CPB awards $4 million to expand rural reporting

CPB announced $4.4 million in grants Thursday to support rural news services in eight states. 

The Rural News and Information Services grants go to public radio and television stations to “strengthen coverage of local issues, elevate community voices, and produce audience-informed content that reflects the diverse experiences of rural life across the United States,” according to a press release. 

Recipients are PBS Wisconsin, Wisconsin Public Radio; Cleveland’s Ideastream Public Media; KUAR-FM in Little Rock, Ark.; High Plains Public Radio in Kansas; West Virginia Public Broadcasting; Nashville PBS, WCMU Public Media in Mount Pleasant, Mich.; and Iowa Public Television. The grants help the stations with a variety of projects, including regional journalism collaborations that will expand service to rural communities.

Iowa Public Television, Nashville PBS and WVPB will build on existing programs to include more rural affairs coverage. 

Ideastream and WCMU are each adding a new reporter to produce coverage on rural communities that have limited access to local news.

PBS Wisconsin and WPR and launching the Rural Voices project “to amplify rural concerns and potential solutions” through town hall-style listening sessions, according to the release. 

HPPR is launching the High Plains Civic News and Information Network to produce audience-first reporting across five states.

KUAR is partnering with KUAF in Fayetteville and KASU-FM in Jonesboro to launch a regional newsroom called the Arkansas News Collaborative that focuses on rural communities.    

“Public media is rooted in community,” said CPB COO Kathy Merritt in the release. “These Rural News and Information Services build on that legacy by empowering stations to report on the stories, people, and innovations shaping rural life — ensuring that these communities continue to be seen, heard, and understood.”