Report for America announced Monday that VTDigger has been chosen to host a journalist as part of the program’s effort to stem the “worsening crisis in local news across the country.”
The journalist will be one of nearly 250 who will be deployed through 164 news organizations in 46 states, beginning next June.
Launched in 2017, Report for America is an initiative of the nonprofit media organization, the GroundTruth Project. It’s aimed at harnessing the skills of early career journalists — plus the creative spirit of local news organizations — in order to bolster coverage that has been drastically reduced through cutbacks in the newspaper industry.
“We offer a pretty simple fix for news holes in communities throughout the country — local reporters on the ground, who hold leaders accountable and report on under-covered issues,” said Steven Waldman, president and co-founder of Report for America. “The editors we’ve met during our application cycle have shown us amazing passion, commitment and sharp ideas for how to better serve their local communities.”
The program — whose stated mission is “to strengthen our communities and our democracy through local journalism that is truthful, fearless, fair and smart” — also announced that Vermont Public Radio and the Valley News would receive Report for America corps members next year.
In its application, VTDigger proposed basing a reporter in Southern Vermont to explore issues of particular importance to the region, including the challenge of a declining population and workforce, a stubborn opioid crisis and unreliable broadband for businesses and tourists.
“This was a highly selective process,” Waldman said in a letter announcing the award, “so being chosen is a sign our judges were supremely impressed with the quality of your news organization, your commitment to local journalism and your proposal for how to deploy Report for America journalists.”
Report for America will pay half the salary of the journalist who is selected, with the local news organization picking up one quarter and covering the rest through fund-raising in the region. The appointment is for one year but can be extended, with the hope that the position eventually becomes self-sustaining.
“We are thrilled to be chosen for this potentially game-changing program and look forward to working even harder for Vermonters in the southern part of our state,” said Anne Galloway, founder and editor of the 10-year-old Montpelier-based news site.
Report for America corps members will receive eight days of training in June before joining their newsrooms. They are also expected to fulfill a community service requirement such as mentoring high school journalists during their time with the news organization.
Applications for the reporting slots are being accepted at Report for America from now until Jan. 31. Successful candidates will be chosen in a selective national competition, with leading journalists, editors and teachers acting as judges.
Last June, VTDigger deployed a reporter exclusively to cover issues of importance to the Northeast Kingdom. Based in St. Johnsbury, that position is partially backed by the Tillotson Fund at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation.
“We understand our program may not fix all that is broken in local journalism,” said Charles Sennott, CEO and editor in chief of GroundTruth. “But we are honored to be part of a wider community directly confronting the crisis and doing everything we can to restore journalism from the ground up.”
