WASHINGTON, D.C. — States Newsroom announces the hiring of Lara Hamdan as social media strategist, a new role that marks the news organization’s expansion into short-form video and robust social media storytelling.
Hamdan joins States Newsroom from St. Louis Public Radio, where she spearheaded the station’s successful audience engagement strategy and grew its social media presence significantly. She will work closely with States Newsroom’s journalists on its national editorial team and across its state outlets to rethink the way stories are delivered on video-centric social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok. Hamdan begans her new role Oct. 12.
States Newsroom is the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, with reporters in all 50 capitals plus Washington, D.C. While its state outlets have been active on multiple social media platforms with engaged followers for years, the incorporation of more video and new storytelling formats is expected to increase that engagement.
The organization has started a national Instagram account, tied closely to its slate of national newsletter offerings, including Daybreak, which launched in May.
States Newsroom is also conducting short-form video training for its journalists. Twenty reporters will attend a two-day training in Washington, D.C., in mid-October, led by Evident Media and focused on vertical video production, social media and building potential relationships with local content creators.
Three States Newsroom outlets — Arizona Mirror, Pennsylvania Capital-Star, Wisconsin Examiner — are also working on producing a video series in partnership with Evident Media and with support from The Pulitzer Center, focused on connecting factual information and reporting about the midterms with audiences on social platforms. The videos will be published in the lead-up to the midterms and will have both national and state-level focus.
“Our journalists are on the ground across the country, filling an alarming gap in statehouse coverage, but the way people find news is changing,” said Chris Fitzsimon, publisher and CEO of States Newsroom. “For most, it’s on their phones through social media. We want to be sure we’re reaching as many people as possible, and that means we must deliver our journalism and connect with new audiences in new ways where we’ll be seen and heard.”
Expansion into new media, along with expanding its audio reporting capacity and partnerships, is part of States Newsroom’s Strategic Initiatives for the coming three years.
Hamdan is based in St. Louis and reports to Lara Weber, communications director.
About States Newsroom:
States Newsroom is the nation’s largest nonprofit state-focused news organization. We shine a light on policy and politics in state capitals around the nation and we provide that coverage for free. In an era of rampant disinformation and news deserts, we provide nonpartisan coverage of the state issues that most affect people’s daily lives.
Leading studies cite States Newsroom as key to filling the void in coverage left by staffing cuts at legacy media outlets. According to one study, the overall percentage of reporters working for nonprofit newsrooms in the statehouse press corps has more than tripled since 2014 and now makes up the largest portion of statehouse reporters in 10 states and the second largest in 17 states.
States Newsroom runs — or partners with — news outlets in all 50 state capitals.
We fully fund newsrooms in 39 states, each with its own website. They are:
Alabama Reflector – alabamareflector.com
Alaska Beacon – alaskabeacon.com
Arizona Mirror – azmirror.com
Arkansas Advocate – arkansasadvocate.com
Colorado Newsline – coloradonewsline.com
Florida Phoenix – floridaphoenix.com
Georgia Recorder – georgiarecorder.com
Idaho Capital Sun – idahocapitalsun.com
Indiana Capital Chronicle – indianacapitalchronicle.com
Iowa Capital Dispatch – iowacapitaldispatch.com
Kansas Reflector – kansasreflector.com
Kentucky Lantern – kentuckylantern.com
Louisiana Illuminator – lailluminator.com
Maine Morning Star – mainemorningstar.com
Maryland Matters – marylandmatters.org
Michigan Advance – michiganadvance.com
Minnesota Reformer – minnesotareformer.com
Missouri Independent – missouriindependent.com
Daily Montanan – dailymontanan.com
Nebraska Examiner – nebraskaexaminer.com
Nevada Current – nevadacurrent.com
New Hampshire Bulletin – newhampshirebulletin.com
New Jersey Monitor – newjerseymonitor.com
Source New Mexico – sourcenm.com
NC Newsline – ncnewsline.com
North Dakota Monitor – northdakotamonitor.com
Ohio Capital Journal – ohiocapitaljournal.com
Oklahoma Voice – oklahomavoice.com
Oregon Capital Chronicle – oregoncapitalchronicle.com
Pennsylvania Capital-Star – penncapital-star.com
Rhode Island Current – rhodeislandcurrent.com
South Carolina Daily Gazette – scdailygazette.com
South Dakota Searchlight – southdakotasearchlight.com
Stateline – stateline.org
Tennessee Lookout – tennesseelookout.com
Utah News Dispatch – utahnewsdispatch.com
Virginia Mercury – virginiamercury.com
Washington State Standard – washingtonstatestandard.com
West Virginia Watch – westvirginiawatch.com
Wisconsin Examiner – wisconsinexaminer.com
States Newsroom also has content-sharing agreements with 11 leading nonprofit newsrooms: CalMatters (California), Connecticut Mirror, Spotlight Delaware, Honolulu Civil Beat, Capitol News Illinois, CommonWealth Beacon (Massachusetts), Mississippi Today, New York Focus, The Texas Tribune, VTDigger (Vermont), and WyoFile (Wyoming).
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here