Instead of fading after legislators whacked its funding, Washington’s news fellowship may dramatically expand with philanthropic support.
The program could place a reporter covering civic news in each of the state’s 39 counties, under a plan announced Wednesday by Washington State University’s Murrow College and Boston-based nonprofit Report for America.
County reporters would be employed by local news outlets but most or all of their salaries would be covered by the new fellowship. It’s modeled on Report for America’s Peace Corps-like program that has placed temporary reporters at news outlets since 2017.
Their plan is to use WSU’s current Murrow Fellowship funding, plus additional state dollars, to match private donations received by Report for America. They estimate it would cost $10 million over five years, half from the state.
“We think what we build here in Washington can serve not just the 8 million residents of Washington state but can also provide that template that could be really useful to other states across the country,” Ben Shors, journalism chair at the Murrow College, said in an interview.
Placing a reporter in every county is a compelling idea that could strengthen local journalism, especially in places with few if any reporters covering local government.
It’s also encouraging to see proposals for extending journalism support to rural areas desperately needing reporters. Philanthropic support for news is growing, which is great, but over the last five years 98% of grant dollars went to urban areas that are relatively well served.
As a former county news reporter and editor, I love the effort to restore county-level civic journalism, statewide. That’s bedrock stuff and a service people expect from local news outlets, regardless of how many clicks the stories get online.
But I have concerns about this plan and fear it could do more harm than good, depending on how it’s structured and how much WSU and nonprofits dictate terms to news organizations.
Shors favors requiring outlets to give away stories produced by their county reporters, even if their business is based on charging for access through subscriptions and website paywalls.
Is the goal to strengthen the state’s local news ecosystem, which is almost entirely composed of small, for-profit businesses selling subscriptions?
Or will this create a state-funded competitor to a struggling industry?
Providing county-by-county news, without supporting the predominant business model for local news outlets, would give people less reason to subscribe and support them. That could erase more than the 39 new reporting positions.
Placing reporters in every county is also more complicated than it sounds in the headline. Key details aren’t resolved, such as which outlets will be chosen to employ the reporters.
I’m also wary of Shors’ plan to select news outlets based on “impact” instead of reach and circulation, which are more objective and measurable criteria. How about starting with counties’ paper of record, as determined locally?
Because half the funding would come from taxpayers, these questions must be addressed transparently and apolitically. The program cannot influence news coverage or play favorites.
Funding is also unresolved. Report for America CEO Rob Zeaske said philanthropies pledged support but he wouldn’t give details yet.
“We’ve got interest and expectations where we know money is going to be directed to the program already,” he said.
Press Forward, the national coalition of large philanthropies giving more than $500 million to local journalism, is apparently on board.
“I’m thrilled to see Report for America and Washington State University come together to strengthen local news across Washington,” Press Forward Executive Director Dale Anglin said in the release.
Anglin added that Press Forward hopes “this collaboration inspires similar, ambitious partnerships in states across the country to broaden access to high-quality local news in communities everywhere.”
First the funding needs to be sorted, especially Washington’s share.
Legislators halved the Murrow Fellowship budget last year, to $750,000. That’s short of the $1 million match that Shors and Zeaske envision the state providing annually for five years.
The Legislature is now considering a bill to help news outlets get compensated by tech firms. The lead sponsor of Senate Bill 5400, Sen. Marko Liias, told me that funding could be shifted around so the fellowship gets funded with SB 5400 proceeds instead of the education budget.
Not coincidentally, WSU and Report for America announced their plan just ahead of a hearing Thursday on SB 5400. A proposed revision adds a line stating that proceeds “may also be used for the operations of the journalism fellowship program at the Washington State University.”
That could provide $1 million to the new program but reduce tech compensation that every eligible newsroom receives.
Here’s a suggestion that works whether or not SB 5400 advances: Keep the fellowship in the education budget. If it can’t be increased beyond $750,000, news outlets hosting county reporters can pay the $250,000 difference.
That’s similar to how Report for America currently operates, by splitting salary costs with publishers. The 39 outlets would end up paying $6,410 apiece for a full-time county reporter, which is still an extraordinary and groundbreaking way to strengthen local journalism. It also wouldn’t dilute support that’s supposed to bolster the other 150 or so local newsrooms.
Another detail to be sorted is salaries. WSU started Murrow Fellows at $55,000, which is more than some experienced reporters at smaller outlets. Shors and Zeaske said county reporters would be paid “living wages” varying by location but not necessarily $55,000.
The current Murrow Fellowship would end in October, after placing 16 fellows and two legislative correspondents over the last two years.
Report for America would lead the county placements. But it would stop doing other placements in Washington. It placed 17 reporters in Washington since 2017 including six now finishing their stints.
If this comes together, 13 county reporters would be hired in 2027 for three-year terms. Another 13 would be hired in 2028 and in 2029, so for at least one year all 39 counties would have a fellowship reporter.
There’s clearly a need. Because newspapers have dwindled, more than half of U.S. counties now have little if any local journalism, according to Northwestern University’s “news desert” tally. It found 11 Washington counties with just a single remaining news outlet and one, Asotin County, with zero, although it’s covered by Idaho’s Lewiston Tribune.
I agree with Shors, Anglin and Zeaske: This is an exciting idea that could help restore county news coverage across the state and beyond.
The local journalism crisis needs creative ideas and Washington wants to help.
So let’s make sure this works well and provides lasting benefit to its local-news industry and the people it serves.
This is excerpted from the free, weekly Voices for a Free Press newsletter. Sign up to receive it at the Save the Free Press website, st.news/SavetheFreePress. Seattle Times’ Brier Dudley is the editor of the Free Press Initiative, which aims to inform the public about issues facing newspapers, local news coverage, and a free press. You can learn more about the Free Press Initiative, or sign up for a newsletter, at https://company.seattletimes.com/save-the-free-press/.
