The Chattanooga Times Free Press has been selected by "Frontline," PBS's flagship investigative documentary series, as a partner for its Local Journalism Initiative.
Under the partnership, Times Free Press health care reporter Elizabeth Fite will report on rural hospital closures. Since 2010, the state has lost 16 hospitals, 13 of which are considered rural. While Texas has the most rural hospital closures overall, Tennessee has the most per capita closures of any state.
Fite, who has worked at the newspaper for seven years, has a master's degree in health care journalism from the University of Georgia.
The "Frontline" Local Journalism Initiative provides editorial and financial support for newsrooms, which includes paying journalists' salaries and sharing expertise on investigative techniques, video storytelling and connecting journalism with diverse audiences.
The initiative is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with the goal of promoting sustainable, public interest journalism.
Fite will be working full time on this project from now until the end of the year. The newspaper is recruiting another reporter to cover her health care beat while she works on the hospitals project.
Other newsrooms selected for the initiative include the Texas Tribune, which will report on immigration and politics along the U.S.-Mexico border; the Portland Press Herald, which will undertake an accountability investigation into the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, in partnership with Maine Public (PBS); and The Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina, which will report on rural voters in the state.
"Since this initiative began, it's been an honor to support and amplify our partners' enterprise reporting and to shine a light on the immense value of local journalism," said Raney Aronson-Rath, executive producer and editor-in-chief of "Frontline."
She said "Frontline" looks forward to bolstering the powerful storytelling from local news partners.
"Frontline" has served as a news and current affairs series since 1983 and has won every major journalism and broadcasting award, including 104 Emmy Awards and 31 Peabody Awards.