Agora Launches at Pete's Candy Store in Williamsburg, NYC: Who Owns the News?

Agora is a new conversation series at Pete's Candy Store, the Williamsburg bar and live music room, where the host plans to invite journalists, writers and experts to talk through big topics in news and culture. The first installment is tonight, Thursday, November 12, from 7pm to 8pm, hosted by Lindsey Cosgrove.

The opening guest is Rodney Benson, Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU. He will talk about the future of news, media ownership, and how ownership influences what people read. The poster bills the evening as "Who Owns the News?"

Benson is the lead author of How Media Ownership Matters (Oxford University Press, 2025), which was shortlisted for Best Book of 2025 by the International Journal of Press/Politics. His commentary has appeared in the BBC, The Washington Post, The Atlantic and Columbia Journalism Review.

After the conversation, the night continues with beers and live music, and the host encourages guests to bring friends. The event is listed publicly on Partiful, and the venue is at 709 Lorimer Street in Brooklyn.

For readers interested in how newsroom ownership affects coverage, it is a chance to hear a researcher on the subject in a casual bar setting rather than a lecture hall.