PRINCETON — The Dow Jones News Fund welcomed 20 journalists from around the country to its Early Career Training Program in Nashville last week. The three-day opening session featured a mix of inspirational and skills-based training from award-winning journalists and thought leaders.
The 2025 class includes 10 reporters from Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, along with reporters from McClatchy, the Baltimore Banner, the Maine Trust for Local News and the Cascadia Daily News. The participants, hand-picked as emerging talent by their newsrooms, are primarily beat reporters with less than three years of experience.
The News Fund launched the program in 2023 to help position new reporters for success, after hearing editors lament their inability to develop promising young hires amid reduced staffing and slashed training budgets.
“We are excited to present the third cohort of Early Career Training fellows,” said Shirley Carswell, News Fund executive director. “Each year, we have expanded the circle of news partners participating in the program; joining us for the first time this year is the Cascadia Daily News in Washington state. It is our belief that the skills gained and relationships forged during these weeks of training will serve the fellows well for the rest of their careers. “
The opening session was hosted by The Tennessean, where Michael A. Anastasi, Gannett vice president of local news, welcomed the group at a Sunday night dinner.
The Early Career Training program, a natural extension of the News Fund’s mission to develop a well-trained and diverse newsroom workforce, aims to give young journalists a leg up. It provides a series of master classes covering topics such as the future of artificial intelligence in news coverage, new approaches to public safety reporting and keeping up with breaking news.
Rhonda Prast, managing editor of the Cascadia Daily News, said, “The Early Career Training offered by the Dow Jones News Fund has been a terrific opportunity for our reporter. She pitched the training as a way to feel more confident in reporting efforts and also to gain practical tips she can use every day. We have been impressed with the program’s speakers and mentors, in addition to the mix of skills development represented in the sessions.”
Veteran news executive Sandra Long Weaver, the program director, has lined up more than a dozen distinguished journalists and other experts to lead sessions that will give the fellows a stronger foundation and teach tricks of the trade that can be used immediately.
The News Fund is offering the program this year thanks to a grant from News Corp Philanthropy. The program, which includes a mix of in-person and remote sessions, concludes April 13-16 at the Wall Street Journal bureau in Washington, D.C.
THE 2025 FELLOWS:
Baltimore Banner:
Darreonna Davis
Abby Zimmardi
Cascadia Daily News:
Charlotte Alden
Maine Trust newsrooms:
Sophie Burchell (The Forecaster)
Ethan Horton (Central Maine)
McClatchy newsrooms:
Rebecca Noel (Charlotte Observer)
Julia Park (Tacoma News Tribune)
Shambhavi Rimal (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Martha Sanchez (Biloxi Sun Herald)
Leqi Zhong (Fresno Bee)
Gannett newsrooms:
Sarah Donovan (Seacoast, New Hampshire)
Nathan Hart (Columbus Dispatch)
Will Hoffman (Asheville Citizen-Times)
Chloe Peterson (IndyStar)
Shelby Reeves (Chillicothe Gazette)
Alexandra Rivera (Westchester New York)
Helen Rummel (Arizona Republic)
Karissa Waddick (USA Today)
Bayliss Wagner (Austin American-Statesman)
Diamond Walker (Palm Beach Post)
