Jasmine White, incoming executive director of Capital Community Media, stands in a studio on Thursday, August 20.(Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
The executive director of Capital Community Media will have a busy fall.
The organization added services in August and took on a new name to reflect its refined role in Salem.
Jasmine White takes over this work when she becomes executive director Sept. 1.
White has more than 20 years of experience in television production and programming.
She spent 9 years as manager of production services for a public media operation in Washington, D.C., and then three years as director of education and community engagement at Montgomery Community Media in Rockville, Maryland. The Montgomery nonprofit serves an area of about one million people.
“The work that I do is what I consider my life’s purpose,” she said. “I am extremely passionate about community media and people coming together and creating content that could change their neighborhoods and potentially change the world.”
White found out about the open Salem job through the Alliance for Community Media. She saw a posting on that organization’s job board, and a push from Salem helped encourage her to apply.
Alan Bushong, the retiring executive director of Capital Community Media, is a member of the Alliance, and he and White have been acquainted for more than 10 years.
“Alan reached out to me to talk to me about the position and to give me some insights on some of the opportunities and some of the challenges,” White said.
White participated in the first round of interviews and screenings virtually. She came to Salem for her first in-person visit – her first trip to Oregon.
“I wanted to come physically to see if this was a place that could feel like home. After the first day, I was already sold on Salem,” she said.
White moved to Salem earlier this month with her 10-year-old pug Bella. They’ve been settling into the community and preparing for the work to come.
White will meet with the staff and the board to set priorities and determine her first steps. But she has ideas that will guide her work.
“CCTV has had a dynamic leader for 30 years, and I think that Alan has been able to move the organization along in terms of relationships, partnerships, vision, especially with the radio station and the multimedia wing,” White said. “My job is to take the baton and all of the work that Alan has done and move this organization forward.”
White hopes to inspire Marion County residents to use the various services available at Capital Community Media. Residents can use equipment or studio space for free at headquarters, located at 575 Trade St. S.E. in Salem. Residents can also take classes for a small fee.
Capital Community Media creates content shared on Channels 21, 22/322 and 23, available through Comcast Cable in Salem. Apple TV and Roku channels distribute that content to people without a cable contract. Capital Community Media also streams some content via the organization’s website.
FM station 98.3, shared in partnership with Spanish-language broadcaster Mano a Mano, holds Capital Community Media broadcasts between 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. each day.
White hopes to inspire more community content that can be shared on those platforms.
“We want to be able to use all of the arms of the organization to keep people connected. The connectivity piece is huge for me,” she said. “We want to ensure we’re creating content, sharing that information with the community, and giving the community the opportunity to create their own content as well.”
White is passionate about community media and local content creation.
“Protecting community media means that you don’t have to be a corporation to create content and share it on a media platform. It means that you don’t have to be wealthy to create content and share information on the platform,” she said.
“I think that is important in a time where information is being controlled and the type of information and news that we receive is, at this point, hate speech, in some cases. And so people not having the opportunity to respond to that speech in media platforms is really dangerous. I think it’s important to protect the right for people to speak,” she said.
White worked for Montgomery Community Media and DCTV (the Public Access Corporation of DC), where she managed production and creative services, and DCTV’s Youth Training Institute.
White spearheaded both organizations’ media education programs and managed membership and outreach initiatives with individual members, nonprofits and organization partners.
As an independent producer, White created programs about food injustices, voting rights, and social justice.
White holds a communications degree from Ramapo College of New Jersey, a master’s degree in film and video and a master’s degree in public administration.
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