SUNY Program Seeks To Involve Students in Local News Writing

By TERESA WINCHESTER
ONEONTA

In recent years, local news has become an endangered species in the media world.

According to Statista, a global data and business intelligence platform, 3,200 weekly publications closed or merged with other papers between 2004 and 2024. The number of non-daily papers fell from more than 7.4 thousand to fewer than 4.6 thousand within that same time period. Daily papers also declined, with just over 1,000 in publication in 2024. The loss of local newspapers has created a phenomenon known as “news deserts,” indicating areas with no or very limited local news.

The Institute for Local News represents an effort to stop the bleeding in regard to the decline in local news and its reporting. According to an ILN media release, the program, led by SUNY Chancellor John King, is “an initiative that engages students in university-led reporting programs with local media partners. It aims to bolster community news coverage while giving students real-world learning experiences in multimedia storytelling and communication.”

ILN is also being developed in coordination with the national Center for Community News at the University of Vermont.

Data provided by ILN indicates that its program is off to a good start.

“Of SUNY’s 64 campuses, 15 of them are engaged in some form of local news support in the communities around their campus. In the fall semester, 75 SUNY students produced 160 stories for 12 local news publications around New York State. This spring semester, nearly 200 students are active in local news reporting statewide, as more SUNY campuses join the initiative,” the release stated.

Students participating in ILN programs gain valuable first-hand experience in writing for newspapers. They have the satisfaction of seeing their articles in print with their names in the byline—a perk which is both a resume builder and job recommendation in and of itself.

ILN hosted its first-ever gathering of statewide leaders in journalism April 10-11 at SUNY Oneonta’s Morris Conference Center. Representatives from more than 15 SUNY campuses, in addition to a number of private universities in the state, attended the event. Sessions included a review of best practices from university-led student reporting programs, discussion of pedagogy and curricula for successful student programs, and news deserts. The conference was hosted in partnership with the Center for Community News. The Lumina Foundation is a funder of the SUNY ILN program, and CCN is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and University of Vermont College of Arts and Sciences.

The concept of seeking out help from student writers is not new to John McIntyre, publisher for Spot on Digital, a group of weekly community newspapers in the Capital District. For a number of years, McIntyre has worked with both high-school and college interns.

“High-school students come and work on photography, news and on the business end for a semester to a year. College students who live in nearby towns intern during the summer months and on their breaks,” McIntyre said.

In the fall of 2024, McIntyre took on four ILN interns from SUNY Albany to produce stories for his papers. In the spring of 2025, he added intermediate news classes to the mix, assuring more than 20 interns at his disposal.

“The instructors coordinated a lot of stuff. It worked very well,” McIntyre said.

McIntyre alluded to one of the factors as to why journalism is declining—low pay.

“It’s one of the lowest paid industries with one of the highest required levels of education,” he said, thereby suggesting that professional reporting must be a labor of love.

Nonetheless, interning or working for a local paper can lead to other employment opportunities, such as public information officers for government entities, public relations positions, marketing, and nonprofit communications work, McIntyre said.

Iron String Press, publisher of “The Freeman’s Journal,” “Hometown Oneonta” and Allotsego.com, the online version of both printed papers, has also taken advantage of the ILN through SUNY Oneonta journalism classes.

In September and December of 2024, Tony Savio wrote articles on meetings of the Oneonta Common Council. Haley Saunders wrote an engaging article on an Oneonta Main Street vintage store, The Underground Attic, in December 2024. In January 2025, Eva Pickert wrote about Chad Angelotti, mental health coach for SUNY Oneonta’s women’s soccer team, and his original approach to helping team members manage stress.

In March, Gayane Torosyan, journalism professor in SUNY Oneonta’s Communications and Media Department, contributed an article about a unique business in Southside Mall which practices “threading,” a hair removal technique using cotton thread and deeply rooted Muslim traditions. Cassandra Miller, also a SUNY Oneonta journalism faculty member, wrote a number of articles on the City of Oneonta’s Downtown Revitalization initiative.

Andrew Bottomley, also of SUNY Oneonta’s Communication and Media Department, is the ILN coordinator for SUNY Oneonta. Both Torosyan and Bottomley were honored by the Center for Community News for their efforts in helping to grow SUNY’s ILN. In September 2024, both were also named CCN Faculty Champions for developing new journalism-focused programs and collaborations with CCN.

“Thanks to the leadership of Gayane Torosyan, Cassandra Miller and Andrew Bottomley, our partnership with SUNY’s Institute for Local News has been not only a great success, but also a great experience. Our content has improved and expanded thanks to them and their student reporters…It’s a win-win for all of us, and we thank SUNY Oneonta for making it all possible,” wrote Darla Youngs in remarks prepared for the ILN conference. Youngs is general manager and senior editor for the three Iron String Press publications.

Torosyan said that she initially approached eight or nine students to participate in ILN, winding up with four or five who committed to the program. She was candid about some of the problems regarding the mentality of today’s students and their ability or willingness to stick with the program.

“When writing articles, students have to submit on deadline, but students have other deadlines and don’t deal with deadlines well,” she said, adding that many students have jobs and need to work in addition to attending school, also contributing to the stress of meeting deadlines.

Torosyan sees COVID as having influenced a more reticent mentality among students.

“Students are encased in a protective shell, especially after COVID. They are not a class of citizens who feel free to knock on doors. There is a barrier between individuals of this generation and the outside world. It takes a lot of coaxing to get them through the door, even if it’s a public business,” Torosyan said in regard to the necessity of directly approaching people when reporting.