#MPRlife Inclusion Journey Update: Gender Pronouns and Coffee Breaks

Submitted by Rachel Dennis (she/her)We welcome, talk to and refer to a lot of people around here – in person, on the phone, on air, and in writing. They are our colleagues, candidates, vendors, sources, members, board members and guests, etc. And they don’t all go by “he” or “she.”In the last six months or so, the EQualizers Employee Resource Group has been forming and exploring the question, “How do we create a safer space for folks who are transgender and gender-nonconforming?”On Monday the EQs invited Alex Nelson from RECLAIM! to talk with us about gender identity. We covered terminology, statistics, and building sensitivity through the thoughtful use of language.One of the things about language is that there are folks out there that don’t use pronouns limited to just “he” or “she.” And we’re interacting with them whether we know it or not. One way we can create a safer space for people to be themselves is to mark ourselves as people (and as an organization) who get and respect that. Maybe it’s by offering our pronouns when we introduce ourselves which creates an opportunity for another to do the same, or by removing binary language from things like our employee handbook. For most of us, it’ll take some new language and some new habits, and Alex emphasized the effectiveness of practicing until we get the hang of it. Practice is good.On Wednesday, October 25 the EQs hosted a Traveling Coffee Break* in the lobby at HQ and started practicing with a wider group. Some of us wore nametags that volunteered the pronouns we go by or prompted colleagues to ask us about it. Some of us shared our take-aways from Monday’s training session - like trying to remember the difference between gender orientation, expression, and identity (what you know, what you show, and what you claim). And naturally, some of us focused on the coffee and delicious treats and the chance to be with colleagues away from our desks.*An MPR tradition: various employee groups or departments host coffee breaks on a semi-regular basis. They could be located anywhere in the St. Paul HQ, thus the 'traveling' moniker.  more from the Inside APMG Blog

Baking – and raising money – for the future of journalism

Submitted by Marianne Combs, Arts Reporter and Producer, MPR NewsI love a good bake sale – especially when it’s for a cause I can really get behind - and October's bake sale at MPR will go down as one of my all-time favorites.Each year MPR participates in a fundraising campaign for ThreeSixty Journalism, a program run by the University of St. Thomas that teaches ethnically diverse high school students how to tell their stories, and attempts to instill in them a love of journalism. As a media organization that recognizes the importance of a multicultural workforce, we know it’s critical to help foster talent at an early age.Last week our in-house fundraising campaign culminated in a bake sale with contributions from some of the best bakers in the newsroom. Digital Producer Nancy Yang created a “Purple Rain” cake in honor of Prince; reporters Solveig Wastvedt and Peter Cox each whipped up batches of pumpkin muffins and ginger snaps, and editor Meg Martin turned out fudge and biscotti. Even our Executive Director of News and Programming Nancy Cassutt brought in some Rice Krispies treats.And our co-workers responded in kind with amazing generosity. By the end of the day we had raised $4,400 for the ThreeSixty Journalism program. That’s a record for us, and it placed us once again as the top media donor - outgiving the Star Tribune, KARE 11 and several other local media sponsors.There’s another reason this bake sale was particularly important. In past years the fundraising campaign was run by our beloved colleague Toni Randolph, who died last summer. Toni was a mentor to many budding reporters, and a champion for diversity. We felt it was important not just to match what she raised in past years, but to go even further, in her honor.So it was particularly gratifying for me last Friday to attend the ThreeSixty Journalism fundraising and awards dinner, where I got to meet some of the amazing high school seniors that benefit from the program. They are smart, enthusiastic, motivated young men and women, and I have no doubt they will go far.I’m already looking forward to next year’s bake sale, and to breaking more records, as we take our commitment to diversity in journalism forward.Toni would be thrilled.more from the Inside APMG Blog   

