,” Ms. Beller said as her daughter, Charlotte, licked her vanilla cone. “He’s such a real person, he’s just one of us.”

The person who gave you ice cream, Mr. Beller said to Charlotte, “makes sure you get meals at school.” (Last year, Mr. Walz signed a bill for universal free school meals.)

“He’s the best of any choice there could have been, but I still need to see a lot more,” Mr. Beller added. “I want him to move to the left versus capitulate to the right.”

Down the street, Gwen Walz, the governor’s wife, and Hope Walz worked at one of the fair’s more iconic booths: Sweet Martha’s, home of warm chocolate chip cookies. They put on Sweet Martha’s hats and washed their hands at the direction of Martha Rossini — yes, Sweet Martha herself.

The governor’s wife has come to the state fair since she was a little girl, often with her grandparents, she said, and she and Mr. Walz visited every day when he was running for the House of Representatives and the governor’s seat. There was more freedom of movement then, she said.

She classified this year’s trip as “a more narrow experience.”

“I’m sticking with my faithful,” she said behind the tray of cookies. “I’ve volunteered in the Sweet Martha’s booth before, so I’m like, ‘I want to do that this year.’”

It was not entirely Minnesota Nice on Sunday. Republicans at a state party booth and a nearby “Never Walz” tent — where passers-by could spin a wheel filled with various right-wing refrains against the governor, such as “burning Minneapolis” and “stolen valor” — griped about his visit and his candidacy.

“We had to wait for his stupid motorcade before we could even get in the state fair,” said Jerrel Flanagan, 52, who lives in Mankato, Minn., where Mr. Walz taught social studies and coached football several decades ago.

“He’s a disgrace to Mankato,” Mr. Flanagan said. “He screwed everything up for Minnesota — the taxes are too high.”

Bill Nichol, a volunteer at the Republican Party stand, said he had seen the mood of the fair shift with the Walz family’s arrival.

“I’ve watched the Democrats walk with their heads held up a little higher than normal today, I’ll tell you that,” he said.

Lisa Hellerud-Recksiedler, a volunteer at the “Never Walz” booth, which sprung up years ago, said interest was especially high this year. The booth — sponsored by the conservative group Action 4 Liberty — is aiming to “get the word out about Tim Walz’s very liberal, damaging policies,” she said.

Despite the fact that their governor could become the vice president, many Minnesotans at the fair on Sunday had a more quaint concern: that Mr. Walz, with his suddenly busier schedule, might not get the chance to eat all his favorite foods at the fair, as he usually does.

David Dexheimer, 64, of Minneapolis said he was fervently hoping Mr. Walz would get his “must-eat” fair foods — everyone has a personal list, he added. “You have to have the cheese curds,” he advised.

For her part, Gwen Walz said she would have to miss the Hamline Dining Hall, a historic food concessions hall, and the Swedish soda burger, which she described as a meatball with wild rice, lingonberries and a sharp cheese.

On Monday, Mr. Walz will be back to the rough-and-tumble of the trail. His campaign said he would meet with labor leaders in St. Paul, Minn., before jetting off for Milwaukee.

But for one morning, at least, he got to be back on his home turf, soaking up the adoration.

Kevin Vargas was one of a number of attendees happy for Mr. Walz’s candidacy, but also coming to grips, with a tinge of sadness, with the fact that a Democratic victory in November would mean a new governor in Minnesota.

“It’s all bittersweet,” Mr. Vargas said. Mr. Walz has left a major mark on Minnesota, he explained, “but we are happy to share him with the rest of the country.”

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