UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An award-winning newscast produced by Penn State students became available to thousands more viewers across Pennsylvania as part of a media partnership with WTAJ-TV, which serves the Johnstown-Altoona-State College market.
The agreement for “Centre County Report” to stream on WTAJ+ adds another TV market for the newscast, which already streams on news channels in Philadelphia (KYW), Pittsburgh (KDKA), Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WNEP) and Baltimore (WJZ) as part of similar agreements.
The newscast, produced weekly during the academic year by journalism students in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, has aired on WPSU-TV in State College since its launch in 2005.
“We’re proud to expand our student newscast reach to WTAJ-TV viewers in central Pennsylvania and add the station as a media partner,” said Steve Kraycik, an associate teaching professor and director of student television in the Bellisario College. “It’s another way to showcase our students’ great work to Pennsylvania news viewers.”
“Centre County Report” serves a dual purpose. It provides a source of news and information to the residents of Centre County and functions as a real-life laboratory for students learning to report and deliver news.
In addition to agreements with TV stations — including three in the nation’s top 30 media markets — the newscast also has a broad multiplatform reach.
It airs live and episodes remain available on YouTube, Facebook and X each week.
“Centre County Report” has won numerous regional and national awards and has been named the best newscast in the nation seven times in the past 11 years. Earlier this year it won a prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award.
The newscast and its student journalists regularly earn honors from organizations such as the Broadcast Education Association, College Broadcasters Inc., the College Media Association, the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and the Society of Professional Journalists.