Summary
States Newsroom is a network of affiliates we created and independent partner news sites that we support. Every newsroom is led by a veteran local journalist with deep knowledge of the state’s political history and media landscape who oversees a staff of experienced capital reporters. Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect the states.
Our nonprofit newsrooms combine relentless reporting and insightful commentary to connect people to the state leaders and government policies that affect their daily lives.
OnAir Post: States Newsroom
About
State policies directly affect people’s daily lives, and state-level political battles shape the national landscape. But in many state capitals, too many stories go underreported or unreported. There’s a void in our news ecosystem and it’s only growing.
While traditional news coverage of national politics has increased in recent years, those successes are isolated to a few major outlets. State coverage continues to shrink:
- Newsroom employment in the U.S. fell 25% between 2008 and 2018, with a 47% decline at newspapers, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center report.
- Only 30 percent of newspapers have anyone assigned to cover their statehouses, and students working part-time account for 14 percent of those covering the capitals, according to a 2014 Pew Research Center study.
- And, The Boston Globe reported that the newspaper industry has lost an average of one thousand jobs per month in recent years.
As a result, there are fewer eyes on state government, with real consequences for real people.
States Newsroom is bucking that trend: in 2019 we launched five outlets and a Washington, DC bureau. We now employ more than 50 full-time editors, reporters, and support staff across the country. States Newsroom has established a new, philanthropic business model that focuses on state politics and policy. Our model is different: it is entirely made possible by donors of all sizes and unlike virtually every other for-profit and nonprofit media outlet, we don’t run ads of any kind or accept corporate donations or underwriting.
We believe that no matter who you are or where you live, you need access to high-quality, non-partisan reporting on the crucial issues of our time. We provide leading reporters and editors with the resources they need to cover their communities.
States Newsroom is a network of affiliates we created and independent partner news sites that we support. Every newsroom is led by a veteran local journalist with deep knowledge of the state’s political history and media landscape who oversees a staff of experienced capital reporters. Our Washington, D.C., bureau reports on congressional delegations and key Supreme Court and administrative decisions that affect the states. Read our ethics policy.
States Newsroom is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit with offices in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Washington, D.C. All donations to States Newsroom affiliates and partners are tax-deductible.
Contact
Locations
Main office
450 Raleigh Rd, St. 200
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
DC Office
126 C St NW, Fl 3
Washington, DC 20001
Web Links
Newsrooms
Source: Website
Editor-in-Chief Jim Small
The Arizona Mirror strives to tell untold stories, amplify the voices of Arizonans whose stories are unheard, shine a light on the relationships between people, power and policy, and hold public officials to account. We view news as a vital community service, and are supported by the generosity of those who believe an informed Arizona is a better Arizona.
States Newsroom was proud to support The Colorado Independent until it merged with the Colorado Press Association and the Colorado Media Project to become Colorado News Collaborative [COLab] in April 2020. Formerly, The Indy was a statewide online news source that amplified the voices of Coloradans whose stories are unheard, shone light on the relationships between people, power and policy, and held public officials to account. They reported the news with context, social conscience, and soul, and gave Coloradans the insight they needed to promote conversation, understanding and progress in the square, swing state they call home.
Editor-in-Chief Diane Rado
Reporters in many now-shrunken capital bureaus have to spend most of their time these days chasing around after more and more outrageous political behavior, and too many don’t have time to lift up emerging innovative ideas or report on the people who are trying to help solve problems and shift policy for a more compassionate world. The Florida Phoenix does those stories.
Editor-in-Chief John McCosh
The Georgia Recorder brings a fresh perspective to coverage of the state’s biggest issues and the communities we care about. Most traditional news organizations now lack the resources to do much more than chase the political outrage of the day, so proposals to shape Georgia’s approach to health care, public schools, community development and other essential ingredients for a good quality-of-life don’t receive the attention they warrant. The Georgia Recorder aims to remedy that.
