The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) has awarded Indianapolis-based WFYI Public Media a $1.5 million grant for America Amplified, a public media journalism initiative that focuses on listening to communities in the reporting process.
The two-year grant will support a third phase of the initiative, launched in 2019 with CPB support, to strengthen public media’s ability to address the information needs of unserved and underserved communities. In 2022, CPB funded America Amplified’s work with stations in 25 states to respond to frequently asked questions about the election process. This new, 24-month grant will serve Americans in all 50 states, providing stations with tools and strategies on how to respond to questions and inform voters about the 2024 voting process.
“CPB’s support of America Amplified has helped public media stations be more responsive to communities’ information needs,” said CPB President/CEO Pat Harrison. “As civic news declines, public media is becoming an increasingly critical source of trusted local news and information. CPB has a long history of supporting local journalism and is committed to expanding stations’ capacity in this important space.”
“Americans have a broad range of questions about elections and the voting process. Public media is uniquely positioned to answer those questions,” WFYI President/CEO Greg Petrowich added. “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 and coaching to map an effective strategy for serving their audiences, using the Hearken platform to interact with their audiences and address their questions. America Amplified will incorporate lessons learned from the 2022 midterm elections project, where the team worked with 30 stations across 25 states to provide them with tools to prompt community questions about how, where and when to vote. Stations will answer those questions on multiple platforms.
