The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has awarded Indianapolis-based WFYI Public Media a $1.5 million grant to help inform underserved communities throughout election season. The two-year grant is awarded as part of “American Amplified” — a public media journalism initiative lead by WYFI “that focuses on listening to communities in the reporting process.” according to a CPB press release.
The grant will support phase three of the initiative, which was launched in 2019 with CPB support. In 2022, CPB funded America Amplified’s work with stations in 25 states to respond to frequently asked questions about the election process. Now, CPB says this new, two-year grant will serve Americans in all 50 states, providing stations with tools to respond to questions and inform voters about the 2024 process.
“Americans have a broad range of questions about elections and the voting process,” said WFYI President and CEO Greg Petrowich in the release. “Public media is uniquely positioned to answer those questions. We’re excited to bring training and tools to more public media stations across the country.”
Stations selected for the program will receive virtual training to learn best practices to inform their audiences. Participating stations will use the Hearken platform to interact with their audiences and address their questions. CPB said America Amplified will incorporate lessons learned from the 2022 midterm elections project, where the team worked with 30 stations to assist in answering community questions about how, where and when to vote. Stations will answer those questions on multiple platforms.
“CPB’s support of America Amplified has helped public media stations be more responsive to communities’ information needs,” said Pat Harrison, CPB president and CEO. “As civic news declines, public media is becoming an increasingly critical source of trusted local news and information.”
For more information about America Amplified, go to americaamplified.org.
CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation authorized by Congress in 1967. It helps support operations of about 1,500 local public radio and TV stations.