#MNTechDiversity Update

In June we announced our alignment with the MN Tech Diversity Pledge movement launched by Clockwork, a Twin Cities interactive firm led by Nancy Lyons.We promised to update you on our inclusion journey via this blog. Inclusion and diversity goals are embedded in APMG's strategic plan - both in terms of staffing and audience. So much activity is happening that contributes to these goals, it's actually a challenge to track it. That's one of the things Amanda Williams has on her plate, in the newly-created role of Culture & Inclusion Director.Amanda joined APMG in September and immediately got to work building our relationships with the MN Tech Diversity partner organizations such as Clockwork, BrandLab and Penumbra Theater. In her words:I attended the inaugural MN Tech Diversity meetup on October 11^th, a gathering of companies who have pledged to put resources, energy and attention to attracting and retaining talent from communities underrepresented in the Twin Cities tech sector.  It was fun, informative, and inspiring.  As a new employee at APMG responsible for culture and inclusion, I was happy to see the enthusiasm and genuine commitment of all of the partner companies making the MN Tech Diversity Pledge.  I look forward to this continued collaboration as we work toward a more inclusive culture here at APMG.We're excited to have Amanda on board! This new role is a commitment to further the inclusion goals we've set forth as an organization, building on the momentum of many other activities, initiatives and the commitment of leadership. more from the Inside APMG Blog

KPCC Places 3rd, Marketplace debuts in top 10 at AAJA Trivia Bowl

We have exciting news to report – Team KPCC finished in 3^rd Place out of 24 teams at the 2016 Asian-American Journalists Association Trivia Bowl! Team Marketplace made a strong debut by breaking into the Top 10.  Just ahead of KPCC in the top 2 spots were the two teams from the Los Angeles Times. The Trivia Bowl tests knowledge on current events, science, history, geography, California, sports, pop culture, literature, and arts & entertainment. These were tough questions and obscure facts. APGMThe Trivia Bowl is the signature fundraising event of the AAJA, supporting students who pursue the journalism profession; providing increased training to Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists so they can be effective leaders for positive change in the industry with a commitment to diversity in the newsroom, and forging stronger ties within the AAPI communities.We’d like to recognize the following KPCC team members for their hard-fought achievement:Ben BergmanKevin FergusonJames KimSachi KobayashiRoy LennMary MarcusAaron MendelsonBecca MurrayQuincy SurasmithMaura Walz   Thank you to those from Marketplace for coming out and building a foundation for future participation.Kristina LopezJeni HatfieldDonna TamMeggan EllingboeKatie LongRaghu ManavalanMichelle MencioHayley HershmanMarcus Galamay more from the Inside APMG Blog

Slice of #MPRlife: Pop Up Concert Edition

 Sometimes things like this happen when you work at MPR...  more from the Inside APMG Blog            

Two Choral Supergroups, One Magical Concert

Submitted by Brian Newhouse, Host, Managing Director, Classical ProgrammingOn Monday, October 3, I was thrilled to host the first-ever joint concert between two choral supergroups: Cantus (based in Mpls) and Chanticleer (based in San Francisco). Classical MPR broadcast the sold-out concert live from Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis on a number of platforms including a Facebook live stream.This was exciting for several reasons:

• They’d never done this before, as they are essentially competitors. (Imagine if Infiniti and Lexus decided to make a really cool car together – in our backyard!)
• The groups were inspired to collaborate after a chance encounter last February. They happened to find themselves touring in the same area and agreed to go into a bar and sing together; a grainy five-minute iPhone video of that night went wildly viral, drawing nearly one million views in 24 hours.
• Orchestra Hall was sold out for the October 3rd concert; so Classical MPR was the only way anyone else could enjoy this concert.
• With huge credit to our colleagues managing the broadcast and technical details, we fed video/audio of the concert directly into Facebook Live, via our Choral Stream page. This was in addition to our live radio broadcast on Classical MPR and the classicalmpr.org stream.
• We asked both choirs to share Choral Stream links to their networks of fans around the country, and the world.
• And we created an audience engagement piece to support our connections goals, too.

 It was such an honor for me to host this historic event, but what was especially cool was watching the Facebook Live action while I tried to keep one eye on what was going on, onstage! We averaged 1500 viewers at any time during the concert. And about 20,000 people viewed the live feed for some length of time, and another 15,000 have watched the on-demand video excerpts. (Sadly, we’re going to have to take the videos down due to the rights agreements we abide by.)It was so gratifying to see comments stream in during the concert from Australia, Japan, Germany, the UK, and dozens of States here in the US. The very best thing, though, were how heartfelt the comments were, one after another, that thanked Classical MPR for offering this service to those who couldn’t make it to Minneapolis.https://youtu.be/oJGckjXoS40   

Talking the talk: Can the parlance of public media drive inclusivity?

