By Caroline Embleau
Mercer University students work closely with reporters producing stories for print and broadcast media partners via the college's Center for Collaborative Journalism, an academic-media partnership program going more than a decade strong.
The Macon, Ga., university created the center in 2012 after receiving a $6 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight and Peyton Anderson foundations.
The center facilitates opportunities and partnerships among Mercer's journalism and media studies department, the Macon Telegraph newspaper, Georgia Public Broadcasting and 13WMAZ, an area TV station.
“Students get exposed to everything, and then, through their experiences with the partners or with other local media, they sort of figure out what it is they actually want to do," center director Debbie Blankenship said. "They get very practical experience."
The Center builds on the Macon Newsroom which Mercer started in 2019 to address information gaps in local reporting. The Newsroom is staffed by two reporters and is also an outlet for students to publish work.
Blankenship, who also manages the newsroom, said its purpose is to address gaps in accountability reporting.
"The newsroom is a vehicle for Mercer to address our reporting gaps in the community," she said. "But it's also a vehicle for our students to get published."
The Macon Newsroom encourages the media partners to publish student stories, giving students professional bylines. Blankenship and the Newsroom reporters meet bi-monthly with the media partners to discuss possible projects and what they are working on, Blankenship said.
“For example, one multi-day project we published on urban blight prompted our county to issue $10 million in bonds to address blight, Blankenship said. “But as newsroom staffing has shifted, we tend to do more day-to-day and small project collaborating with our partners.”
Content published on the website is available for all partners to reprint at any time. Students have produced projects that focus on the people of Macon, blight, pedestrian safety and public schools among others, Blankenship said.
Macon is also one of several cities around the country in which the Knight Foundation awards funding for community re-vitalization, urban planning and economic development.
Students can fulfill their journalism requirements through the center's internship opportunities. Those doing internships start their second or third year and complete three semesters of experience. Starting at 5 hours a week, the time commitment grows to a minimum of 9 hours a week during students’ senior year.
Blankenship said during the center’s launch, students often got internships with the partners. Over the years, those opportunities for students in partner newsrooms have become more limited. The Center and the Macon Newsroom have enabled students to continue to have real world experience as internship opportunities have declined.
“There are a select number of spots for (partner outlets),” said Lars Lonnroth, a student at the center. “So, there is some degree of competition … but the thing that makes the CCJ so great is that you get access to that opportunity.”
Those without direct internship placements still write and report stories for the nonprofit outlet. Others are more interested in working on broader digital content rather than only "traditional legacy reporting," Blankenship said, and get the chance to do that kind of content creation work too.
The idea is to give students real-life work to help them get a job — in whatever area students desire.
"Students that come in and take advantage of all the opportunities that we provide leave with a portfolio and all kinds of connections," Blankenship said.
In addition to its students, the Macon Newsroom has the two full-time, non-student reporters paid through grant funding doing the kind of reporting the community needs, Blankenship said. One reporter funded through the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation and the second funded by the local Peyton Anderson Foundation, Blankenship said.
They are not covering "scandals," Blankenship said, "just things that the public really should have known more about — they didn't know because there wasn't any coverage of it."
The two reporters visit Mercer classrooms to provide advice and feedback on student stories.
“There is a kind of camaraderie … when you're working together in journalism,” said Liz Fabian, one of the two professional reporters with the Macon Newsroom. “There's… that sense of community here at the college. It's nice to be around students. It's nice to be around younger people.”
Moving forward, Blankenship hopes to secure further funding for the reporters and continue to sustain the center to “give students the skills that they need to find jobs that they want.”
For more information:
Debbie R. Blankenship, blankenship_dr@mercer.edu