Wisconsin Public Radio has added two new reporting fellows as part of its commitment to supporting early-career journalists. Nick Rommel and Anna Marie Yanny will join the WPR news team for the next year, contributing to the group’s news coverage.
Anna Marie Yanny, the Lee Ester News Fellow, will report from WPR’s Madison newsroom. Yanny, who holds a master’s degree in science communication from the University of California Santa Cruz, transitioned from neuroscience research to journalism. She has reported for KQED in San Francisco, the Monterey Herald, and Stanford Medicine magazine.
Yanny discovered her passion for storytelling while working in neuroscience labs, noting, “I realized my favorite part of the lab work was describing and explaining the science for a more general audience.”
Nick Rommel, a University of Chicago graduate, is WPR’s Second Century Fellow based in Milwaukee. Originally from Lexington, MA, Rommel previously interned with Prairie Public Broadcasting in Fargo, ND, covering economics, politics, and healthcare. He also wrote for the Chicago Maroon, the University of Chicago’s student newspaper, and hosted a show on WHPK 88.5.
Rommel aims to cover stories that reflect the diversity and culture of Milwaukee and southern Wisconsin, saying, “Many early reporting jobs expect you to be fully formed as a journalist before you start, but this fellowship is a chance to really contribute while gaining more skill.”
WPR Interim News Director Kyla Calvert Mason emphasized the importance of the fellowships in fostering new talent in journalism. “It’s essential that we work with early-career journalists and train them in the work reporters do – asking critical questions, using public records to check facts, and developing the community connections that can find impacts and angles you wouldn’t otherwise see. Nick and Anna Marie have each already shown they have the insights and instincts to do terrific work for WPR during their fellowships and throughout their careers.”
