Island Packet & Beaufort Gazette selected for ‘Report for America’ program

The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette have been chosen for a grant from a national service program that beefs up local news coverage, in this case by adding two reporters. One will cover development in Jasper County; the other will report on working-class issues in Beaufort County.

The newspapers are among 164 news organizations nationwide — and five in South Carolina — to be selected to participate in Report for America. The nonprofit journalism and community service organization will add 250 journalists to newsrooms to report for one or two years on under-covered issues and communities.

This is more than four times the size of the 2019 class, who have been reporting in some 50 local news organizations across 28 states and Puerto Rico. Today’s news marks the single biggest hiring announcement of journalists in recent memory — and comes as a direct response to the worsening crisis in local news across the country.

Report for America’s efforts began in 2017 when it announced a plan to train young journalists and place them in newsrooms for a year. RFA assignments start in June and last a year, with the option to renew for a second year.

Report for America is an initiative of the GroundTruth Project, a non-profit news organization that supports young journalists worldwide.

The program receives funding from many individual donors and organizations, including The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Ford Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, the Annenberg Foundation, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and The Joyce Foundation.

Newsrooms were selected through a rigorous national competition. Each application was evaluated at least four times by some 50 judges.

To find out more about the The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette’s RFA partnership and how you can be involved, please contact Executive Editor Brian Tolley at btolley@islandpacket.com.

This story was originally published December 2, 2019 at 9:48 AM.