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WFAE/Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library

WFAE is the NPR station serving a 32-county area in the Charlotte region. For 32 years, people across the Carolinas have relied on WFAE to offer comprehensive and in-depth reporting. We air acclaimed NPR programs and produce an award-winning weekday show, Charlotte Talks. The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library is one of America’s leading urban public libraries, serving a community of more than one million citizens in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. Through 20 locations, 450 staff members, targeted outreach, and a robust online presence, the Library delivers exceptional services and programs with a mission to improve lives and build a stronger community. The Library’s priority outcomes include strengthening public engagement and increasing community connections by capturing and providing easy access to voices, perspectives, and reports reflecting the diversity of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The Digital Public Library of America amplifies the value of libraries and cultural organizations as Americans’ most trusted sources of shared knowledge. We do this by collaborating with partners to accelerate innovative tools and ideas that empower and equip libraries to make information more accessible.  

WFAE / La Noticia

WFAE is the NPR station serving a 32-county listening area in the Charlotte region. For 32 years, people across the Carolinas have relied on WFAE to offer comprehensive and in-depth reporting on the topics they need to understand, whether of local, national, or international importance. La Noticia is a media company that produces the largest Spanish language newspaper in North Carolina. For over 22 years, we have been serving the growing Latino community in North Carolina with coverage of immigration, local and state government, politics, and community news and events. Our readers are immigrants from Latin America with a news source in their native language, providing them with the news and information they need to make informed decisions and help them adjust to the culture in the United States, in North Carolina, and in the cities they call home.  

The State

On Feb. 18, 1891, the first issue of a new newspaper with a bold name rolled off the presses in South Carolina’s capital city. A new era of S.C. journalism was born that day as the first 3,000 copies of The State newspaper rolled off the two-revolution press. For much of the time since, The State has been the daily newspaper of South Carolina with bureaus across the state offering an unmatched level of statewide and local coverage for South Carolina’s communities.  

The Herald

The Herald dates back to 1872 in Rock Hill, S.C., when it was known as The Lantern. It became The Herald in 1874 and then evolved into The Evening Herald, a name it held until 1986. The Herald was purchased by McClatchy in 1990. We are the leading provider of daily local news coverage in a three-county region. The Herald also produces the Fort Mill Times, a once-a-week publication dedicated to our region’s fastest-growing audience.  

Tampa Bay Times

The Tampa Bay Times is the largest newspaper in Florida, with a rich, award-winning history of investigative, narrative and enterprise journalism. We have 150 journalists covering four counties and the state of Florida. That includes reporters and editors across news, investigations, enterprise, features, sports and digital. Ambition runs deep for us. In the past year alone, our reporters uncovered a pattern at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, where children were dying at an alarming rate inside the hospital’s heart institute. Our reporters also found a cemetery in Tampa for black men, women and children that time and development forgot. Residents living in buildings on top of that lost cemetery are being relocated and a community is trying to heal. Our ownership structure is unique in journalism, preserved by our late visionary owner, Nelson Poynter. He bequeathed the newspaper to a school for journalists here in St. Petersburg, now known as the Poynter Institute, to protect our independence. We take that independence very seriously, focusing our resources on distinct, exceptional reporting. Our mission as a news organization traces back to our founding in 1884: to report the truth and contribute to an informed society. That mission depends on maintaining our credibility within the community. Poynter said it best in 1961: “When we turn to history we can draw inspiration from those who risked their necks and their economic lives to keep the free press free. Every year newspapers are cited for Pulitzer prizes and other awards in recognition of spectacular crusades and courage. But we have an even greater daily triumph of American journalism in helping to fulfill less spectacular but imperative needs. Without these self-government cannot endure.”

Sun Herald

The Sun Herald is a local news organization that produces a website, a newspaper and top-notch social media engagement. We may be small in numbers, but we're big on accountability and visual journalism that makes a difference. We've been serving our community for over 130 years and pride ourselves on investigative stories that no one else here will touch. We consistently win numerous state journalism awards and have been awarded McClatchy's highest journalism honor for four of the last five years.

Spectrum News 13

Spectrum News 13 is a 24-hour news station based in Orlando engaging communities around central Florida. We bring compelling and valuable hyperlocal content, including news, politics, weather, and traffic to our audiences through high-quality multimedia journalism. We break local TV news traditions and go beyond crime-chasing to create long-form stories with innovative technology and journalistic approaches. Our newsroom serves the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford metropolitan area, producing about 8 hours of live news and 16 hours of recorded content, daily.

Rappahannock News & Foothills Forum

News desert? Check. The weekly News is the lone legitimate mainstream print/online outlet. The Rappahannock News has served the 7,300 residents of rural Rappahannock County, Va., since 1949. Its parent company is owned by a group of community investors.

Northern Kentucky Tribune, Kentucky Forward, Kentucky Center

The North Kentucky Tribune serves the three-county region—Boone, Kenton and Campbell—that makes up Northern Kentucky, the third leg of the Golden Triangle in Kentucky (Lexington and Louisville being the other two), the economic engine of the state. We were founded in 2014 by the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism to fill the void in local journalism left by the demise of The Kentucky Post. We are a small but committed team of displaced journalists devoted to honest news, sound ethics, solid professionalism—and our community.

North Carolina Health News

NC Health News launched in January 2012 in response to the disappearance of people to explain this complicated topic. Our reporters each take on multiple roles. Topics include children’s health and Medicaid, oral health, mental health, rural healthcare, environmental health issues and legislative health issues. We’ve been a “virtual” newsroom, with reporters spread across the state. We have a weekly phone-in via Google Hangout and there’s almost constant communication via phone, text, email, Slack, etc. However, we’re renting a physical office in the Triangle to better accommodate meetings and provide a hub for operations.