(MENAFN- EIN Presswire)
Flooding in the Bradley Point neighborhood of Savannah, Ga., following Tropical Storm Debby on August 12, 2024. Photo: Justin Taylor / The Current GA
Yaneth Pérez embraces her 4-month-old son Angel in San Francisco after leaving the Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 school, which operates as a shelter at night. Photo: Pablo Unzueta / El Tecolote / CatchLight Local
Is your news organization interested in joining the CatchLight Local Visual Desk? Email ... for more information.
The deadline to apply for photojournalism positions with the CatchLight Local Fellowship / RFA Photo Corps is February 3, 2025.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, January 9, 2025 /EINPresswire / -- This spring, local news outlets across the United States will become the first cohort of a national visual journalism initiative led by CatchLight , a San Francisco-based visual media organization that seeks to provide inclusive, accurate, and locally contextualized information to the public through accessible, high-quality visual journalism.
Following decades of jobs decline in the journalism industry that have disproportionately affected visual professionals, this initiative, in partnership with Report for America (RFA), will fill the gap in underserved markets to reach local audiences wherever they consume their news by placing full-time photojournalists with salary subsidies in select newsrooms nationwide.
“These partnerships represent significant progress for sustained capacity in visual journalism in the United States. What visual journalism offers is a powerful way for newsrooms to deliver reporting across multiple channels and provide audiences with information that is a true reflection of their daily realities,” says Elodie Mailliet Storm, CEO of CatchLight.“It is also a unique opportunity to widen the scope of visual journalism from its predominant focus on national news to also include locally relevant coverage and representation.”
The fellowship application is open until Monday, February 3, 2025, inviting qualified photographers to apply for full-time staff positions with the following newsrooms joining the CatchLight and RFA initiative:
. Borderless Magazine (Chicago) -
. The Current GA (Savannah, Ga.) -
. Fort Worth Report (Texas) -
. Lookout Eugene-Springfield (Oregon) -
. MinnPost (Minneapolis) -
. Mirror Indy (Indianapolis) -
. Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (Wisconsin) -
. MLK50 (Memphis, Tenn.) -
. Montana Free Press (Helena, Mont.) -
. Signal Cleveland (Ohio) -
. Verite News (New Orleans) -
. The Waco Bridge (Waco, Texas) -
“As the number of journalists nationwide has declined in recent years, the loss of visual journalists working in local news has been particularly acute. We are pleased to expand our partnership with CatchLight to bring more critical visual storytelling to underserved communities,” says Teri Hayt, Director of Corps and Newsroom Excellence for Report for America, and a former longtime newsroom photo editor.“The impact of visual journalism cannot be underestimated as we reach new audiences on social media and across all publishing platforms.”
The participating newsrooms will also receive comprehensive visual desk support from the CatchLight Local Visual Desk , which provides a suite of shared services, tools, and training to enhance its members' visual reporting capabilities.
To date, CatchLight has helped establish 10 long-term photojournalism positions and played a key role in advancing audience growth and engagement for their newsroom partners. Early support and partnership from RFA helped spur this success. Visual reporting collaborations with the CatchLight Local Visual Desk have informed policy decisions at the local, state, and federal levels by intimately documenting on-the-ground perspectives that are commonly overlooked in mainstream news.
Expanding access to visual services for local news:
In 2025, CatchLight will accelerate at a faster pace than ever in its history, more than doubling the number of newsrooms it currently serves. For the first time since its founding, membership to the CatchLight Local Visual Desk is open to all U.S.-based local news outlets that are seeking visual solutions for their audience and sustainability objectives. Recent newcomers to the program include Wisconsin Watch (Madison, Wisconsin), Enlace Latino NC (Raleigh, North Carolina), and The Current (Savannah, Georgia).
CatchLight has been instrumental in The Current's transformation from a local media startup to a more professional reader-centered newsroom. Visual journalism is a crucial tool for the Georgia news organization to establish reader habit and engage a new generation of news consumers.“We want to become the essential news source for young adults in Coastal Georgia,” says Margaret Coker, co-founder and editor of The Current.“CatchLight provides world-class talent and mentoring in visual journalism and photo editing at a cost that even small newsrooms can afford.”
The CatchLight Local Visual Desk was made possible with initial investments from Enlight Foundation, Hearst Foundations, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and The Kresge Foundation, in partnership with PhotoWings. Additional support has since come from Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Arnold Ventures, the MacArthur Foundation and Press Forward.
###
Media contacts:
Myrtille Beauvert / CatchLight - ..., (347) 295-7694
Alison Griffin / Report for America - ..., (815) 814-5400
CatchLight |
CatchLight is a visual-first media organization that leverages the power of visual storytelling to inform, connect, and transform communities. The organization invests in the future of visual storytelling through the CatchLight Local Visual Journalism Initiative, which seeks to establish the sustainability of visual journalism by providing community-based newsrooms with editorial resources, training, and strategic partnerships; the CatchLight Global Fellowship, which provides grants to visual storytelling leaders worldwide; and CatchLight's public programs, including the Visual Storytelling Summit, Night of Photojournalism, and Focal Point conversation series, which showcase impact in visual storytelling and expand public awareness, access, and support for the field.
Report for America |
Report for America is a national service program that places talented emerging journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered topics and communities across the United States and its territories. By creating a new, sustainable model for journalism, Report for America provides people with the information they need to improve their communities, hold powerful institutions accountable and restore trust in the media. Report for America is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, an award-winning nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to rebuilding journalism from the ground up.
Maz Ali
CatchLight
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
Instagram
What is the CatchLight Local Visual Desk?
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability
for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this
article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
MENAFN09012025003118003196ID1109073802