What We Do
In this program of the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte, student journalists produce stories with help from Queens faculty. When the university is in session, we distribute one story weekly focused on Charlotte issues. Our laboratory is not the campus, but the community of Charlotte. We launched in February 2021, in the middle of the pandemic.
Our clients are Charlotte NPR affiliate WFAE, Charlotte NBC affiliate WCNC, The Charlotte Observer, Qcitymetro, La Noticia, Q Notes Carolinas, The Charlotte Ledger, and others.
We cover stories that community media don’t have resources for: Religion, Art, Non-Profits, Environment, and Sports Behind-the-Scenes.
We produced about 200 story packages in our first 42 months of operation. Initially, 90% of student stories were published. Today, it’s 100%. About 100 students have contributed to QNS since its founding. All students who now contribute to the service are published. Students have published story packages consisting of text, video, still photography and social media excerpts in 3 languages: English, Spanish and Japanese.
National Community Recognition
QNS and the Knight School were recognized by the Solutions Journalism Network in summer 2022 as one of eight innovative storytelling programs in the United States. Other programs recognized included the University of Missouri, Howard University, the University of Georgia, Michigan State University, Cal State-Long Beach, and Washington State University.
QNS is featured in a Sept 2022 piece in the College Board’s national online magazine, The Elective, on solutions journalism programs.
QNS and its faculty adviser, Bob Page, were recognized in 2023 for leadership in academic-community news collaboration by the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont.
In 2024, students Maggie Dineen of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Nicole Rojas of Coral Springs, Florida, won EQUALibrium Awards from WFAE, the NPR affiliate in Charlotte. They were recognized for outstanding contributions in advancing issues of equity and economic mobility within the community.
Ten students have completed paid summer scholarship programs with QNS.
Media Relationships
After 42 months of operation, student veterans of QNS have landed positions at WFAE, ESPN, The Charlotte Business Journal, TEGNA, PBS Frontline, and Fox News.
Editors at WFAE, The Charlotte Observer, WCNC and ESPN ask specifically for QNS veterans as job applicants.
Charlotte editors provide regular feedback on student work, commission specific assignments, and welcome QNS pitches from students.