CSUF Comm Week 2026

Justin Pardee launched The Raincross Gazette in 2021 with no journalism training and no newsroom — just a conviction that Riverside deserved better local coverage. Five years later, the Gazette reaches more than 15,000 subscribers with a 41% open rate and a full-time editorial team. In this session, Justin shares what he learned about digital reporting and writing by doing it from scratch: what the textbooks don't tell you, how he developed his editorial voice and standards outside the profession, and what it actually takes to build a trusted news product in a city that needs one.

Hosted by Professor Felicitas Baruch