Boise State Public Radio Launches New Regional Journalism Collaborative

By Kate Concannon

Published March 19, 2018 at 11:47 AM MDT

The new regional journalism collaborative covers issues in the mountain west across five states.

Boise State Public Radio joins five other public radio stations to launch a regional news consortium.

The Mountain West News Bureau, a partnership of six public radio stations across five states, has received a grant of $475,000 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) to launch a long-term news initiative to better serve the people of the region.

The grant provides seed funding for Boise State Public Radio to add journalists and share news content across the region. A Managing Editor housed at Boise State Public Radio will lead a team of six reporters across five states covering vital regional issues. The participating stations are Boise State Public Radio (based in Boise, Idaho), (based in Greeley, Colorado), (based in Salt Lake City, Utah), (based in Laramie, Wyoming), (based in Billings, Montana), and (based in Colorado Springs, Colorado).

“Collaboration is a force multiplier; together stations can do more and innovate faster to provide the local journalism that is part of the bedrock of public media’s valued service to our country," said Kathy Merritt, CPB senior vice president, journalism and radio. “We’ve seen the importance of our investments in collaboration when, for example, stations in the Texas Station Collaborative were better prepared to serve their communities throughout the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.”

This project focuses on the unique issues in the urban and rural areas of the Rocky Mountain West. The four main areas of editorial focus are news service focusing on land and water resource management, regional growth, issues in the rural West, and Western culture. The stations will work collaboratively to highlight these issues for a broad range of listeners.

Boise State Public Radio will serve as the lead station on the grant. General Manager Tom Michael said, "Here in the West, we're watching the fast growth of new American cities, but we're also seeing significant changes in the rural outposts. This partnership will explore this national contrast and share these compelling news stories to a wide audience in the distinctive voice that is public radio today."

The group will report for partner stations and collaborate with national programs, including Marketplace, Morning Edition and All Things Considered, as well as other public media programs. The collaboration will provide audio, video and web reporting.