Point Park University. (Jim Harris/PBT)

By Riley Dunn, Pittsburgh Business Times

Heinz Endowments has gifted $550,000 to the Center of Media Innovation at Point Park University for the Pittsburgh Media Partnership’s teaching newsroom. Since January 2024, the CMI has raised $1.9 million in support of local news across 10 counties in southwestern Pennsylvania. 

As listed on its website, every grant gifted by Heinz Endowments supports its mission of bringing about transformative change. 

“We are both grateful for and energized by the incredible support we have received in the region for this important work,” Andrew Conte, assistant vice president and managing director of the CMI, said in a statement. “The Heinz Endowment’s most recent gift will help us expand our efforts to support media outlets and train the next generation of journalists.”

Point Park’s teaching newsroom, also known as the Next Generation Newsroom, places its news reporters and interns on undercover beats focusing on government accountability and enterprise reporting. 

It also establishes career pathways for student journalists and recent graduates from a variety of backgrounds and hosts civic engagement events such as Newsapalooza. 

“The regional media landscape has changed dramatically since we started in 2016, with many local media outlets shrinking or in some cases disappearing, and others just starting,” Conte said. “The surviving media ecosystem, made up of large legacy news outlets and smaller regional or niche publications, serves the people of southwestern Pennsylvania. We are working to sustain and regrow these networks.”

The Pittsburgh Media partnership is a collaboration of 33 news outlets serving southwestern Pennsylvania. The Partnership includes the teaching newsroom, Downtown Media Hub, and a shared space at 223 Fourth Avenue. 

Press Forward Southwestern Pennsylvania is a national movement designed to support local news initiatives and is supported by five local foundations: The Benter Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, Henry L. Hillman Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, and Posner Foundation of Pittsburgh.

Finally, the CMI’s Production Hub provides fee-for-service video and audio support to both internal and external clients. 

“The CMI’s reach goes beyond our campus community. Our 33 news partners have a combined reach of about 10 million people, and it doesn’t even stop there,” Kimberly Palmiero, assistant director of the CMI, said in a statement.

While Pittsburgh Media Partnership members are offered stories first, work from the teaching newsroom has been republished beyond Pittsburgh in news outlets throughout Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, and other national industry publications. 

The newsroom’s reporting focuses beyond content found in news releases and conferences and focuses instead on high-impact issues not covered by other media outlets. It also emphasizes information that can empower residents to better understand their own communities.  

“Our work and the work of our strategic partners has been supported generously by the university, the campus community and our funders,” Conte said. “Through that continued support, we will better meet the challenges ahead to ensure robust local media, fair and accurate reporting, and an exceptional training ground for the next generation of journalists.”

Riley Dunn is a student at the University of Iowa and one of 10 Pittsburgh Media Partnership summer interns.