Covering the Fast-Paced World of Public Media

By Dean’s Intern Skye Witley at Current

I was unfamiliar with the niche public media beat when I joined Current, but having a solid foundation in reporting from journalism classes and writing for The Eagle made the transition easier than I expected. Each week, Current’s fantastic editors push me to improve my writing and encourage me to pitch my own stories. In fact, my latest article for the publication was one I pitched to them.

In early February, I noticed a Twitter thread about the founder of a California nonprofit newsroom and thought the allegations made against him deserved a closer look. Roughly a week into my reporting on the subject, the organization’s board of directors suddenly announced they were dissolving the entire nonprofit, after an 11-year existence. At that point, the newsroom had received little public attention about the allegations outside of Twitter. To say the least, it was a baffling and unexpected development.

The next week, I published my article detailing the downfall of a small but mighty nonprofit. It quickly became my most read article, racking up over 3,500 views in the first week of its publication. The article also generated fascinating conversations between journalism professionals about diversity, equity and inclusion on Twitter and email listservs.

Covering public media as an intern for Current has undoubtedly accelerated my growth as an up-and-coming journalist and I’m excited to use the skills I’ve developed this spring at future opportunities.

All of my articles for Current are available here: https://current.org/author/skye-witley/