81: Laxmi Parthasarathy on reestablishing trust in journalism

In this episode, Laxmi and Jeffrey discuss her multicultural upbringing, underrepresentation in media, working in radio in Rwanda, the complexity of launching global news bureaus, and much more… Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/keFJS7cm6Fw Learn more: Host: Jeffrey M. Zucker Producer: Kait Grey Editor: Nick Case Recording date: 9/18/23 Laxmi: https://www.instagram.com/lsarathy/ Global Press: https://globalpressjournal.com/ https://www.globalpress.co/# https://www.instagram.com/globalpressjournal/ https://www.facebook.com/globalpressjournal/ https://twitter.com/GlobalPress Other resources: https://trustingnews.org/ Styleguide.globalpressjournal.com https://mediaimpactfunders.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GlobalPressReport_IntlNews_March2023_Final-1.pdf https://a.co/d/eZVF56x Bio: Laxmi Parthasarathy is the Chief Operating Officer of Global Press, an international news organization that trains and employs local women reporters in under-covered media markets. She leads worldwide operations, spearheads the global expansion strategy to build new bureaus, and develops partnership strategies to bolster the organization’s reach. She has launched news bureaus around the world, including in Mongolia, Mexico, Nepal and Puerto Rico. Most recently, she built and launched Global Press News Services (GPNS), the B2B division of Global Press, which provides values-aligned products and services to global clients and raises revenue to support the core operations of Global Press. With a track record of pioneering cutting-edge innovations in global newsrooms, Laxmi has more than a decade of expertise in media development, newsroom representation and operational systems design. In her role as COO, Laxmi leads Global Press’ unique commitment to serving some of the hardest to reach audiences in the world. She oversees the organization’s global expansion and training division and is building a global team tasked with delivering Global Press journalism to people who need it the most. Over her career, she has led multiple media development initiatives in over a dozen countries and worked on radio programs in Rwanda and Swaziland. Prior to Global Press, Laxmi served as Director of Global Media Partnerships at Ashoka, the world’s largest association of social entrepreneurs where she authored a pioneering study, “The Bottom-Up Media Revolution: How Social Entrepreneurs Are Building Trust Between Communities and the Media,” that analyzed data on 200 media innovators across 22 countries. In 2006, Laxmi founded “My Roots” to deliver news to the community of Malvern, by the people living in it. This Toronto-based media start-up and quarterly print publication achieved a circulation of over 5,000 and was distributed to all public, private and catholic schools in North-East Scarborough. In 2019, Laxmi was appointed a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Mentor to support Canada’s top doctoral scholars in leadership development and In 2020, American Express named her one of six Next Generation Leaders. Laxmi holds a Master’s degree in Media, Communications and Development from the London School of Economics and completed her undergraduate studies at the School of Journalism and Communications at Carleton University. She is an author of the book “Kamala Harris and the Rise of Indian Americans” (Wisdom Tree, 2021) and lives in Washington D.C. Chapters: 0:00 - Intro 7:57 - My Roots 12:46 - Global Press 14:54 - Education 17:15 - Early Career 21:31 - Work's Impact 24:13 - Rwanda Initiative 27:43 - Canadian International Development Agency 30:12 - Research 37:42 - Global Press Continued 55:39 - Funding Model 59:53 - Future of Global Press 1:03:17 - Honors 1:04:16 - Odissi 1:06:09 - When Work Affected Change 1:08:12 - Mentor 1:10:44 - Ask Jeff a Question 1:12:48 - Most Grateful for 1:13:41 - How to Diversify 1:14:59 - Snap Your Fingers 1:17:08 - How to Support