Los Angeles Times and KCETLink Media Group Announce A Partnership to Further The California Conversation
The Los Angeles Times and KCETLink Media Group are partnering to further The California Conversation, a new way to explore California’s issues in depth. The collaboration is an innovative private-nonprofit partnership that combines the audience reach of the largest media organization in the West and one of the nation’s leading independent public broadcast and digital networks to lead the conversation on issues important to Californians across platforms.
The California Conversation will be a series of events throughout the year focusing on California topics – ranging from education and the environment to pop culture and technology. The series will be produced under the banner of KCET’s acclaimed news series “SoCal Connected” and broadcast on KCET in Southern California and Link TV nationally.
The LA Times and KCETLink started The California Conversation on June 9th with a conversation between Governor Jerry Brown and Publisher Austin Beutner on Water in the West. The hour-long conversation, which was hosted live, was watched on TV by nearly 1 million viewers, read by over 1.5 million people in print and online, and reached more than 20 million people through social and traditional media amplification.
“California is where America comes to see its future,” said Austin Beutner, Publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune. “The California Conversation will focus on issues that matter most to Californians.”
“This partnership combines the LA Times’ excellence in journalism and KCETLink’s legacy video storytelling to extend the depth and reach of these thought-provoking and forward looking discussions,” said Michael Riley, President and CEO of KCETLink Media Group. “KCET reaches 6 million homes in Southern California and when we combine that with the LA Times’ reach, we will lead the conversation on issues shaping California.”
The LA Times also announced Ben Chang has joined the company as Vice President and Events Editor to oversee The California Conversation series and expand The Times’ leadership in events, including LA Times’ Festival of Books, the nation’s largest book festival which draws over 150,000 attendees to celebrate books, music, culture and ideas.
Ben Chang has worked in both the private sector and in public service, including nearly two decades as a State Department Foreign Service Officer with diplomatic postings overseas, at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, and at the White House National Security Council in the Bush and Obama Administrations.
For more information about LA Times Events, connect on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @ LATimesEvents. To join The California Conversation, use #TalkCA.
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About Los Angeles Times and California News Group
The Los Angeles Times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country. The California News Group comprises the flagship Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune, as well as their respective portfolios of community news and specialty properties throughout Southern California. California News Group is part of Tribune Publishing Company (NYSE:TPUB), a diversified media and marketing solutions company that delivers innovative experiences for audiences and advertisers across all platforms.
About KCETLink Media Group
KCETLink Media Group, formed by the merger between KCET and Link Media, is a national independent, nonprofit, digital and broadcast network that provides high-quality, culturally diverse programming designed to engage the public in innovative, entertaining and transformative ways. With a commitment to independent perspectives, smart global entertainment, local communities, and opportunities for engagement and social action, KCETLink depicts people and the world through a lens unavailable elsewhere in U.S. media. A viewer-supported 501(c)(3) organization, KCETLink content is distributed nationally via satellite on Link TV – DIRECTV channel 375 and DISH Network channel 9410 – and on KCET in Southern and Central California via broadcast and cable, as well as through various digital delivery systems. For additional information about KCET and Link TV productions, web-exclusive content, programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org or linktv.org. Visit us on Facebook and Twitter.
LA Times Contact:
Johanna Maska
213-237-6160 | @LATimesFreshInk
KCETLink Contact:
Ariel Carpenter
747-201-5243 | @kcet
