How student newsrooms are filling America’s local news gaps

The student media is really having a moment. And the more that we in the industry and in universities can do to highlight and showcase the important role of student newspapers and campus media to the industry and to America, I think that's really important.”

Barbara “Bob” Allen, founder, collegejournalism.org

There are more than 1,100 college newspapers — and counting — in Barbara “Bob” Allen’s ambitious data map scaling the entire United States. The founder of the journalism consulting site collegejournalism.org began logging student media across the United States late last year in collaboration with the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News.

Allen believes this is the first comprehensive undertaking to map every college newspaper in the country. The idea came during her previous gig directing college programming for Poynter. Through funding from the Center for Community News, the project came to life. Allen employed an existing database compiled by the Society of Professional Journalists during the pandemic, whittling the publications down to those still actively publishing.

The current map shows the 1,100 college newspapers scattered across the country, including in Alaska, Hawaii and at the southern border. Each dot provides information about the publication, including contact and website. The map continues to grow and be fine-tuned through a Google Form portal for additions and corrections.

“It’s been really well received,” said Allen. “For me, it was ticking a box to just sleep at night knowing that somewhere there was a comprehensive list of all the student journalism organizations. And now, what are we going to do with it? It's been very interesting to have the list and have people come forward and say, ‘Here’s what I would like to do with that list now.’”

Richard Watts, director, Center for Community News

For Center for Community News Director Richard Watts, bankrolling the map meant an opportunity to examine the gaps that student media filled in news deserts across the country. He found that 766 college newspapers are in or adjacent to counties with little or no local news access this past December.

“It underscores the potential power of student media to address the crisis in local news by simply showcasing the number of student papers and their relationship to news deserts and low information counties,” said Watts. “It does [also] enable a strategic investment. You might look at this and say, ‘Here’s some places where nothing else is happening. Are there ways that we can work with [these] student media leaders and grow what they’re doing here?’”

Charlotte Norsworthy Varnum, publisher of the University of Georgia’s independent Red & Black newspaper, said student papers like hers are stepping up. A need for free, local reporting particularly grew in Athens, Georgia, during the pandemic.

“We’re serving as a solution to the local news problem,” said Varnum. “And I think that what this map can show, and the impact that I hope it would have … is just showing where this map used to be populated with local papers, it is now being replaced with this organic growth of professional development mixed with public, local community service.”

Fittingly, the map serves as a broader love letter for student journalism. Allen said future plans remain contingent on obtaining funding. But for now, she sees the map as “a slice of history” to show how many college newspapers remain.

“The student media is really having a moment,” said Allen. “And the more that we in the industry and in universities can do to highlight and showcase the important role of student newspapers and campus media to the industry and to America, I think that's really important.”

The map can be found at studentmediamap.com.

Tandy Lau is an award-winning journalist currently based in Jersey City. He currently works as a staff reporter covering public safety for the New York Amsterdam News in Harlem. He can be contacted at tandylau1995@gmail.com.