WBHM Selected As A Report For America Host Newsroom
WBHM is pleased to announce that it has been selected as a Report for America host newsroom partner and will join an expanding network of more than 200 newsrooms benefiting from the support of this nonprofit program.
Through this partnership, WBHM will expand its coverage of education in Birmingham.
“The disruption to education during the coronavirus pandemic has been one of the greatest challenges facing our communities. It affects families, educators, and the larger economy,” WBHM News Director Gigi Douban said. “We’re honored to have been selected as a Report for America newsroom, a designation that will ultimately serve to strengthen our coverage of this vital beat and provide more of the in-depth journalism our audience values.”
The selections were made mostly on the basis of which newsrooms defined the most compelling gaps in coverage and plans to deploy corps members well. But the bottom-up approach did produce certain new patterns.
- Report for America doubled the number of host newsrooms owned by people of color
- More than one third of the beats are covering communities of color, reflecting a surge in demand from newsrooms to address previously neglected beats
- Half of the newsrooms are nonprofits
“With the local news system shrinking, it’s important that we both put more and more reporters in the field—and that we help newsrooms that are working toward becoming more sustainable and more grounded in the community,” said Steve Waldman, president and co-founder of Report for America. “It’s particularly gratifying that newsrooms have, en masse, decided that they want to do better coverage of communities of color.”
Report for America is a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. An initiative of The GroundTruth Project, a nonprofit media organization, it is structured to harness the skills and idealism of an emerging group of journalists plus the creative spirit of local news organizations—like ours.
Journalists interested in this position can apply here, by Jan. 31, 2021.
Report for America is a two-year program (with an option for three) that delivers a wide-range of benefits to its corps members. Beyond paying up to half of the journalists’ salaries, it provides ongoing training and mentoring by leading journalists, peer networking, and memberships to select professional organizations.
We look forward to welcoming our new Report for America corps member in June 2021. Please consider supporting this vital mission to preserve local news by donating to our Local Journalism Innovation Fund here.
Report for America announced more than 60 new newsroom partners in a press release. To learn more about Report for America and its mission to strengthen our communities and our democracy through local journalism that is truthful, fearless, fair and smart, visit www.reportforamerica.org.
Supreme Court rules in favor of Black voters in Alabama redistricting case
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined with the court's liberals in affirming a lower-court ruling that found a likely violation of the Voting Rights Act in Alabama's congressional map.
Voting rights marcher recalls being clubbed, hearing fatal gunshot during pivotal day of protests
Della Simpson Maynor was just 14 when she marched for voting rights in her hometown of Marion, Alabama. But while events in Alabama helped give birth to the Voting Rights Act, court cases originating in the state have led to its steady erosion over the years.
Alabama lawmakers close out 2023 legislative session
A proposal to exempt overtime pay from state income tax made it out on the last day. A bill that would have put more teeth in the state’s public records law did not.
As the US invests more in climate-smart ag, these Louisiana farmers could serve as a model
Climate-smart agriculture is getting a “once-in-a-generation” investment of $20 billion. Louisiana farmers show what a successful rollout could look like.
Supreme Court opened the door to states’ voting restrictions. Now a new ruling could widen them
The justices are expected to rule in the coming weeks in a new case out of Alabama that could make it much more difficult for minority groups to sue over gerrymandered political maps that dilute their representation.
Apply for the Gulf States Newsroom’s Sports & Culture Fellowship
The Gulf States Newsroom — a collaboration among public radio stations in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, plus NPR — is seeking an early-career journalist to look beyond the scoreboard and report on how the region’s sports culture filters through everything from public policy to race relations to food. This position is a paid, one-year fellowship based […]
