Randy Lovely is candid whenever he's asked why the Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation exists.
"I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that the news industry has been experiencing about a two-decade-long assault," said Lovely, CVJF's board president. "And that assault is economically — because the business model has changed — and socially because consumer habits have changed as the internet and social media have come into play.
"And in today's world, the industry also faces a political assault," he said.
CVJF has long promoted and supported sustainable community journalism in the Coachella Valley. Celebrating local journalism is one of the nonprofit's major thrusts. And with the media industry braving everything from censorship to AI, the organization's
efforts to "lift up and recognize the work of valley journalists" has never been more vital.
"We've seen a 20-year decline in the staffing within news organizations and their ability to effectively cover communities," Lovely said. "This foundation was created seven years ago to help strengthen the community through support to news organizations and journalists because ultimately, a healthy democracy, community and society really rely on a vibrant free press."
A recent grant through the Journalism Innovation Hub+Fund via the Inland Empire Community Foundation will further allow CVJF to make a broader impact going into the new year.
Lovely said the grant will be extremely helpful.
"One of the really important things about our mission moving forward is to connect with the community and help them understand why the healthy news ecosystem is important and what the value of that is to the health of the community," he said.
As such, CVJF launched a number of endeavors. One of them is special film series dubbed Bylines, Broadcasts and the Big Screen. The monthly journalism film series showcases a variety of "the greatest journalism films in history," followed by commentary and Q&A's by some of the biggest names in journalism.
"Spotlight," starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams, screens Nov 15 at the Palm Springs Cultural Center. The guest speaker for that film will be Walter Robinson.
"Walter led the Boston Globe's spotlight investigation team," Lovely said of the events chronicled in the film. "He'll talk not only about The Boston Globe's real-life investigation of sexual abuse within the Catholic diocese in Boston but also what he's doing in 'retirement' — he's gotten very involved in journalism nonprofits in Massachusetts, where he lives, and is helping start a new digital-run news organizations to fill in the gaps where traditional media has gone away."
Also on the horizon is the fourth annual media Hall of Fame induction ceremony and luncheon, which unfolds on Jan. 25, 2027. The annual event honors the 2027 Hall of Fame Inductees and features a keynote by renowned investigative journalist Carl Bernstein.
"This event has grown each year," Lovely said. "The first year we thought we'd be lucky if we could get 100 people, and we ended up with close to 200. Then the next year we had 250. Last year we had about 300 people.
"We just announced January's guest speaker — Carl Bernstein — and we're hoping that we may reach capacity of about 500 people," he said.
Bernstein is the legendary reporter who, along with Bob Woodward, exposed the Watergate scandal in The Washington Post in 1972.
"Fifty years later, the work that Carl and Bob did on all the president's men and their coverage of the Watergate scandal still resonates," Lovely said. "So many people see him as a hero."
The Hall of Fame event will take place at the Omni Rancho Las Palmas, Rancho Mirage. Visit CVJF's website at cvjf.org for more information.
It's not a shock, then, that Lovely remains forever optimistic in the face of journalism's big sea change.
"The interesting thing is that attendance in journalism schools across the country is actually holding steady, and in some cases, increasing," he said. "It's still a noble profession. There's still a new generation of journalists who want to be a part of it.
"Now, how their careers will play out over the next 20 to 30 years, God only knows," he said.
To that end, CVJF offers mentorships to up-and-coming journalists.
"Their careers will be vastly different than yours than ours," Lovely said. "But there is an interest, and we need to encourage that next generation of journalists to take the mantle and pursue their passions in the same way that so many of us have spent decades pursuing our passions in journalism. It's so important that we have that next generation."
Learn more at cvjf.org.
The Inland Empire Community Foundation works to strengthen Inland Southern California through philanthropy. Visit iegives.org.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Grants fuel future of Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation
