Poynterreported on what might be a growing trend: efforts on behalf of universities, journalism schools, individual professors, or local media outlets to employ student journalists to cover local news.
Poynter cited a few examples, including in Nebraska where more than half of the reporters covering the state capitol are student journalists, and in a county in Georgia where a University of Georgia journalism class is producing the local newspaper.
Researchers at the University of Vermont are referring to this as news/academic partnerships. That school recently launched its Center for Community News. It will, among other things, maintain a database of such partnerships, provide advice and consulting, and provide citizen reporter trainings.
Shop Talk is a weekly panel discussion about journalism issues. This week’s program featured Will Buss, who teaches in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University and advises the student editors at the Western Courier, the students at student radio station The Dog, and the WIU chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists; Rajvee Subramanian, who taught in the Department of Broadcasting and Journalism at Western Illinois University; and TSPR News Director Rich Egger.
