NOTUS launches new initiative to provide Washington coverage to local newsrooms
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Photo: Courtesy of NOTUS
NOTUS, the nonprofit news outlet created by the Allbritton Journalism Institute, has launched an initiative to bring essential coverage of Washington, D.C., to local newsrooms that lack the resources to establish their own Washington bureaus.
Why it matters: The financial crisis affecting local news means that most local newspapers can no longer support reporters in Washington.
- Reporters covering Washington on behalf of local outlets bring a different perspective to D.C. coverage that is meant to serve local constituents.
Zoom in: The NOTUS Washington Bureau Initiative will provide exclusive coverage tailored to specific local audiences, in addition to broader Washington coverage.
- Its pilot partners include Verite News in Louisiana, The Assembly in North Carolina, Oklahoma Watch, Times of San Diego, Santa Barbara News-Press, San José Spotlight, and Stocktonia in California.
- Several of those newsrooms have already started to receive access to specialized coverage as part of the program.
- The initiative's pilot partners were selected because they are highly collaborative, independent and in close touch with their communities, said Tim Grieve, the editor-in-chief of NOTUS and executive director of AJI.
- While local news partners don't need to be a nonprofit to qualify for support, many of the partner organizations selected are nonprofits.
- Newsrooms that wish to be considered for the program as it expands must be committed to policy-focused, nonpartisan journalism.
How it works: The initiative is supported by several philanthropies, including the Allbritton Foundation, Henry L Kimelman Family Foundation and Sandpiper Fund.
- Each of the newsrooms involved in the program has also committed to investing financially in the initiative to help cover some reporting and editing costs. That cost is a tiny fraction of what they would otherwise be paying to stand up their own Washington bureaus, Grieve said.
- The people helming the initiative's coverage are full-time staff editors at NOTUS and two-year fellows who are hired by NOTUS' parent AJI.
- The coverage will appear both on NOTUS' website as well as the websites of the initiative's local partner outlets.
- In addition to exclusive coverage, local newsrooms will also get access to collaborative efforts spearheaded by NOTUS that will support revenue growth to expand their journalism.
- The program is led by NOTUS' director of development Kevin Grant, co-founder of The GroundTruth Project — a nonprofit that seeds local journalism jobs across the country and around the world — as well as Justin Peligri, NOTUS' senior producer and director of editorial outreach.
Catch up quick: Former Politico owner Robert Allbritton launched AJI in May 2023 and founded NOTUS in 2024.
- Much of NOTUS coverage has already been dedicated to covering Washington news from a lens that benefits local constituents in places like Texas, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Oklahoma.
- The outlet named its first round of two-year fellows in July 2023 and the second class in May 2024. There are more than 40 people who work at NOTUS, per Grieve.
The big picture: With the lack of Washington coverage specific to local communities, elected officials aren't held to account by their local constituents for their work on Capitol Hill.
- As the Columbia Journalism Review notes, "There's no one to confront congressmen on a daily basis or make sure they're not breaking the law. Local issues don't get scrutinized. And with the exception of camera-hungry congressmen and national figures, most lawmakers barely get covered at all."
What to watch: A spokesperson for NOTUS said the group is in talks with more philanthropic funders to expand the program to more states and add more reporters.
