Across America and in Vermont, the number of journalists is in steep decline. This has disturbing implications for the future of our democracy and civic life.
On last year’s Tell Me More Tour, you asked VPR to help fill a growing void with more reporting from more communities. You asked us to report on solutions to the biggest problems facing Vermont. And you said you want greater diversity of voices on VPR — in age, race and ethnicity and geographic location.
In other words, you challenged us to live up to our strategic vision of exploring the whole Vermont story, together.
Now, VPR is preparing to respond with a visionary plan to expand and diversify our coverage. We’ll be sharing more about this plan over the next several months. It includes an expansion of VPR’s regional reporting capacity, new products that allow listeners to hear our stories in new ways and opportunities to engage in person around common issues and challenges.
To focus on this expansion of our reporting efforts, we have decided to change or discontinue production of some projects, including the VPR Cafe, Dorothy’s List, and regular commentaries. We plan to continue our coverage of Vermont’s evolving food scene and children’s literature in Vermont through our regular reporting. Ending weekly production of commentaries will provide more resources to expand the diversity of voices on VPR through increased reporting and shows such as Brave Little State and Vermont Edition.
VPR is working together with our partners and community to protect something that makes Vermont special - our participatory democracy, which is powered by accurate stories from journalists you can trust.
We look forward to sharing more of our plans with you, and THANK YOU for making in-depth journalism possible through your support of VPR!
