April 14, 2026
Members of the campus community are invited to the 2026 Skornia Symposium on Friday, May 1, to explore the challenges public media faces today. The event is free and will be held from 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m., at Collins Studio, Campbell Hall, located at the northeast corner of Main and Goodwin in Urbana.
Rapid shifts in technology, AI, media consumption habits, and funding have challenged media organizations to adapt their approaches to understanding and serving audiences. Academic and industry experts will discuss how public media can best engage with audience research to identify and meet community needs, strengthen audience relationships, and innovate content in ways that honor public media’s mission.
Panelists include:
Joni Deutsch, senior vice president of podcast marketing and audience development at The Podglomerate
Deutsch is an award-winning audio professional and NPR veteran with 15 years of experience as a project manager, podcast marketer, and audience growth specialist. In her current role, she leads marketing and audience growth strategy for a high-profile portfolio of podcast clients including NHPR’s “Bear Brook” (downloaded 25 million times and praised as one of the “best true crime podcasts” by The Guardian and Paste Magazine) and Magnificent Noise and PRX’s “This Is Dating” (named “one of the best podcasts of 2022” by New York Times and Vulture), as well as PBS, NPR, Netflix,The Boston Globe, Freakonomics Radio, Stanford, Harvard, HubSpot, and more.
Seth Lewis, professor and Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media, journalism program director, University of Oregon
In his research, Lewis examines the social implications of emerging technologies and their consequences for news and public life—from the early days of social media to contemporary developments in automation, algorithms, and generative artificial intelligence. He has authored several books, including News After Trump: Journalism’s Crisis of Relevance in a Changed Media Culture (Oxford University Press, 2021), co-authored with Matt Carlson and Sue Robinson, and the edited volume Boundaries of Journalism: Professionalism, Practices and Participation (Routledge, 2015).
Amy Mitchell, founding executive director of the Center for News, Technology & Innovation
Prior to her role at CNTI, Mitchell served as managing director of news and information research at the Pew Research Center. In her 25 years with Pew Research, Mitchell helped launch the journalism research program and served as managing director. She was responsible for the center’s research related to news and information, including how the public accesses, engages with, and creates news, what news organizations are providing, and the evolving role of technology in the flow of news and information.
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