by Eric Garcia McKinleyEngagement and Inclusion Senior Research Analyst/ACLS Public FellowI am now eight weeks into my new job in public media. The position is exactly as new to American Public Media Group as I am: Senior Research Analyst for Engagement and Inclusion (read more about it here). My general assignment is to develop a method for tracking the demographics of sources on which MPR News relies, and to help devise strategies for making news coverage and programming more distinct, diverse, and inclusive.The work will entail thinking about the broad range of experiences that inform perspectives. I’ll start with some of the things that influence the way I see the world: I am a cisgender straight male in my mid 30s. I am Latino, but I am also white. I don’t speak Spanish. I grew up Catholic, but I’m an atheist. And yet, “Catholic” remains part of my identity. I have a PhD in European history from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign with an emphasis on German and Jewish history (I do speak German, and German Catholics were a part of my research). Politically, I’m liberal with a preference for the word progressive. Identity is complex, and while it can’t be reduced to a set of demographic information, the pieces help. Analyzing demographics is just one way I can help MPR News gain a better understanding of itself and its audiences.Before getting to that though I have to learn not just what journalists do, but how they do it. So for the past several weeks, I’ve attended daily news huddles, shadowed reporters, and gone into the studios to observe live radio production in action. I attended two tapings of Counter Stories, and I wrote a blog post about about one of them. I was continually reminded of the importance of language when it comes to matters of inclusion.Every industry and organization has its own vocabulary that makes sense to insiders but might sound strange to outsiders, and public media is no different. But words are more than just industrial quirks. Language can influence action.One of the first new words I learned was “vox.” I asked someone what it meant, and I learned that it was a news story reliant upon a reporter’s voice. I later learned that the shorthand was “vcr,” for the alternative “voicer.” Someone in the newsroom later sent me a “radio glossary” with more new words.One word excluded from the list, probably because it’s not a technical term like “voicer,” is “talker.” I always understood the term to mean long-winded, as in “They’re real talkers over there so clear your schedule.” And Seinfeld taught me, years ago, that people can also be “close talkers” and “low talkers.” In public media, people are often divided into “good talkers” and “bad talkers”—judgments regarding whether or not someone can authoritatively speak in clear and concise sentences in a manner that demonstrates investment in the topic, is easy to understand, and is pleasant to hear (at least, that’s a synthesis of what my colleagues have told me). It’s not that “bad talkers” never make it on the air, but they have to hold a powerful position to get there. A politician can be a bad talker and still get air-time. Given the medium of radio, there’s a clear rationale behind the good talker/bad talker dichotomy. Still, I’ve wondered if there isn’t something of a “talker tyranny” that filters out engaging and diverse guests and content. I don’t yet know the nature of it or how to get around it, but I’m thinking about it.I’m also thinking about how the meaning of words changes. Language evolves. I learned that lesson while writing a dissertation that parsed the meaning of terms like religion, confession, and race over the course of 60 years of German history as part of the process of defining who did and did not belong within the German national body, as well as who decided. Likewise, the definition of terms like diversity and inclusion continually are debated.Understanding and respecting the history and context of words and how they affect people differently is one way to combat microaggressions—words and actions that may unintentionally reinforce stereotypes but are no less exclusionary because of it. As I write this, MPR employees are participating in workshops about microaggressions and unconscious bias. These trainings should occur in every workplace, but they’re particularly necessary in an industry where the choice of words shapes public dialogue, influences attitudes, and drives behavior.What else it will it take for MPR News to be more relevant to more people, especially those often marginalized in media? How will the sound and language of public media need to change? For instance, what effect would replacing “good talker” with “inclusive talker” have on the voices and perspectives journalists choose to amplify? This is some of what I hope to learn in collaboration with my colleagues and the broader community.I’ll be posting here about this process, and I invite you to be part of it. Submit your thoughts, ideas and questions here or email them to emckinley@mpr.org

Intern Highlight: Ellen Bartyzal

submitted by Sarah EldredMeet Ellen Bartyzal, a senior at the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota. Ellen was one of the two Eichten News Fellows this summer at Minnesota Public Radio. She applied for the program because she knew former Eichten Fellow, and they had “nothing but good things to say about their summers at MPR.”From Ellen: I have learned so much at this internship! I’ve learned about interviewing, reporting and writing concisely for radio. I’ve also learned a lot of technical skills through recording interviews and sound with state-of-the-art recording equipment and then editing and mixing that sound into a story. I’ve learned about voicing pieces for radio and how challenging it can be to find your voice and express that in your stories. I learned these things from all of the work that I did day-to-day, but I learned so much more from just observing others in the newsroom.Give Ellen's story a listen. We think she's found her voice!The Gary Eichten News Fellowship is a partnership between MPR and two affiliated schools: the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University. One student from each school works full time from June to August in the newsroom learning how to write, report and produce for radio, calling on news sources, editing and assisting with other production tasks.Ellen shared these insights about working in the newsroom while reporters covered the Allina nurses strike:

