Washington Weekend Paves the Way for Young Journalists

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For 2024 Reporting Fellows, the Future Is Now

It is the bane of the traditional news media’s existence: How do companies attract the next generation of news consumers, who are interested in current issues, but are uninterested in engaging with content on old-school platforms?

Copious research by news media industry leaders, communications scholars, and marketing executives has tried to understand and untangle this conundrum.

Adults under 30 are now nearly as likely to trust information from social media (52%) as from national news organizations (56%), according to a Pew Research Center study published last month.

If traditional news organizations want to ensure long-term profitability and viability in a changing media landscape, they will have to pursue a "tradigital" strategy that combines traditional news values with digital content that matters to Gen Z, like the climate and environment, global health, peace and conflict, human rights, and AI and technology.

The Pulitzer Center’s 2024 Campus Consortium Reporting Fellows just may be an answer.

This cohort of 46 enterprising young journalists hail from community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, liberal arts colleges, public universities, and graduate schools of journalism and public health in the U.S., Canada, and Qatar.

With curiosity and compassion, the Fellows spend an academic year producing projects on underreported issues both in the U.S. and abroad—from the challenges that chronically ill Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh face in accessing diabetes care to the deleterious effects of water pollution on residents in the seaside community of Imperial Beach, California.

The Reporting Fellows are uniquely qualified to speak to the concerns of their generation through multi-platform storytelling that is trustworthy and authentic. This Pulitzer Center report highlights the important and impactful work of these next-generation journalists showcased during our annual Washington Weekend conference in D.C. earlier this year.

Watch the full panel recordings here.

Enjoy!

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Impact

On November 15, 2024, the Pulitzer Center, in collaboration with Ai Kenya, hosted the “Redefining AI Labor” town hall at Aga Khan University in Nairobi, Kenya. The event brought together data workers, AI engineers, mental health professionals, and others to chart a course for fairness and ethics in AI labor.

Ai Kenya reflected on the event's impact: “As the curtains closed, one thing was clear: this was just the beginning. The journey to achieving equitable AI labor practices continues, and Kenya is poised to lead the way,” said the organization in a blog post.

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This message first appeared in the November 29, 2024, edition of the Pulitzer Center's weekly newsletter. Subscribe today.

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