(from left) Natalie Armour, OU Daily summer managing editor, and Ana Barboza, summer editor-in-chief, celebrate the Journalist Stipend Award presentation to Willie Gillespie, summer video editor, from Rob Collins, executive director of Oklahoma Media Center, July 14 on the University of Oklahoma campus. (Photo by Kim Collins)
Oklahoma Media Center, a nonprofit created to support homegrown local news, is expanding its academic collaboration to cultivate a new generation of journalists.
As part of its strategic plan, OMC began the Higher Ed Roundtable to bridge the gap between journalism education and the real-world information needs of local communities. The mission is to ensure trained journalism graduates stay in state to provide Oklahomans the kind of reliable information they deserve. Currently, this coalition consists of quarterly virtual meetings between OMC staff and journalism educators from institutions across Oklahoma.
As the roundtable forges stronger partnerships with colleges, student publications and advisory boards, OMC is planting seeds to bolster the talent pipeline to local newsrooms. The roundtable keeps communications open with professional newsroom leaders, informing educators about industry trends so instructors can give their students essential skills for viable careers in the embattled news industry.
OMC Executive Director Rob Collins, who worked for decades as a reporter, editor and college instructor, participates in advisory boards at the University of Central Oklahoma and Northern Oklahoma College, where faculty, newsroom leaders and veteran journalists are discussing emerging trends and identifying key skill gaps to better prepare students with job-ready skills. At the vocational-technical level, OMC also works closely with the Multimedia Journalism Advisory Board at Metro Tech in Oklahoma City, where Chandler Engelbrecht teaches design tools, digital video, editing, photography and multimedia storytelling in a project-based pilot program with hopes of future expansion.
To help with the higher ed pipeline, Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma recently launched a legislative reporting class taught by award-winning political reporter Scott Carter. Credentialed students are covering issues at the state Capitol. John Schmeltzer, OU’s Engleman/Livermore Professor in Community Journalism, said the program plans to expand in the spring semester with eight reporters and one photographer for the legislative session.
During the next roundtable meeting in December, OMC will present findings from an industry survey of professional newsrooms regarding their experiences with young journalists just starting their careers. This candid, professional feedback will be shared with local colleges and universities to fine-tune their academic programs and help produce the kind of journalists required for the free press to thrive in Oklahoma.
Also, OMC will share new findings from a statewide survey on trust in news with the roundtable. After the nonpartisan nonprofit commissioned initial polling in 2022 and a 2023 academic study, OMC’s updating polling examines current attitudes in Oklahoma. This data will play an important role in understanding how to reach increasingly polarized audiences navigating social media silos and misinformation.
Another new OMC strategic initiative honors and supports individual journalists throughout the state. OMC’s quarterly Journalist Stipend Awards include a cash prize recognizing outstanding work. Last spring, OMC handed awards to students at the OU Daily at the University of Oklahoma and The O’Colly at Oklahoma State University.
“Our journalism support organization must make sure next-gen journalists have the practical, technical and ethical tools needed to sustain local careers in a volatile information environment,” said Collins, who previously taught media writing at Gaylord College and served on the OU Publications Board as the Oklahoma Press Association’s representative from 2016-2020. “OMC is committed to helping feed and nurture the talent pipeline to meet the personnel needs with evolving methods to reach overwhelmed audiences on a myriad of platforms.”
Further expanding academic partnerships, OMC also is working with marketing students from OU’s Price College of Business to help promote its Nov. 6 event Friends of the Free Press, a nonprofit co-fundraiser with the Indigenous Journalists Association. The event includes a screening of the Sundance Award-winning “Bad Press,” which follows the struggle to enshrine the right to a free press in the constitution of the Muskogee (Creek) Nation. The evening will feature a panel discussion with the film’s star, tribal member Angel Ellis of Mvskoke Media and the film’s co-director Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, the executive director of IJA, and Troy Littledeer, the fired media director of the United Keetwoowah Band. OMC is offering dozens of sponsored tickets to allow student and professional journalists to attend the fundraiser free of charge.
OMC’s longstanding partnership with IJA continues next year with the Indigenous Student Investigative Journalism Workshop in collaboration with Investigative Reporters and Editors on Feb. 12-13, 2026, at the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits. Applications are now open. OMC, IJA and IRE have previously collaborated on training sessions, convening dozens of student and professional journalists to learn from each other and share their industry expertise.
For more information, contact Collins at rob@oklahomamediacenter.com. Subscribe to OMC’s newsletter here.