• About Public Media
• How CPB Funding Works
• Programs & Projects
• Open Grants & RFPs
• About CPB | Contact CPB

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Announces a $1.5 Million Grant to NPR to Expand its Coverage of a Diverse America

• For Immediate Release on August 2, 2012

Las Vegas – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) today announced its intention to award a $1.5 million grant to NPR to launch a major on-air and digital journalism initiative to increase the number of journalists from a diverse pool of candidates and help expand public media’s service to increasingly diverse communities. CPB announced the grant at the UNITY 2012 Convention, a gathering of media professionals from across the country.

The two-year grant from CPB will help NPR create a diverse team of journalists that will build a digital service for stories that connect to Americans today – whatever their age, race, economic background or geographic location. The initiative will be guided by a senior online journalist who will oversee the creation and curation of original content each day. The reporting team will provide deep coverage of local communities around the country, the issues that affect them and the people of many backgrounds and opinions who make these communities unique. The new grant builds on the success of the CPB/Knight Foundation-funded Project Argo that helped NPR serve new broadcast and online audiences by focusing on a defined content subject.

“We are pleased to support NPR’s efforts to strengthen public media’s capacity to better serve our diverse country on-air, online and in the community. Public media belongs to every citizen, and this free and commercial-free service is more important to Americans than ever,” said Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB.

The original content created by this new initiative will be optimized for all platforms. It will reach an audience that is younger and more racially and ethnically diverse than traditional radio listeners, through websites, on tablets, and through an array of mobile devices. In addition, the team will work closely with NPR editors to incorporate the stories into NPR’s national news programs, infusing new perspectives and sources throughout the network’s daily coverage.

“With this new team and a defined area of coverage, NPR News will more expansively, and completely, cover news and issues across the U.S. – delivering on our promise to sound and look like America,” said Gary E. Knell, president and CEO of NPR. “CPB’s forward-thinking commitment to diversity challenges public media to do more, and to do better, and we accept that challenge wholeheartedly.”

CPB’s mission is to strengthen and advance public media’s service to the American people, particularly those who are un-served or under-served by commercial outlets. Through its strategic focus on diversity, digital and dialogue – CPB supports projects that create diverse content for, by and about the American people; use emerging digital technologies to reach new audiences; and foster dialogue between the American people and the public service media organizations that serve them.

About NPR: NPR is an award-winning, multimedia news organization that reaches 27 million listeners each week, and nearly 23 million people monthly on digital platforms. In collaboration with more than 900 independent public radio stations nationwide, NPR strives to provide the public with a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures. To find local stations and broadcast times, visit www.npr.org/stations

About CPB

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967, is the steward of the federal government's investment in public broadcasting. It helps support the operations of more than 1,300 locally-owned and -operated public television and radio stations nationwide, and is the largest single source of funding for research, technology, and program development for public radio, television and related online services.