It is a different part of the state. Beyond concerted listening, another tool was seeking philanthropic support. Georges Media has pursued philanthropic partners for newsroom coverage since participating in media training in focused on just that. It currently has 22 positions funded by grants, Terzotis says. In August, Georges was one of six outlets to receive an inaugural award from the Knight Growth Challenge Fund , which seeks to expand access to local journalism.
The two-year Knight funding is helping to support the Shreveport newsroom. The Zoom conversation below, with publisher Judi Terzotis and editor Rene Sanchez, has been edited for brevity and clarity. How is the growth going? I want to protect local journalism in the state of Louisiana. We want to make sure that we're doing right by the citizens of Louisiana. And I think that sets us apart. Now, the owner wants a return on his investment. But he has a long-term approach. He focuses on the audience and opportunity.
That's how he thinksβwhat's this going to look like in three years, five years, eight years? What can you spin off of that? So we say that we are a growth company. We have this exceptional owner who is pushing us to do more and do it in a big way. Since I came back to Louisiana a little over two years ago, across our four newsrooms we're plus 26 jobs. Shreveport is 10 of that. We have a four-person education team funded by philanthropic support. We fortified reporting in the two biggest suburban areas of greater New Orleans.
I would add we've gone all-in on philanthropy. We have 22 grant-funded reporters. And thinking about the business side, this company is one where if we can create a more efficient way of doing something in production and save money, instead of it going to the bottom line we have fortified the newsroom.
We have three seven-day newspapers, and I mean robust, four-section newspapers. The page count is higher than in most markets, even those much larger than us. Obviously digital dominates the day. And all of these things are in step with advertising.
