States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, has launched Utah News Dispatch to provide free, non-partisan coverage of the state issues that most affect Utahns’ daily lives.
The launch of the Dispatch marks an exciting start to the year for States Newsroom, which is now just two states away from reaching its goal of having a presence in every state in the nation. With 39 state outlets and nine content partners currently under its umbrella, States Newsroom will soon elevate its status to a fully national news network amid a staggering decline of local news outlets across the country.
The Dispatch’s newsroom will be spearheaded by McKenzie Romero, who started her career in Utah journalism when she was 15 years old writing for the Standard-Examiner’s teen section. After studying journalism and Spanish at Southern Utah University, she went on to more than a decade as a reporter and editor at Deseret News in Salt Lake City where she covered courts, crime and community, and led a team of award-winning journalists. A longtime member of the Society of Professional Journalists, she is a board member for the Utah Headliners Chapter and represents journalists in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. She is a passionate advocate for open meetings and records, ethical reporting and the future of journalism.
Additional members of the newsroom include:
“We are thrilled to keep the ball rolling in 2024 with the launch of the Dispatch,” said Chris Fitzsimon, director and publisher of States Newsroom. “Utahns deserve free and factual reporting on the decision-making within their state government. McKenzie and her team of skilled journalists are ready to provide reliable, daily coverage of the issues and policies shaping life in the Beehive State. As local news outlets across the nation dwindle, we look forward to expanding to all 50 states in the coming months.”
As part of its continued growth, States Newsroom announced last year that it was selected by The Pew Charitable Trusts to be the new home of Stateline — merging the two state policy-focused organizations to expand their incisive reporting on state government. States Newsroom also has launched content-sharing partnerships with nine independent nonprofit outlets, including CalMatters and The Texas Tribune, to feature their reporting on News from the States, its comprehensive statehouse news site.
In a 2022 national study on statehouse reporting, Pew Research Center cited States Newsroom and other nonprofit newsrooms as key to filling the void in coverage left by staffing cuts at legacy media outlets. According to Pew, 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.
About States Newsroom:
States Newsroom is the nation’s fastest-growing nonprofit news organization. We shine a light on policy and politics in state capitals around the nation and we provide that coverage for free; no pop-ups, paywalls or ads. In an era of rampant disinformation and news deserts, we provide non-partisan coverage of the state issues that most affect people’s daily lives.
We run — or partner with — news outlets in 48 state capitals.
We fully fund newsrooms in 39 states, each with its own website. They are:
Alabama Reflector – alabamareflector.com
Alaska Beacon – alaskabeacon.com
Arkansas Advocate – arkansasadvocate.com
Arizona Mirror – azmirror.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
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 nine leading nonprofit newsrooms: CalMatters (California), CommonWealth Beacon (Massachusetts), Connecticut Mirror, Honolulu Civil Beat (Hawaii), Mississippi Today, New York Focus, The Texas Tribune, VTDigger (Vermont) and WyoFile (Wyoming).