New funding headed to UVM's Community News Service
Powered by a $7M investment from Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and others, UVM’s new Center for Community News seeks to re-energize local coverage in underserved news regions.
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Students on the Beat
Local News Initiative, April 9, 2025
The University of Vermont was not the first school with students providing local news coverage, but it is central to this burgeoning national movement. Richard Watts had noticed the dwindling number of news internships and mentorship opportunities available to his University of Vermont journalism students when he created the school’s Community News Service in 2019 to get them out into the surrounding communities to report.
Full Article on Local News Initiative
CCN's Sarah Gamard Speaks on CivicStory Forum About Student Journalism and Democracy
CivicStory, January 28, 2025
CCN Program Manager Sarah Gamard spoke on an online forum hosted by CivicStory titled "Civics, News, and Nonprofits" where she talked about CCN's Elections & Democracy Cohort and the role of student journalists in covering local news.
Kent State students produce statewide politics coverage
Center for Innovation & Sustainability in Local Media, January 13, 2025
Lorenz was able to launch this pilot program as part of the third annual cohort of CCN Faculty Champions, a national initiative by the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont to support the people running local news reporting programs at U.S. colleges and universities. Lorenz was one of 52 faculty across 24 states who was selected, as the trend of university partnerships with news organizations to fill gaps in coverage continues.
Trial by fire: local student journalists cover the 2024 elections
Vermont Public Media, November 4, 2024
At the University of Vermont, students involved with the Community News Service have been preparing for months to cover the 2024 elections. The program connects student journalists with professional editors and local news outlets. CNS Managing Director Meg Little Riley explains how the program works, while student journalists Gwen Mathews and Ace Sheehan highlight their recent election-related coverage.
Full Story at Vermont Public Media
Green shoots in local news, but not where they’re needed most
Columbia Journalism Review, October 23, 2024
Amid this increasingly barren landscape, there were some green shoots. The Medill report tracked fifty-one news startups in the past year or so, including the Plumas Sun. The “vast majority” of these ventures, the report says, were established in counties “where there is already a strong presence of local news sources.” Most are “heavily concentrated in urban and suburban areas,” covering just 182 counties.
Full Story at Columbia Journalism Review
Connecting student journalists with local news outlets
The Capitol Pressroom, October 31, 2024
Oct. 31, 2024 – SUNY is looking to build on the existing partnerships between local news outlets and students journalists with a summer internship program starting in 2025. We explore the potential benefits of these relationships with Todd Franko, project manager for the Center for Community News, which is working with SUNY on initiatives.
Full Story at The Capitol Pressroom
Chancellor King Launches SUNY Institute for Local News, Announces 20 Summer Reporting Internships for SUNY Students
SUNY News, October 22, 2024
With Support from Lumina Foundation, First Statewide Program of Its Kind to Support News Deserts with College Student-Produced Content. Institute works with Center for Community News and campuses to develop new journalism-focused programs and collaborations to increase student success through hands-on experience.
Additional Reporting at ABC News 10
Newspaper survival strategy: Lean on student journalists
Boston Globe, October 2, 2024
With newsrooms around the country struggling to stay afloat, college journalists are being summoned into service earlier than they may have expected.
Full Story at the Boston Globe
UVM’s Center for Community News breaks ground with nationwide journalism collaboration
Editor & Publisher, September 13, 2024
The University of Vermont doesn’t carry the reputation of the legacy journalism powerhouses, but it is making a journalism splash far beyond the confines of its campus and state borders.
Full story at Editor & Publisher
Local Edition, with Kristen Hare
Poynter, August 22, 2024
In July, the CCN announced it got $7 million from several funders, including the Knight Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, to “ramp up research, programming, education, and advocacy for student reporting programs, which are playing an increasingly vital role in reporting local news for Americans.” The CCN just published its latest impact report.
Knight Foundation awards $1.2 million to Student Press Law Center
Philanthropy News Digest, August 9, 2024
With the decline of legacy news organizations, many student media outlets have expanded their coverage, and dozens of universities have launched new student-reporting programs to provide critical local and state-government coverage. Part of this latest grant will bolster SPLC’s work with the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont to provide legal support to such programs.
Full Story on Philanthropy News Digest
Knight Foundation commits $1.2 million as SPLC evolves to meet student journalists’ expanding role
Student Press Law Center, August 5, 2024
As part of this grant, SPLC is working with CCN to provide the critical legal support these programs need to be a sustainable solution to the increasing problem of news deserts.
UVM student awarded scholarship for aspiring journalists
VermontBiz, July 29, 2024
Charlotte Oliver, a rising senior at the University of Vermont, has been awarded a coveted scholarship for aspiring journalists from the New England Newspaper and Press Association. This honor, bestowed through the association's Journalism Education Foundation of New England, aims to support and foster young talent pursuing careers in journalism.
