News Matters: Democracy. Community. Connection.  

Celebrate National News Literacy Week @ the L&LC 

February 02 - 06, 2025  1-2 p.m.

February 2-6 is News Literacy Week: Join us at the East L & LC to hear speakers discussing how news/journalism is critical to civic life and engagement as well as democracy itself. Various speakers will focus on different aspects of journalism. All events start at 1:00 in the presentation area of the L & LC (walk past the Checkout counter on the right). 

Marijke Rowland: All News is Local 

The erosion of local news has real consequences which start at home. What is the mayor doing? The police chief? Local reporting connects communities and provides a foundation for an informed citizenry. 

Marijke Rowland is editor of The Modesto Focus. She has spent more than two decades reporting in the San Joaquin Valley, first for The Modesto Bee and now as the founding editor of the latest newsroom from the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. A graduate of Indiana University’s School of Journalism, Rowland's work has garnered multiple honors including three first-place awards in 2021 from the California News Publishers Association and a 2025 Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism Award.