CatchLight, Sony Electronics collaborate to expand visual reporting capacity in local newsrooms

GaryPageau ,
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CatchLight, a visual-first media organization, announced strategic equipment initiative with Sony Electronics that will put powerful professional camera and video tools directly in the hands of local visual journalists. With Sony and other collaborators, CatchLight is expanding access to the tools and support local newsrooms need to strengthen their visual capacity and tell deeper, more nuanced stories.

Through the initiative, Sony will provide 24 professional Alpha camera and video kits to select CatchLight Local member newsrooms, including 16 CatchLight Local Fellows and Report for America Corps Members. Each kit includes professional equipment, including full-frame cameras, telephoto zoom lenses, digital shotgun microphones, and an external flash with wireless radio control.

“Access to high-quality camera equipment is one of the greatest barriers to entry for visual journalists who help us better understand the world around us,” said Elodie Mailliet, CEO of CatchLight. “This partnership with Sony helps close that gap by equipping visual journalists with the resources they need to document the people, issues, and events shaping their communities.”

In addition to equipment kits, Sony will provide access to Sony Pro Support memberships, technical support representatives, and online training sessions available through CatchLight’s learning library.

“Sony looks to collaborate with organizations with similar goals and CatchLight’s mission couldn’t be better aligned with our joint purpose to help empower emerging visual journalists,” said Theresa Alesso, president, Imaging Products and Solutions Americas, Sony Electronics. “By providing access to in-demand professional imaging technology, as well as industry connections and placements, we’re proud to help support an initiative that is elevating careers and enhancing storytelling while fulfilling a need in local newsrooms – for the benefit of all.”

CatchLight Local is a collaborative, proven, and scalable model that helps local newsrooms strengthen visual journalism, deepen community trust, and expand representation. The program pairs newsrooms with dedicated fellows who produce in-depth, locally grounded visual reporting, while the CatchLight Local Visual Desk provides shared editorial expertise, production support, and distribution opportunities that individual newsrooms may struggle to sustain on their own.

CatchLight is supported by philanthropic funders and partners who believe in the power of visual journalism to inform, connect, and strengthen communities including: Arnold Ventures, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Enlight Foundation, The John S and James L Knight Foundation, Kresge Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Press Forward, Report for America, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and their education partner PhotoWings.

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Gary Pageau is principal of InfoCircle LLC, continuing his marketing communications career. InfoCircle LLC is a marketing and communications consulting firm, specializing in business-to-business markets. For nearly 25 years, he was with PMA International, serving most recently as Publisher, Content Development and Strategic Initiatives. His primary responsibilities included overseeing the Association’s editorial department, marketing research unit, education and corporate relations department.