Medill Launches New Military Reporting Project

The pilot program will embed students with the 1st Infantry Division at Ft. Riley, Kan.

EVANSTON, ILL. -- The Medill School at Northwestern University will launch this summer a new Military Reporting Project in collaboration with the 1st Infantry Division at Ft. Riley, Kan., giving students a rare opportunity to report while embedded with troops.

As part of this partnership, students will be periodically embedded with 1st Infantry service members at Ft. Riley and on a European deployment.

The pilot program, which will run through August 2027, is being funded with a grant from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

“This is an incredible opportunity for a select group of Medill students to learn the basics of military reporting and storytelling up close with 1st Infantry active-duty soldiers who are in training and deployed overseas,” said Medill Dean Charles Whitaker. “We’re grateful to the leadership at the 1st Infantry Division and the McCormick Foundation for making this unique opportunity available to our students.”

This collaboration comes as Medill’s Local News Initiative recently documented the severe lack of coverage of military bases in the U.S. In the last 20 years, newspapers near military installations have disappeared at a rate four times the national average. And in the outlets that remain near bases, there has been a 40% decrease in the number of stories about military issues, according to the report authored last month by Zach Metzger, director of the State of Local News Project.

Spearheading the program for Medill will be Colin McMahon, the former editor-in-chief of the Chicago Tribune and chief content officer of Tribune Publishing. As a foreign correspondent for the Tribune, McMahon covered the war in Iraq and armed conflicts in Kosovo, Chechnya, Afghanistan, and other regions.

McMahon also served as the Tribune’s correspondent in Moscow, Mexico City, and South America, based in Buenos Aires. Most recently, McMahon has been working as a consultant and coach working with local newsrooms on strategy.

McMahon will teach and direct the students in the program. The student journalists will report, write and create multimedia stories for internal Ft. Riley publications as well as for independent news organizations. McMahon also will serve as Medill’s liaison with the leadership at Ft. Riley.

“Robert R. McCormick fought with the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division during World War I and provided some of the initial funding for Medill,” said Timothy P. Knight, McCormick Foundation CEO. “This project joins these two outstanding organizations in doing some very important work, and we are delighted Colin McMahon will be leading it.”

The First Division Museum, dedicated to the 1st Infantry Division, is located at Cantigny, Col. McCormick’s former estate in Wheaton. McCormick served as publisher, editor-in-chief, and principal owner of the Chicago Tribune over four decades before his death in 1955.

The 1st Infantry is “proud to partner with the Medill School of Journalism to strengthen the next generation of storytellers,” said Lt. Col. Guster Cunningham III, public affairs officer, 1st Infantry Division, spokesman for the division on behalf of its commanding general, Major General Mont`e L. Rone.

“This collaboration gives students an authentic look at how America’s Army communicates with discipline, transparency, and purpose,” Cunningham said. “Together, we’re building a learning environment that elevates public trust and prepares future journalists to cover national security with accuracy and depth.”