Founded and operated at Youngstown State University, The News Outlet seeks to give students valuable experience in reporting and producing investigative and enterprise stories, producing valuable content and providing audiences with critical information they need in order to be informed and engaged through legacy media. Interns from Youngstown State University, The University of Akron, The Univers
ity of Cincinnati, Kent State University and Cuyahoga Community College have produced stories for regional and statewide media partners, including its two founding media partners, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator (Youngstown). Other media partners include The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio in Akron, and WKYC, the NBC-affiliate TV station in Cleveland. The project began in Fall 2009 with a grant from The Raymond John Wean Foundation, and support from WYSU-FM, The Vindicator and the YSU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Knight Foundation has awarded The News Outlet numerous national grants. The News Outlet also has received financial support from the Gannett Foundation and the Youngstown Foundation. The content the students produce is offered first to media partners, and then to any other organization. The only requirement: The organization must use the student’s byline,TheNewsOutlet.org (hyperlinked to www.thenewsoutlet.org) and alert us when the content is being used. The model is unique for numerous reasons:
We engage our communities. Student interns attend neighborhood group and block watch meetings to listen to residents and to develop story ideas. Residents can then vote on which stories we pursue. We provide future journalists with rich experience. Students, faculty and professionals work together on story development. It’s part theoretical, part practical. Professionals come to The News Outlet office to work with students and students also travel to our media partners. We are exploring media collaboration and cooperation. Through TheNewsOutlet.org, media outlets can share content and pool resources. We work in multiple platforms. Students routinely produce web videos, narrated slide shows and print and radio broadcast stories. For more information about the news service, contact Tim Francisco at [email protected] or Alyssa Lenhoff at [email protected].
