Student journalists join industry discussion on news crisis that explores innovative solutions for future of local news
The University of New England's Community News Initiative is working to help fill the gap in local news coverage following the reduction of news media outlets across the United States. On Nov. 13, three UNE Community News fellows attended a discussion among industry leaders about the threats to local journalism and the ways the University can help.
Organized by the Maine Community Foundation’s Press Forward Maine initiative, the event featured a conversation between Press Forward Maine’s senior advisor Lisa DeSisto, previously the chief executive officer of the Portland Press Herald, and former New York Times columnist Charles Blow. Their discussion, moderated by Deborah Ellwood, the Maine Community Foundation’s president and chief executive officer, highlighted the importance of local news to the vitality of a democratic society and communities nationwide.
Together, Ellwood, DeSisto, and Blow asked the audience of about 80 gathered at the Cape Elizabeth event to consider ways they could help the local-news crisis.
For their part, UNE Community News Initiative fellows Chloe Boulle (Art and Design Media and History, ’27), Cally Gudroe (Communications and Media Arts and History, ’28), and Angelina Keizer (English, ’28) — the only undergraduate college students in attendance at the event — were given a round of applause when they were introduced as students considering careers in journalism.
“We were delighted that the UNE Community News Initiatives students were able to join us for the conversation with Charles Blow. Their curiosity and energy are exactly what gives us hope for the future of local journalism,” said DeSisto, who, in addition to her 13 years with the Portland Press Herald, served for nearly 20 years as a vice president at the Boston Globe.
Keizer said she was blown away by the reception the UNE fellows received, and she left the event energized and grateful for the experience.
“The biggest takeaway I had from the event is that local news is declining and, as young adults, it is in our hands to restore it,” said Keizer. “I was a bit worried no one would take me seriously, but later I realized that was not the case at all. … There were people coming up to us to tell us how amazing it is that we are taking action to get involved in something that needs attention.”
UNE Professor Michael J. Cripps, Ph.D., who attended with his students as co-director of the Community News Initiative, said the experience put the students at the forefront of the national discussion about how to save local journalism in the U.S. as metro newspapers downsize and news outlets continue to close.
Cripps, director of the School of Arts and Humanities, said the three fellows are currently reporting for two local media outlets in Maine to produce local journalism.
Boulle is a fellow reporting for Sanford-Springvale News and fellows Gudroe and Keizer report for Saco Bay News. In previous years, UNE students have also reported for the Maine Monitor and Portland Press Herald.
Since the UNE School of Arts and Humanities launched the Community News Initiative in 2023, UNE fellows have contributed nearly 50 stories in local news outlets in southern Maine. Modeled after the University of Vermont's Center for Community News, which promotes the role colleges and universities can play in addressing the local-news collapse, UNE’s Community News Initiative is expected to expand in the next year.
Cripps recently began working with DeSisto of Press Forward Maine to expand UNE students’ involvement in local news reporting and broaden partnerships between local media outlets and Maine’s colleges and universities.
This emerging collaboration grows out of Cripps’ goal to develop a community news hub in Maine at UNE, an effort aided by UNE Shaw Innovation Fellow Elizabeth Huggins (Art and Design Media and English, ’26), who is currently organizing UNE’s second journalism conference aimed at growing local news in Maine, following a successful first event in the fall of 2023.
That UNE fellows were invited to the Press Forward Maine event was a significant first step in keeping Mainers informed through access to high-quality reporting by trusted community voices, Cripps said.
"Our current student Community News Fellows are on the front lines reporting for local news outlets,” he remarked. “This event gave them the opportunity to really grasp how their contributions fit into the larger, national landscape of community news.”