On Wednesday, Oct. 16, LebTown will host its latest community listening event at the Lebanon Community Library, at 125 North 7th St.
This first-of-its-kind bilingual LebTown event will delve into the outlet’s coverage of Lebanon County elections, a process that begins before Election Day and continues after. Like everything LebTown produces, this event is non-partisan and focused on the ins and outs of election coverage, based on newsroom reporting and experiences we’ve had covering elections in the county over the last six years since our founding in 2018.
This event is an opportunity for LebTown to hear feedback from city residents on how our news organization can more effectively serve the Hispanic community. Lebanon city is currently 46% Hispanic, and 30% of households speak Spanish at home. We know there’s a strong desire for journalism produced by and for the Hispanic community and we’ve learned from previous conversations that there are unique information needs.
This program will be filmed by LebTown’s Will Trostel for online distribution in video and podcast form. The evening will begin with a 20-minute interview hosted by Lehigh Valley radio personality Alfa C. Lopez. In a conversation led by Lopez, LebTown journalists James Mentzer, Chris Coyle, and Emily Bixler, along with editor and publisher Davis Shaver, will answer questions about elections in Lebanon County – who actually conducts the election, which agencies have oversight, and how officials safeguard the polls from fraud.
Lopez will first share her questions for LebTown in Spanish and then repeat them in English. The LebTown journalists’ responses will be translated by professional translator Jessica Medina. With Medina’s help, LebTown’s journalists will answer additional audience questions following the interview with Lopez.
The second half of the evening will begin with brief “vision statements” from local community leaders about what they’d like to see from LebTown’s city coverage. Medina will translate these remarks and facilitate dialogue with LebTown regarding how to make these visions a reality. Appearing for the event will be: Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello, Juntos de Lebanon founder Guadalupe Barba, and Lebanon Family Health Services Vice President of Communications and Education Maggie Progin.
All attendees will have the opportunity to provide their own thoughts about how LebTown can better serve city residents and the Hispanic community through a brief reader survey. We will also collect email addresses so we can follow up with audience members as we begin putting this feedback into action.
This free event will begin at 6 p.m. and refreshments will be served. No RSVPs are necessary.
Event recordings will be published online before Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5. As with previous elections, on Election Day LebTown journalists will fan out across Lebanon County to provide live updates from polling places, including several in Lebanon City. Coverage will be published at LebTown.com.
This program is being presented with support from the American Press Institute as part of its work alongside the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Election Integrity initiative.
Questions about this story? Suggestions for a future LebTown article? Reach our newsroom using this contact form and we’ll do our best to get back to you.
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