The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has awarded a $936,000 grant to Alaska Public Media to lead the Alaska Desk, a statewide collaboration among public media stations, designed to strengthen and expand their local news services, particularly for rural communities.
“Alaska’s public media stations provide a critical lifeline for many rural and Alaska Native communities, who depend on them as their sole source of news and public affairs coverage,” said Ed Ulman, president of Alaska Public Media in Anchorage. “Roughly 80% of Alaska’s communities cannot be reached by road, which means that information access is critical to making everyday decisions in remote areas, where resources can be costly to obtain.”
The two-year grant will help fund four reporters based at public media stations throughout the state, three shared editors, as well as travel and equipment. The shared staff will increase the journalism capacity of public media television and radio stations in the state and will also support a full-time development officer, who will pursue additional funding sources to sustain local journalism.
Patricia Harrison, CPB president-CEO, said: “In just the last several years, CPB has invested more than $1.5 million to advance collaboration among Alaska public media stations, increase the numbers of editors, and raise the caliber of their fact-based reporting. This additional support of $936,000 to Alaska Public Media will further strengthen the important public media information lifeline across the state.”
For years, locally owned and operated public media stations have worked together. They have distributed a daily weekday newscast, Alaska News Nightly, featuring reporters across the state. They also share one of Alaska’s only full-time Washington, D.C., reporters, based in the U.S. Capitol and employed by Alaska Public Media.
In the coming weeks, stations throughout the state will be able to apply to become Alaska Desk partners — and must commit to hosting a reporter and contributing their station’s share of the costs. A governance committee made up of station representatives will determine the editorial vision and strategic priorities for this shared resource.
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