By Lauren Milideo

“Why should we care about community journalism? Because all journalism is community journalism,” says Tarleton University Journalism and Broadcasting Instructor Austin Lewter.

Of Texas’ 254 counties, Lewter said, 20 currently lack their own community newspapers focused on the local affairs of the communities there. In other words, these counties are news deserts. This is something Lewter works to impress upon his students, particularly in his advanced reporting class. The course is a required capstone for journalism majors, and other communication majors may elect to register as well.

Students in the course work with community newspapers across Texas, Lewter said, rather than only with outlets in the immediate vicinity of campus.

“I partnered with community newspapers across the state – some are in the area; some are hours away, and they're doing the work remotely, which isn’t a foreign concept anymore,” Lewter explained. “I think you're seeing more and more journalists work remote.”

Tarleton Junior Taite Read, who is currently the managing editor (and soon-to-be editor-in-chief) of Tarleton’s Texan News Service, noted, “Being in (Lewter’s) classes and being here at the Texan News Service… I never would have considered journalism as a career before then.” She added, “The advanced reporting class has really been helpful for me because I'm getting a feel for what it would be like after college. I am doing remote work. I get an idea of what it would be in a real news center.”

The course has six students in the spring 2023 semester, but Lewter would love to have more in the future.

The student journalists work with editors at their respective news outlets to establish the beats that they will cover over the course of the spring semester, as well as a deadline schedule. The students develop professional relationships with these editors over the course of the semester, Lewter said, and he, too, provides a professional atmosphere in the class.

“Instead of a professor-student dynamic and class, it's really more of an editor-writer dynamic,” Lewter said, “which hearkens back to my days when I was managing newsrooms.”

The students and instructor work together to group-edit one another’s stories. Students are required to report and write a minimum number of stories over the course of the semester.
Some students have produced three stories so far; some are up to six already this semester, Lewter said. By the end of the semester, each student will have up to a dozen professionally reported and edited stories in their portfolios.

Students’ reporting beats this semester include education, community affairs and sports.

Lewter said, “I tell my students, you want to be a sports reporter? You want to be an arts reporter? … Communities have those things, too. And to me, a healthy community newspaper is a reflection of the communities that they cover.”

Read noted: “As I’m getting close to my senior year and about to start wrapping things up, I really do feel prepared for like what my future holds. I've made so many connections here. In my advanced reporting class, I'm getting to write for the Wise County Messenger, which is where I’m from.”

In fact, two graduating seniors in this semester’s class already have reporting jobs lined up at community newspapers, Lewter said.

“The end goal is giving these students (an introduction) to community newspapers, getting them inspired and energized to do the work, and then find them places to go to do the work,” Lewter said, and the students in turn contribute to the communities where they work.

“Community news is important because in communities where local news isn't being covered, poverty is higher,” Lewter said. “Corruption is higher. Taxes are higher. Racial disparities are higher. Because nobody is there. Nobody is keeping anybody honest.”