By Caroline Embleau
Learning bits of conversational Spanish was part of journalist Charlotte Norsworthy's journey to building relationships with Spanish-speaking community members.
Norsworthy entered these communities in Athens, Georgia, to tell stories during changes to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy in 2017. Norsworthy works for The Red and Black Newspaper, an independent weekly student newspaper serving the University of Georgia and its surrounding community, Athens Clarke County.
After graduating from the University of Georgia in 2019, Norsworthy worked for publications such as Bloomberg and National Public Radio, but returned to The Red and Black in January as executive director.
"I enjoyed helping people, working with people in the newsroom, and helping them achieve their goals when it came to storytelling," said Norsworthy. "I love the experimentation and the innovative side of (journalism) ... that higher-order thinking where I could encourage the newsroom to dream big, and then help them piece together all of those more granular tasks that have to happen to achieve something amazing."
The news platform is independent of the University of Georgia, meaning it functions as a non-profit and receives donations from alums or fundraising, said Norsworthy.
With independence from the university, student journalists gain experience from an original publication.
"If you say that you've reported for our organization, produced a podcast for this organization, or engaged in any storytelling, that's a pretty big lift," said Norsworthy. "We are a living, breathing newsroom; this isn't just shadowing. This isn't just an internship. This isn't just a simulation of what it's like in the real world. This is the real world."
While gaining reporting experience, students work alongside journalism professionals who may double as part-time professors.
"All our professional staff members sort of have their own experience they've gained and expanded on when they arrived here," said Norsworthy.
Student journalists pitch stories that serve the Athens-Clarke local community alongside the University of Georgia.
"So much of what makes our community interesting is the integration of Athens-Clarke County with the University of Georgia," said Norsworthy. "To understand how to report on those entities, you must understand each entity individually, so we train our students to get out there and see their community, and to be a living, breathing space within their community."
Publishing a three-part series on the ongoing housing crisis in Athens-Clarke County, The Red and Black enterprise desk covered luxury developers bulldozing affordable apartments.
"It minimizes the accessibility of affordable housing in Athens, which is incredibly important to a community like ours because Athens-Clarke County is incredibly impoverished," said Norsworthy.
Working for The Red and Black can lead to job opportunities following graduation, said Norsworthy.
"Having an independent student newsroom under your belt is a fantastic item to speak to in your cover letter and interviews; you can share actual challenges and impact on a community because of the work we're doing," said Norsworhty. "We're in a news desert, and our other local newsrooms are being decimated - right now, we are the biggest one in our community that serves it daily, which means people rely on us; I think that being able to speak to those (experiences) secures a solid future for our graduating seniors."
Norsworthy tells organizations or schools looking to build an independent newsroom, "The best place to start is to just get started."
"Start publishing information online for free about what's going on in your community," she said. "Putting resources behind it eventually is incredibly important, and deciding where those resources are coming from."
Serving local communities continues to drive The Red and Black. Like those stories Norsworthy covered about the Athens Spanish community, she placed her language barriers aside and focused on her goal: to highlight an impacted community.
"I learned in those moments that journalism is a service industry, that knowing and seeing your audience is incredibly important to serve them properly," said Norsworthy. "I was willing to do whatever it took to make sure I could do that for those communities."