WUWM Joins PM4A

John Hess, Director and General Manager of WUWM, offered the following about why they decided to participate.

“Milwaukee is a minority-majority community and one of the most segregated cities in the United States. One of WUWM’s main strategic objectives is to transform our organization and the content that we broadcast to present an accurate reflection of everyday life in our community for all citizens, not just those who might fit a desired demographic. One of the first steps in this journey is to work towards providing a more inclusive and equitable workplace.

WUWM is proud to join the Public Media For All initiative and we support the diversity, equity and inclusion action items associated with this initiative.”

Chicago Public Media Joins PM4A

Chicago Public Media, home of WBEZ Chicago and Vocalo, is thrilled to sign on to Public Media for All as 2021 begins. In recent months, Chicago Public Media has reinvigorated its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts through the formation of a 20-person DEI Council. Our DEI Council aligned to a purpose statement as follows: 

The DEI Council is a staff-led, leadership-supported advisory and resource group that will create a comprehensive DEI strategy and action plan for Chicago Public Media. The council will partner with CPM leadership to oversee the implementation of that strategy, hold management accountable for transparent and measurable progress, and provide additional recommendations to create a more equitable, diverse and rich culture at CPM. 

Our long-term priorities at Chicago Public Media include recruiting, hiring and retaining a diverse staff at all levels; cultivating a culture of inclusivity and opportunity; and enhancing our content and audience.  

Joining Public Media for All is a key step in supporting these goals at the organizational level. Our membership in the group is a sign of our internal and external commitment to our DEI priorities. It will help hold us accountable and act with transparency in our efforts for our staff and our broader community. We look forward to gaining knowledge and insights from colleagues at other participating organizations who also are undertaking this important work in public media. 

NHPR Joins PM4A

Jim Schachter, President & CEO of New Hampshire Public Radio, offered the following about why they decided to participate.

“Signing onto the Public Media For All initiative is one more way for New Hampshire Public Radio to hold itself accountable to the public commitments we’ve made to embrace the principles and practices of inclusion, diversity and equity in every aspect of our journalism and our operations. 

We published those commitments at NHPR.org during the summer. We update our progress regularly to our staff and to our board of trustees, and we plan to report periodically to our community of users, as well.

The staff and leadership of NHPR understand that this work is imperative, both as a matter of ethics and a matter of our future success as public media for an increasingly diverse state.”

CoastAlaska Joins PM4A

Mollie Kabler, Executive Director of CoastAlaska, offered the following about why they decided to participate.

“CoastAlaska, Inc recognizes the need to address institutional racism within public media. We commit to having our work and workplaces reflect the truly diverse people who rely on public media, often the only source of news available in rural Alaska. Indigenous reporters, stories and voices should be mainstream in our media. We need to overcome our fear of getting it wrong and to work positively for a local reckoning with racism that requires sensitivity to the history of exploitation of native people and lands in Alaska. Public media has three ways to support change; as individuals, as institutions and as conveners of the stories that need to be told.”

CoastAlaska was started in 1994, and incorporated in 1997 as a service organization for public radio stations in Alaska. CoastAlaska currently serves public media organizations in the communities of Juneau, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan and the Aleutians. Started as an informal alliance, CoastAlaska is a fully independent non-profit.

CapRadio Sets An Example

Following is an memo that was shared with CapRadio staff earlier this month from Jun Reina, Executive Vice President & General Manager. We applaud CapRadio for their transparency and desire for accountability.

11.16.2020

Jun's Station Update

Happy Monday Team! Last Tuesday, Nov 10 was the first of, what I hope, will become an annual tradition of Public Media For All (PM4A). When I first reported that CapRadio signed on as a supporting organization, there were 4 other public media organizations signed up. Today, there are 21. We marked the day with Insight featuring Sachi Kobayashi and Ernesto Aguilar, two of the founders of PM4A. Race and Equity Reporter, Sarah Mizes-Tan and I also joined Randol White in conversation regarding our affinity group and CapRadio’s participation in the movement. Several staff participated in PM4A’s A Day of Action and Education webinar. Later in the week, your Station Equity Team (Zoro, Sarah, Helga, Victoria, Kris, Jennifer R., Lisa, Patti, Devin, Mark, and myself) met with Dr. Carolee Tran to discuss next steps on the station’s DEI efforts. And I’d like to thank, ME for News, Nick Miller, for proactively convening a space for all CapRadio staff to talk about issues such as whiteness and anti-racism last Friday. Building safe spaces like this is essential to moving us forward. Dr. Tran recently shared an article with the equity team about having such conversations called Speaking Up Without Tearing Down which I think you’ll all find valuable.

So why did we join PM4A?
In one word…. Accountability. We’ve always recognized the need for greater diversity both in public media in general and within CapRadio in particular. Achieving greater diversity in terms of staff, board composition, and audience have always been goals in the years that I’ve been here. As sincere and well-intentioned as the goals might have been, there’s been little to no follow through. What we’ve had instead was an acceptance or resignation that our industry’s audience was predominantly white, college-educated, and affluent. Well, therein lies the problem. Building diversity isn’t a spectator sport. As an industry, we can’t stand on the sidelines and hope for diversity to walk in the door. It requires commitment, hard work, and an authentic desire to cast a wider net and expand our reach. PM4A doesn’t provide all the answers but it does provide a practical and potentially impactful roadmap. The list of action items we’ve committed to perform is what we’ll be aspiring to and it’s what I expect you and our Board of Directors to hold me accountable to. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly if you’d like to discuss this.