Illinois Newsroom – the statewide, seven-station journalism collaborative, spearheaded by Illinois Public Media and funded through a $715,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting as well as support from the public media partner newsrooms – launches with the appointment of a new leader.
Scott Cameron, a former senior editor of NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” and the current director of news and public affairs at Illinois Public Media, has accepted the executive editor position to lead the regional news collaborative.
“This is a strong group of partners that’s come together with an ambitious goal: transform the way public media journalism informs and engages our communities. I’m excited to help build the team and infrastructure that will serve Illinois audiences with the best news and information available on any platform,” Cameron said.
Cameron will lead a team of seven journalists based throughout Illinois, and will be responsible for executing the overall editorial strategy of this news collaboration. Illinois Newsroom was established to expand the partner stations’ ability to provide comprehensive reports, series, investigations and video programs across all platforms.
Under Cameron’s leadership, Illinois Newsroom reporters and editors will deliver in-depth coverage around three key topics – education, health and environment; state politics; and policy – to regional and national audiences.
Earlier this year, Illinois Public Media was awarded a $200,000 grant from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation through the Democracy Program to support Illinois Newsroom, with the objective of strengthening the digital-first journalism model and regional engagement.
Illinois Newsroom collaborating public media stations are Illinois Public Media (WILL-Urbana); WTVP-TV (Peoria); NPR | Illinois Public Radio (WUIS-Springfield and Pittsfield); WSIU (Carbondale, Mount Vernon and Olney); Tri-States Public Radio (Macomb and Galesburg, Ill., Keokuk and Burlington, Iowa); WVIK Quad Cities (radio, Rock Island); and WEIU-TV (Charleston). They will work with the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting (Champaign-Urbana) and with Brant Houston, the Knight Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting at the College of Media at Illinois, opening up opportunities to students and faculty across the state. The collaboration will produce journalism for partner stations and work with national programs, including “PBS NewsHour” and NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”
