To break a longstanding trend in Maine’s media industry, The Maine Monitor is partnering with NOTUS to support a correspondent based in Washington, D.C., who will report on Maine’s congressional delegation and how their decisions are impacting the state.
NOTUS reporter and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow Torrie Herrington will closely follow the Maine and Vermont delegations as a reporter for the NOTUS Washington Bureau Initiative, a nationwide program that gives readers across the country critical reporting from Washington.
“It has been 15 years since a Maine news outlet had a reporter in D.C. The Maine Monitor is thrilled that through this new partnership with NOTUS we will have a journalist questioning Maine’s congressional leaders face-to-face, allowing us to bring our accountability reporting to the halls of Congress,” said Maine Monitor editor Kate Cough.
An Arkansas native, Herrington graduated from the University of Central Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and public relations. At UCA, she was editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Echo, where she reported on local political races, a professor accused of misconduct, campus events and more. She has also interned at the Log Cabin Democrat, where she reported on community events and nonprofits.
As part of the NOTUS Washington Bureau Initiative, NOTUS reporting from Congress, the White House and key federal agencies is being made available to The Monitor and a select group of 12 other publications, which were chosen because they’re highly collaborative, independent and in close touch with their communities.
Maine Monitor editors will work with the NOTUS team to determine the questions Mainers most want answered. (Share your story ideas for this new beat here.)
NOTUS is the nonpartisan newsroom of the Allbritton Journalism Institute, a D.C.-based journalism education organization that trains the next generation of political journalists.
Like all Maine Monitor work, Herrington’s reporting will be free to read without a paywall and free for our newsroom partners to republish.
The position will be jointly supported by donations to The Maine Monitor, the nonprofit Vermont newsroom VTDigger and NOTUS. The NOTUS Washington Bureau Initiative is also supported by major philanthropic contributions from The Allbritton Foundation, Arnold Ventures, Google News Initiative, the Schmidt Family Foundation, The Henry L. Kimelman Family Foundation, The Posner Foundation and the Sandpiper Fund.
