Point Park’s Center for Media Innovation serves as a lab for the future of storytelling. Driven by new media technologies and traditional values, the CMI prepares young people through experiential learning while helping professionals stay up to date on the latest trends and techniques.
Through events and lectures, the center also reminds the public about the critical role that journalists play in American democracy. The CMI has hosted public events featuring state and local political leaders, lectures from journalists employed by the New York Times, the Washington Post and NPR, and workshops by national and local journalism groups.
The center features state-of-the-art equipment for video, audio and photography production as well as training programs for how to effectively share compelling messages. In addition to overseeing the Pittsburgh Media Partnership, the CMI also spawned the McKeesport Community Newsroom, which supports citizen journalism and storytelling by residents of the Mon Valley’s largest city and surrounding areas.
Andrew Conte, Ph.D., serves as director of the Center for Media Innovation, a position he has held since its inception in 2016. Prior to joining the CMI, Conte worked as an investigative reporter at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review from 2001 to 2016, and previously spent three years as a reporter at the Cincinnati Post. During his time with the Trib, Conte also spent 10 years as a part-time professor at Point Park and director of the university’s Point Park News Service. Conte also is the author of four books, the latest of which – Death of the Daily News – examines how residents in one Western Pennsylvania community worked to fill the news and information void following the demise of its local daily newspaper.
Frank Garland serves as coordinator of the Pittsburgh Media Partnership, a role he took on after spending 17 years as an assistant professor of journalism and English at Gannon University in Erie. Prior to coming to Gannon, Garland spent nearly 30 years as a reporter in Northern California, covering several of the state’s fastest-growing areas. In addition, Garland is the author of two baseball biographies – one on Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Willie Stargell and the other on Pirates Hall of Famer Joseph Floyd “Arky” Vaughan.
Pittsburgh Media Partnership 