WASHINGTON: Public TV and radio stations are investing $10.5 million over two years to increase local news coverage, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced today. The CPB grant will focus on five regions where 37 PBS and NPR member stations will collaborate on local issues. As many as 50 journalists will be hired.
The initiative is intended to take up the slack being left by the contraction of the newspaper industry. It will be launched in the Southwest, the Plains states, upstate New York and central Florida. CPB is providing $7.5 million; the stations are contributing $3 million. CPB has invested as much as $90 million in new journalism initiatives in the last two years, APreports.
“The Local Journalism Centers will enhance the 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, president and CEO of CPB, said in a statement. “Public media has long provided independent and in-depth coverage of local issues and public policy. The need for 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.”
