International journalists learn from St. Pete media leaders 

St. Petersburg-based World Partnerships recently hosted 19 journalists and communication professionals from the Indo-Pacific as part of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program. 

The guests, all participants in the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists on Investigative Reporting, hailed from Australia, Bangladesh, Burma, India, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Timor-Leste. They heard presentations from media leaders in St. Petersburg from Aug. 19 to 23, and all but four had never visited the United States.

The group met with Joe Hamilton, publisher of the St. Pete Catalyst and Poliverse, Aug. 20 at the Lealman Exchange community center to learn how digital platforms, new features and artificial intelligence (AI) can propel local news. After the presentation, Sitara Arshad said traditional print media is also “dying” in Pakistan, and the remedy is innovation. 

“AI is the thing I am really looking forward to learning more about, and how we can make it positive,” Arshad said. “There are some flaws with it, but how can we make it positive? How do we use this technology in the right way?” 

Attendees were participants in the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists on Investigative Reporting,

Arshad is the deputy editor of social media at Dawn.com, an English-language digital publication in Pakistan. Her group previously spent several days in Seattle, and she found that many of her questions remained unanswered after the trip. 

Arshad thought that “Americans are still figuring out AI.” She credited Hamilton for explaining the soon-to-launch Cityverse platform, a geographically-focused, tech-driven civic media network that he believes will revitalize local news and reconnect communities. 

“This is something I was looking for,” Arshad added. “Local print media is suffering, but then it’s innovating and translating into something else.”

Hamilton, who lacked a journalism or publishing background when he launched the Catalyst, said ignorance can sometimes foster innovation. He realized a hyperlocal publication would fill a void, and attention-grabbing stories would uplift overlooked subject matter, including the arts. 

Hamilton explained the importance of positivity. He said the publication, which forgoes paywalls and an abundance of advertisements, prioritizes community trust over social media clicks. 

“We wanted to keep all minds open to us, because really, that’s the most diplomatic way to make change,” Hamilton said. “By keeping this positive – high road, we’re all in this together, we all make mistakes and let’s work through our problems together – over time, we’ve built a lot of trust with our leaders. 

“It takes a really special writer to be able to say, ‘Here’s a complex issue, there’s some bad stuff happening here, but we’re going to present it in a way that respects everybody and opens the door for positive conversation.” 

Hamilton explained how the Catalyst is among the first publications nationwide to give AI a unique persona and allow it to write within guardrails. The result is Cora Quantum, which utilizes controlled inputs, like press releases and meeting transcripts, to avoid hallucinations or web-based biases. 

AI can also increase efficiency for small local newsrooms. Hamilton is developing an automated tool that scrapes pertinent information from permitting sites, press releases and social media, and then ranks potential leads according to significance. 

His efforts directly align with the state department’s following program objectives:

• Consider a means of managing the use of technologies like AI, which can impact democratic processes and exacerbate social divisions, with respect for fundamental principles of free speech. 
• Discuss how social media and new technologies amplify messages, disseminate information and connect with target audiences. 
• Study ways to foster a discerning audience of media consumers through media literacy and a greater awareness of critical thinking skills. 

Vincent Chong, a Taiwanese reporter with Now News, called the conversation “very rewarding.” He said it allowed him to see “a different model actually working.”

World Partnerships, a St. Petersburg-based nonprofit, regular facilitates the International Visitor Leadership Program.

Chong expressed concerns with “locking content behind a paywall.” He believes a subscription-based platform like Cityverse, which offers several interactive features and value propositions for subscribers, could replace the traditional method that “everyone hates.” 

“People don’t pay to just read your content,” Chong added. “They pay if you can actually do more things.”

Chong said he is also searching for answers amid an evolving media landscape, and that the U.S. is “seen as the pinnacle of free media.” While Taiwan has a similar environment, he noted that “everyone” is still discerning how to make journalism profitable. 

Pawan Poudel, press and communication coordinator for the Ministry of Health and Population in Nepal, said his agency also publishes a newspaper and broadcasts a radio show. “I hope this will help us to do journalism better than the way we are doing it,” he said. 

“This is a way of learning new things, which I’ve found quite interesting here in America.”