Before last week, Mariah Stewart didn’t have much of a commute.
Stewart, the crowdfunded scribe who was catapulted to national prominence when she became The Huffington Post’s Ferguson Fellow, would work from anywhere with Internet access: her home, the local library, a café. But starting last week, Stewart became a part of the newsroom at the St. Louis American, St. Louis’ historically black newspaper.
There, she has an office and will receive assignments, instruction and guidance from editors. The new digs are a welcome change for Stewart, who says she missed the chit-chat and camaraderie that permeates newsrooms every day.
“I have a lot more help now,” she said.
Now, Stewart’s commute consists of a 35-minute drive from her residence in Florissant to St. Louis, where the American’s offices are. She works there during the day and arrives home around the same time her 6-year-old daughter gets back from school.
The idea for the placement came from Stewart’s editor, Huffington Post justice reporter Ryan Reilly. He says he remembered how much knowledge he absorbed from his colleagues working out of a newsroom early in his career and realized that Stewart was missing out on that experience because she was working from home.
When he started brainstorming solutions, Reilly recalled an existing relationship he had with St. Louis American managing editor Chris King.
“I had thought of a couple of potential partners, but really the one that stuck out was the St. Louis American because they’ve done some great coverage of the Ferguson protests,” Reilly said.
The St. Louis American and HuffPost each get something out of the arrangement, said Ryan Grim, Washington bureau chief for HuffPost. The American is getting a reporter who can help cover the community. And The Huffington Post, in turn, is getting training for a journalist who will continue to file copy to its bureau in D.C. Both outlets will share Stewart’s stories.
“It’s kind of a win-win, she gets more mentoring and they get more resources,” Grim said.
The St. Louis American, which offered its assistance to out-of-town reporters to help cover the Michael Brown story when it broke during the summer, sees Stewart’s help as a reward, King said. So far, the two outlets have not competed over Stewart’s time or stories, and they don’t intend to.
“We’re in kind of a blissful, blessed moment at the beginning where there’s no friction,” he said.
The Huffington Post, which raised more than $40,000 in partnership with Beacon Reader this summer, continues to fund Stewart’s fellowship. It will continue as planned for the rest of the year while Stewart continues working and learning out of the St. Louis American, Reilly said.