The News Lab at Penn State

What The News Lab at Penn State does

The News Lab at Penn State is an academic journalism training and certification program housed within the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State University, established in 2022. It delivers hands-on workshops and badge-style certifications to students, with its flagship offering being the Right to Know Workshop, which teaches participants how to locate public information, navigate government agencies, and submit records requests under Pennsylvania's Right to Know law. Completers can list the credential on their résumés. The program is staffed by roughly 11 personnel, including journalism faculty (notably Mila Sanina, assistant teaching professor) and an editor and training coordinator (Min Xian, '17 alum), and serves journalism students at the University Park campus with workshop participation capped at 20 students per session.

The lab sits inside a larger college that, as of Fall 2025, enrolls 2,790 communications students across advertising/public relations (666), film production (124), journalism (371), media studies (96), telecommunications (355), and pre-majors (1,046). Student outcomes for the college are strong relative to Penn State's University Park baseline — 84.7% four-year graduation rate for the entering class of 2021 versus 72.1% for the campus overall, and 92.3% first-year retention for the class of 2024. The lab leverages the college's connections to regional media employers including NBC10 Philadelphia and WPSU, giving participants practitioner-led instruction and a downstream employer pipeline.

The News Lab is not a commercial entity. It is not separately incorporated, does not have a stock ticker, has no disclosed revenue, and is not funded through external investment rounds. It operates entirely within Penn State's educational framework as a unit of the Bellisario College, with participation governed by academic policy rather than commercial pricing. Distribution is restricted to on-campus workshops at University Park, Pennsylvania, and there are no public records of partnerships, acquisitions, funding events, or M&A activity attributable to the program.

Key inferences, grounded in the inputs: the lab functions as a curriculum-and-credential extension of the journalism department rather than a standalone venture, with participant demand fully sourced from the Bellisario College's internal enrollment and no evidence of pricing, paid customers, or external commercialization.

Name

The News Lab at Penn State

Legal name

The News Lab at Penn State

Website

https://bellisario.psu.edu

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The News Lab at Penn State is a non-commercial academic journalism training program within the Bellisario College of Communications, offering badge certifications and workshops such as the Right to Know program to journalism students at University Park.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

The News Lab at Penn State is a journalism training and certification program operated by the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. It delivers hands-on workshops and badge credentials—such as the Right to Know Workshop—teaching students how to find public information, navigate government agencies, and submit records requests under Pennsylvania's Right to Know law. The program is positioned within the university's journalism department to bridge academic coursework and practical professional skills.

Product overview

The News Lab at Penn State is a journalism training program within the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications. It provides educational workshops and certification programs focused on investigative journalism skills, public records navigation, and news literacy. The program is not a commercial technology product but rather an academic training initiative that offers badge/certification credentials to students who complete its workshops, such as the Right to Know Workshop.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The News Lab Program
• Right to Know Workshop Certification

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Direct peers

• Poynter Institute: A nonprofit journalism training organization offering workshops, certifications, and professional development for journalists and journalism students. Highly comparable as a non-degree journalism-skills credentialing provider.
• Nieman Foundation for Journalism (Harvard): A university-based journalism training and fellowship program housed at Harvard that offers professional development and training to working journalists. Comparable in providing specialized journalism education within a major university.
• Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE): A member-based nonprofit providing investigative-journalism training, workshops, and resources to journalists. Directly comparable mission in teaching public-records and investigative-reporting skills.

Emerging players

• News Literacy Project: A nonpartisan educational nonprofit that teaches news-literacy and journalism skills to students and educators. Comparable as a journalism-adjacent skills training provider, though focused more on news literacy than investigative reporting.
• Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ): A journalism membership organization offering training, webinars, and professional development resources. Comparable as a journalism professional-development provider, though broader in scope.

Broad incumbents

• Missouri School of Journalism: The world's oldest journalism school, offering hands-on investigative-reporting and public-affairs training. Comparable as an established university-based journalism education program.
• Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism: A premier U.S. journalism school offering investigative-reporting training and professional development programs. Comparable as a top-tier university-based journalism training provider.
• Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications (Northwestern): A major journalism school offering degree programs and hands-on investigative-reporting training. Comparable as a top-tier U.S. journalism program with practical-skills training and certification offerings.

Others

• Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: A nonprofit legal resource organization that supports journalists, particularly on public-records and First Amendment issues. Comparable thematic overlap with The News Lab's Right to Know focus.
• WPSU Penn State: Penn State's public-media station and a partner/employer destination for Bellisario journalism graduates. Comparable as a Penn-State-ecosystem journalism organization and natural partner for hands-on training.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/psunewslab

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The News Lab at Penn State