How a pop-up community newsroom shed light on wildfire health impacts in Boulder, Colorado

Homes destroyed by the 2021 Marshall Fire can be seen being rebuilt in the burn area near Boulder, Colorado. (Photo by Don Kohlbauer, Boulder Reporting Lab)
Homes destroyed by the 2021 Marshall Fire can be seen being rebuilt in the burn area near Boulder, Colorado. (Photo by Don Kohlbauer, Boulder Reporting Lab)
Posted

It was April 2021, and the devastating Marshall Fire had recently ravaged more than a thousand homes near our city. I was participating in a journalism panel when the mood turned somber during small talk. Survivors were present, and they began sharing their stories of profound loss.  ...

For Boulder Reporting Lab, the nonprofit local newsroom I founded in late 2021, it was clear we needed to cover this story for our community. Our newsroom had been reporting on the impacts of the fire on drinking water, and we knew there could be other health effects as well.  ...

At the time, BRL was three people, working hard to build a sustainable newsroom from scratch. Investigating a story of this magnitude demanded more reporting bandwidth than we had available. Realizing the scope, I reached out to my journalism colleagues at the Center for Environmental Journalism at CU Boulder. Collaborating seemed like the best approach. They agreed, and within a week, a plan was hatched.

Click here to read more.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here


Scroll the Latest Job Opportunities From The Media Job Board