Students in our program are either partnered directly with a news outlet — from which they’ll take assignments — or write for Community News Service itself in a wire service–style arrangement. Here you can find expectations and guidelines for our partners in particular and for any outlet that wants to republish our students’ work generally.

General republishing policies

Work by CNS students is published on our website and available for republishing by anyone, regardless of partner status. We want to get our students’ work to as many readers as possible.

All stories by default will be published first through our website, then sent to partners. Partners (or other outlets) can easily pick up a story online by clicking the “REPUBLISH” button at the top of an article. When you click the button, you’ll be taken to a page that contains two text boxes: one with an HTML version of the story, one with a plain text version. You can copy the text from either box to paste into your content management system or print page layout. When you upload stories online, we ask that you use the HTML versions if possible because they contain a small line of code called a tracking pixel, which allows CNS to see some basic web traffic analytics for our stories. This will make it much easier for us to see where our students’ work is picked up and how many people it reaches, important metrics for showing the growth of our program.

Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis — talk to the CNS editor if you’d like to forgo this new system for a specific story. If you’ve assigned a story that is propriety, or a scoop, talk to us and we can embargo the article until your publishing time — we don’t want to get in the way of a student getting a crack at something big.

• Make sure the reporter has a byline and make clear the work is from Community News Service. Most news outlets use this format: John Smith | Community News Service;

• A version of this note will appear at the top of every story. Please include it: “[AUTHOR NAME] reported this story on assignment from [OUTLET NAME]. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost”;

  • If a story was written without the involvement of a partner paper, the note will read: “[AUTHOR] reported this story as part of the Community News Service, a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost”;

• If an outlet plans to incorporate work from CNS into its own story, it should credit the CNS reporter, either with a double byline or a contributor line, whichever is most appropriate.

Expectations and guidelines for partners

Our direct partnerships generally work like this: We pair one or more students with an outlet; the outlet assigns stories and provides guidance via local expertise; and we edit and manage the students through the process. Students can find and pitch their own stories, too, but we expect most ideas to come from partners.

We expect our partners to publish the completed, edited stories or multimedia pieces interns produce. Editorial purgatory eliminates the benefits of this program. If for some reason the story cannot run, please let us know. We also expect those stories to run as submitted, except for grammatical or style changes or contextual additions that a student living outside the area might neglect. Editors at partner outlets have ultimate control of their content, but their involvement in the CNS program dictates that the student experience is the highest priority.

If the story clearly communicates the subject matter and its focus reflects the student’s reporting, large structural changes should be avoided. For example, if a student covers a meeting of local leaders and focuses the story on the most prominent or animated part of the discussion, the focus should not be shifted without consultation. If a story has holes or other needs, the partner editor should communicate with the CNS editor and intern to add the information.

Large-scale rewrites, or changes that render the copy unrecognizable as the student’s, should always be avoided. Stories might not read like those of an experienced pro, but they need to reflect the student’s best effort and ability. For intern work deemed unsatisfactory, the partner editor should communicate with the CNS editor and the intern, rather than rework the piece alone. Students need the opportunity to learn from the process and see the results of their work.

If the work of a CNS intern is to be wrapped into another article, the partner editor should communicate with the CNS editor and intern before doing so. In these cases, we would expect either a double byline or a reporting credit, depending on the extent a student’s work is used. Requests for additional reporting after submission must be made with the understanding that CNS interns are unpaid students with classes and jobs, so those requests may cause publication delays.

The partner editor should send a link of the published story to the CNS editor. If the story is available only in PDF form online, the partner editor should send the text of the story. If there is an unusual delay between submission and publication, please let us know.

In general, CNS trains interns, guides their reporting, edits their stories and manages them on a day-to-day basis. Partners provide story assignments or ideas each week, or when a story has been finished, and offer guidance for sourcing or angles as needed. We’d like interns to experience a mix of coverage: quick-turnaround stories, hard news, features, profiles. Assignments can be tailored to each student’s strengths and schedule. Stories with loose deadlines are always helpful.

On funding: There is no requirement for partners to fund the students (who all receive academic credit for their work), but partners are welcome to pay CNS interns. We encourage partners to hire graduating students or give students paid assignments on academic breaks.