Jill Blackman

Local newsrooms often need to actively work to make sure they are covering all of the communities in their geographic area. In this Knight Lab Studio project, we will develop a prototype of a web dashboard that visualizes on a map where a newsroom has reported—by ZIP code, neighborhood, or council district. Editors and reporters could filter by beat, reporter, or time period to identify “news holes,” over-reported areas, or blind spots in coverage. The tool would help prioritize story assignments, track beat equity, and justify coverage decisions to the public or funders. This project introduces students to data pipelines, map APIs, newsroom workflows, and local accountability, while also emphasizing equity in reporting access.