Login

You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

—Eleanor Roosevelt

2009 New Media Women Entrepreneurs Summit

Back to home page

A day-long gathering of women news creators and wannabe news creators.

See a video of the 2009 Summit.

November 9, 2009
Kaiser Family Foundation Public Affairs Center
1330 G Street NW, Washington, D.C.

Agenda

8:50 a.m. Welcome: Jan Schaffer, J-Lab Executive Director

9 a.m. Covering Communities with Start-up Hyperlocal Sites

  • Melissa Bailey, Managing Editor, NewHavenIndependent.org
  • Maureen Mann, Founder, The Forum (forumhome.org), Deerfield, NH
  • Susie Pender and Christine Yeres, Founders, NewCastleNOW.org

10:15 a.m. Training Citizen Journalists

  • Cathy DeShano, editor, MadisonCommons.org
  • Mary Turck, editor, TCDailyPlanet.net

10:45 a.m. BREAK

11:00 a.m. Launching Niche Sites

  • Elaine Helm Norton, Founder, NorthwestNavyNews.com
  • Teresa Puente, Founder, Latina-Voices.com

11:40 a.m. What Women News Consumers and Creators Want

  • J-Lab releases new research report

12:30 p.m. LUNCH

  • Welcome: Larry Kirkman, Dean of the School of Communication at American University
  • Keynote: Lisa Williams; Founder, Placeblogger.com
    Putting Personality Into Your Site
  • New Media Women Entrepreneur Award

1:30 p.m. Building Partnerships/ Covering Community

  • Susan Mernit, Oakland Local
  • Tracy Record, West Seattle Blog

2:15 p.m. Sustaining Operations

  • Debbie Galant, Baristanet.com
  • Courtney Lowery, NewWest.net

3:00 p.m. Open Mic

4:00 p.m. Adjourn

4:30 - 6:00 p.m. Cocktails

Thanks to everyone who attended this year's summit. We hope to see all of you and more back for next year.

Apply Now!

 • Funding for women-led news start-ups offered by J-Lab. Read over the proposal guidelines here.
 Deadline to apply: April 12, 2010
Apply for a Community News Grant from New Voices.

Our Focus

NMWE  is a unique initiative addressing opportunity and innovation, recruitment and retention for women in journalism by spotlighting their ingenuity and entrepreneurial abilities. Pilot projects will show what can be done. Research will tell us what more to do. And an awards program and summit will showcase women’s creative ideas. NMWE is supported by the McCormick Foundation.

New Research!

image

New forms of journalism are being created around the country where online local news sites have launched to report on their communities. The journalism is characterized by a deliberate shift in the definition of objectivity, a drive for community conversation and discussion and other themes. Read the report.