Public Media Editor Corps Gets $20K Boost From CPB

SALT LAKE CITY (May 14, 2020) -- The Public Media Journalists Association’s (PMJA) Editor Corps, which launched last month to provide pop-up editors to public media newsrooms facing challenges in covering the COVID-19 pandemic, has received a $20,000 grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“Public media newsrooms are working overtime, often from remote locations, to provide much-needed news and information during this pandemic,” said Kathy Merritt, CPB senior vice president, journalism and radio. “PMJA’s Editor Corps provides direct emergency assistance to these stations, and CPB is pleased to support this effort.”

Through Editor Corps, experienced news editors are assigned to public media stations that make requests for assistance, at no cost to the station. Initial funding for the project was provided by NPR, PRX and the Knight Foundation 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.

“PMJA recognized that stations are facing some very real and difficult challenges right now, and we wanted to find a way to provide some relief,” said Terry Gildea, PMJA Executive Director.  “We’re grateful to our initial sponsors and to CPB for making this program happen.”

PMJA’s 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. “In the first two weeks alone, we’ve had requests from over a dozen stations for assistance. 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 each day based on individual availability and funding. While every effort is made to fulfill requests, it is possible that PMJA may need to prioritize requests. In that event, priority will be given to stations demonstrating the most urgent need.

About the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
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 1,500 locally owned 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 www.cpb.org and 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.