Capturing the Boiling Point: Interview with Audrey Cooper (Editor-in-Chief, San Francisco Chronicle)

Larry talks with Audrey Cooper, Editor-in-Chief of the San Francisco Chronicle, about local newsrooms, the ongoing COVID pandemic, the power of protests against systemic racism sweeping the nation, and the renewed importance of journalism.

Episode first aired on June 11, 2020 on KVON 1440AM in Napa, California.


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Podcast Name: Deep Dive with Larry Kamer

Episode Name: San Francisco Chronicle Editor-in-Chief Audrey Cooper

The Deep Dive with Larry Kamer podcast, originating from the studios of KVON in California’s Napa Valley, shares insights, stories, and perspectives you might not hear elsewhere.  In this episode, host Larry Kamer interviews the editor-in-chief of the San Francisco Chronicle, Audrey Cooper.  Audrey is the first woman in this role in the history of her company, the youngest woman in US history to run a major metro newsroom, and only the third female editor-in-chief of a top-25 US paper.  Under her leadership, the paper has been heralded the best large newspaper in California each year, and has won various journalism awards and Emmys.  While she is planning to leave her post (and California!) in the near future, Audrey is not yet able to share where her new post will take her.

She has many insights to share, however, on current events in the journalism world.  Larry first asks Audrey to comment on the state of the US (and, more specifically, the Bay Area) right now.  Audrey described the division, distrust, racism, and withholding of information from the public that she sees around her.  With regard to her work in journalism, she also describes what the current climate is like for people in her line of work.  The suppression of reporters’ work by law enforcement is nothing new, as Larry and Audrey consider, but there are unique factors in the fear, hatred, and danger of the present day, and Audrey has to take extra precautions with her staff.  That being said, she balances her realism about present challenges with an optimistic outlook and admirable ability to see through overstated critiques of the current moment.

Audrey and Larry also spend much of their time together discussing Facebook, which Audrey believes shows only a disingenuous appreciation of local news.  She critiques it and its CEO roundly, addressing such things as disinformation and dishonesty, a lack of moral authority, financial motivations, lack of proper regulation, and harm done to democratic structures.  Audrey and Larry conclude their conversation by talking about both the threat and possibilities for partnership presented by alternative news organizations, and by talking about the positives and negatives of the Bay Area.  Audrey used to hate Californians, not understanding their constant smiles, exercising for fun, and weird food.  A couple years into her California tenure, she found she was one of them, and she now appreciates not only the weather and wine, but also the amalgamation of people who believe in what the Bay Area represents.  

Links:

Learn more about Audrey.

Learn more about the San Francisco Chronicle.

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Email suggestions for the show to deepdiveshow@winedownmedia.