CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – WUNC today announces their selection to participate in Guns & America, a two-year, national reporting collaborative of 10 public media stations, funded by a $5.3 million grant from The Kendeda Fund. The collaboration includes the launch of the first-of-its-kind Audion Fellowship, a program that will train and empower a diverse corps of innovative, cross-platform journalists to cover difficult and divisive topics and lead the public media system.“WUNC brings depth and complexity to its reporting on North Carolina,” said WAMU General Manager JJ Yore. “Partnering with WUNC will allow this collaboration to explore many crucial issues, from the cultural role of hunting in rural America to the ‘iron pipeline’ that sees guns trafficked throughout the Eastern Seaboard.”
Connie Walker, WUNC’s President and General Manager, noted that “WUNC is honored to be a part of the collaboration and to focus on North Carolina’s unique perspective of this issue. We look forward to working with WAMU and the other partner stations to generate informative and meaningful content.”
The Guns & America national reporting collaborative will be headquartered and supported by a five-person production team at WAMU in Washington, D.C. and 10 Audion Fellowship reporters to be placed in the following public newsrooms across the country: WUNC in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Boise State Public Radio in Boise, Idaho; KCUR in Kansas City, Missouri; KERA in Dallas, Texas; KUNC in Greeley, Colorado; OPB in Portland, Oregon; WABE in Atlanta, Georgia; WAMU in Washington, D.C.; WCPN ideastream in Cleveland, Ohio; and WNPR in Hartford, Connecticut.
The national collaborative will report for two years on the many ways that firearms are intertwined in American life, from the cultural significance of hunting and sport shooting, to the role guns play in suicide, homicides, mass shootings and beyond. The inaugural cohort of Audion Fellows will increase the capacity for in-depth reporting and infuse public media newsrooms across the country with digital and multimedia skills. Reporters at the ten stations will begin filing their first stories in June 2018.
In each market, one fellow will be devoted to providing regional coverage, contributing a local perspective into a national network of reporting that is making a significant investment in this timely topic. This new reporting position will develop significant expertise through participation in Guns & America with a diverse cohort of public media leaders.
Beyond the announced two-year Guns & America reporting collaborative, the Audion Fellowship is expected to be an ongoing program, poised to tackle future endeavors on topics of national interest and critical importance.
For more information on Guns & America, including information about how journalists can apply for the Audion Fellowship, visit www.wamu.org/guns. To follow our reporting, please visit www.gunsandamerica.org beginning in June.
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About WUNC
North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC is an NPR-affiliated public radio station which serves the citizens of central and northeastern North Carolina, including the cities of Greenville, Raleigh/Durham, Greensboro/High Point, Fayetteville, and Rocky Mount. WUNC provides a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week news and public affairs service to more than 400,000 weekly listeners (Nielsen Audio Spring 2017 Persons 12+) in more than 50 counties. WUNC broadcasts on terrestrial radio at 91.5 FM in the Chapel Hill/Raleigh/Durham area, on 88.9 FM Manteo, serving the north eastern Outer Banks and coastal communities, 91.1 FM Welcome, 91.9 FM Fayetteville, and on 90.9 FM from Rocky Mount serving portions of "Down East" North Carolina and Sandhills. The station also streams 24/7 online in mp3, Windows Media and Real Audio.
WUNC is a trusted source of objective and transformational content reflecting the region and expanding a collective understanding of the global community. The station provides consistently high quality public service programming presented with integrity, creating its own original programming that reflects the diversity and range of opinion in North Carolina. The broadcast license of North Carolina Public Radio – WUNC is held by the Board of WUNC Public Radio, LLC. While WUNC is an affiliated entity within the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the station receives no direct funding from UNC or the State of North Carolina. More than 90 percent of WUNC’s annual budget comes from the support of individual donors, businesses, and foundations. WUNC is a nonprofit organization and qualifies for charitable gifts under the 501c3 of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
About The Kendeda Fund
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, The Kendeda Fund is a private grantmaking foundation that invests in transformative leaders and ideas, empowering communities across the U.S. and around the globe to enhance equity, vibrancy, resourcefulness, and resilience. The Kendeda Fund helps underrepresented but trusted voices build social and community capital by supporting experienced, and emerging, leaders who have the vision to see problems differently and the courage to challenge conventional thinking. Learn more at www.kendedafund.org.
Press Contact:
Brent Wolfe
News Director
North Carolina Pubic Radio – WUNC
bwolfe@wunc.org
919-445-9172
