A health journalism project has launched in Tampa, Fla., supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, reports the Tampa Tribune [see second story on the linked page].
The Healthy State Collaborative Local Journalism Center is a two-year project “aimed at strengthening collaboration among six public broadcasting stations geographically centered in Florida,” according to its website. Those stations are WUSF-Tampa, WEDU-Tampa, WMNF-Tampa, WGCU-Fort Myers, WMFE-Orlando and WUFT-Gainesville.
The site will offer health care coverage through audio, text, video, photos, blogs, social networking, dynamic syndication and mobile applications and hopes to engage a younger, well-educated audience.
Jennifer Molina, formerly of Newsweek.com, is the project’s executive editor. Her staff will include a multimedia manager, a community engagement specialist, and five reporters, each assigned to a participating station. According to the Tampa Tribune report, Molina is in the process of hiring reporters.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting issued a call for grant proposals “from groups of 3-6 stations willing to form multi-platform reporting Local Journalism Centers around a single topic or issue that will result in an elevated quality and quantity of journalism.”
In announcing the initiative, Patricia Harrison, CEO and president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, said the centers were intended to “enhance public media’s ability to meet the information needs of local communities at a time when access to high quality, original reporting is declining.”
The project is one of seven in the country to develop news coverage of an issue relevant to each region. [Video of the announcement of the programs.]