They [reporters] need to be sure to report on the facts, but also be aware that some sources mayhave their own agenda. I saw the high standards that MPR holds for what is accurate and fair. I had a greater appreciation for this organization after seeing the great lengths that Lorna Benson  (Ellen's supervisor) went through to gain all of the facts and make an educated decision regarding the story.

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Intern Highlight: Sarah Menendez

Sarah Menendez, now a production assistant at Marketplace, shares her experiences as a digital intern in the summer of 2016:When I graduated from UC Irvine in 2015, I left with two degrees and a strong sense that I wanted to work in public media. After studying journalism and political science for four years and spending a large portion of my time working at the college paper, I cultivated an understanding that our work as journalists should seek to educate our audiences in a way that is accessible and engaging. That’s why I gravitated to Marketplace. Before I even started working here, I was a fan. I loved the way complicated and important concepts were explained in a way that felt friendly and accessible to me. It made me feel smart.So, needless to say, I was very excited when I got the job as a Digital Intern for Marketplace.Working on the digital team enabled me to look at radio in a new light and understand the importance of creating a space for our program to thrive in the digital world. Throughout my months as an intern, I felt like I was constantly developing my skill set and actively putting it to work every day.I learned a LOT. I learned how to make a great radio feature shine on the web, I made graphics, produced videos and ventured into new social media and publish platforms for our content. During my internship, I worked on many projects including the Price of Profits series, our Puerto Rico coverage and helped shape our Medium page into a space for reporters to reflect on their work. I’m happy to have been a part of these projects — no matter how big or small of a role I played in them.I’m forever grateful for the amazing digital team here that always empowered me to share my ideas encouraged me to seek out my interests — even if those interests take the form of a Janet Yellen fashion blog. Thank you, Nishat, Donna, Tony, Janet and Rounak. Although we are a small team, we are mighty and I’m so happy I get to continue working here as a Production Assistant for the next couple months!more from the Inside APMG Blog

The CEO and the TSA: An Unlikely Moment of Gratitude

Here at APMG we're used to getting emails like this from our CEO Jon McTaggart. Those of us who've been around a while might even take them for granted. It's just part of the culture. But I'm reminded today that it's one of those things that makes us pretty unique... this culture of gratitude is demonstrated from the top-down, bottom-up, sideways, to-and-from our members, within and even beyond our communities. Read on to see what I mean:The email continues:He said, “I hear you a couple of times a year.”  Could it be that he recognizes my name from my brief “thank you” messages after the MPR on-air Member drives?Then he said two of the nicest things I’ve ever heard from a TSA agent.  “I’m a member,” he said. “Thank you for what you do.”  He was thanking me!  As he waived me through the check point, my heart swelled with pride.  I gave him my best morning smile and said, “Thank you, so much, for listening and for your membership support!”There are nearly a million listeners to Minnesota Public Radio, more than 19 million listeners to our American Public Media programs, and even more when we add our digital and social services and live programs.  This morning’s brief encounter is another proof point that…what we do really matters.I share the heartfelt gratitude of this TSA agent as a proxy for every listener and user whose lives we will touch today.  Thank You for all your great work, today and every day.    more from the Inside APMG Blog

