Radio pretty much gave up the battle to cover local news long ago, opting for more music and highly researched programming to please the PPM. Public radio stations across California are taking a different approach in attempt to get radio back in the local news game.
Five California stations are partnering with NPR on a California regional newsroom to increase coverage of statewide issues and boost reporting from and for underserved regions across the state.
Reporter/Producer Joanne Griffith was hired as the newsroom’s first managing editor.
Led by KQED in San Francisco, the public radio collaboration includes KPBS, CapRadio, KPCC/LAist and KCRW as anchor stations and NPR as the statewide newsroom’s national partner. Four of the five anchor stations already work together through the California Dream journalism collaboration, launched with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2017.
Ultimately, the collaborative aims to include participation from all public radio stations in the state, especially those in “news deserts” or areas that lack robust local news coverage as small town newspapers have declined.
“As the media industry faces increasing economic and political pressures, working together collaboratively to deliver public interest journalism is more important than ever,” said Holly Kernan, chief content officer at KQED and a key champion of this effort. “This collaborative effort will ensure California citizens have accurate, independent and important news from across the state, which can only improve our democracy.”
