Our purpose

The Community News Lab pairs student reporters with media partners to bring objective reporting to news desert communities in Rhode Island. Staffed with students from the Department of Public Relations and Journalism, the News Lab covers five towns that lack full-time news coverage: Richmond, Hopkinton, West Greenwich, Exeter and Charlestown. In addition, students report on four areas of importance to southern Rhode Islanders, including the environment, regional education, the fishing industry and agriculture. The News Lab supplies stories to newspapers in the R.I. Media Group, including The Westerly Sun, The Kent County Daily Times, The Independent, The Narragansett Times, and The Standard-Pendulum, as well as Ocean State Media, home of the Public’s Radio, the local NPR affiliate. Other partners, including EcoRI and The Providence Eye, will work with the news lab.

Who we are

The URI Department of Public Relations and Journalism, chaired by Daniel S. Hunt, is dedicated to providing students with professional experiences. The News Lab is one of the experiential learning spaces within the Harrington School of Communication & Media. Students in the department get real-world journalism experience in classes like Public Affairs Reporting and Writing, and Electronic News Gathering; internships in print, digital and broadcast journalism; and the News Lab. The department faculty includes award-winning photographers and documentary filmmakers, a scholar in computer-assisted reporting, and a longtime news reporter and editor. The News Lab editor is journalism instructor Betty J. Cotter.

News Lab reporters

Topics: Ellie Sennhenn, reporting on the environment; Emily Morgan, on regional education; Caroline McCullough, on agriculture; and Johnny Ochsenfeld, fishing and the ports.

Towns: Dustin Thodde, Exeter; Mel Eusebio, Charlestown; Megan Wallitsch, Richmond; Katelyn Drenga, Hopkinton; and Emily Morgan, West Greenwich.

Editing: Maia Hembruff