NPR capitalizes on talent, expertise and shared mission

We were launching the Texas newsroom when the El Paso shooting happened. Literally, a couple weeks prior to the launch of that newsroom, there was the terrible shooting at the Walmart in El Paso, Texas. We jumped into action and provided remarkable team coverage across the state.”

Bruce Auster, managing editor for collaborative journalism, NPR

There are more than 200 National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate stations around the country, and the combined newsrooms employ approximately 2,900 reporters, editors and producers. That’s a staggering number and represents an immense amount of talent.

NPR’s Collaborative Journalism Network germinated in 2015 when Bruce Auster — who was the national security editor at the time and now serves as the managing editor for collaborative journalism — formed a working group of journalists from across NPR stations who were reporting on national security, the military and veterans.

NPR’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Stephen Voss)

“We brought together people from all over the country who live near military bases, who know this stuff and are on the ground,” Auster explained. “We did some really good investigations into the [Veterans Administration] in 2015, and it was proof-of-concept.”

Subsequently, other topic teams formed around climate, criminal justice, disinformation, education, health, national politics, state government, race and identity, voting and religion.

NPR received a $5.5 million investment grant from Eric Schmidt, the former executive chairman of Google, and his wife, Wendy Schmidt, who leads the Schmidt Family Foundation, expressly for creating regional newsrooms. It now operates six regional newsrooms — in Texas, California, the Midwest, the Gulf States, New England and the most recent launch (in November 2024) covering Appalachia and the Mid-South.

NPR’s national organization and affiliate stations around the country collaborate in topic teams and regional newsrooms.

The Appalachia/Mid-South regional newsroom was a brand-new collaboration when Hurricane Helene ravaged the region.

“This has now happened three times. We were launching the Texas newsroom when the El Paso shooting happened. Literally, a couple weeks prior to the launch of that newsroom, there was the terrible shooting at the Walmart in El Paso, Texas. We jumped into action and provided remarkable team coverage across the state,” Auster recalled. “We’d just started formally working on the New England News Collaborative when there was a shooting in Lewiston, Maine, and the same thing happened. We were about to experiment with breaking news as a team, and the shooting happened within a week of our conversations. We sprang into action, and all of the stations in New England provided support to Maine Public Radio. With Helene, it was the exact same thing. It’s uncanny how this has happened now at least three times when there was a major event on the eve of the launches.”

Editors meet in the newsroom at NPR headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Allison Shely/NPR)

Perhaps it was serendipitous how these collaborations came when their communities needed them most. When Blue Ridge Public Radio needed support after the hurricane, other NPR affiliates pitched in. Their collective coverage was a literal lifeline.

Author Susanne Paola Antonette penned an editorial for CNN.com, taking readers inside her Asheville, North Carolina, community in the hurricane’s aftermath. “For days, all we have is a radio and only our cars for listening — cars that run on now-unattainable gas and electricity. Blue Ridge Public Radio staffers are heroic, broadcasting the names of the missing and where to get supplies,” she wrote. “They also read the public announcements given to them by government officials and public agencies, all of which tell us, maddeningly, to go to this or that website for updates. We still have no running water. In this world — unknown beyond what’s visible — information becomes its own economy. What’s more, it's a gift.”

The week E&P spoke with Auster about NPR’s collaborative initiatives, Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced a Senate bill, “the No Propaganda Act,” proposing an amendment to the Communications Act of 1934 that would block all federal funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. This private, nonprofit organization manages the federal government's investment in NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Scott Perry (R-Pa.) previously introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.

Gretchen A. Peck is a contributing editor to Editor & Publisher. She's reported for E&P since 2010 and welcomes comments at gretchenapeck@gmail.com.