Monday October 27, 12-1 pm PST
Location: Unity Center (Building D)
Renton Technical College
3000 NE 4th St. Renton, WA 98506
Description: Go beyond the headlines and learn how local news gets made! Join journalists from the Renton Reporter for a lively conversation about stories happening right in your backyard, and how to sport untrustworthy news.
Panelists will share insights into this year's most impactful investigations, reveal how they develop and maintain beats, and discuss the evolving landscape of local media in the social media age. After the panel discussion, break into small groups for informal conversations with individual journalists. Learn why local reporting matters, discover how to critically evaluate news sources, and explore ways our college and city communities can support quality journalism in our region.
Andy Hobbs is editor of the Renton Reporter and has worked in newspapers for more than 25 years. He also oversees news operations for other Sound Publishing titles including the Federal Way Mirror, Auburn Reporter, Kent Reporter, Mercer Island Reporter and Snoqualmie Valley Record. His first job was a bike-powered paper route in a small Midwestern town in the 1990s.
Bailey Jo Josie is an award-winning general reporter and photographer for the Renton Reporter. Her eclectic writing background allows her to write about Renton schools, hospitals, local businesses, arts & entertainment, breaking news stories and the occasional critter correspondence. She is known for having too many knickknacks and trinkets adorning her desk.
A former college baseball player, turned sports reporter Ben Ray covers youth, collegiate and professional athletics in and around King County. Here's what you get with Ben—17 high schools, over 20 sports, an SPJ award recipient and WNPA Top 3 Sports Reporter of the year in 2023.
Democracy Happy Hour Presents: Navigating Misinformation Today
Wednesday October 29, 5-6:30 pm PST
Location: Zoom (please register)
Description: Join us for an exploration of misinformation and disinformation in the digital age. Our panelists will decode the tactics used to manipulate and divide us, and how we can take productive steps to counter them. You'll leave with practical tools for navigating today's information landscape with confidence.
Fix Democracy First is a nonpartisan pro-democracy organization. We host a weekly Democracy Happy Hour on Wednesdays to share the latest news on democracy across the country and hear from experts on a variety of democracy related topics.
Zarine Kharazian
PhD Candidate, Human-Centered Design & Engineering at University of Washington
Zarine Kharazian is a PhD Candiate in Human-Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington, where she is also a graduate affiliate with the Center for an Informed Public. Zarine's work focuses on defending public knowledge resources - like Wikipedia, fact-checking infrastructures, and public service media - that face attacks on their governance and legitimacy. She has also studied the spread of disinformation in crisis situations, including contested elections, armed conflict, and peacebuilding scenarios.
Stephen Prochaska
PhD Candidate, Information School at University of Washington
Stephen is PhD candidate examining how disinformation disrupts collective sensemaking online. His work examines how disinformation targeting U.S. elections integrates offline infrastructures into online spaces, blurring the lines between coordinated propaganda, activism, and organic participation. His work documents how influencers and political elites collaborate with online audiences in continuous storytelling, adapting to current events by framing those events within an ongoing deep story surrounding American identity.
Laura Axon
School Media Specialist, Portland Public Schools & Action for Media Education Board Member
Laura Axon is an award-winning School Library Media Specialist who has served Portland Public Schools since 2017 and represents Oregon Region 4 for the Oregon Association of School Libraries. In 2025, she won the Portland Public Schools Torch Award for Innovation and Global Citizenship. Her collaborative work with the Oregon Library Association includes co-chairing the International Relations Round Table and the Middle School Oregon Reader's Choice Committee, as well as providing legislative testimony in Salem. She currently serves on the Oregon Historical Society Teacher's Advisory Board and previously contributed to the Portland History Reader Third/Fourth Grade Update Teacher Advisory Group. Laura is also endorsed as a French teacher and has completed her personal quadfecta of climbing Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens, and running both Hood to Coast and the Portland Marathon.
Maliha Masood
Author, teacher & Action for Media Education Board Member
Maliha Masood is an award winning writer in creative nonfiction. She is the author of the travel memoirs, Zaatar Days, Henna Nights: Adventures, Dreams and Destinations across the Middle East and Dizzy in Karachi: A Journey to Pakistan.
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Maliha immigrated to the United States at the age of eleven and grew up in the Pacific Northwest. She majored in Business and Marketing at UW and worked as a Research Analyst in the tlocal ech sector for a decade. She went to Graduate school for a Master's in Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University. Maliha has taught courses in Political Science at Edmonds and Bellevue College. She currently tutors high school students in writing and is a debate coach for Middle Schoolers at Open Window School in Issaquah.