Civic Discourse Across Generations

This API Local News Summit on Civic Discourse Across Generations took place in Denver, Colo. in June 2025. The two-day, solutions-oriented convening explored:

Innovative ways local media are structuring community engagement and coverage to highlight and enable conversation across generations

Frameworks from outside of journalism that may help local media build bridges and healthy discourse across generations

Ways to embrace cross-generational conversation as an emphasis in local journalism’s mission, enhancing its chances for sustainability

The CHallenge

Local communities need intergenerational problem-solving — and local news can help

If a good newspaper, as the playwright Arthur Miller said, is a “nation talking to itself,” then it follows that a good local news organization must be a town, or a community, doing the same thing.

The Takeaway

Psychological safety is essential for intergenerational newsrooms — and a lens for community engagement

Have you ever done a “Fail Fest”?

Pueblo-Saddles-Exhibit

Photo courtesy of the Pueblo County Historical Society and Heritage Museum

Dig Deeper

The power of intergenerational storytelling to solidify community and effect change

In Pueblo, Colo., a hemp-mâché horse named Lucky stands proudly in the city’s Heritage Museum. He has survived flood and fire — literally.

Collective Wisdom

Breaking down generational barriers

Americans today tend to exist in generational silos. Even within communities, we are often socially and institutionally divided by age. People congregate in social venues with their own age groups. Our culture, especially social media, often reinforces age-based differences through labeling or exaggerating conflict among generations.

What others are doing

5 environments where generational solidarity is needed — and how local journalism can help

An inclusive democracy and society requires collaboration from all Americans, regardless of age. How can news leaders do their part to represent and include community perspectives from members of different age groups? The answers matter to democracy and the sustainability of news organizations. They matter to the personal and collective challenges we face — those arising from loneliness and the lack of social connection brought about by the pandemic.

Explore the series

Rooted in the past, growing for the future: Generational solidarity through thnic media

How studen-led community coverage fosters intergenerational connections in historic LA neighborhood

How a community saved the Plainsman Herald — and what we learned about bridging generations

Connect young people with community leaders to shape civic engagement

Overcoming assumptions: How to facilitate successful multi-generational collaboration

glimpse into the summit

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Sponsors and supporters

Support our summits

Interested in partnership or sponsorship opportunities related to API Local News Summits? Please email Kevin Loker at funding@pressinstitute.org.

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