Oklahoma Watch has been selected for the Report for America program and will host an emerging journalist to cover important issues in the state starting in 2020.
The national service program will place 162 emerging journalists with local, state and regional news organizations to report for one or two years on under-covered issues or communities. Oklahoma Watch proposed to work with a Report for America journalist to cover issues of urban blight in marginalized communities.
An initiative of The GroundTruth Project, Report for America seeks to counter the rising problem of “news deserts” in the U.S. by making funding available to increase the number of working journalists. The program covers half the salary of a journalist and asks local news partners to cover a quarter while also seeking local or regional funders to contribute the final quarter.
“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to join this distinguished program, whose mission reflects what we’re all about here – to help reinvigorate quality, in-depth journalism that contributes to the public good,” said David Fritze, executive editor of Oklahoma Watch.
Applications are now being accepted until Jan. 31 at reportforamerica.org for the reporting positions, including the one at Oklahoma Watch. Journalists and their newsroom pairings will be announced in April. They begin work in June.
