Reimagining News Audiences: The Role of Visuals in Developing Connection, Trust, and Growth with your Community

Visual storytelling is more than an aesthetic choice—it’s a strategic tool for building trust, deepening community connection, and growing audiences. In this interactive webinar, we’ll explore how nonprofit newsrooms can use visuals to strengthen audience engagement and support growth, even with limited staff and budgets. Attendees will leave with practical ideas for integrating visual storytelling into their audience development efforts. The session includes a presentation/discussion followed by audience Q&A.

Speakers:

Michael Indriolo is an artist and journalist in Cleveland, OH. Currently working as a CatchLight Local Fellow at Signal Cleveland, he leads his newsroom’s photowalk project. The project invites residents to photograph their neighborhoods, fostering dialogue about local history and the ways broad, systemic issues manifest in specific, localized ways. Michael has worked in journalism for six years.

Stephanie Strasburg is a visual journalist at Pittsburgh’s Public Source dedicated to community and trauma-informed reporting. A Pulitzer finalist and Mid‑Atlantic Emmy winner for reporting on sexual abuse in Amish and Mennonite communities, she was also part of the Post‑Gazette’s Pulitzer-winning team for the Tree of Life shooting. She is on a constant quest to pay it forward to the city that taught her her craft.

Coburn Dukehart is passionate about the ability of visual storytelling to drive meaningful change. She has spent more than 25 years in a career spanning leadership, digital strategy, product development, photojournalism, and multimedia storytelling. She is currently the Program Director for the CatchLight Local Visual Desk — a nonprofit initiative to improve visual storytelling and community representation in local newsrooms nationwide.