Two of Connecticut's leading news organizations, National Public Radio's WNPR- Connecticut Public Radio and The Connecticut Mirror have recently set up a Fairfield County news bureau on the campus of Fairfield University . Besides providing increased news coverage for Fairfield County with locally based reporters, this multiplatform media arrangement which began in early September, 2012, offers Fairfield University students internship opportunities in an on-campus working newsroom environment.

Reporter Neena Satija is responsible for the initial platform beat, which will be the environment, energy, transportation, health, and business related stories about the environment. Ms. Satija recently concluded a CT Mirror fellowship established in conjunction with Connecticut Public Radio and the New Haven Independent. A graduate of Yale University, Ms. Satija has worked as a general assignment reporter at the Toledo Blade in Ohio and at the Dallas Morning News. She also worked as a health/science reporter at the Boston Globe. Ms. Satija's office is in the Dolan West building of the Fairfield University campus. Her contact information is: e-mail: nsatija@ctmirror.org ; phone: (203) 254-5831.

CT News Project CEO and CT Mirror Publisher Jim Cutie said: "As a Fairfield County resident, I am delighted at the opportunities that await our organizations.  It's important for Fairfield County residents, in fact all Connecticut residents, to have access to high quality news and information about policy decisions made in Hartford. Those decisions affect people in 169 cities and towns throughout the state. It's very exciting to be a part of this effort and to work with two esteemed partners-WNPR and Fairfield University."

Fairfield University Vice President for Marketing and Communications Rama Sudhakar said: "Having a news media presence with WNPR and The Connecticut Mirror at Fairfield University will provide exceptional educational and internship opportunities for our students to combine classroom learning with real-world, media-as-a-lab experiences. The prospect of our students working with consummate media professionals on news research, development, production, and reporting is exciting. This collaboration fits perfectly with Fairfield University's integration of learning objectives as we prepare our students for the real world environment."

John Dankosky, News Director of WNPR said: "Fairfield University has been an exceptional partner in helping us serve Fairfield County with news and information. WNPR's relationship with The Connecticut Mirror has created the strongest news collaboration in the state. Together, we hope to tell compelling stories about our environment and the issues facing Southwestern Connecticut."

The Connecticut News Project is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization whose mission is to increase the level of civic engagement among state's residents. It was created to reinvigorate coverage of Connecticut's state government, public policy and politics. Its primary goal is to ensure that the people of the state are better informed about their government and its activities. It aims to achieve this goal through original and reliable reporting presented at www.ctmirror.org , and distributed through various other platforms and technologies. CNP also strives to encourage and facilitate discussion on public policy matters, to create an archive of documents and data about state government and to help train a new generation of journalists.

Connecticut Public Broadcasting , the parent company of WNPR-Connecticut Public Radio and CT Public Television, is the state's only locally owned media organization producing TV, radio, print and Internet content for distribution to Connecticut's wide-ranging and diverse communities. CPTV and WNPR's community-supported, statewide public broadcasting networks are dedicated to serving diverse communities with a mix of educational, news, public affairs, children's and entertainment programming and services. CPTV and WNPR serve the entire state of Connecticut - reaching an estimated 550,000 television viewers and more than 240,000 radio listeners each week. Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is steadfast in its mission to provide a powerful voice for Connecticut's diverse communities through the creation of multimedia programs, initiatives and outreach programs that foster collaboration, inspire understanding, educate and effect change.

Fairfield University is a Jesuit University rooted in one of the world's oldest intellectual and spiritual traditions. More than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 36 states, 47 foreign countries, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are enrolled in the University's five schools. In the spirit of rigorous and sympathetic inquiry into all dimensions of human experience, Fairfield welcomes students from diverse backgrounds to share ideas and engage in open conversations. The University is located in the heart of a region where the future takes shape, on a stunning campus on the Connecticut coast. For information, visit www.fairfield.edu .

Image: Left to right, Jim Cutie, Chief Executive Officer of the CT News Project, and Neena Satija, WNPR and CT Mirror reporter.

Posted On: 09-06-2012 11:09 AM

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