Former Arkansas Democrat-Gazette projects editor Sonny Albarado will lead an Arkansas-based outlet of States Newsroom, a nonprofit funding state government and policy-driven newsrooms across the United States as editor-in-chief in Little Rock.
"I don't actually start work until June 1, so it will be basically hitting the ground and getting things set up to start producing news by the end of the summer," Albarado said.
Albarado aims to find office space near the state Capitol and launch the newsroom by September at the latest.
He worked at the Democrat-Gazette for just over 12 years, running investigative journalism projects before retiring at the beginning of 2020.
States Newsroom is a national nonprofit funded by donors and launched in late 2019, with 26 newsrooms across the U.S. According to its website, each newsroom is led by a veteran local journalist and will provide non-partisan news coverage.
Some donors to the nonprofit include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -- the largest trade union of public employees in the U.S. -- community foundations of some cities and states, the Google News Initiative Journalism Emergency Relief Fund and other charitable funds and foundations.
Albarado will have funding via philanthropic grants for a staff of four: his position and three reporters, States Newsroom deputy director Andrea Verykoukis said.
"That's how we start in every state, and any money raised for the Arkansas newsroom -- we've already received a donation for it! -- will supplement that core funding," Verykoukis said.
"Based on Sonny's long career, we know he will continue our strong brand of award-winning nonprofit journalism, and we're excited to see what he and his team do for the benefit of Arkansans across the state."
Albarado said after his brother-in-law and another close friend died and he turned 71 years old, he felt ready to take time off after retiring from the Democrat-Gazette to pursue projects that interested him and spend time with his grandchildren.
During the covid-19 pandemic and through the early part of this year, Albarado helped the University of Southern California Center for Health Journalism recruit applicants for fellowships for reporters for projects related to health and health disparities, as well as serving as a mentor for one of their national fellowships.
"So that's kept me pretty busy, and I'm also a volunteer journalism contest judge for a number of contests, so I spend a lot of time in the early part of each year by helping judge various contests, local, regional and national," Albarado said.
Albarado unexpectedly decided to return to journalism this year after a professor friend working at the University of North Texas who is from Little Rock asked him to recommend people who might be interested in the job and his wife suggested he might enjoy the work.
"The attraction for me is I've always wanted to run my own newsroom, this is an opportunity to do so, it's also a challenge to start one from scratch," Albarado said.
"I think there's a need for more depth. I think there's a need for more focus on how policy affects people and how people affect policy."
"I also think there's a need for more diverse perspectives in how that policy is covered," he continued. "Too often I think, policy and government coverage tends to be written for people who follow politics and government and I think there's a need for journalists to speak plainly to the public who may be less focused on government and policy as part of their daily lives."