LYNNWOOD — The Lynnwood Times is one of six Washington newsrooms selected for intensive fundraising and community-engagement training under a statewide journalism initiative led by Washington State University and Report for America.
The independently owned Snohomish County newspaper will not receive a reporter in the first wave of January 2027 placements. Instead, it will get help building donor relationships and other revenue, putting it in line for a possible reporting position later in 2027 as the program expands toward every county in the state.
Washington State University’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication and Report for America announced the first host newsrooms on August 12. Beginning in January 2027, six outlets will add reporters for two- to three-year assignments. By 2029, organizers say they want reliable civic reporting available in all 39 Washington counties and stronger local news businesses that can last beyond the grants.
WSU launched the Murrow News Fellowship in 2024 with state money and placed 16 journalists in Washington newsrooms. The WSU fellowship, financed by $2.4 million in the 2023-2025 state budget, was championed by Sen. Karen Keiser (D-Des Moines) and Sen. Marko Liias (D-Edmonds).
However, in the 2025 legislative session, Democratic budget writers, led by House Appropriations Chair Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, reduced the program’s second request for new funding by half — roughly $1.5 million — without any public explanation at the time. A Republican budget draft would have kept the funding; however, that version did not pass the legislature.
After lawmakers later cut that funding, the university teamed up with Report for America, a national nonprofit that places early-career reporters in under-covered communities and coaches newsrooms on sustainability, to launch a five-year effort to raise $10 million through a mix of public ($5 million) and private donations ($5 million).
Microsoft, so far, is the only private donor publicly named with a pledged $500,000 over two years, with another $300,000 from undisclosed private donors, Ben Shors, WSU journalism chair, told the Seattle Times.
Sen. Liias in the 2026 legislative session with Republican colleague Sen. Matt Boehnke, co-led Senate Bill 5400, “Supporting local news journalism.” SB-5400 would have sent grants to newsrooms statewide through the Department of Commerce. However, this effort did not make it out of Senate Ways & Means committee led by Sen. June Robinson (D-Everett) after a public hearing and calls from media organizations for its support.
Sen. Liias’ SB-5400 was the main vehicle that might have replaced the $5 million public share for the WSU-Report for America news initiative. Since the bill did not make it out of committee for a vote, the initiative is now left with leaning harder on private donors, host-newsroom cost-sharing efforts, and fundraiser training for news outlets.
The six newsrooms selected by WSU to receive reporters in January 2027 and financial sustainability support are:
- Inlander: Spokane County, government policy and criminal/social justice issues.
- Quincy Valley Post Register: Grant County, local governments, agencies and economics.
- Salish Current: San Juan County, local government, housing and the environment.
- Statesman-Examiner of Colville: Stevens County, town and county government and superior court.
- The Daily News of Longview: Cowlitz County, federal policy impacting the area.
- Wenatchee World/NCWLife: Chelan County, local governments and agencies.
The six newsrooms Report for Washington is expanding to receive sustainability help for future reporter placements are:
- The Peninsula Daily News of Port Angeles, Clallam County
- South Seattle Emerald, King County
- Lynnwood Times, Snohomish County
- The Waitsburg Times, Walla Walla County
- Northwest Public Broadcasting, regional, covering 80 percent of the state
- KNWN/Seattle – Northwest Newsradio, King County
“Placing reporters in six newsrooms is an investment in local news across Washington state,” said Ben Shors, director of the Murrow Fellowship Program. “Supporting six more newsrooms with intensive training in fundraising is an investment in their future and will put them in a stronger financial position for years to come.”
Kim Kleman, executive director of Report for America, called the partnership a potential national model.
“When every county has access to more and deeper local reporting, communities are better informed, residents are more engaged and democracy thrives,” said Kleman.
The Lynnwood Times is a small, independently Black-owned news outlet providing local, regional, and national news to South Snohomish County. The paper is supported through advertising, private donations and hosting community events. In April, Lynnwood Mayor George Hurst issued a Local News Day proclamation recognizing the Lynnwood Times among several South County news organizations. The paper has also won multiple awards from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.
After a June briefing on the reworked cost-sharing of the fellowship, Lynnwood Times Publisher Mario Lotmore told The Seattle Times that placing a fellow at his paper could require a salary of about $62,000, more than a local reporter’s annual pay of $56,000 in the county. Under the Report for America model, host newsrooms generally pay a rising share of a fellow’s salary: about half in the first year, two-thirds in the second year and 80% if a third year is added. The structure is intended on helping news outlets raise money to cover those costs, and Report for America can act as a fiscal sponsor so eligible for-profit newsrooms, like the Lynnwood Times, can accept tax-deductible donations.
The Lynnwood Times has long drawn a line against state-sponsored journalism wary that public money for private media can blur into state influence if elected officials (and their appointees controlling the pursue) favor some outlets over others. In 2024 it reported skeptically on the original Murrow fellowship structure of routing the money through WSU did not, by itself, settle questions about journalistic independence.
So now the model will be tested up close on the public’s behalf — is the skepticism of state-backed journalism justified, or will a mix of remaining public money, private donations and newsroom fundraising add coverage without putting the government in the newsroom.
To help with supporting the WSU Fellowship program, contact Ben Shors at 509-335-1547, bshors@wsu.edu.
Author: Mario Lotmore
