Jan 27, 2021
With distrust in traditional media at an all-time high as news outlets increasingly become platforms for far right and far left ideologies, one thing is certain: "The world needs more Sandy Tollivers." In episode six, we talk with Pittsburgh's chief information officer, Chris Togneri. After receiving his master's in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, Chris covered crime as a beat reporter in California, and then went on to Pittsburgh as a trailblazing journalist, writing award-winning features for one of Pittsburgh's top newspapers. Looking to get an insider's perspective on how first responders really operated, Chris became the city's public safety information officer in 2018 and immediately innovated -- utilizing social media to turn the information portal he was in charge of into a newsroom. We get his insider's perspective on the "defund the police" movement, the lack of editor leadership in local newsrooms, and reflect on the days when local journalism got it right: the era when editors like Sandy Tolliver challenged reporters to spend time on stories, and constantly pique curiosity through source relationship building.