PBS SoCal and CalMatters Launch Partnership To Provide Daily Regional News Updates With New Weekday Series 'SoCal Matters'
PBS SoCal Press Contact
JP Shields
jpshields@pbssocal.org
CalMatters Press Contact
Sonya Quick
sonya@calmatters.org
Los Angeles, Calif. – May 20, 2024 – PBS SoCal, Southern California’s flagship PBS organization, and CalMatters, the non-partisan newsroom, announced the debut of a new short weekday regional series titled SOCAL MATTERS. The series will be comprised of daily two-minute video updates reported on by a variety of journalists concerning a wide range of topics including the environment, politics, justice, education, housing, inequality, health and the economy. SOCAL MATTERS will be broadcast as part of PBS SoCal's weekday afternoon news line-up which includes PBS NewsHour, NHK Newsline, DW News, BBC News America and France 24. Two-minute daily segments will air on television every weeknight on PBS SoCal (5:58 p.m. PT) and every weeknight on PBS SoCal Plus (5:28 p.m. PT and 5:58 p.m. PT and 10:58 p.m. PT).
Episodes will also be published online on the websites of both PBS SoCal and CalMatters as well as on PBS SoCal’s YouTube and the free PBS App (weekly compilation videos).
“We believe that this collaboration with CalMatters in offering regional news to our viewers is vital to our role in public media as we help our community be informed of what’s going on locally,” commented PBS SoCal President/CEO Andrew Russell. “As we are an essential and trusted institution in our community, we believe SOCAL MATTERS is the next logical step in our programming slate which currently features the most trusted and unbiased national and international news from around the globe.”
“We look forward to this exciting new partnership with PBS SoCal,” said CalMatters CEO Neil Chase. “We know that the community has a strong interest in local news from around the region and this new series SOCAL MATTERS aligns with our mission of explaining how government impacts our lives."
Chase leads a dedicated team of reporters and producers including Robert Meeks, who will be producing SOCAL MATTERS. Meeks joins CalMatters after almost a decade at the Los Angeles Times where he most recently led news, politics and business video coverage for the media organization.
Initial 'SoCal Matters' content includes the following topics (*Subject to Change):
Week 1
- Battle Over Casino Card Games - Reporting by Ryan Sabalow
- Urban Runoff and Water Collection - Reporting by Rachel Becker
- California Homeless Camp Bans - Reporting by Marisa Kendall
- Bots Posing as College Students - Reporting by Adam Echelman
- Gas Prices – Reporting by Dan Walters
With Future Reporting Planned on (*Subject to Change):
- Electric Vehicles in the Inland Valley - Reporting by Alejandro Lazo
- Black Workers / Jobs - Reporting by Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
- Healthcare Ransomware Attacks - Reporting by Khari Johnson
For episodes of SOCAL MATTERS, viewers can visit pbssocal.org/SoCalMatters.
Join the conversation on social media using #SoCalMatters and tagging @PBSSoCal and @CalMatters
Follow us on social at @pbssocal and @calmatters
About PBS SoCal
PBS SoCal uses the power of public media for good, strengthening the civic fabric of Southern California and providing our community with an essential connection to a wider world. As a local, donor/member-supported non-profit organization, PBS SoCal manages 7 channels — including 2 primary broadcast channels, PBS SoCal and PBS SoCal Plus as well as 5 digital subchannels. With a commitment to make content available anytime and anywhere for free, PBS SoCal is reaches nearly 19M viewers in the region with programming that reflects the diversity of Southern California and showcases the full schedule of beloved and trusted PBS content spanning Education, News, Environment and Arts & Culture. PBS SoCal programming is available to viewers over-the-air, on all key streaming platforms via the free PBS App and PBS KIDS App. PBS SoCal also sparks the sharing of ideas at in-person cultural events and community conversations as well as prepares children for kindergarten and beyond by bringing bilingual, hands-on learning experiences to the community for free.
About CalMatters
CalMatters is an award-winning, nonprofit, nonpartisan, multi-platform journalism organization with a focus on California state politics and public policy. CalMatters journalists focus on bringing Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality-of-life issues while holding our leaders accountable. CalMatters is the only journalism outlet dedicated to covering America’s biggest state, 39 million Californians and the world’s fifth largest economy. The team’s work has led to changes in policy, new legislation and investigations and discussions at the Capitol, in political groups and beyond — and because of our collaborative approach, people across the state are more engaged in solving the problems California is tackling. CalMatters’ awards include a regional Emmy, three back-to-back California General Excellence awards, National Headliner awards, Best of the West awards, an Eppy from Editor & Publisher for best website in the nation and the Edward R. Murrow Award.