Student newsrooms at HBCUs to receive $200,000 in boost for journalism

Ten Historically Black Colleges and Universities in line for grants for technology, operations, audience engagement and reporting

Ten student newsrooms at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will receive nearly $200,000 to help improve campus newsroom technology, business operations, audience engagement and reporting. The grants, given by the Center for Journalism & Democracy at Howard University via its Newsroom Innovation Challenge, were announced on Friday.

HBCU student newsrooms brim with talent, but often lack the resources needed to give students access to the cutting-edge technology and operational support that so many of their peers at predominately white institutions have," Nikole Hannah-Jones, the center's founder, said in a statement. The money will also allow the newsrooms to pay stipends for student journalists, many of whom are unable to volunteer at their campus news organizations because they need to work jobs that pay.