As local newspapers in communities across the country, students in U.S. higher-education institutions are increasingly helping to in local news coverage.
New research from the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont offers a picture of how that looks by the numbers — and the methodology includes data about students at »ªÌå»á.
For its report, the center more than 17,228 pieces of journalism that college students across the country produced that appeared in more than 1,311 outlets last year nationwide.
Researchers got that figure by surveying leaders at 73 news-academic programs across 37 states and Washington D.C. “to quantify the extraordinary reach and impact of university-led local news reporting.”
The report included three higher-ed institutions in Colorado, including »ªÌå»á.
At CC, the Journalism Institute identified roughly 185 individual stories students produced for local news organizations outside of the campus publications last year.
The bulk of the stories came from students who were doing internships or practicums and earning course credit for their work. Outlets included the Denver Post, KRCC, the Gazette, Colorado Sun, Sky-Hi News, Colorado Newsline, the Charlotte Observer, and more.
Students did local , reported in newspapers, handled the "Best of Colorado Springs" coverage for the local alternative weekly, and produced community radio journalism over the airwaves. On TV, students created a hybrid documentary-slash-satirical-game show for Rocky Mountain PBS about the plight of the Colorado River that sought to "answer the question of who will be the most impacted by this crisis."
Students also in that they for class assignments.
In "Inbox Journalism: Writing for Newsletters," students published work in the popular Axios Denver newsletter that has roughly 100,000 subscribers. The Axios Denver team of Alayna Alvarez, John Frank, and Esteban Hernandez visited the class in-person to teach students the outlet's trademarked "Smart Brevity" style and then had the next day's newsletter while in class.
In "Reporting on Wildfires," students published multiple stories for the publication Burning Questions. For a practicum, one student 11 candidates running for mayor of Colorado Springs.
With support from a Venture grant, two students spent the summer of 2023 traveling across Eastern Europe as foreign correspondents. There, they reported a series for the Colorado Springs Gazette called "" about the impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In 2020, CC's "Around the Block" initiative highlighted how students in the college's Journalism Institute "hit the ground as reporters in local communities."
Three years later, the Center for Community News at UVM spotlighted the Journalism Institute for a higher-education institution that connects students to local newsrooms.