Journalism is Not Dead

Global Press founder Cristi Hegranes comes to Santa Fe with new book Byline on the present and future of journalism

Surprise! We’re excited about badass journalist and former Santa Fean Cristi Hegranes’ upcoming discussion with New Mexico In Depth’s Marjorie Childress at the main branch of the Santa Fe Public Library! As a longtime journalist and founder of Global Press—an international nonprofit -focused on training and deploying women journalists in their own back yards—Hegranes’ posits in her new book Byline: How Local Journalists Can Improve the Global News Industry and Change the World that there’s still time to recast the story of journalism.

“I started Global Press about 17 years ago, and it was very apparent to me that what was plaguing journalism is not complicated to solve,” she tells SFR. “It requires shifts in power, shifts in thinking—neither of which are journalism’s forté—and the premise is that we train and employ local women journalists in the least-covered places. We train them well, we pay them well, we make sure they’re safe; none of these things are innovative, and the notion that the people with proximity and access to the stories need to be the storytellers is just common sense.”

The complications are deeper, of course, and include everything from representation and diversity to media literacy, engagement, worker’s rights and reader trust. People also deserve to recognize themselves in stories, Hegranes adds.

“When we parachute people in from New York or London, whether it’s to cover an election or a crisis, or...that doesn’t represent the people in that place,” she explains. “It’s one of the reasons trust in journalism is fractured.”

The solution? Local boots on the ground, for one, though fair pay and proper training are of paramount importance before certain types of media revert back to antiquated habits and operations.

“I felt a lot of urgency to write this book now because during the pandemic, something really interesting happened: Parachute journalists weren’t parachuting,” she points out. “All of a sudden, people started to rely on local journalists more. At Global Press, we saw our audience spike 250%. As the pandemic stopped, we saw legacy and mainstream media go back to the old ways, so I felt pressure to write the book now [because] the old way doesn’t work.”

Love for the local press? Hegranes is singing our song. (Alex De Vore)

Love for the local press? Hegranes is singing our song. (Alex De Vore)

Cristi Hegranes in Conversation with Marjorie Childress: 6 pm Thursday, Oct. 12. Free. Santa Fe Public Library Main Branch, 145 Washington Ave., (505) 955-6781

Look Closer

As the Center for Contemporary Arts continues to recover from its harrowing brush with death, the film stalwarts amongst its ranks keep on throwing together programming to entice the cinephiles of Santa Fe. This week, it’s the Closer Looks series, wherein the CCA’s Paul Barnes, David N. Meyer and Justin Clifford Rhody present Senegalese filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty’s 1973 work, Touki Bouki. A sort of homage to French New Wave Cinema, Mambéty’s semi-biographical film finds his heroes Anta and Mory attempting to leave Dakar for some glorious yet imagined version of France. Crammed with dark humor and a hybrid Western-film-meets-African storytelling style, this one’s considered a must for international film fans. Rhody speaks before the screening. (ADV)

CCA Closer Looks: Touki Bouki: 6 pm Thursday, Oct. 12. $11-$13 ($3 for EBT cardholders). Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, (505) 982-1338

Whirled Tour

Nothing beats the outdoors in New Mexico when autumn rolls around, unless of course, you add arts to the mix. And if you’ve been hanging around thinking thoughts like, “Y’know, I’d really like to be outside some of the time and inside some of the time, all while checking out a seemingly endless array of artists,” the Galisteo Studio Tour is here for you. You’ll find more than two dozen artists opening their spaces during this weekend’s iteration of the tour, and they’re delving into numerous mediums, like painting, sculpture, jewelry, mixed-media, fashion and so much more. The light’s just right this time of year for some good old-fashioned art-walkin’, and the smart ones will probably take a Thermos of something warm—or maybe a flask on the down-low. (ADV)

Galisteo Studio Tour: 10 am-5 pm Saturday Oct. 14 and Sunday, Oct. 15. Free. Town of Galisteo, galisteostudiotour.com

Nighttime is the Right Time

Those facing podcast fatigue should take comfort knowing it’s a very real thing, but one can still find gold amongst the gaping maw of nonsense projects, exhaustingly pretentious shows and mediocre hot takes. Take Welcome to Night Vale, a faux community radio broadcast focused on the the fictional town of Night Vale, where things are kinda creepy and not what they seem. In the podcast’s new touring production, The -Attic, hosts Cecil Baldwin and Symphony Sanders attempt to make sense of slides from an old family road trip, though they are, of course, holding more than simple photos. We’re getting Eerie, Indiana vibes for sure, but that show never had a slideshow featuring original artwork by Jessica Hayworth, or music by the likes of Juliana Finch and fake band The Weather. (ADV)

Welcome to Night Vale: The Attic: 7 pm Tuesday, Oct. 17. $35. Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W San Francisco St., (505) 988-1234