Midtown Media Project 2025
The Spring 2025 Midtown Media Project marked the inaugural year of a hands-on learning initiative, designed to immerse students in investigative storytelling while focusing on the vibrant Midtown St. Petersburg community. This first-year project offered students a unique opportunity to gain practical experience in investigative reporting and storytelling techniques.
The Midtown Media Project was a collaborative effort between USF’s Neighborhood News Bureau and Poynter Institute. As part of NNB’s curriculum, the project also extended beyond the classroom, with students creating a video to highlight their contributions to Poynter’s MediaWise, an initiative aimed at promoting digital media literacy.
Over the course of the project, students worked in groups to explore key issues in the Midtown community, applying their reporting skills to craft detailed outlines for investigative news stories.
Chosen coaches guided the student groups from Jan. 29 through Feb. 5. On Jan. 29, students received their story topics and attended instructional sessions on how to develop their story outlines. The project concluded with a final presentation on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at Poynter Institute, where each student group showcased their work to a panel of judges and shared the investigative stories they had developed.
The Spring 2025 Midtown Media Project set the foundation for what will be an annual event, offering future students in USF’s Department of Journalism and Digital Communication the chance to engage in meaningful investigative journalism while contributing to the local community.
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