Public Media Journalists Association Receives Additional CPB Funding to Continue Editor Corps

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 24, 2020) – The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has announced an additional $61,000 grant funding the continuation of the Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) Editor Corps, which provides crucial editing assistance to public media newsrooms, including small and rural newsrooms.

“2020 has proved to be a news year like no other, and the PMJA Editor Corps quickly became a lifeline for public media newsrooms, helping them provide high-quality coverage of breaking news,” said Kathy Merritt, CPB senior vice president, journalism and radio. “CPB is pleased to provide the funding to continue this program supporting public media journalism at this important time.” 

PMJA launched the emergency Editor Corps in April to provide much-needed relief to stations facing significant burdens during the pandemic. Later, it helped stations cover breaking news events following the death of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement, and discussions about race across the country. Each day, editors are assigned to stations that request assistance. Editors are paid directly by the Editor Corps and are provided at no cost to the stations.

Initial funding for the project was provided by NPR, PRX and the Knight Foundation as sponsorship for the PMJA annual conference. Once the June conference was canceled due to the pandemic, the three organizations, seeking to make the most impact on the system, asked that their funding be re-directed to support Editor Corps. CPB provided an additional $20,000 to get the program started. In three months, more than two dozen stations received nearly 600 hours of editing assistance.

“As the election season heats up, we are thrilled and grateful that CPB has agreed to help us continue to offer this important assistance to stations through the end of the year,”  said Terry Gildea, PMJA Executive Director. “We’ve received excellent feedback from both editors serving in the Corps and stations that have used this service. We are excited to get the editors back to work.”

The PMJA Editor Corps is made up of seasoned freelance public media editors who have made themselves available to stations. “We’ve assigned editors to help with talk show prep, newscast editing, spot news editing and feature editing,” Gildea said. “The program is open to any station that needs help — small or large, urban or rural.” 

PMJA membership is not required to request an editor. Editors are assigned based on individual availability and funding. While every effort is made to fulfill requests, PMJA may need to prioritize requests. In that event, priority is given to stations demonstrating the most urgent need, particularly small and rural stations. To find out more, go to https://www.pmja.org/post/pmja-editor-corps-faq.

About the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 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 1,500 locally managed and operated public television and radio stations nationwide. CPB is also the largest single source of funding for research, technology and program development for public radio, television and related online services. For more information, visit cpb.org, follow us on Twitter @CPBmedia, Facebook and LinkedIn and subscribe for email updates. 

About the Public Media Journalists Association
Public Media Journalists Association (PMJA) (formerly known as PRNDI) is a three decades old organization that continues to serve all journalists in the public media system from news directors to managing editors to reporters and digital content producers. In 2018, PMJA formed a sister 501(c)(3) organization: the Public Media Journalism Foundation (PMJF). Through long-standing relationships with local radio stations, networks, and others who serve and work in the public media system, PMJA and PMJF are uniquely positioned to provide training to the more than 100 public radio member stations, which employ the 1100 journalists working in public media nationwide.