Young people who move to Philadelphia sometimes ask me how to get better connected in Philadelphia. And the figures suggest there is a growing number of them. I’ve found myself offering up the same handful of suggestions more than a few times. Attend Young Involved Philadelphia events — The group is a great hub of [...]

After more than three years of visiting and even longer being fascinated by its role, I’ve become a member of the Pen & Pencil Club, the country’s oldest press club, dating to 1892. The private club, in a narrow shotgun building between parking garages on a narrow alleyway, requires sponsored membership, and following months of [...]

I think the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. is cool, like many other organizations dedicated to representing big, beautiful cities. Let me know underscore, I am proud to have GPTMC and their ilk representing Philadelphia. Still I also think a lot of other people are doing similar work and GPTMC and their peers could do [...]

I have been blessed to attend the last two national Online News Association conferences, one in D.C. and last year’s in Boston. This year, the celebrated, 13-year-old organization will host its annual event of more than 5,000 members in San Franciso to offer some geographical balance to the affair. There is some call for a [...]

In journalism conversations, there is a lot of concern about the need for a public square, a place in which a community can learn and share a common set of facts. It’s something I’ve talked about in research from the Knight Foundation. The concern of filter bubble, in which the personalization of the web allows [...]

Because it has the infrastructure of a major market with mission-orientated for-profit and nonprofit groups and because it has all the big problems that other cities face, Philadelphia should be the country’s hub of social entrepreneurship. Defined as ventures that put impact over profit, I again spoke about this cause, this time at an event [...]

A leader for a major public affairs journalism project at Temple University in Philadelphia began his role last week. I was excited to find in February that Neil Budde, whose claim to fame is being the founding editor of WSJ.com, would be the CEO of the new, temporarily-named Philadelphia Public Interest Information Network. Everyone closer [...]

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the country’s largest, oldest and most influential. Still, founded in 1876 and looming on the Ben Franklin Parkway for 90 years, the Museum’s leadership knows being a historic, cultural icon in Philadelphia doesn’t make it immune to financial distress. The bankruptcy of the once legendary Philadelphia Orchestra has [...]

A small group of journalism practitioners in Philadelphia were treated with the chance to have dinner and throw questions at MinnPost CEO Joel Kramer Tuesday night. Kramer is the former publisher of the Minneapolis Start-Tribune and a frequent example of success in growing public affairs journalism online. I was blessed to be among them and [...]

Ownership concerns be damned, the publisher of the largest news organization in one of the largest markets in the country needs to make a major shake up in company structure and output or face a continued decline. The Philadelphia Media Network, owners of the city’s two daily newspapers and most trafficked news site, announced almost [...]