CatchLight expands partnership network to help local newsrooms produce, distribute and sustain visual journalism

Strong visual journalism helps people understand what is happening around them, see the impact of public decisions, and connect more deeply with the communities they live in. In a crowded news environment, it’s also one of the main ways people take in and make sense of information. 

But producing that work takes more than a camera. It requires trained journalists, reliable equipment, robust archiving, editing and publishing systems, and the ability to reach audiences wherever they consume news. Too often, local newsrooms are trying to meet those demands with shrinking teams, tighter budgets, and limited access to tools and expertise. 

That’s where CatchLight comes in. Through CatchLight Local, we are expanding our network of shared services, collaborations, and partnerships designed to help close that gap. 

Together, these efforts help strengthen local visual journalism across the country. 

Giving visual journalists the equipment they need

Access to high-quality camera equipment is one of the greatest barriers to entry for visual journalists. That’s why CatchLight recently announced a new strategic equipment initiative with Sony Electronics (Sony) that puts powerful professional camera and video tools directly in the hands of local visual journalists. 

Through the initiative, Sony is providing 24 professional Alpha camera and video kits to CatchLight Local member newsrooms, including 13 CatchLight Local Fellows and Report for America Corps Members. Each kit includes professional equipment, including full-frame cameras, telephoto zoom lenses, digital shotgun microphones, and external flash with wireless radio control. 

Expanding the reach and value of local visual journalism 

Local newsrooms often lack the distribution channels needed to bring their images to wider audiences, limiting revenue. Through a new distribution partnership with Getty Images, CatchLight Local member newsrooms are able to license their photography through Getty Images’ global platform.

The partnership creates a potential source of revenue for participating newsrooms while expanding the reach of locally produced visual reporting. Photography from Wisconsin Watch, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, Stocktonia, Enlace Latino NC, and Mirror Indy is already available through the Getty Images editorial site.

Strengthening video reporting through training and community

Audiences increasingly consume news through videos but many local newsrooms lack the training, resources, and peer support needed to produce it consistently and effectively. CatchLight Local is increasing its support for video journalism through a partnership with The Video Consortium, a global network of video journalists and filmmakers. 

Participating newsrooms have access to training, grant opportunities, industry discounts and a community of peers working across documentary and video journalism. The partnership helps local journalists develop new skills, strengthen newsroom video strategies, and learn from practitioners confronting similar production and distribution challenges.

Testing new ways to reach local audiences

Content creators offer a new way to reach audiences with local visual journalism. CatchLight recently launched the CatchLight Creator Cohort, led by Adriana Lacy, founder of Influencer Journalism. The initiative trained five newsrooms on how to work with creators to test new approaches to audience engagement and distribution.

Enlace Latino NC, The Florida Trib, Montana Free Press, Signal Cleveland and The Texas Tribune each received grants of up to $3,000 to develop creator-led pilots. CatchLight will gather the lessons from those experiments and share them across its newsroom network.

Improving how visual stories appear online

CatchLight is also working with Automattic and Newspack to improve the publishing infrastructure used by many local news organizations.

The collaboration will support the development of visual story templates for Newspack, the publishing platform used by many CatchLight Local Visual Desk members. The templates will address common challenges involving image presentation, captions and page layout, helping newsrooms showcase visual reporting more effectively and create stronger experiences for readers.

Making visual archives easier to manage and use

Better asset management can help newsrooms preserve their visual archives, find images more quickly and create new opportunities to republish or license their work. CatchLight is continuing its partnership with Mediagraph, which provides digital asset management services to CatchLight Local Visual Desk newsrooms.

Now in its second year, the partnership helps newsrooms catalog, search, publish and distribute their visual work. Mediagraph is also refining newsroom workflows by simplifying rights management, improving search capabilities and integrating with tools including WordPress, Lightroom and Canva.

The Result: A Stronger Ecosystem for Visual Journalism 

Taken together, these initiatives demonstrate a proven, repeatable model for strengthening local visual journalism. Instead of asking every newsroom to secure its own equipment, develop its own technology, and build its own training programs, CatchLight Local creates shared resources that newsrooms across the country can access and connects newsrooms to visual editors who help put those tools and resources to work. Visual editors integrate new tools and services into daily workflows, strengthen assignments, uphold quality and ethical standards, manage rights and licensing, and help newsrooms get more value from every image they produce.

The results are especially notable at a time when many news organizations are struggling to hold onto audiences. Since most participating newsrooms joined CatchLight Local in July 2025, the network has recorded substantial average growth across key audience and engagement metrics, helping the sustainability of those newsrooms: