Third COVID reporting fellowship launches for ethnic and community media in New Jersey
After the pandemic: Reporting on how marginalized communities in New Jersey have been impacted
The Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University announced today the recipients of its latest reporting fellowship for ethnic and community media, covering a wide range of issues in New Jersey.
A cohort of 10 reporters and editors who work mostly for in-language news outlets in the state will embark on a six-month remote fellowship. The Center intends to support them in the production of stories on various topics that reflect how their communities have coped and transitioned as COVID restrictions eased and businesses began to reopen.
As new cases of the coronavirus have continued to spread across New Jersey and other parts of the country because of the Delta variant, the challenges of COVID-19 surrounding health, politics, economy and social justice issues have also persisted.
The goal of the fellowship, titled “After the pandemic: Reporting on NJ underserved communities,” is to support journalism in New Jersey’s ethnic and community media sector. It also aims to build collaborative partnerships with mainstream media in the state to report on immigrants and communities of color accurately, timely, sensitively and with appropriate culture nuance.
“The Center is proud to launch this reporting project and welcome these new fellows,” said Stefanie Murray, director of the Center for Cooperative Media. “It’s our continuing commitment to provide our ethnic and community media partners with resources and opportunities to do in-depth reporting projects that they would or could not have done without this support.”
Fellows will receive stipends of at least $2,000 each and opportunities for potential reporting partnerships with mainstream New Jersey media organizations.
During the fellowship, which runs from July to December 2021, monthly news briefings on various topics of timely interest and general relevance will be provided, along with translation services, fact sheets, access to experts and public officials in the state as needed.
The fellowship is supported with funding from the Democracy Fund and Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Stories produced by our reporting fellows will be featured on the project landing page, which you can find here.
All reporting fellows are required to adhere to the Center’s professional ethics and corrections policy.
The fellows include:
- Phillip Han, Miju Weekly News NJ (Korean)
- Aleksandra Slabisz, Nowy Dziennik (Polish)
- Maricarmen Amado, NJ Hispano (Latino)
- Kaushik Amin, Radio Dil (Hindi)
- Kleibeel Marcano, Reporte Hispano (Latino)
- Selcuk Acar, Turkish Journal (Turkish)
- Mohsin Zaheer, Urdu News (Pakistani)
- Gregg Morris, NJ Urban News (African American)
- Joe Wei, The World Journal (Chinese)
- Joseph Clyde Hughes, Jr., Frontrunner New Jersey (African American)
Oni Advincula is the ethnic media program coordinator at the Center for Cooperative Media. Contact him at oni.advincula@gmail.com or advinculaa@montclair.edu.
About the Center for Cooperative Media: The Center is a grant-funded program of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. Its mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism and support an informed society in New Jersey and beyond. The Center is supported with funding from Montclair State University, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, the New Jersey Local News Lab (a partnership of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Community Foundation of New Jersey), and the Abrams Foundation. For more information, visit CenterforCooperativeMedia.org.
