Two journalists will join Ledger-Enquirer newsroom thanks to nonprofit partnership

The Ledger-Enquirer is adding two new journalists to its staff thanks to a partnership with the Report for America Foundation and the recently established Local News and Information Fund at the Community Foundation of the Chattahoochee Valley.

The mission of the two journalists will be to tell stories centered around how Columbus and the Chattahoochee Valley are recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. Topics could range from stories about jobs, the economy, tourism, health and hospitals, as well as long-form features about people, families or organizations.

Report for America will be placing one reporter and one visual journalist into the newsroom in June. Report for America will pay for half of the salaries of both journalists, while the other half will be contributed to the Report for America fund by the Community Foundation’s Local News and Information Fund.

Report for America is a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and communities. It is an initiative of The GroundTruth Project, a nonprofit news organization.

This year, Report for America selected 225 journalists to place in various national newsrooms, choosing from more than 1,800 applicants.

The visual journalist chosen for Columbus will primarily produce strong photos, either in the form of standalone photo stories or photos to accompany other reporting. She will also produce videos.

Madeleine Cook, a Georgia native, has been hired to fill that role. Cook graduated from George Washington University with a photojournalism degree, has interned at the Arizona Republic and USA Today, and is currently a visual journalist at the Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon.

Interviews are currently being conducted for the reporter position and a decision is expected within the near future.

Lauren Gorla, senior editor of the Ledger-Enquirer, said that she is thrilled and very grateful for the opportunity to add two great journalists to the newsroom.

“They will have a very specific focus that is all about benefiting our community, helping provide readers with context surrounding the pandemic,” Gorla said. “They won’t be focused on day-to-day updates; the purpose of this job is to tell in-depth stories and spend time digging into issues, questions or problems and giving that information back to readers in a really special way.”

The contracts for both positions will begin June 1, 2020 and run through June 1, 2021, with an option to renew for another year.

The Community Foundation is a tax-exempt, nonprofit, publicly-supported philanthropic organization with the goal of building funds for long term benefit of the Chattahoochee Valley community. The foundation has over 300 separate funds and acts as a 501(c)3 umbrella to provide back office support for the charitable work of those funds.

Betsy Covington, president and CEO of the Community Foundation, said part of the foundation’s mission is to promote a “vibrant and engaged Chattahoochee Valley,” which depends on information that people can trust.

“We see this as an exciting opportunity that hopefully will help citizens in our community get a better understanding of the way our community approaches the recovery from this pandemic,” Covington said. “We’ve done important work in this community over a long period of time and for it to continue and for us to get back to some level of health, we’re going to all have to have really good common information. We see this as an opportunity to provide that for our community.”

Will Burgin, chair of the Community Foundation board, said the fund is a way for people to be proactive in supporting local journalism and be part of helpful change.

“I think it’s going to be a good opportunity and we’re hopeful and excited about what this could represent,” he said. “We have faith in the Ledger and the staff that’s there.”

In terms of story decisions, the Community Foundation will act as any other reader and may provide ideas and feedback, but all editorial decisions will be made by leadership within the newsroom.

Anyone can donate to the Community Foundation’s Local News and Information Fund to help support strong local journalism in the community. For more information, visit the Community Foundation website at www.cfcv.com.

This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 1:17 PM.