These local newsrooms in Indiana, Kansas, Virginia are staffed entirely by students
'What we do is we don’t characterize, we humanize the issue'
A city of about 6,500 residents in Kansas went without a newspaper for a decade until 2019 — when a newsroom staffed entirely by students opened.
“There’s no other way for this community to really hear all this news from within other than Facebook groups,” said Sara Maloney, managing editor of The Eudora Times. “And those are not always great.”
Maloney and the six-person newsroom have covered everything from board and committee meetings to the potential economic impact of new battery factories being built in a neighboring city, which also lacks a local paper.
What began as an initiative to involve college students in community journalism has evolved into what Maloney described as "a sustainable publication for the city."
As local news is declining at an accelerated speed, student journalists across the country are stepping up to provide information in news-deserted communities.
At a panel with the News Literacy Project, those in Kansas, Indiana and Virginia described their impact as a “metamorphosis,” noting increased community and political engagement.
The Statehouse File, based in the Statehouse in Indianapolis, was founded in 2006 as a way for Franklin College students to gain political reporting training.
This past winter, 12 students took the course. Two students then work full-time for the rest of the semester with others freelancing.
Ashlyn Myers, a reporter there since 2021, said she was nervous to cover politics due to how many “hot-button, culture war” type bills were passing through both chambers.
“They’re nerve-wracking to cover because there’s many people that have such intense stories as to why they’re important to them,” Myers said.
Myers covered the state’s attempt to pass a bill similar to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, which bars discussions on sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms.
She didn’t think many people would see her story. But months later, when the bill took a different form, people protested at the Statehouse.
“I had people saying that they saw my work from three months ago,” Myers said. “It was the weirdest feeling seeing that my work caused people, whether they’re for or against, to come and share their opinions. That’s what really matters to me.”
In Virginia, teens are behind The Arlington Amp podcast as part of Arlington Independent Media’s Youth Journalism Initiative.
Harsidak Singh, a student at Washington Liberty High School, said he found an interest in local journalism because of how human-centric it is.
“It’s all about understanding your community,” said Singh, who worked on an episode about transformative justice. “What we do is we don’t characterize, we humanize the issue.”
Singh noted a shift among younger generations towards consuming news from local journalism rather than social media platforms like TikTok or X.
Describing the state of political polarization, Singh said people can’t talk about political issues because those conversations usually involve “petty arguments.” But he said local news fosters a sense of community involvement among readers.
“They’re opening up their minds, they’re opening up doors for not just policy but for us to actually come together in a more unified community where we can discuss stuff without being very single-minded,” Singh said.
When it comes to pay, Myers said The Statehouse File pays students for each freelance story at varying rates depending on length and depth.
According to the website, a $180,000 grant from Lumina made it possible for it to disable a paywall. Myers said there are multiple grants out there but it’s competitive.
A donation-funded newsroom, The Eudora Times reporters receive “awards” based on the paper’s revenue. It aims to pay at least $300 a semester and a few thousand for senior staffers — an amount Maloney described as “not enough.”
She said students are told when a semester begins that the roles in the newsroom are not hourly and awards depend on the revenue.
“It’s also hard because of the community, I don’t think yet a paywall would work,” Maloney said. “So it’s a really hard situation. And unfortunately, we just don’t have the funds to pay more.”
The Oglethorpe Echo also runs with an entire student staff out of the University of Georgia. Last week, a student-run paper at the University of Iowa, The Daily Iowan, purchased two local weeklies.
Across the country, there are more than 100 similar news-academic partnerships, according to the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News.
Watch the full discussion below:
Story Spotlight:
Laney’s Tower of Terror (Leo Premnath-Ray/The Citizen): This public record-driven investigation sheds light on elevator malfunctions within the Peralta Community College District in California. It underscores the officials' failure to communicate several incidents to the community. The story contains complaints from affected individuals, firsthand experiences documented by reporters and inspection reports from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. These records unveil multiple violations and highlight the operation of elevators without a valid permit.
Featured Opportunities:
Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas is hosting a webinar on “Putting People First: A New Approach to Political Coverage” on Feb. 6.
Science Magazine is seeking a hybrid/fully remote news writer intern. Apply before Feb. 9.
The Pudding invites college students or recent graduates to apply for a paid data storytelling fellowship this summer. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
VOICES, the Asian American Journalists Association’s summer flagship program, accepts applications until March 7.
Student Press Freedom Day is Feb. 22 under the theme of “Powerfully Persistent.” The Student Press Law Center encourages students to get involved.
HBCU journalism students can apply to the Du Bois Data Lab, a data storytelling program, before Feb. 26. The program in D.C. covers travel, housing and meals, with a $400 stipend.