News & Announcements

RCFP, NPPA and CPJ to offer free training sessions for journalists covering 2020 conventions

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the National Press Photographers Association and the Committee to Protect Journalists are offering offering makeup trainings for anyone who missed their sessions last week on the 2020 Democratic National Convention and other national political events.

The virtual training sessions will be hosted on Zoom on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

report for america

Report for America opens newsroom applications, expands opportunity to hire more journalists

Report for America applications are now open for news organizations interested in hosting emerging journalists for up to three years, beginning next June.

The national service places talented journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. The program recruits journalists and pays half the salary, up to $20,000. The other half is split between the host news organization and local donors.

Ask your Congressional representative to co-sponsor the Local Journalism Sustainability Act

WNA members are encouraged to contact their lawmakers and ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act.

The bipartisan legislation provides direct financial incentives to support local journalism. Proposed tax credits include credit for local newspaper subscriptions, payroll credit for compensation of journalists and credit for advertising in local newspapers and local media.

journalism, investigative journalism, election integrity, wisconsin watch, wcij

WCIJ partners with Center for Journalism Ethics on election integrity project

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and the Center for Journalism Ethics at UW-Madison are partnering on a project to support election integrity this fall, the organizations have announced.

The effort, supported by $83,000 in funding from Craig Newmark Philanthropies, will focus on developing election integrity resource kits for citizens and journalists in addition to investigative reporting on voting issues in Wisconsin. Howard Hardee, a former Wisconsin State Journal reporter and current local news fellow at First Draft News, will be the lead reporter on the project.

National Newspaper Association

National Newspaper Association seeking judges for annual contest

The National Newspaper Association is seeking judges for its 2020 Better Newspaper Editorial Contest & Better Newspaper Advertising Contest.

All judging is done online and is user-friendly. Judges will be assigned early July and the deadline for judging will be late July.

AP changes writing style to capitalize “b” in Black

The Associated Press has changed its writing style guide to capitalize the “b” in the term Black when referring to people in a racial, ethnic or cultural context, weighing in on a hotly debated issue.

The news organization will also now capitalize Indigenous in reference to original inhabitants of a place.

beloit daily news

Beloit Daily News moving to new downtown office

The Beloit Daily News will move this fall to a new office in downtown Beloit, the newspaper announced Wednesday.

The move to 444 E. Grand Ave., a building that formerly housed Turtle Creek Books, is expected to take place in September. The facility will house the Daily News editorial, advertising, subscriber and business operations, while printing and distribution will continue to be based out of Janesville.

support local news

‘Support Local News’ campaign encourages subscriptions, donations, ads

The “Support Local News” campaign — launched Tuesday by the Local Media Association and the Local Media Consortium in partnership with the Google News Initiative — aims to raise awareness of the importance of local news and encourage support through subscriptions, donations and advertising.

Patrick Wood, Multi Media Channels

Multi Media Channels purchases Seymour newspaper

Multi Media Channels has purchased the Advertiser Community News & Times-Press, a Seymour-based free community newspaper.

The publication recently reverted from the Times-Press — a paid subscription newspaper — back to the Advertiser Community News-Times Press — a free community newspaper. The publication will continue printing under MMC as the Seymour Advertiser.

leader telegram

Leader-Telegram partners with New York Times on pandemic joblessness project

The Leader-Telegram last week announced it is partnering with The New York Times to tell the stories of Americans who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Eau Claire newspaper is one of several across the country teaming up with the Times for the project, in which the newspapers will publish stories and periodic updates as they follow local jobless residents for several months.

Wisconsin Newspaper Association