SPRINGFIELD — As a lecturer and director of the Medill Illinois News Bureau at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University in Chicago, I couldn’t be prouder of my MSJ students and their accomplishments as Statehouse Fellows covering local news, state government and stories in the Illinois Capitol.
With the changing of the guard in the White House, it’s more important than ever to support and produce local news stories everywhere possible, storytelling based on facts and evidence that serves readers at a grassroots level and helps fill the growing void of knowledge and information created by news deserts and local news coverage gaps.
In that spirit, a major shoutout to Captiol News Illinois for their diligent work from Springfield to Chicago and Cairo serving Illinois readers essential Illinois news of the day. Thanks to Capitol News Illinois editors and reporters for their collaboration with Medill Illinois News Bureau MSJ student reporters from Northwestern University — the fall Medill Statehouse fellows did excellent work and have moved on after working with Capitol News and seeing their stories published in news outlets all over the state.
A new crop of Medill School fellows has already started working with Capitol News partners during their winter quarter serving as Statehouse Fellows, and there stories are being published as well and landing in a variety of news outlets that keep citizens informed across Illinois.
Medill fellows have seen their stories distributed to some 700 news outlets around the state and published in dozens of Illinois publications and broadcast media sites. Visit the Capitol News Illinois and the Medill Illinois News Bureau websites.
This is a very promising start to a vital partnership that is making a difference to substantively help local news in Illinois and fill gaps in local news coverage — doing the public good, keeping citizens informed and bolstering democracy in the heartland.
—Storer Rowley
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medill.northwestern.edu/news/2024/medill-report-shows-local-news-deserts-expanding.html #MedillSchool @NorthwesternU @NorthwesternUniversity capitolnewsillinois.com/news/author/medill/ #CapitolNewsIllinois