States Newsroom launches Alabama Reflector, names editor three reporters

The following excerpt was sent out from Editor & Publisher:

States Newsroom, the nation’s leading network of state-based nonprofit news outlets, launched the Alabama Reflector to provide free, high-quality, non-partisan reporting on the crucial issues affecting the Yellowhammer State. With the launch of the Alabama Reflector, States Newsroom now has outlets in 32 states.

Award-winning reporter Brian Lyman will lead the Reflector’s newsroom as Editor. Lyman has been covering Alabama’s state government since 2006. He was previously at the Montgomery Advertiser, the Press-Register and The Anniston Star. His reporting has focused on a wide range of issues, from the death penalty to climate change to Alabama history.

Additional members of the Alabama Reflector’s newsroom include:

Ralph Chapoco, Senior Reporter: Prior to joining the Reflector, Chapoco was a political watchdog reporter for Florida Today, focused on covering local politicians and the impact their policies have on the community. He has been a journalist for over eight years, beginning in 2014 as an education reporter for a year and half for the Rio Grande Sun in New Mexico and the North Platte Telegraph in North Platte, Nebraska. He also went on to spend more than three years at the Washington County Daily News as the local political journalist. He obtained a master’s degree from the University of Missouri, focusing on data journalism and business reporting.

Alander Rocha, Reporter: Rocha was previously at the Red & Black, Georgia University’s independent student newspaper. During his time, he also hosted The Athens Frontline, a podcast focused on health issues affecting Northeast Georgia. He has also reported for Kaiser Health News, where he covered community health workers’ successful efforts to vaccinate refugees in an Atlanta suburb. Rocha is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). Prior to becoming a journalist, Rocha served in the Peace Corps in Ecuador where he worked with English teachers in Shell, a small Amazonian town on the foothills of the Andes. He has a master’s degree in health and medical journalism from the University of Georgia and a bachelor’s from Tulane University.

Jemma Stephenson, Reporter: Before joining the Alabama Reflector, Stephenson was a children and education reporter for The Montgomery Advertiser. In 2022, she was selected to be a reporting fellow for the Education Writers Association. She is a graduate of Smith College and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

The launch of the Alabama Reflector comes after Pew Research Center cited States Newsroom and other nonprofit newsrooms as key to filling the void in statehouse coverage left by staffing cuts at legacy media outlets.