States Newsroom, the nation’s leading network of state-based nonprofit news outlets, launched the Rhode Island Current to provide free, high-quality, non-partisan reporting on the important issues affecting the Ocean State. With the launch of the Rhode Island Current, States Newsroom now has outlets in 33 states with content sharing agreements with independent newsrooms in eight additional states.
Veteran journalist Janine Weisman will be leading the Current as editor-in-chief. Weisman spent 25 years in The Newport Daily News’ newsroom, including 13 as editor of the weekly Newport Mercury. An adjunct professor in the journalism program at Roger Williams University, Weisman earned a master’s degree in speech communication from the University of Maine and is a graduate of Rhode Island College.
Additional members of the Rhode Island Current’s newsroom include:
“We are thrilled to expand to the Ocean State with Janine and the strong team of reporters she has brought together,” said Chris Fitzsimon, director and publisher of States Newsroom. “The Rhode Island Current will produce vital journalism that helps Rhode Islanders understand what is happening on Smith Hill and how it affects their daily lives.”
The Rhode Island Current’s launch comes one week after States Newsroom announced 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 around the country.
As part of its continued growth, States Newsroom announced in 2021 its plans to expand its footprint to have newsrooms in roughly 40 states and launched News from the States, a comprehensive source for statehouse news across the country. States Newsroom extended the reach of its reporting by launching content-sharing partnerships with eight independent nonprofit outlets, including The Texas Tribune, to host their reporting on News from the States.
Last year, Pew Research Center cited States Newsroom and other nonprofit newsrooms as key to filling the void in statehouse 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.
States Newsroom, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that is funded by the generous contributions of readers and philanthropists. States Newsroom is committed to supporting fact-based, non-partisan news to the public at no cost and ad-free.
Other States Newsroom affiliates and legacy partners 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 Beacon – mainebeacon.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 Policy Watch – ncpolicywatch.com
Ohio Capital Journal – ohiocapitaljournal.com
Oregon Capital Chronicle – oregoncapitalchronicle.com
Pennsylvania Capital-Star – penncapital-star.com
South Dakota Searchlight – southdakotasearchlight.com
Tennessee Lookout – tennesseelookout.com
Virginia Mercury – virginiamercury.com
Wisconsin Examiner – wisconsinexaminer.com
In addition to its network of 33 state-based outlets, States Newsroom has content-sharing agreements with eight leading nonprofit newsrooms: CommonWealth (Massachusetts), Connecticut Mirror, Honolulu Civil Beat (Hawaii), Mountain State Spotlight (West Virginia), Mississippi Today, Texas Tribune, VTDigger (Vermont) and WyoFile (Wyoming).