Local news reporting is the heartbeat of the journalism school – the foundation for all that we do.
CJS Local and Nonprofit News Events
After all, the school’s slogan is “Reporting Begins Here.” As Dean Jelani Cobb has said: “We eat, sleep and breathe reporting, which is the core of our mission.”
High-quality local news coverage is crucial to building trust with our readership and audiences. After all, “most of us live our lives locally.” So, what binds us as journalists to the people we cover, and binds them to us, “is not presidential election coverage. It’s not even mayoral election coverage.” What is it? Trust-building happens at a different level: “It’s the coverage of the high school that makes it to the quarterfinals. It is the coverage of the local Arbor Day parade and whose float won first prize.” And, of course, it is the crucial accountability reporting on regional government, local business and powerful people in communities.
But with the demise of local newspapers in many communities, that close relationship between reporter and citizen is threatened. News deserts have developed, depriving citizens of local information and the ability to self-govern.
CJS is preparing students to do this important reporting in several ways – and with the necessary financial help.
Columbia Journalism School faces many challenges in the modern media landscape, from preparing students to succeed in the future of journalism, tell stories that connect with readers and regain the trust of those who have abandoned news organizations to obtain their information elsewhere.
The J-School is launching Story First Labs to address all three challenges, which also happen to meet the three tenets of journalism stated earlier.
Local News Initiative
At Columbia, “local” means New York City. And so, the City Newsroom course, taught by Ty Lawson and Juan Manuel Benitez, sends students to every corner of New York City to do the kind of nuts-and-bolts local reporting that will translate to any community in the nation or world. Professor Benitez brings ranking New York City officials – including, for example, the city’s housing commissioner -- to his classes where students can interview them and write stories based on those interviews. Each student is assigned a New York City beat, based on a locality or subject area; they hone their craft by interviewing ordinary community members as well as decision-makers. This fall – as the presidential election looms nationally — the school’s reporting emphasis will be on local elections. Students will focus their journalism on the issues that voters in New York City care about most, and following races large and small.
In addition, the school’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, led by Emily Bell, has done authoritative and groundbreaking research into local news, particularly with its sweeping project on “pink slime” – the partisan news sites that masquerade as traditional local news. Columbia Global Reports, now part of the journalism school, in 2020, published “Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy,” by Margaret Sullivan, who directs the Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security.
CJS knows that financial support is a necessity for students who choose local news as their careers or as a stepping stone along the way. A growing loan reimbursement program (LRAP) is available for those entering nonprofit or local newsrooms; those newsrooms are one of the bright spots in the local-news ecosystem.
Additional opportunities are available through the school’s fellowships with the Institute for Nonprofit News, which provide a stipend to recent graduates interning in nonprofit (often local) newsrooms. More than a dozen graduates work on accountability projects while embedded in newsrooms throughout the United States.
Other coursework, including classes in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, encourage students to develop new nonprofit newsrooms. The solutions to the local-news crisis lie partly in developing organizations from the ground up that depend upon a combination of membership, philanthropy, events and other revenue sources.
Awards for Local and Nonprofit News Organizations
Sally Jenkins, sports columnist for The Washington Post, was recognized as a recipient of the 2024 Meyer “Mike” Berger Award for “Bitter Rivals. Beloved Friends. Survivors,” a richly nuanced story of the entwined rivalry and friendship of two tennis icons, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
Yvette Cabrera, a senior reporter at the Center for Public Integrity, was honored for her investigation of the devastating effects of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation, published with ICT, formerly Indian Country Today.
Local & Nonprofit News at CJS
The CJS alumni community is 15,000 members strong — and they are reshaping the industry as award-winning leaders in the field.
Their reporting across three different categories underlines the vital role high-quality nonprofit journalism can play in various communities.
With over two decades in key editorial positions at leading publications across the country, Chan’s commitment to integrity and innovative journali
The Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors awarded Professor Benítez its Excellence in Television Award.
These digital news platforms led by Columbia Journalism School alumni are tackling human-rights issues and serving readers in practical ways.
