WASHINGTON — States Newsroom today announces the hiring of veteran political journalist Andrew DeMillo as editor-in-chief of the Arkansas Advocate, Arkansas’ leading state government-focused nonprofit news outlet. He will take the reins from founding editor Sonny Albarado, who is retiring in December after a distinguished 50-plus year career in journalism, including three years at the Advocate. DeMillo starts Dec. 15.

“Few journalists in Arkansas know as much about state government and politics as Andrew DeMillo,” Albarado said. “I’m excited for Advocate readers, who will see firsthand how Andrew can bring to life the impact of state law and policy on their lives.”

Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization, with reporters in all 50 capitals plus Washington, D.C. States Newsroom’s headquarters are in Chapel Hill, N.C., and Washington, D.C.

DeMillo, one of the most highly regarded reporters in Arkansas, has covered politics and policy in the state for 23 years. The award-winning journalist has been a fixture at the Capitol in Little Rock for The Associated Press since 2005. Before that, he worked for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as a reporter on the city government and national politics beats, among others. 

He has been honored for his work. In 2023, he was named Diamond Journalist of the Year by the Arkansas chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2021, he won first place from the Arkansas SPJ for his coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m honored and excited to lead the Arkansas Advocate’s talented newsroom, and proud to join the States Newsroom team,” DeMillo said. “I hope to live up to the high bar already set by Sonny Albarado and the stellar work he and the Advocate team have done over the past three years. This is a vital time for news organizations to invest in covering state government and helping readers understand the important decisions being made about their lives.”

DeMillo, a graduate of the University of Georgia, is also on the board of The Red & Black, the independent student newspaper serving the university community in Athens.

About States Newsroom

States Newsroom is the nation’s largest nonprofit news organization. We shine a light on policy and politics in state capitals around the nation and we provide that coverage for free, no pop-ups, paywalls or ads. In an era of rampant disinformation and news deserts, we provide nonpartisan coverage of the state issues that most affect people’s daily lives.

Leading studies cite States Newsroom as key to filling the void in coverage left by staffing cuts at legacy media outlets. According to one study, the overall percentage of reporters working for nonprofit newsrooms in the statehouse press corps has more than tripled since 2014 and now makes up the largest portion of statehouse reporters in 10 states and the second largest in 17 states.

We run — or partner with — news outlets in all 50 state capitals.

We fully fund newsrooms in 39 states, each with its own website. They are:

Alabama Reflector – alabamareflector.com
Alaska Beacon – alaskabeacon.com
Arizona Mirror – azmirror.com
Arkansas Advocate – arkansasadvocate.com
Colorado Newsline – coloradonewsline.com
Florida Phoenix – floridaphoenix.com
Georgia Recorder – georgiarecorder.com
Idaho Capital Sun – idahocapitalsun.com
Indiana Capital Chronicle – indianacapitalchronicle.com
Iowa Capital Dispatch – iowacapitaldispatch.com
Kansas Reflector – kansasreflector.com
Kentucky Lantern – kentuckylantern.com
Louisiana Illuminator – lailluminator.com
Maine Morning Star – mainemorningstar.com
Maryland Matters – marylandmatters.org
Michigan Advance – michiganadvance.com
Minnesota Reformer – minnesotareformer.com
Missouri Independent – missouriindependent.com
Daily Montanan – dailymontanan.com
Nebraska Examiner – nebraskaexaminer.com
Nevada Current – nevadacurrent.com
New Hampshire Bulletin – newhampshirebulletin.com
New Jersey Monitor – newjerseymonitor.com
Source New Mexico – sourcenm.com
NC Newsline – ncnewsline.com
North Dakota Monitor – northdakotamonitor.com
Ohio Capital Journal – ohiocapitaljournal.com
Oklahoma Voice – oklahomavoice.com
Oregon Capital Chronicle – oregoncapitalchronicle.com
Pennsylvania Capital-Star – penncapital-star.com
Rhode Island Current – rhodeislandcurrent.com
South Carolina Daily Gazette – scdailygazette.com
South Dakota Searchlight – southdakotasearchlight.com
Stateline – stateline.org
Tennessee Lookout – tennesseelookout.com
Utah News Dispatch – utahnewsdispatch.com
Virginia Mercury – virginiamercury.com
Washington State Standard – washingtonstatestandard.com
West Virginia Watch – westvirginiawatch.com
Wisconsin Examiner – wisconsinexaminer.com

States Newsroom also has content-sharing agreements with 11 leading nonprofit newsrooms: CalMatters (California), Connecticut Mirror, Spotlight Delaware, Honolulu Civil Beat, Capitol News Illinois, CommonWealth Beacon (Massachusetts), Mississippi Today, New York Focus, The Texas Tribune, VTDigger (Vermont), and WyoFile (Wyoming).