Editor Kathie Obradovich
The Iowa Capital Dispatch combines state government coverage with relentless investigative journalism, deep dives into the consequences of policy, political insight, and principled commentary. We deeply believe in sharing the stories of people outside the halls of power, connecting the actions of state leaders to their impacts on Iowans.
Director Mike Tipping
Editor Lauren McCauley
Maine Beacon is a website and podcast created by the Maine People’s Alliance to highlight the experiences of everyday Mainers, share information about the political and policy processes that affect Maine people and promote a progressive worldview based on community, fairness and investing in the future. We’re proud to feature rigorous reporting, political analysis and smart, progressive voices from across the state.
Editor-in-Chief Josh Kurtz
Years ago, healthy competition for news out of Annapolis and across the state produced robust coverage. But the media landscape has changed. Papers have closed. Suburban bureaus have shut down. Reporting staffs have shrunk. Coverage of state and local news has all but disappeared. Maryland Matters seeks to fill the void with original reporting and commentary.
Editor-in-Chief Susan Demas
The Michigan Advance features in-depth stories, blog posts and social media updates, as well as top-notch progressive commentary. We wholeheartedly believe that journalists have the biggest impact by reporting close to home, explaining what’s happening in our state and communities — and why. Michigan has hundreds fewer reporters than just a couple decades ago. The result is too many stories falling through the cracks.
Editor J. Patrick Coolican
The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell. We’re in the halls of government tracking what elected officials are up to — and monitoring the powerful forces trying to influence them. But we’re also on the streets, at the bars and parks, on farms and in warehouses, telling you stories of the people being affected by the actions of government and big business. And we’re free. No ads. No paywall.
Editor-in-Chief Hugh Jackson
Nevada Current seeks to:
- Demonstrate how policies, institutions and systems make life harder for Nevadans than it needs to be;
- Document how things got that way, and;
- Explore what it might take to fix them.
Director Rob Schofield
NC Policy Watch, generates a large and steady flow of timely, accurate and hard-hitting commentaries, analysis and news reports that inform elected officials, advocates, the media and the public at-large. With a team of four veteran, full-time reporters dedicated to covering state government, the project is one of North Carolina’s most important news outlets and generates hundreds of original news stories each year. Our blog, The Progressive Pulse, is one of North Carolina’s busiest and important interactive policy websites.
Editor David C. DeWitt
The Capital Journal combines Ohio state government coverage with relentless investigative journalism, deep dives into the consequences of policy, political insight and principled commentary. All those cheesy journalism aphorisms about reporters being the eyes and ears of the people in the halls of power? We believe them, deeply. We also deeply believe in sharing the stories of people outside the halls of power, connecting the actions of state leaders to their impacts on Ohioans.
Editor-in-Chief John Micek
The Pennsylvania Capital-Star is dedicated to honest and aggressive coverage of state government, politics and policy.
The nearly 13 million people who call the commonwealth home depend on their interests being safeguarded by one of the nation’s largest, most expensive, and often inefficient and corrupt full-time state legislatures. At a time with regrettably fewer eyes on Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star holds the powerful to account and amplifies the stories of the powerless.
Editor-in-Chief John Micek
The Pennsylvania Capital-Star is dedicated to honest and aggressive coverage of state government, politics and policy.
The nearly 13 million people who call the commonwealth home depend on their interests being safeguarded by one of the nation’s largest, most expensive, and often inefficient and corrupt full-time state legislatures. At a time with regrettably fewer eyes on Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star holds the powerful to account and amplifies the stories of the powerless.
Editor-in-Chief Robert Zullo
From the push to remove Confederate statues to big shifts in healthcare and energy policy, the Old Dominion is changing. The Virginia Mercury aims to bring a fresh perspective to coverage of the state’s biggest issues. We feature original and guest commentary on a range of topics and are staffed full-time by four veteran Virginia newspaper journalists.
