Collegedale, Tennessee, a town of almost 12,000 people no longer has consistent news coverage. City government, schools and Southern Adventist University, a college of nearly 3,000 students, goes mostly uncovered. The closest paper, the Chattanooga Times Free Press, and other local news outlets cover Collegedale and the nearby communities of Apison and Ooltewah sporadically.
Yet, at the same time, the student paper, The Southern Accent, has a staff of about 20 paid reporters, editors, photographers, copy editors and other student workers, as well as unpaid News Reporting students who contribute to the publication. The paper publishes weekly each semester with more frequent updates online. And there is growing interest in writing and reporting.
Alva James-Johnson, a professor at the small, private, Christian institution for about four years, and a former reporter, put two and two together and suggested student editors launch a beat for students to cover Collegedale. In 2020, the initiative started with an editor and one student reporter who began writing stories about local government, development and more.
“This is the fastest growing part of the county,” James-Johnson said. “And our paper is becoming a trusted product, and a place to start covering Collegedale.”
James-Johnson is currently talking with an editor at the Times Free Press and university administrators about a possible collaboration; and student work, vetted and approved by her, may soon also be appearing in the daily paper.
Interest in writing and reporting is growing within the School of Journalism and Communication.
“The program will continue to grow,” James-Johnson said. “Students will do more local reporting, and that will bring in more students and be a service to the local community.”
Like other places, James-Johnson is finding that students want to do real things, write stories that people read.
One of her student editors recently came back from covering a court hearing in Collegedale and said to the journalism teacher. “I really like what I am doing, developing sources and interviewing people. How do I become a news reporter?” This was a career choice that had never seriously occurred to the student, James-Johnson said, until she experienced it.
One challenge remains how to keep coverage going during the summer months when students are not around, James-Johnson said. Two years ago, in the first year of the pandemic, the university kept the student paper publishing online, paying an editor to provide trusted information – the essential role of a local media outlet.
Because of the important role local news plays and the college’s commitment to public service, James-Johnson is hoping for similar support in the future. While the newspaper does not generally publish in the summer, James-Johnson is making the argument that the weekly publication has a significant role and public impact that requires on-going support.
One concern she has is that as coverage of local news increases, there may be pushback on the more controversial stories.
But for the students, even if they don’t go on to be journalists, they are learning skills that will help in whatever they do, James-Johnson said — from interviewing strangers, to understanding the elements of a good story, to community service. Student reporters come from not only the mass communication and journalism programs, but also other schools and departments at the university. Looking forward, she sees an opportunity to involve political science majors who want to understand how government works and computer science students who could add data journalism and/or data visualization to their resumes.
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