Deploying Student Journalists to Help Local ‘News Deserts’
Inside Higher Ed, July 15, 2024
Now, with a recent donation of $7 million—$5.5 million from the Knight and MacArthur Foundations and $1.5 million from UVM donors and the College of Arts and Sciences—the CCN hopes to grow, not only by partnering with more colleges and news organizations but also inspiring more students to pursue a career in local journalism.
Full Story at Inside Higher Ed
Student journalists partner with local news
American Press Institute, July 12, 2024
As many local newsrooms struggle with resources, student journalists continue to fill in the gaps. This fall, high school and college students in Mississippi will be deployed to cover 10 counties in southeastern Mississippi, reports Mississippi Today, one of the program’s partners. The project, run out of The University of Southern Mississippi, will be segmented by education level, with high school students focusing on reporting, college students writing and interning, and graduate students providing teaching assistance and research.
And this week, University of Vermont’s Center for Community News announced it will receive $7 million in funding to expand its program, which allows college students to write for news outlets in exchange for college credit, reports the Boston Globe.
Full Story at American Press Institute
UVM student reporting program receives funding for national effort to support local newsrooms
WMAC Northeast Public Radio, July 11, 2024
In 2019, UVM created an internship program for students to learn local news reporting Vermont. It has now expanded and the Center for Community News’ new goal is to enhance local reporting in areas across the country lacking local news.
Full story at WMAC Northeast Public Radio
University of Vermont Launches ‘Grow Local News Reporting’ Effort
Diverse Education, July 9, 2024
The center plans to use the investment — $5 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a $500,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and other funds from Vermont’s College of Arts and Sciences and donors — to increase research, programming, education, and advocacy for student reporting programs.
Full story at Diverse Education
UVM launches nationwide effort to grow local news reporting at colleges across the U.S.
VermontBiz, July 9, 2024
Powered by a $7M investment from Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation and others, UVM’s new Center for Community News seeks to re-energize local coverage in underserved news regions.
UVM's Center for Community News Awarded $7 Million to Expand
Seven Days, July 9, 2024
The University of Vermont’s Center for Community News has been awarded $7 million to expand its journalism training for college students in Vermont and around the country. The Burlington-based student news outlet plans to triple the number of Vermont student reporters who are working in local newspapers over the next five years to around 135, managing director Meg Little Reilly said.
University of Vermont local news center receives $7 million to expand student reporting nationwide
Boston Globe, July 9, 2024
News-academic partnerships received a major boost Tuesday, with the announcement of $7 million in new funding for the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News, which describes itself as the only organization in the country devoted to expanding the programs between colleges and local news outlets nationwide.
Southern Miss to deploy students in 10-county region to confront ‘intense news desert’
Mississippi Today, July 9, 2024
Starting next fall, The University of Southern Mississippi will roll out an expansive community journalism project to supply a major news desert with people-centric stories. The project, named the Roy Howard Community Journalism Center, will provide opportunities for students at high schools, community colleges and the university, itself, to serve an undercovered 10-county region in southeastern Mississippi, according to the university’s grant submission to the Scripps Howard Fund.
Full Story at Mississippi Today
UVM Launches Nationwide Effort to Grow Local News Reporting at Colleges Across the U.S.
UVM Today, July 8, 2024
The Center for Community News (CCN) at the University of Vermont (UVM) will dramatically expand efforts to grow partnerships between local news outlets and universities across the country, forging a path to sustainability for local reporting in the regions that need it most. Thanks to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and others, CCN will ramp up research, programming, education, and advocacy for student reporting programs, which are playing an increasingly vital role in reporting local news for Americans.
Bill Schubart: Good news at the 14th Vermont Journalism Conference
VT Digger, July 7, 2024
UVM’s Center for Community News began to attract and train students in the ethos and practice of journalism and, in so doing, began to replenish local news access around the state. Young journalists-in-training are getting internship opportunities to work in and for local and regional news organizations, boosting the economic viability of both. In recognition of their importance in training new journalists and supporting startups and existing news organizations, CCN just was awarded a $7 million grant from the Knight Foundation.
Illinois Is The Latest State To Boost Local News With Fiscal Policy
Forbes, May 31, 2024
The Illinois Legislature has passed a series of measures that would help support local news using tax credits, scholarships and a required notification period for selling news outlets.
Investigative journalism is not dying, it’s adapting
Tampa Bay Times, April 23, 2024
As digital media changes how we consume information, and newsrooms scramble for resources, we need to train the next generation of reporters to keep journalism accountable. In the spirit of joining forces to support investigative journalism, the University of Vermont leads the way, documenting and supporting university-led initiatives to address the local news crisis. Their Center for Community News has become a hub for research and collaboration, bringing together journalism programs from across the country to share best practices and innovative models for sustaining local journalism.
