Corporation for Public Broadcasting Launches New Local Journalism Initiative

For Immediate Release on March 25, 2010

Regional Collaborations to Counter Decline of Local Journalism

Digital Public Media Platform to Support Innovation

Washington, DC -- The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) today announced funding for a major journalism initiative that will increase original local reporting capacity in seven regions around the country, and a planning project to develop an open information architecture to harness the collective power of the public media network.

CPB is funding the creation of seven Local Journalism Centers (LJCs), combining CPB and participating stations' resources for a ground-breaking new approach to newsgathering and its distribution. The Centers will form teams of multimedia journalists, who will focus on issues of particular relevance to each region; their in-depth reports will be presented regionally and nationally via digital platforms, community engagement programs and radio and television broadcasts.

The LJC initiative builds on CPB's long-standing commitment to journalism and its ongoing funding of public media news and public affairs content and initiatives, including Project Argo, a pilot effort funded jointly with the Knight Foundation to enable a dozen NPR and PBS stations to expand their reporting and increase their expertise on topics of local relevance.

"The Local Journalism Centers will enhance public media's ability to meet the information needs of local communities at a time when access to high quality, original reporting is declining," Patricia Harrison, the CEO and President of CPB said. "Public media has long provided independent and in-depth coverage of local issues and public policy. The need for that coverage is even greater today, and we have a responsibility to ensure that journalism can continue to thrive and serve the needs of our democracy.

"These radio and television stations are locally owned and operated and work in partnership with other community-based organizations," Ms. Harrison explained. "Working together with stations across a region, along with emerging new digital journalism organizations, they can make a significant contribution to news gathering and distribution, which is critical to the information health of these communities."

"In a time when newspapers and other media organizations are cutting back or disappearing altogether, public media is strengthening its commitment to journalism," said PBS President and CEO Paula A. Kerger. "We're putting our innovative spirit and strong local and national infrastructure to work for the American people in new ways - filling gaps in news coverage and using new platforms to ensure everyone has access to the most trusted source for in-depth reporting, analysis and investigative journalism. PBS is proud to collaborate with CPB, NPR, our member stations and emerging digital journalism organizations across the country to transform community engagement and information."

In addition, CPB also announced funding for the Public Media Platform, a project administered by NPR, in partnership with PBS, APM, PRI and PRX. This coalition of public media leaders will develop a prototype for a flexible common platform to support public media innovation and collaboration. The ultimate goal is to collect, distribute, present and monetize digital media content efficiently, allowing producers and stations to devote their resources to reporting, content production and community engagement.

Vivian Schiller, President and CEO of NPR, said, "These two initiatives represent the twin paths that public media must travel - expanded original news reporting, and state of the art tools and technology to get that content into the hands of more people. CPB's investments in these two innovative programs ultimately serve those goals, and the interests of the American people."

The Local Journalism Centers will each focus on a particular issue relevant to communities throughout their region. The seven centers will hire new reporters, editors and additional positions that include outreach and coordination duties. The total CPB and station investment over two years is approximately $10.5 million, with an expectation that each Center will become self-sustaining by the end of the two-year funding period. The LJCs currently under development are:

Southwest

KJZZ (Phoenix, AZ), KPBS (San Diego, CA), Nevada Public Radio, KRWG (southwest New Mexico and far-west Texas), Texas Public Radio, KUAZ (Tucson, AZ), KNAU (Flagstaff, AZ). The LJC is called "Fronteras: The Changing America Desk." A bi-lingual reporting team will focus on cultural shifts that are transforming the southwest, including Latino, Native American and border issues. The partner organizations will hire seven reporters, two editors and a social media editor.

The Plains

KCUR (Kansas City, MO), Iowa Public Radio, NET Radio and Television (Nebraska), KBIA (Columbia, MO), High Plains Public Radio (Garden City, KS), Kansas Public Radio. The LJC will focus on agribusiness, including farming practices, food and fuel production, looking both at local and national issues. News and information will be fed throughout the public media network, via radio, television production and online. The partner organizations will hire three full-time and one part-time journalist, an editor and an outreach coordinator.

Upstate New York

WXXI (Rochester), WMHT (Schenectady), WNED (Buffalo), WRVO (Oswego), WSKG (Binghamton). The LJC will focus on the push to remake the regional economy in upstate New York by focusing on innovation technology to stimulate development. Partner stations will hire a total of five reporters, an editor and a managing facilitator to develop feature reports and news spots as well as an interactive web portal.

Upper Mid-West

Michigan Radio, WBEZ (Chicago), Ideastream (Cleveland). The LJC will focus on reinventing the industrial heartland and in particular the economy in the upper Midwest. Partner stations will create multi-media content on the region's changing economy and report out via radio, television, digital and community programs. The partnering organizations will hire three new reporters, a senior editor and a senior producer.

Central Florida

WUSF (Tampa, Fl), WEDU (Tampa, Fl), WGCU (Fort Meyers), WMFE (Orlando, Fl), WMNF (Tampa, Fl), WUFT (Gainesville, Fl). The LJC will focus on creating multi-media content related to healthcare issues in central Florida. The goal is to create a platform for community discussion through generating new content and events, including online. The partner organizations will hire five reporters, an executive editor, a senior multimedia manager and a community engagement specialist.

In addition to these five LJCs, CPB will fund an LJC in the South and one in the Northwest. CPB is currently accepting proposals from stations in these regions. These initial investments will expand local news capacity in these regions by an anticipated 50 new professional positions.

The LJC-generated content will also be made available to the entire public media system and will be made available to the public across multiple platforms including television and radio broadcast, online, through social media and mobile.

Today's announcement was followed by a panel discussion on public media's role and contribution to local, national and international reporting. The panel was moderated by Hari Sreenivasan (Correspondent, PBS NewsHour) and included Tom Rosenstiel (Founder and Director, PEW's Project for Excellence in Journalism), Nishat Kurwa (News Director, Youth Media International), Tom Karlo (General Manager, KPBS TV-FM), Kinsey Wilson (Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital Media NPR), and Larry Irving (President of Global Government Affairs, Hewlett-Packard Company).

The announcement and panel discussion will be archived for viewing at www.cpb.org/events/newseum/.

About CPB

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,300 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.

Media Contact

Nicole Mezlo
press@cpb.org

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