Studer Community Institute

Welcome to Pensacola Today

October 9, 2014
/ Shannon Nickinson
/ early-learning

There were lots of things I didn’t learn in journalism school. When I went to work at my first newspaper job in Huntington, W.Va., there was one computer that was attached to something called “the internet.” It was in the back of the room and you had to wait turns to use it. When I came to work at the Pensacola News Journal in 1999, most of the room still worked on video display terminals, ugly green screens that crackled before the screen winked out for the day. Getting everyone new PCs was a big deal. I didn’t leave the traditional media world in the way I expected, but when that door closed, I jumped headlong into the new media landscape, learning to be in front of a television camera on the fly. I was given the opportunity to create an online media space where commentary and explanatory journalism, focused on the Pensacola metro area, would have a home. Where context could be provided, where small wins and good news could be celebrated and where issues could be looked at thoughtfully outside the crush of a traditional news cycle. For the last year I have run the resulting site, Progress+Promise, from my laptop — without Microsoft Word — using the power of cloud computing and photos from an iPhone. Now it’s time for another change. As of today, Progress+Promise has been rebranded into Pensacola Today. The design is refreshed, as you will see. We have more regular contributors and we are more closely linked with our colleagues in the Blab-TV universe. Plans are under way to launch a corresponding television show also named Pensacola Today at Blab. The rebranding of my site now smooths the links between all of the members of the Studer Community Development media family. The TV show “Progress+Promise” will continue to live on as well, with some revamping as well. In the meantime, all of that content is housed on our YouTube channel. Please check it out. One thing won’t change, and that will be my commitment as editor of Pensacola Today to maintain an online news and commentary site that helps all of us better understand our community. I introduced Progress+Promise saying I wanted it to help the Pensacola metro area to become “a little economic engine that could, built around a vibrant downtown that mixes small businesses and big employers, cultural heritage attractions and modern arts venues and offerings, walkable neighborhoods and a commitment to public green space. “We can stop talking about our potential and start living up to it. But we have to agree to a few things. “We have to bring everyone along for the ride, from all rungs of the economic ladder. We have to commit to honesty and transparency in our government and civic lives. We have to learn to disagree without being ugly about it, so that those who would be the crabs at the bottom of the bucket don’t get the last — or loudest — word.” I still wish all of those things. I want this area to be the best it can be because that’s an informed citizen’s responsibility, because that’s why I went to journalism school in the first place, because “good enough” government isn’t good enough anymore. Because to this day, too much time is spent by government and civic leaders scoring easy points at each other’s expense. As a journalist I appreciate a good “gotcha” as much as anyone. But when too much time is spent getting “gotchas” on people, not enough time is spent teaching our 4-year-olds to be better readers, helping our high school students graduate on time, helping a small business start or expand, improving the health of our environment, paving a street, pouring a sidewalk or policing a neighborhood. When you need reminded of that, Pensacola Today will be the place to come.

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