The eight-week program, led by Influencer Journalism, will equip five newsrooms with funding, coaching, and a proven framework for creator partnerships
CatchLight Local and Influencer Journalism Launch Creator Collaboration Cohort
The eight-week program, led by Influencer Journalism, will equip five newsrooms with funding, coaching, and a proven framework for creator partnerships
We're pleased to announce the launch of the CatchLight Creator Collaboration Cohort, a first-of-its-kind program in partnership with CatchLight Local. The cohort helps newsrooms build ethical, strategic partnerships with local content creators — expanding reach, deepening community trust, and meeting audiences where they already are
The cohort, running April through May 2026, will bring together five newsrooms from across the country for an intensive eight-week program of hands-on learning, peer collaboration, and funded creator partnerships. Each participating newsroom will receive up to $3,000 to support their collaboration, along with expert coaching, structured sessions, and a replicable framework they can carry forward.
The program is led by Adriana Lacy, founder of Influencer Journalism and CEO of Field Nine Group, a consultancy that helps newsrooms build ethical creator partnerships grounded in the STEPP Framework — a methodology centered on Standards, Transparency, Engagement, Platform-Native content, and Public Service.
Lacy brings years of experience working at the intersection of journalism, audience development, and creator culture, and has trained newsrooms nationwide on how to collaborate with creators without compromising editorial integrity.
"We are excited to support this initiative and help local newsrooms experiment with new ways to grow their audiences," said Coburn Dukehart, Program Director of CatchLight Local. This program will explore how editorial integrity and the creativity of local content creators can work together in the distribution of local news across social platforms. The shared learning component will also help CatchLight member newsrooms exchange knowledge and strengthen the industry collectively.”
Selected Newsrooms
The five newsrooms selected for the inaugural cohort represent a diverse cross-section of the local news landscape, spanning community-serving outlets, statewide publications, and investigative organizations:
Enlace Latino NC — Serving North Carolina’s Latino and immigrant communities with Spanish-language reporting.
Montana Free Press — An independent, nonpartisan news organization covering the state of Montana.
The Florida Trib — A statewide nonprofit focused on government accountability and investigative journalism in Florida.
Signal Cleveland— A community-centered newsroom serving Greater Cleveland.
The Texas Tribune — A statewide nonprofit covering Texas politics, policy, and their impact on everyday Texans.
“Creators are already doing the work of connecting with communities in ways that feel personal, trusted, and relevant. What’s been missing is a bridge between that creator trust and the rigorous, fact-based reporting that newsrooms produce, said Lacy. “This cohort is about building that bridge by developing real partnerships grounded in shared values and public service. I’m excited to work with these five newsrooms and help them develop models that the rest of the field can learn from.”
About the Program
The Creator Collaboration Cohort is structured around four online sessions covering strategy, execution, and measurement. Participating newsrooms will learn how to identify and vet creator partners, build transparent collaboration agreements, produce platform-native content that upholds editorial standards, and measure impact beyond vanity metrics. Each newsroom will produce a public case study at the end of the program to share their learnings with the broader journalism field.
About CatchLight Local
The CatchLight Local Visual Desk is a collaborative, shared-services model that provides local newsrooms with the training, tools and resources they need to tell engaging, authentic stories with strong, ethical visuals. They serve local newsrooms across the country, helping to fill the gap between declining visual resources in journalism and increasing visual communication preferences among audiences.
About Influencer Journalism / Field Nine Group
Influencer Journalism, a portfolio entity of Field Nine Group, is a consultancy that helps newsrooms build ethical, strategic partnerships with content creators. Founded by Adriana Lacy, the practice is grounded in the STEPP Framework — a methodology for creator-newsroom collaboration centered on Standards, Transparency, Engagement, Platform-Native content, and Public Service. Adriana Lacy is the CEO of Field Nine Group and a lecturer at Brandeis University, and has trained newsrooms and journalism organizations across the country on audience development, creator partnerships, and AI integration in news.
Adriana Lacy is the founder and CEO of Field Nine Group, where she leads Influencer Journalism and developed the STEPP Framework for ethical newsroom-creator partnerships. Previously, she worked at The New York Times, LA Times, and Axios.