Full Story at the Tampa Bay Times
These Are The Words That Do (And Do Not) Persuade Americans, Study Shows
Forbes, April 10, 2024
Americans are mostly united in their love of the words freedom, liberty and community according to the latest data from the PACE Civic Language Perceptions Project. They like citizen and belonging more today than they did two years ago, but diversity has fallen in favorability. Overall, Americans have a more favorable opinion of words that describe democracy than they do about words that describe civic engagement or racial equity.
From ‘nice’ to ‘necessary’: How to make a case for your university station
Current, April 8, 2024
In this column, public media veteran Scott Finn taps into the wisdom of the system to find answers. This time, he helps university licensees make the case to university officials. Future columns will look at state and community licensees.
Daily Iowan buys two small Iowa weekly newspapers
The Gazette, April 5, 2024
With hundreds of U.S. newspaper closings leaving legions with little access to local news, a college newspaper in Iowa has stepped up to buy two struggling weekly publications.
College newspaper sweeps up 2 tiny publications in a volley against growing news deserts
Associated Press, April 2, 2024
With hundreds of U.S. newspaper closings leaving legions with little access to local news, a college newspaper in Iowa has stepped up to buy two struggling weekly publications.
Full Story at the Associated Press
2 small Iowa towns faced losing their local newspaper. Student journalists stepped in
CNN, March 24, 2024
After a more than a decade of devastating news for journalism, with local papers shutting down and mass layoffs across national newsrooms, a few small towns in Iowa have stumbled upon a new solution: transferring ownership to a student newspaper.
As News Deserts Expand, Student Journalists Step Up
Reasons to be Cheerful, March 22, 2024
From student-staffed statehouse bureaus to papers run by journalism schools, academic-media partnerships are bolstering local coverage.
Full Story at Reasons to be Cheerful
The College Solution to Rural News Deserts
The Daily Yonder, February 12, 2024
Nearly 600 rural colleges are in or near a local news desert. They are in the perfect location to help communities fill the news gap and restore the flow of information that feeds civic participation and economic success.
Full Story at The Daily Yonder
Former Vermont Public CEO Scott Finn Takes Role at UVM's Community News Service
Seven Days, February 8, 2024
Scott Finn, the former president and CEO of Vermont Public, has been hired to help the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News increase the number of college students who are reporting local news through public media stations around the country.
Institute for Local News at SUNY looks to connect young journalists with struggling newsrooms
WAMC Northeast Public Radio, February 7, 2024
The State University of New York has launched a system-wide effort to have college students produce local news.
Full Story at WAMC Northeast Public Radio
A College Newspaper Bought Two Local Weeklies And Raised Staff Pay
Forbes, February 3, 2024
Beginning in February 2024, The Daily Iowan, which is owned by the Iowa City-based non-profit corporation Student Publications, Inc., is responsible for all aspects of the two local weeklies. It’s believed to the be the first-of-its-kind deal as an acquisition of commercial news outlets by a college paper.
What The NH Primaries Reveal About The Future Of Political Journalism
Forbes, January 26, 2024
The 2024 New Hampshire primary was covered by not only seasoned political reporters from national news outlets but also college students reporting for their campus newspapers and community news outlets. Students from Syracuse, Boston University, Dartmouth and other schools spread out across the state to hear directly from voters and the candidates vying for their attention.
New SUNY Initiative bridges gaps in local news coverage
The Statesman, January 24, 2024
“It’s really convenient for us as a local paper … papers don’t have the huge budgets that we used to, so being able to work with quality journalists, even quality learning journalists, is nice to be able to get them in print while also benefiting our local paper by covering more things that we might not have been able to get to otherwise,” Nicole Fuentes, executive editor for The Long Island Advance, said.
These Universities Are Crafting A Plan To Revitalize News In The South
Forbes, January 9, 2024
News-academic partnerships have emerged in recent years as one of the viable solutions to help sustain local news and their potential for their growth is immense, as the Center for Community News at UVM illustrated in its latest maps report.
Student journalism becoming more relevant in 2024, SPLC lawyer predicts
The Nutgraf, January 8, 2024
Student journalists will continue to fill the local news void this year, the Student Press Law Center predicted while urging them to inform their peers about the “threat to our continued existence as a democracy.” Anticipating further decline, SPLC Senior Legal Counsel Mike Hiestand envisioned more programs from journalism schools to cover public affairs beyond their campuses. That’s already happening in some states like Vermont where the University of Vermont created “Community News Service” to pair students with local media, Missouri where 51% of statehouse reporters are students and Georgia where a local newspaper is entirely staffed by students.
