Not since Johnny Appleseed was traveling and sowing apple seeds throughout the countryside has an arrival to town been so anticipated.
Today, the Pied Piper of about-as-pure-as-it-gets journalism, Evan Smith, came to Fort Worth to meet with various current and former local leaders who are exploring ways to start a local news organization.
Smith, a former editor of Texas Monthly and the founder of the Texas Tribune of Austin, an independently funded, nonprofit news organization, ventured to North Texas to advise the group whose members are concerned about the lack of local news coverage, particularly in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which continues to be ravaged by layoffs.
The Tribune, an online news service, has become the most reliable source of news on politics in Texas and on Texas-oriented news from Washington. It’s also vigilant on news about education and land issues.
Smith built the organization from scratch with donations from foundations and individuals. A list of donors can be found on The Texas Tribune website. Close to $1 million has come or is coming from Fort Worth contributors.
Smith’s Texas Tribune Festival, which showcases discussions featuring prominent thought leaders from politics, government and other fields, is widely attended and a source of revenue. Smith is treated almost like a rock star at these events. This year, his grand finale was his interview with none other than another rock star, Beto O’Rourke.
With the Tribune, Smith has built a model for public-spirited, watchdog journalism that so far no one has been able to replicate. One question is this: Can it be a model for the Fort Worth group to launch its own news service locally? And another: Could Smith agree to dig into the murky depths of the Trinity River Vision River project with his vast investigative resources?
At least two former mayors reportedly have been involved in the local effort, along with former Star-Telegram publisher Wes Turner. The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and Executive Director Bill Thornton are also involved, which may strike some newshounds as a strange alliance.
Smith, it is hoped, will be planting his journalistic apple seeds and perhaps help build a nursery of local journalism. Johnny Appleseed, whose real name was John Chapman, actually built nurseries of fruit trees as he trekked across the country.
The local group is not alone in its efforts to fill the void of local news, which has been all but abandoned by the Star-Telegram. A Fort Worth couple with former newspaper ownership experience is working on a news project and Business Press publisher Richard Connor has launched a model to support local journalism. His project would be separate from the Business Press.
“That would be correct,” is all Connor would say when asked about the project. He declined to detail his plans but said he would soon.
Daily newspapers may be dying, but clearly local news and the desire to report it are not.
