Last week, the partners of the Charlotte Journalism Collaborative attended the 2026 Knight Media Forum in Miami. A huge thank you to the Knight Foundation for supporting this experience!
For several years now, we have attended the forum, joined by others in our community (business owners, nonprofits, community leaders and funders) coming together around a common idea — that our news and information ecosystems are vital to strong communities.
This year felt different — more urgent and at the same time, more hopeful.
According to Knight, “This year, the Forum opened as both a celebration of community and a warning about democracy under strain, with numerous calls to collective action, mutual aid, collaboration and resiliency.”
There is an understandable need for urgency. With the First Amendment and the freedom of the press under attack, the importance of our collaborative journalism role and the opportunities to build and support collective strategies for news and information systems are essential to protecting these freedoms. As Knight Foundation President & CEO Maribel Pérez Wadsworth stated during her welcome, “Informed and engaged citizens are the engine of democracy.”
The hope and resiliency of people and media organizations was on full display — from the emotional story of Charlotte’s Cine Casual by its founder and executive director Giovanna Torres to the words of Mariana Robertson, general manager at KCAW Raven Radio in Alaska, who said “the future feels like its ours to build.”
My Key Takeaways & Reflections from the Knight Media Forum
Hilda Gurdian, CEO at La Noticia
I believe the Knight Media Forum was an outstanding opportunity for the journalism industry.
Attending the 2026 forum was a privilege. While the schedule was intense—the effort was well worth it. We forged many new connections and strengthened existing relationships with partners who support us and whose growth we take pride in fostering.
Beyond the networking, the conference served as a powerful reminder of the vital role journalism plays in protecting democracy and the First Amendment. This theme was woven into many discussions—and even one of the “swag” reflected it. I particularly loved the pair of socks provided to attendees that proudly stated: “I love the First Amendment.”
As the leadership team of La Noticia, an independent Spanish-language news and information organization, based in Charlotte, NC, my son Alvaro José and I were particularly impressed by how the organizers bridged this democratic mission with the importance of the Latino community.
Several highlights stood out:
Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, President and CEO of the Knight Foundation, set a meaningful tone by opening her official remarks in Spanish to kick off the conference.
Silvia Rivera (MacArthur Foundation) also began the session she organized with Natalia Gonzalez (Knight Foundation) on the Spanish-language news ecosystem in Spanish.
Powerful insights from leaders like Jorge Ramos, Javier Marín, Maritza Felix and Giovanna Torres Nieves.
This shift in focus is significant. Perhaps this attention was influenced by the current cultural moment—like the NFL selecting Bad Bunny for the Super Bowl halftime show—or is just a well deserved recognition of the Latino community’s demographics.
As the fastest-growing group in the U.S. with a median age of 31, Latinos have decades of peak productivity and consumption ahead of them. With an annual purchasing power now reaching $3.6 trillion, the U.S. Latino market is a powerhouse. If U.S. Latinos were a standalone economy, they would rank among the largest in the world—making their access to trusted, democratic journalism more essential than ever.
Our communities are counting on us to get this right
Ely Portillo, Executive Editor at WFAE, 90.7 FM
It’s clear from the number of sessions on disruptive AI, broken and remade business models, and threats to press freedom that we stand at a crossroads moment in our industry.
Our communities are counting on us to get this right, to figure out how to keep bringing them vital, irreplaceable news, but there’s no obvious single answer on how to fix what’s broken. Still, there were a few characteristics that every successful news organization we heard from shared.
The ones who are making it all have local leaders who care deeply about their communities; a mission to report stories about local topics and issues that can’t be easily replicated or commoditized; and a passion for the kind of on-the-ground, face-to-face local reporting that isn’t replaced by either AI or national outlets.
I think many of our Charlotte-based news organizations are well-positioned to meet the moment — if we lean into our identities as local, irreplaceable news sources for the people who live here and need to understand our community.
Watch videos from the 2026 Knight Media Forum – click here
United by a shared commitment to the power of storytelling, the CJC brings together journalists, news organizations and community institutions to create a more informed and engaged Charlotte.
Members of the collaborative include the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, The Charlotte Observer, James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte, La Noticia, QCity Metro, Qnotes, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, WCNC-Charlotte, and WFAE 90.7 FM.