Chris Cobler, Publisher and CEO, Fort Worth Report. Cobler is the founding chief executive of Fort Worth Report.
I am honored and humbled to be a steward of this public trust. I also am deeply grateful to the Burnett Foundation for its belief in this community project and to our board of directors for their devotion to making Fort Worth and Tarrant County an even better place.
I can’t wait to talk with all of you and hear your concerns. A favorite part of my job is finding stories that matter and finding solutions through good journalism. To do that, we need to listen to you.
Bill Meadows, President and Co-chair, Fort Worth Report, and Chairman Emeritus, Hub International Texas
Our citizens have always embraced strong journalism that makes a difference. The Fort Worth Report will provide unbiased local reporting that we need to be engaged in the issues that shape our great city.
Wes Turner, Co-chair, Fort Worth Report, and retired Publisher, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
I believe the Fort Worth Report will bring significant accountability to the taxpayer-supported governance of our city and county. Our goal is look deeply into the decisions by leadership, both elected and appointed, to assure taxpayer funds are spent efficiently and effectively. We will have the ability to dig deeper and ask the questions our readers would ask if they could.
Fort Worth citizens can support our balanced news coverage by reading us every day and becoming a member who provides financial support. The more support the Fort Worth Report receives, the more news we can provide for our community. You can subscribe to our newsletters and follow us on social media, too.
John Lumpkin, Secretary, Fort Worth Report, and retired Vice President, Associated Press, and retired Director, Schieffer School of Journalism, TCU
It is exciting to be on the ground floor of a new movement in local journalism that the Fort Worth Report hopes to embody. I hope news consumers in Fort Worth and Tarrant County will come to appreciate the efforts of the founders of Fort Worth Report and other thought leaders who embraced the concept, but that can only come after our readers decide we are an authoritative news source committed to objectivity, solutions and community service.
I also hope the community continues to support other news media in one of the nation’s largest media markets. The Fort Worth Report intends to make its own unique contributions to public discourse without being direct competitors to any of our local media colleagues.
Neils Agather, Executive Director, Burnett Foundation, referring to the late President of the Foundation, Anne Marion. Burnett Foundation supplied the seed funding for launch of Fort Worth Report
Anne Marion loved Fort Worth, her hometown. She felt that in order to have a great city, you needed to have excellent reporting of the activities of City Council and city agencies, as well as the activities of all our elected and appointed officials. She had the hope and expectation that Fort Worth Report would accomplish that goal. Striving for a better Fort Worth has always been the mission of The Burnett Foundation.
Mary Walter-Brown, Founder/CEO, News Revenue Hub. News Revenue Hub conducted market research for Fort Worth Report and is a national support organization for local news nonprofits.
Nonprofit news represents one of the few bright spots in the journalism sector, with hundreds of public service news outlets springing up during the past five years. The success and sustainability of these organizations depends on their ability to convince their communities to invest in local journalism through individual news consumers, community foundations and local businesses. I think the Fort Worth Report is well-positioned to develop this type of support from local stakeholders. The News Revenue looks forward to helping Fort Worth Report create a strong and sustainable local news organization.
Betsy Price, Mayor, City of Fort Worth
This is an excellent development for Fort Worth! Any news organization that focuses on local issues and pledges objectivity in reporting is a huge benefit to our residents. Government, education, commerce, culture – those are the foundations of any great city.
We, the City staff and City Council, do all we can to communicate to our communities about the issues that impact them. This is one more way to get that important information into the hands of our residents.
Educated residents are engaged and often become leaders in the community. A news organization like the Fort Worth Report can make a difference because it empowers our residents to know more so they can do more. As they say, knowledge is power.
I would encourage everyone to check out the new Fort Worth Report. It will be a strong addition to our local news lineup.