Editorial of November 27, 2025
The Future’s So Bright…
You may remember that, back in October 2024, we announced an innovative new partnership with SUNY Oneonta. “The Institute for Local News at SUNY,” according to officials, “engages students in university-led reporting programs with local media partners to bolster local news coverage while giving students real-world learning experiences in multi-media story-telling and communications.”
At that time, Dr. Gayane Torosyan was the ILN lead for SUNY Oneonta. Her role, along with SUNY Oneonta part-time instructor, local media expert and now Butternut Valley Alliance Executive Director Cassandra Miller (congrats, Cassandra!) was to guide students in the writing of professional-level news stories in their classes, which were then delivered to us publication-ready. Through this partnership, students receive an internship-like learning experience resulting in published work for their portfolios, officials said, while understaffed and resource-strapped local news outlets such as we get much-needed original content covering important community issues.
The initiative was developed in coordination with the national Center for Community News at the University of Vermont. SUNY Oneonta Communication and Media faculty member Dr. Andrew Bottomley, who serves on ILN’s Faculty Advisory Committee, is the program’s coordinator on the SUNY Oneonta campus. In fact, both Torosyan and Bottomley were honored by the Center for Community News for their efforts in helping to grow SUNY’s ILN and, in September 2024, both were named CCN Faculty Champions for developing new journalism-focused programs and collaborations with that organization.
In the first year of the program, students participating in ILN reported on the City of Oneonta Common Council meetings and contributed feature articles on a Main Street vintage store and the SUNY Oneonta women’s soccer team’s mental health coach. Their fresh perspectives and individual voices contributed greatly to our content. Torosyan and Miller also wrote a number of articles for our papers and website. It was wonderful working with them.
Having gotten the ball rolling and worked out some of the first-year logistics, Torosyan and Miller have both moved on to other projects. Now, with a year under his belt, Bottomley and this semester’s students have hit the ground running. Bottomley’s stable of reporters—Logan Breen, Jaquelyn Carlo, Lillian Coleman, Julia Delpozzo, Brianna Ferguson, Florecita Silverio and Joshua Youngquist—have covered such controversial topics as the Albert S. Nader Regional Airport expansion and Eco-Yotta data center proposals. They have written about sports, the local dance community, political candidates and the recent Glimmerglass Film Days. And they are knocking it out of the park (baseball reference intended).
As we have reported before, approximately 80 million Americans live in news deserts, according to the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University. Researchers at the University of North Carolina identified 14 New York counties as being considered news deserts in 2020. Between 2004 and 2018, New York State lost 40 percent of its operating newspapers and saw a 63 percent decrease in newspaper circulation. According to the CCN, researchers have also found links between the lack of local news and lower voter turnout, less choice in political officials running for office, less participation in community events and higher levels of municipal funding.
According to a SUNY Oneonta media release, news-academic partnerships have emerged as a critical contributor to the national news landscape and one solution to the crisis facing local news. “As the largest system of higher education in the nation, SUNY’s contribution to the state of local news and information could be profound for underserved regions,” officials said.
“The news coverage that these programs are providing in coordination with their local outlets is helping to meet critical information needs,” said Center for Community News Director Richard Watts. “Most importantly, they offer students a chance to contribute to public life and develop skills that will serve them in journalism and far beyond.”
The great thing about participating in ILN is that the skills students learn can be applied to any and all career paths moving forward. Coverage of municipal meetings teaches them about government and civic responsibility. The interview process helps students learn to communicate one-on-one again, following the social isolation of the pandemic. In writing their articles, students learn the importance of self-editing and fact-checking.
At a time when small, locally-owned, independent newsrooms are struggling, and as trust in the national media continues to trend downward, the Institute for Local News is a welcome and much-needed initiative. Young people are the future of the United States, and programs like ILN—that reinvigorate their interest in the press, and teach them the importance of reporting the news in an unbiased fashion—are especially important in today’s uncertain political and social climate.
This partnership is a win-win-win, for our resource-strapped news room, for the students, and for our readers. And, if the past three months are any indication, the future of student reporting is very bright indeed.
EDITOR’S NOTE: AllOtsego and its newspapers, “The Freeman’s Journal” and “Hometown Oneonta,” are proudly locally owned. In the news business these days, that’s rare. We need your help to keep AllOtsego for all of Otsego, not hedge funds hundreds of miles away who don’t care about the intricacies of local government or the milestones of everyday people like you. Can you subscribe, or donate, to our newspaper business? While donations are not tax deductible, rest assured they will be put to good use. When local media declines, corruption rises. Powerful people realize no one is watching and act accordingly. Getting you the news takes seven days a week, driving across the county, filing costly record requests, tech, phone, and other bills, and so much more. From finding human interest stories like a boat rescue on Otsego Lake to deep dives into controversial development proposals, reporting the news takes being a part of our community, knowing the micro-histories and relationships that make this such a special place. On such small margins, we couldn’t do it without you, dear loyal reader. (With your help, soon you’ll be a watcher and listener, too!) Support all of Otsego by supporting AllOtsego today.
Darla M. Youngs, General Manager and Senior Editor
AllOtsego, “The Freeman’s Journal” and “Hometown Oneonta”
PO Box 890, Cooperstown, NY 13326
