Scott Finn, the former president and CEO of Vermont Public, has been hired to help the University of Vermont’s Center for Community News increase the number of college students who are reporting local news through public media stations around the country.

Finn most recently served as president and CEO of Vermont Public, which was created in 2021 through the merger of Vermont Public Radio and Vermont PBS. He had been hired as president and CEO of Vermont Public Radio in 2018.

Finn resigned from Vermont Public in December and will work as a consultant for the Center for Community News, said Meg Little Reilly, managing director of the UVM-based news service.



The center works locally and nationally to increase local news coverage by training student reporters at newspapers and radio stations. Last year, Little Reilly polled public radio stations and learned there are more than 180 university-licensed stations in the U.S., she said. Finn, who has connections in the public radio world, has been hired to create and strengthen collaborations between colleges and public media.

“In some cases they’re located on campus, but there’s no regular pipeline of students reporting for them, no formal partnership,” Little Reilly said on Thursday. “We asked the stations, and most said there was a lack of resources and that they would be very interested in working together more.”
The U.S. has been losing its local news sources for years. Last fall, researchers at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University said the loss of local papers accelerated in 2023 to an average of 2.5 per week, leaving more than 200 counties as “news deserts.” The researchers said in a report that more than half of all U.S. counties now have limited access to reliable local news and information.

“UVM’s Center for Community News is leading a national movement of student-led, community-focused journalism,” Finn said in a prepared statement. “I’m honored to join that cause."