by Leslie Layton
posted June 27
ChicoSol will welcome a new, Chico-based full-time reporter in September, Yucheng Tang, after being selected to participate in the California Local News Fellowship program.
Tang is one of 39 early-career journalists in this news fellows cohort who will work for two years at an outlet that has a focus on local and underserved communities. The program is in its second year, placing reporters in selected outlets from Shasta to Orange County.
Tang begins work at ChicoSol Sept. 9 after moving to California from Manhattan, NY, where he recently completed an MFA at New York University (NYU) in narrative nonfiction writing. He previously earned a Master’s in management sciences in Beijing, China, where he studied global affairs.
Tang said he’s looking forward to his move to Chico where he plans to “write more social justice stories that transcend cultural and ethnic boundaries and positively impact the local communities I report on.”
Tang wrote a story ChicoSol editors found deeply moving as a student in a graduate narrative writing seminar at NYU. The story, “To Live, Under the Screaming Bridge,” showed how immigrants living near Manhattan Bridge were struggling with noise pollution that in some cases damaged their hearing.
Tang has completed internships with the offices of the Associated Press in Bangkok and the New York Times in Beijing, and has been published in prestigious Chinese magazines. He is fluent in Mandarin and English and speaks some Cantonese and Shanghainese, and has indicated a strong interest in covering both immigrant and non-immigrant communities.
The California Local News Fellowship program is a state-funded initiative to strengthen local journalism.
“With a national crisis in local journalism upon us, every single one of these fellows and newsrooms is a sign of hope,” said Christa Scharfenberg, director of the program.
The program is based at UC Berkeley’s journalism school. Its website quotes journalism Dean Geeta Anand, who says the founders “conceived of the innovative program as an antidote to newsroom layoffs and the shuttering of local newspapers nationwide.”
Leslie Layton is managing editor of ChicoSol.
So impressive that ChicoSol newsroom qualified to benefit from such a prestigious fellowship. “…every single one of these fellows and newsrooms is a sign of hope,”
indeed.
This is terrific news! Yucheng Tang has impressive education and experience. Congrats to ChicoSol.
Wonderful news! Between Yucheng Tang and Natalie Hanson, we have two young journalists providing us information about local issues. I urge everyone who can afford it to donate to ChicoSol. Monthly donations can be set up, as well. ChicoSol now has great potential to fill some of the information gaps caused by the demise of the Chico News & Review.