The Institute for Local News (ILN), a program of the State University of New York, hosted its 2nd annual statewide gathering April 9-10 at SUNY Albany.
The event convened SUNY professors who power the ILN mission to grow student experiential learning through local reporting in communities around their campus. SUNY students wrote nearly 1,000 local stories in 2025 that most likely would have gone unreported.
Those stories reached NY citizens most often through partnerships with local news companies experiencing an immense shortage of reporting capacity.
Chancellor John King welcomed the 50 guests with a video overview of the program and its ambitions.
For event photos, click this link here.
Three University of Albany students produced sizzle videos of the event:
The annual gathering featured the following sessions:
• The state of ILN on our campuses. Professors e will do a campus-by-campus roundtable of our successes and struggles. Group participation in the talks. This session is for internal stakeholders. Every school capped at 5 minutes of highs and lows. Moderate: Todd Franko
• The Schenectady Story — a newspaper and a foundation team up for a Community News Fund. The fund has surpassed $1.1M in one year and has hired a second reporter.
The partnership of local news and philanthropy is a model for other small cities and media leaders. Miles Reed, The Daily Gazette, and Robert Carreau, Community Foundation of Schenectady spoke.
• WAMC Live — “The Media Project” tapes LIVE.
David Guistina of Northeast Public Radio hosts a 30-minute national public affairs radio program called “The Media Project.” Panelists will be former Times Union Editor and Current Substack -Upstate American – columnist Rex Smith, Judy Patrick, former Editor of The Daily Gazette, former Saratogian Editor and current UAlbany Journalism Professor Barbara Lombardo, and Bloomberg Government Albany Bureau Chief Raga Justin.
• The State of NY Local News
Diane Kennedy, New York News Publishers Association, and Bryce Jacobson, New York Press Association offered an overview of the state of New York’s local news.
