Jackie Palochko brought firsthand experience with The Center Square when she became news director at WITF. She had worked with the news service while serving as deputy managing editor of news at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. When The Center Square approached WITF about a partnership, she already had a sense of what its reporting could offer.
The opportunity was to add relevant Pennsylvania journalism to a newsroom with a clear community mission. The Center Square provides state government, public policy and economic reporting that publishers and broadcasters can draw on to supplement their own coverage. “They cover a lot of state government and policy issues,” Palochko said. “They can complement our reporting and help us out with, you know, anything that we might not be getting to at the moment.”
Supporting a community-driven mission
WITF’s news team includes three reporters covering the state Capitol, elections and general assignments, along with a digital editor and radio hosts for Morning Edition and All Things Considered. That work gives the newsroom a strong connection to Pennsylvania’s public affairs and the communities affected by them.
“As a public media station, we’re very ...