WA’s news fellowship draws heavy interest, highlights need

As Washington’s local-news fellowship takes shape, one thing is already clear.

The program, which is placing eight journalists at local news outlets starting early next year, will provide just a fraction of what’s needed to restore and sustain essential, civic news coverage.

That profound need was apparent in 40 applications from news outlets vying for the eight fellows, who will be placed by Washington State University’s Murrow School.

Ben Shors, the school’s journalism chair, said reading the applications is “sobering, to consider the need that’s out there.”

“It really drives home to you the depth and the breadth of the information needs across the state,” he said. “It’s not a rural issue or a Puget Sound issue, it’s not limited to just one platform. We’re seeing this across the information sector, the news media or how you want to discuss it.”

In a great show of support for the local news industry, Washington legislators in April allocated $2.4 million for this “journalism fellowship program focused on civic affairs” proposed by state Sen. Karen Keiser.

The program is modeled in part on a journalism fellowship that California formed last year, placing 39 fellows in its first cohort, mostly at small news outlets. It saw 90 newsrooms and 170 journalists apply in the first round, according to Geeta Anand, dean of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, which is administering the program.

California started by hiring a project director and creating an advisory board that reviews applications and makes decisions about which outlets receive fellows.

WSU expects to have an advisory board set up in early 2024 but is proceeding with the selection process. Newsroom applications closed Nov. 30 while fellow applications are due Jan. 1.

In this first round, applications are being reviewed by panels of educators and news professionals. Newsrooms will be evaluated by Shors and fellowship program director Jody Brannon of WSU, along with KOMO anchor Holly Menino, former broadcast journalist Enrique Cerna, and Julie Shirley, former executive editor of The Bellingham Herald. Another panel will be formed to evaluate fellow candidates but newsroom leaders will make the final choice, WSU announced last week.

Keiser told me this expedited approach, taking applications before the advisory board is set up, is partly because she asked WSU to start placing fellows quickly.

“I urged them to get it underway early. I didn’t want to delay and get sidetracked so I maybe influenced that bit,” the Des Moines Democrat said. “I do hope the advisory committee will get together soon to start looking at, OK, now that this is underway where do we go with it.”

That’s understandable, especially if the Legislature is going to be asked soon to increase funding. It’s good to see progress and the need for more local reporting is urgent.

At the same time, the program’s model should be re-evaluated as the program evolves and before future cohorts are established. This is an important program that could be emulated by other states. It needs further refinement with more input from the news industry it’s trying to help.

I suggest that WSU and sponsors explore using a third-party to receive and distribute fellowship funding.

That would put more distance between the state and newsrooms, and enable the fellows to be employed by newsrooms. As currently configured, they will be state employees, which adds hiring complexity and could create undue appearances.

Shors was open to considering this third-party approach. He also assured me that the current setup will prevent government influence. Participants must sign a memorandum of understanding “that clearly states that editorial decisions belong to the news organizations, not to WSU or the state,” he said.

Keiser was wary of creating a program that would look like government paying for coverage of itself. Her intent was for the state to help restore coverage of local civic issues, particularly local government, that’s been lost as local outlets faded away. She’s seen that firsthand in South King County.

“The watchdog function of journalists is incredibly important, especially in unobserved nooks and crannies and city councils … to avoid that kind of crony corruption that can happen in many small towns and unobserved areas,” she said.

Anand said the California program’s advisory board provides a buffer. Administering journalism programs that help replenish news deserts is appropriate for universities that are “supposed to support the communities around us.”

“This is a real crisis in democracy and we can provide the infrastructure, the responsible advisory boards that are representative of the whole state, to be a buffer between the state and state funding and the reporting and production of news,” she said.

Still to be determined is where Washington’s initial eight fellows will be placed.

Newsroom proposals that WSU received would among them reach 36 of Washington’s 39 counties, the school announced last week. Applicants include weekly and daily newspapers (including this one), TV and radio broadcasters and digital news sites.

After its first year the fellowship will expand to a group of 16. They’ll be paid a $55,000 salary for two years.

That’s more than many reporters and even editors receive at small outlets. Five recently posted reporting jobs in Eastern and Southwest Washington list salaries starting at $35,000 to $44,000.

I thought fellows would be recent graduates. But the salary may attract experienced journalists. There are no geographic or experience limits since the state is doing the recruiting and WSU is advertising nationally.

“We don’t have any boundaries that say you’ve got to be right out of school,” Shors said. “Our hope is that these are journalists with some experience and can immediately go in and impact these newsrooms and create content for these communities.”

Keiser said a diversity of applications is good, and she’s hoping the fellows’ reporting helps “create community conversations where there haven’t been any” because of lost local coverage.

“It’s going to be a building process,” she said, “starting small and building on top of a solid foundation, so this first year is really important.”