Northeastern Global News, launching today, is a new media brand from Northeastern University that reports news happening at the university and provides original reporting and analysis on events around the world.
Also known as NGN, the new brand replaces News@Northeastern, the university’s award-winning news and information channel that launched more than a decade ago. NGN introduces a redesigned online platform with improved functionality and more intuitive navigation to showcase the constant stream of stories produced by the university’s team of professional journalists.
“This exciting new branding more accurately reflects what our editorial mission has been all along,” says David Nordman, NGN Executive Editor. “We have assembled a group of talented and experienced journalists to tell the Northeastern story while providing timely news and expert analysis on important topics and current events around the world.”
While many newsrooms across the country are cutting staff and eliminating coverage, nonprofit journalism is on the rise.
“NGN’s mission, under the umbrella of a global research university, is perfectly positioned to become a source of timely and relevant information on university and news coverage of world events that interest curious readers,” said Renata Nyul, vice president of communications.
NGN will continue to serve as the primary source and information for news happening in Northeastern’s global university system of 14 campuses in North America and the United Kingdom.
NGN will also feature important global news of the day, including the latest developments in global epidemiology, public health, the tech space and artificial intelligence, pocketbook economic issues, political perspectives on elections, sports and popular culture.
Unbound by paid subscribers, advertisers and paywalls, NGN is filling a void as more readers outside of the Northeastern University community discover award-winning content from the hyper-local and national-global nonprofit news source. NGN averages more than 5 million unique page views per year, half of them as a result of organic search.
“I think NGN is really a powerful and agile media brand, and I wholeheartedly agree,” says John Wihbey, associate professor of media technology and innovation in Northeastern University’s College of Arts, Media and Design.
Launched over a decade ago, News@Northeastern has grown significantly from a primarily internally focused news function to a global news organization that attracts millions of readers annually.
“What has really been missing from the conversation is whether university news and communications offices would become a kind of player in the media,” says Wihbey. “There hasn’t been a lot of discussion about that. So this is quite innovative from that perspective.”
Northeastern Global News is not part of the university’s journalism department, and all of NGN’s editors, reporters, and photographers previously worked for traditional newspapers. Some have decades of media experience in newsrooms around the world.
The news industry has suffered severe cutbacks in the last 10 to 15 years. Newsroom employment has fallen 26% since 2008, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. Most recently, Gannett, the largest newspaper chain with more than 200 newspapers, reportedly laid off 6% of its workforce in December, after laying off about 400 and eliminating hundreds of other open positions in August. The Washington Post, CNN and Buzzfeed have also announced layoffs in recent weeks.
Dan Kennedy, an associate professor of journalism at Northeastern University, says the shrinking of newspapers is a “problem that continues to accelerate.”
Kennedy says that NGN produces “a lot of good, reliable information,” and the challenge is to expand exposure to the new brand through newsletters and social media.
NGN will continue to cover all the big campus news, like the university’s expansion to Miami, the Northeastern-Mills College merger in Oakland, the kickoff of STEM Week on the Boston campus, the annual Beanpot hockey tournament, and the launch of the university’s $1.3 billion fundraising campaign.
In addition, NGN will report national and global stories of interest and importance, such as what are the chances of surviving cardiac arrest, or a researcher finds a new way to prevent the common cold, or a new discovery in quantum physics.
NGN has no shortage of experts at the university and beyond. Northeastern faculty are at the forefront of solving problems that are of global significance, including the global spread of epidemics, ethical uses of AI, international conflicts, and social justice issues, to name a few.
For media inquiriesplease contact media@northeastern.edu.
