Look for the helpers

High-impact, mission-driven journalism that intentionally tries to reflect a community and its needs is what all of us want, need and strive for. It’s what will save our industry, local news and our democracy.”

Robin Blinder, editor-in-chief, Editor & Publisher

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” — Fred Rogers aka Mr. Rogers

There is a lot of scary news. Some days it can seem overwhelming. For those of you in the news industry, it may seem relentless — especially in the face of cutbacks, layoffs, diminishing trust and constant swipes at the media. It’s imperative that we can, for our mental health, take a step back and look for the good news — or look for the helpers.

I often find the bright spots in our industry are exemplified by our youth — J-schools helping local media, high school students jumping in to fill the gaps in news and programs like the one in our feature, “Hitting the ground reporting: A day in the life of Report for America Corps members.”

It was a full three years ago — in our August 2022 issue — that we featured Report for America on our cover. It’s a cover that always brings a smile to my face because it featured the entire 250 Report for America (RFA) Corps posing on the Loyola University campus in Chicago during their 2022 National Gathering.

This time around, we wanted to feature some of the RFA Corps members and show you a snapshot of what their day may look like. We wanted to show news organizations who haven’t yet looked at the RFA program what they are missing. As Jason Blakeney, RFA director of Corps and newsroom excellence, said in his interview with Bob Sillick, “Report for America is a great opportunity for newsrooms to utilize a program that doesn’t want anything from them, except for them to succeed. We are helping newsrooms with great reporters who understand the industry and their job. They’re receiving training and support throughout their Corps member tenure, relieving newsrooms of that burden. Our local news sustainability team assists them with finding grants and developing different revenue streams.”

We wanted to entice young journalists to look at the program for the training, support and opportunities that come with a RFA assignment. Danielle Dawson, a first-year RFA Corps member told Sillick, “I felt drawn to Report for America in its mission to fill the gaps that are left by how much local news has shrunk. I also wanted to explore other parts of the U.S. and do boots-on-the-ground journalism. It felt like this was what I was supposed to do: high-impact, mission-driven journalism that intentionally tries to reflect a community and its needs.”

High-impact, mission-driven journalism that intentionally tries to reflect a community and its needs is what all of us want, need and strive for. It’s what will save our industry, local news and our democracy. So, when you look for the helpers, you may just find a Report for America Corps member going about their day and making an impact on their community and our industry.

Robin Blinder is E&P's editor-in-chief. She has been with E&P for six years. She can be reached at robin@editorandpublisher.com.