University of New England Hosts Community News Conference
The Bolt, November 22, 2023
As part of the expansion effort, UNE began working with the Center for Community News, a program run through The University of Vermont that “connect[s] student journalists at every stage of life with local news organizations to help build a world in which every community has access to reliable information by and for the people who live there."
Local Edition with Kristen Hare
Poynter: Local Edition with Kristen Hare, November 15, 2023
“Universities have resources that they can bring to the local news crisis, and should,” Watts said. Resources don’t just mean students, he added, “but it’s also our space and our faculty and our access to actual alumni dollars. We have resources and we need to be engaged with this.”
Full Story at Poynter: Local Edition with Kristin Hare
Student Journalists Are Under Attack. Here’s How Philanthropy Can Help
The Chronicle of Philanthropy, November 6, 2023
University-based reporters are critical to reversing the decline in local news, but budget cuts and political battles increasingly threaten their work, demanding greater donor support.
Full Story at the Chronicle of Philanthropy
More stations and universities should partner to realize ‘win-win-win’ potential, report says
Center for Community News, November 6, 2023
Partnerships between public radio stations and their university licensees are an underutilized resource in the effort to address the local news crisis, a new report argues. The report, “Building Synergy: Public Radio and Universities,” makes a case for greater coordination between stations and licensees, looks at the challenges standing in the way of such partnerships, and offers examples of strategies that stations and universities could adopt.
Full Story at the Center for Community News
The rebirth of local news depends on all of us
Washington Post, October 6, 2023
You’ve heard local news is dying. In fact, it might just be evolving.
Full Story at the Washington Post
Journalists face news industry turbulence
Spartan Newsroom, September 26, 2023
A new national report from the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont found that up to 1,997 students in university-managed reporting programs such as MSU’s Capital News Service produced over 7,500 news stories in 2022 in partnership with up to 977 news media outlets.
Full Story at Spartan Newsroom
UVM Center for Community News wraps up first year of research
WCAX CBS 3,September 12, 2023
The University of Vermont’s Center for Community News is wrapping up the first year of a pilot program surveying college-led reporting programs nationwide. At UVM and other schools, the programs facilitate internships with students at local newspapers and news outlets. The students get professional experience and the papers receive quality work that often fills staffing and content gaps.
The Daily Tar Heel’s shooting coverage is just the latest example of college newspapers taking on a local reporting role
Neiman Lab, August 30, 2023
As local papers continue to vanish, student journalists are stepping up to fill an important community role. Around 10% of capital statehouse reporters in 2022 were students, Pew found last year. The trend was underscored Wednesday by the new data from the Center for Community News (CCN), a nonprofit organization run out of the University of Vermont that aims to increase student-led reporting nationwide — and to make existing efforts more visible.
Student Reporters Produced More Than 7500 News Stories Last Year
Center for Community News, August 29, 2023
“Students at colleges and universities are significant contributors to our local news ecosystem,”said Center for Community News Director Richard Watts. “It may come as a surprise to many Americans that much of the professional reporting that keeps our communities informed is now the work of students, in coordination with professional editors and faculty.”
Full Story at the Center for Community News
Q&A: Richard Watts on the power of students collaborating with journalists
Medium, August 2, 2023
"Universities have resources. Students want to do real things. More colleges and universities need to step up and do programs like this."
Could colleges and universities save America's newspapers?
Scripps News, July 17, 2023
In the last 15 years,an estimated 360 newspapers have shut down across the country. But in the last 12 months, the Center for Community News has found more than 120 partnerships between local media and colleges. Many are bolstering news in rural areas where larger media companies have pulled the plug on local news organizations.
Colleges and Students Are Stepping Up to Help Rural Newspapers
The Daily Yonder, June 20, 2023
Journalism programs provide students with a unique opportunity to engage in rural reporting. Students are given the experience of a newsroom with the support that’s often lacking in commercial internships.
Full Story at the Daily Yonder
How student journalists are filling the void to help save local news
Poynter, April 12, 2023
More than 120 programs pair college students with seasoned editors to provide meaningful local news for communities that lack it.
Student reporters fill crucial gap in state government coverage
The Conversation, April 6, 2023
Statehouse reporting programs are part of a larger commitment by universities to connect student education with local news needs. Through classes, newsrooms and media collaborations, these programs give students essential opportunities to use skills they have learned in classrooms – and provide badly needed local news coverage.
Full Story at The Conversation
To fix democracy, start with colleges
Times Higher Education, September 20, 2021
All students, regardless of subject, need meaningful opportunities to engage with the democratic process, say Meg Little Reilly and Richard Watts.