Camille von Kaenel is a 2019-20 Report for America corps member, covering wildfire recovery for the Chico-Enterprise Record in Northern California, focusing on a region that was devastated by 2018’s deadly Camp Fire. As of June 2020, she is covering growth and development in San Diego County’s backcountry for inewssource. “I wish I knew that
When Report for America announced the selection of 225 journalists for its 2020-21 reporting corps recently, it shared welcomed news for those calling on newsrooms to better reflect the diversity of the communities they serve: 42 percent of this year’s corps are persons of color. This stands in contrast to the reality that people of
Meet the 2020-21 corps >> Report for America today announced the selection of 225 journalists for its 2020 reporting corps. The new cohort will be placed with more than 160 local news organizations across 46 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. These reporting positions come at a time when local journalism is already reeling from
This piece ran in Columbia Journalism Review. I’m using this space to elaborate on some of the ideas. DISCUSSIONS OF HOW TO SAVE LOCAL NEWS now need to balance two awkward realities. On the one hand, local news organizations need urgent help in order to keep their doors open and provide information to residents. No, it doesn’t
Keeping these news sources afloat needs to be part of the governmental and philanthropic response to the pandemic. Reprinted from The Atlantic By Steven Waldman. and Charles Sennott Among the important steps you should take during this crisis: Wash your hands. Don’t touch your face. And buy a subscription to your local newspaper. The coronavirus
Updated March 24, 2020 The World Health Organization’s official declaration that COVID-19 is a pandemic serves as a powerful reminder for us all of how connected we are as a planet. The measures adopted in Asia and Europe inform the local response to the virus, as America starts to see an increase of cases and
In The Atlantic, we wrote about several ways society can save local news as it collapses. Here I’m going to elaborate one: The federal government can significantly help local news to better inform their communities during the COVID-19 crisis by dramatically increasing their spending on public health advertising, and funneling a good chunk of that
During this global pandemic, show local news some love at a time when we need trusted, factual, on-the-ground journalism. Use Command+F on a Mac, or Ctrl+F on a PC to find a specific state, region (South, Southwest, Midwest, Northeast and West) or newsroom. Click on the newsroom name to support that newsroom’s Report for America
NEW YORK – In 2020, Report for America will continue its ambitious work to place its most diverse corps yet, with new support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This new partnership will fuel Report for America’s efforts to quadruple its reach, fielding 250 corps members, and furthering a track record and mission-critical goal
Erin McIntyre and Mike Wiggins form a formidable wife-husband local journalism team who are now entering the space of donor-funded journalism. The pair left daily newspaper jobs in 2019 and bought a 1,500-circ weekly in rural Ouray, Colo. — The Ouray County Plaindealer. They are the only two full-timers on staff due to their budget,