{"id":137427,"date":"2026-03-13T15:09:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/137427\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T15:09:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T15:09:20","slug":"south-pittsburgh-town-hall-to-media-be-constructive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/137427\/","title":{"rendered":"South Pittsburgh town hall to media: Be constructive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Concerns at a Beechview town hall on Thursday ranged widely, from immigration enforcement to transportation to the slow erosion of neighborhood connection, but a shared view emerged: Local media tends to be more overwhelming than constructive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note<\/p>\n

For our town hall series, Public Source is asking participants to speak from their own experience and listen to understand. To preserve that openness, this recap doesn\u2019t include names or attributed quotes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s some of the best, Pulitzer-worthy local independent journalism in the States right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Public Source member Laura H.<\/p>\n

Join thousands of Pittsburghers by signing up for Public Source’s newsletter today.<\/p>\n

The town hall at the Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation, facilitated by Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source, included about 25 people. Residents, community leaders and journalists from other outlets engaged in small and large group discussion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many at the meeting noted that living their lives and then consuming news can be overwhelming when media throws negative, salacious or ultimately unimportant information at them with little connective tissue or sense of what a path forward could look like.<\/p>\n

\"ABrenda Cassler, center, a therapeutic emotional support teacher at Brashear High School, encourages students ahead of a powderpuff football fundraising game on Oct. 9, in Beechview. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg\/Pittsburgh\u2019s Public Source)<\/p>\n

One sticky note, responding to a prompt about what seems undercovered by local media, provided a pithy summation that speaks to the group\u2019s experience of consuming current media coverage: \u201cI don\u2019t know. I\u2019m overwhelmed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

One participant, a Latino man, shared the fear within immigrant communities and said the media does not do enough to correct misinformation, point to resources and explore what can be done for vulnerable people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TwoWorkers from Las Palmas Taquer\u00edas, Carnicer\u00edas, y Supermercados make tacos at a community celebration for Cinco de Mayo on May 7, 2023, behind the market and taco stand in Beechview. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg\/PublicSource)<\/p>\n

Many expressed a desire for coverage of promising developments among businesses, young people and charitable organizations, particularly in neighborhoods like the South Hills that sometimes seem outside of Pittsburgh media\u2019s main coverage areas. Some journalists in attendance questioned, given knowledge of online news traffic, whether there\u2019s actually much of a market for positive stories, and the whole group grappled with the question of what \u201cpositive\u201d news should actually look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some suggested that connecting dots and clarifying how various issues and concerns relate to one another could be the secret sauce of constructive news coverage. \u201cConstructive news is something more connective,\u201d one person suggested.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a way to visually organize the topics of conversation, Public Source provided prompts on dry erase boards and invited participants to respond through colorful sticky notes. The notes posted on the boards showed concern about issues ranging from gun safety to language classes to affordability. They also highlighted sources of joy, from vibrant neighborhood activism to the networks of neighborhood dog walkers to salsa dance classes.<\/p>\n

Matt Petras is a visiting lecturer of English at the University of Pittsburgh and a freelance reporter and can be reached at matt456p@gmail.com<\/a>and on Bluesky @mattapetras.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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If you learned something new from this story, consider supporting us with a donation today. Your donation helps ensure that everyone in Allegheny County can stay informed about issues that impact their lives. Thank you for your support!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Concerns at a Beechview town hall on Thursday ranged widely, from immigration enforcement to transportation to the slow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5466,73,75,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-137427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-leadstorynoshow","9":"tag-pittsburgh","10":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","11":"tag-pittsburgh-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}