Alaska Legislative Reporter Exchange
An effort to share knowledge and gain experience across the state
The Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism’s Legislative Reporter Exchange Program offers the opportunity for Alaska newsrooms to send a reporter to cover the Legislature in Juneau for a month, and a University of Alaska journalism student will fill in at the newsroom while the reporter is away. The ACEJ fund covers travel and housing, and a small stipend/per-diem for reporters and interns. The reporter will be mentored in Juneau by a seasoned Capitol reporter, while reporting on stories important to their home readers.
Details:
The visiting reporters in Juneau will be there to cover legislative and state government stories, particularly stories of interest to their home communities.
Limited to two exchange reporters at a time in Juneau, 30 days each, one broadcast and one print at a time, with a maximum of two print and two broadcast during the session.
Open to all news media organizations in the state other than the three largest newsrooms in Alaska (Anchorage Daily News, Alaska’s News Source, and Alaska Public Media).
Reporters who want to come to Juneau are required to have a minimum one year of experience at their Alaska news organization.
This professional development opportunity is open to reporters to participate in one time, in order to offer the most broad opportunities for learning.
Applicants will be required to submit work samples and references. A committee of the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism (ACEJ) will select the reporters to participate.
The applicants' home news organizations will need to agree to participate in the program.
The UAA intern will arrive at the home newsroom a week before the reporter heads to Juneau, to allow the hand-off of stories and contacts for the job as fill-in reporter.
Larry Persily, former ACEJ Board chair and owner/publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel will be the supervising editor/mentor for the reporters in Juneau.
The local newsrooms will manage the work of student interns; additional assistance could be provided on a case-by-case basis.
Any reporting by the visiting journalists in Juneau will be available first to their home news outfit and the editing news outfit, and then to news organizations statewide.
The participating hometown news organizations will continue to pay the salaries of their reporters while in Juneau. ACEJ will pick up travel and housing costs and pay the visiting reporter a small stipend to help cover out-of-pocket costs while in Juneau.
ACEJ will pay the interns $500 a week while in the rural newsroom, and cover travel costs. ACEJ will work with the host news organization to ensure adequate housing is available.
At the end of the exchange, the reporter and intern will each share with ACEJ a summary of their coverage and highlights of the program.
For more information, call 907-232-9169 or email info@akjournalism.org.