The Community News Service is a student-powered UVM newsroom that provides local coverage to community news partners across Vermont. CNS students have the opportunity to report on Vermont communities, under the direction of professional editors, and to have their work published in local outlets. It’s all part of UVM’s Center for Community News, a national initiative to grow and strengthen university-led reporting across the country.
This opportunity isn’t just for students interested in reporting and writing; it’s for anyone who wants to better understand the people, places and culture of Vermont. It’s a chance to engage with public life and help contribute to the news landscape with trustworthy reporting.
Learn more about the growing movement of university-led reporting that’s happening across the country – and UVM’s leadership in the field.
Enroll in the appropriate section of CAS 3922 to join the Community News Service!
- CAS 3922 A – For students who are new to reporting and/or would like to grow their skills.
- CAS 3922 B – For students working directly with editor Justin Trombly (registration override required).
- CAS 3922 C – For students interested in radio journalism and audio storytelling and who want to produce stories for Vermont Public (learn more).
The Student Experience:
Under the direction of news professionals, CNS students cover a wide range of community-interest topics such as local government, arts and music, education, the environment, sports, police and crime, and elections and campaigns for a range of platforms and outlets. They gain hands-on reporting, writing and storytelling skills in multiple media formats. And they have an opportunity to build a portfolio of published work before graduation.
Credit Information
The Community News Service counts as elective internship credit. If you are minoring in Reporting & Documentary Storytelling, this course counts as your required internship.
The course is variable credit, so you can enroll in 1 credit for every 40 hours you work with CNS over the semester. Please reach out to your section instructor for more information.
Community Impact:
CNS students provide local reporting to community news outlets (print, digital, radio and TV) at no cost to our news partners, helping to rebuild the news landscape in Vermont to reflect our changing demographics and information needs. Some students who are interested in more state-wide stories will also have the opportunity to pursue those interests via this program. Run by experienced journalists and editors, the Community News Service matches talented student reporters with the needs of media outlets across Vermont
We also coordinate the web pages and electronic newsletters for the Hinesburg Record, Waterbury Roundabout, Winooski News.
CNS in the News
- UVM Student Tracks the Vote
- UVM student-journalists develop absentee ballot tracker-map – WCAX
- Boston Globe
- UVM Students Pursue Reporting and Storytelling Curriculum
- Media Note: Student-Run Publication Launches in Winooski
- Community News Project Kicks Off in Waterbury
- UVM Journalism Project Expands to Castleton University
- Full Disclosure: New Class Prepares Community Journalists to Report the News
Justin Trombly
Community News Service Editor
Justin is the lead editor of the Community News Service. He coordinates with our media partners, workshops stories with student reporters and helps build CNS’ effort to strengthen Vermont journalism. He’s been a reporter at VTDigger, the Tampa Bay Times, the Buffalo News and local papers in upstate New York. Email: jtrombly@uvm.edu
Scott Finn
Lecturer, Community News Service & Center for Community News
Scott is the former CEO and President of Vermont Public and West Virginia Public Radio. He has worked at public radio stations in Florida and Connecticut and as a reporter at the Charlestown Gazette. Scott manages CCN’s efforts to increase collaborations between university-licensed public radio stations and university reporting programs.
Richard Watts
Director, Center for Community News
Richard is a former journalist and political campaign manager and the founder of UVM’s Community News Service – a state-wide, multi-outlet academic-news partnership with a mission to provide content to community news outlets and give students applied learning experiences. Richard has a master’s degree in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School and a Ph.D. related to media studies from the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources.
Meg Little Reilly
Managing Director, Center for Community News
Meg has been working at the intersection of civics, journalism, and higher education for more than twenty years. Previously, she served in the U.S. White House and Department of the Treasury under President Barack Obama. She led communications at Convergence Center for Policy Resolution and has been a speechwriter to several university presidents. Meg began her career in public radio. She is a regular Forbes contributor. Email: Margaret.Little-Reilly@uvm.edu
Kelsey Tolchin-Kupferer
Lecturer in Public Media
Kelsey is a teacher and audio producer from Columbia, Missouri. She teaches audio storytelling courses at the University of Vermont and leads an internship program for college students at Vermont Public. Before coming to UVM, Kelsey led youth media programs at two NPR member stations and a documentary film festival. When she’s not working, you can find Kelsey riding her bike and listening to podcasts.
Ben Cooley
Research Data Visualization Engineer, Center for Community News
Ben Cooley is a Research Data Visualization Engineer working jointly with Vermont Complex Systems Center and the Center for Community News. Ben is a data visualization designer + developer building visual tools for scientific discovery. With a background in journalism, Ben sees visualization as fundamentally an exercise in data storytelling and has crafted numerous interactive stories to explain and expound upon complex topics. Previously, Ben has worked with scientists to visualize data at the Broad Institute, taught data visualization courses at Northeastern University, and created interactive data sites as a consultant for Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology, flood relief platforms, and various online publications. You can see his portfolio here.
Sima Bhowmik
Professional Advisory Board Member • Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Center for Community News
Sima Bhowmik is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Center for Community News (CCN) at the University of Vermont.
Her research is in media sociology and primarily concerns itself with how transition of journalism culture led to influence on journalism practice and news production. Specifically, her work examines Socio-institution and organization-level variables’ impact on organizational culture. She is particularly interested in how technology adoption and government enacted law affect journalist’s role and shape news production processes. Bhowmik’s work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals such as Media, Culture and Society, Newspaper Research Journal, International Communication Research Journal.
Still have questions?
Email cas.internships@uvm.edu — our team would be happy to assist.
