Montana Public Radio will deepen its engagement with communities across the state this year by partnering with other public radio stations in a national initiative called America Amplified.
We're working to better understand the people and perspectives we bring to our news coverage so we can meet the diverse needs of all Montanans. We'll also be reaching out to the community for story suggestions and feedback to help guide our news priorities.
The initiative is hosted by WFYI in Indianapolis and is funded by a $983,451 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to support community engagement journalism in traditionally underserved areas.
The initiative builds on a similar projectlaunched in the fall of 2019 to produce innovative journalism through engagement. The initiative prioritizes meaningful in-person and online engagement in order to build trust, expand audiences and deepen the impact of public media journalism.
Through this initiative, MTPR aims to put people, not preconceived ideas, at the center of its reporting process — because of ongoing concerns around the pandemic, we will be using toolssuch as crowd-sourcing, virtual town halls, polls and social media to listen first to the concerns and aspirations of our communities. Whenever possible, we will also be hosting live events and meeting with community members in places where they gather.
America Amplified is working with 20 public media stations, including MTPR. The other stations are:
- WWNO in New Orleans;
- WUSF in Tampa, Florida;
- WSHU in Fairfield, Connecticut;
- WNIN in Evansville, Indiana,
- WMMT in Whitesburg, Kentucky;
- WNIJ in Rockford, Illinois;
- WITF in Harrisburg, Pennsylvanial;
- WBHM in Birmingham, Alabama;
- North Country Public Radio in Canton, New York;
- North State Public Radio in Chico, California;
- Montana Public Radio in Missoula, Montana;
- Maine Public in Lewiston, Maine;
- KUNR in Reno, Nevada;
- KUNC in Greeley, Colorado;
- KTOO in Juneau, Alaska;
- KSJD in Cortez, Colorado;
- KOSU in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma;
- KMUW in Wichita, Kansas;
- Blue Ridge Public Radio in Asheville, North Carolina;
- Austin PBS in Austin, Texas
America Amplified’s goal is to create and share models of community engagement success stories to inform and strengthen future local, regional and national journalism.
Follow America Amplified on Twitter at @A_Amplified or visit www.americaamplified.org to sign up for our newsletter.