Fellowship Highlight: Lila Cherneff

submitted by Sarah EldredWith the release of the first few episodes of the podcast In The Dark last week, we want to be sure you meet the interns and fellows behind the scenes at APM Reports.Lila Cherneff is an APM Reports fellow. She joined APMG as a tape logger for American RadioWorks, which was new to her. “As a tape logger, I was instantly drawn into the fascinating raw tape coming through my headphones: from 23-year-old veterans describing their PTSD to aging physics professors' stories of trying to save school records from Hurricane Katrina. I was so impressed with the tone and breadth of the interviews; I knew I wanted to learn from the folks behind them."One of the components to radio production that Lila learned was research. “In my imagined notion of documentary radio, I thought you transition from interviews to writing to production in one seamless sort of magical creative sweep. It has been such a valuable learning experience for me to get to work with the APM Reports producers on all the tiny details and edits and revisions and re-revisions that go into producing an hour of damn good radio.”A few highlights from Cherneff's fellowship include tagging along on reporting trips to St. Paul Public Schools, the investigative workshop with Paul Myers from the BBC, and sitting in on tracking and mixing sessions. But where she feels she’s learned the most is, “getting to witness up close the day-in, day-out minutiae of a documentary radio program: how theory and data and deeply personal stories come together to create into a finished product.”Lila’s supervisor Ryan Katz, shared this about her,

Lila does not walk. She shuffles. She pads. She glides. And the way she glides is a function of her personality and the work she does. Lila seemingly effortlessly handles everything I throw at her…from the mundane to the more compelling parts of her job. One hour she’s filling out spreadsheets. The next she’s reporting at a local high school, conducting research or finding archival material vital to a documentary. Lila even made it into one of our documentaries this year talking as an expert on the lack of data on college education in prisons.

And she’s creative – Lila did a sketch for our documentary on remedial education which became the lead image for the website. (She also has an unhealthy obsession with Drake.)

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Intern Highlight: Daniel Shin

Hi, I’m Daniel Shin, the Marketplace Morning Report Intern for the last six months (though I recently transitioned to a Production Assistant role about 3 weeks ago). This was my first public radio internship. Prior to this, I had just recently graduated from a graduate program at CSU Northridge with a Masters in Mass Communication (May 2016). Before, I was a news reporter in South Korea for about 3 years.There’s no easy way to summarize my time working on the Marketplace Morning Report team but if I had to, I’d strongly use the term “gauntlet.” Building and producing a live broadcast multiple times in one morning is a process that requires precision, quick-thinking and real critical thinking. If you don’t have those skills developed when you start this internship, you develop them. And I’m happy to say that I’m coming away from this experience with real, translatable skills.Of course, none of that is possible without the team here at MMR. The supportive and professional team of David Brancaccio and producers Nicole Childers, Justin Ho, Katie Long, Beidi Zhang, Chris Olin, and Janet Nguyen really helped me thrive and grow as a producer.I’m also continuously surprised (and pleased) by the workplace flexibility of Marketplace I’ve experienced. Recently, Marketplace Tech did their own week-long series in celebration for the 50^th anniversary of ‘Star Trek,’ one of my favorite franchises. I wanted to contribute something and even though the pitch was a bit last minute, our digital team was very open to the idea. And frankly, I’m very proud of my piece on how the number 47 played an important role in Star Trek (we are a numbers show after all!) Check it out here:http://www.marketplace.org/2016/09/07/world/star-trek-and-47-conspiracymore from the Inside APMG Blog

Cube Crawl 2016 @Marketplace Los Angeles

Submitted by Jeni HatfieldMap by Kristina LopezCity Planners included: Jeni Hatfield, Raghu Manavalan, Kristina Lopez, Arjuna Soriano, Katie Long and Donna Tam  If there is one thing us Angelinos agree on, it’s that we don’t agree on which local neighborhood is best. In all fairness, there are a lot. Los Angeles is known for its sprawling, quilt-like patches of neighborhoods—each with its own vibe. And where you eat, play and live is taken very seriously.One afternoon here at the LA office, a casual conversation began among coworkers as we jokingly compared the cubicle sprawl of the office to the sprawl of the city’s neighborhoods. And much like actual LA, it can be tough and daunting (thanks, traffic!) to leave your own neighborhood. If you have not paid a visit to the Downtown LA office shared by Marketplace and Dinner Party Download, picture a complicated maze of corridors and cube areas. With some recent seating changes, it can be confusing to staff as well as guests.A few jokes and one Slack channel later, and a full-fledged conversation imagining our office space as city neighborhoods took on a life of its own. A healthy debate ensued. Deep analysis and inspired arguments filled the Slack channel for naming areas of the office after real life neighborhoods based on our own internal geography and vibes. This is public radio, after all. The result? A carefully planned office map – complete with “metro stops” at each major seating section. Plus the ability to say: “Oh, that reporter sits over in Highland Park! Just walk through Koreatown and hang a right in Silverlake.”To inaugurate our new office neighborhoods, we took another page from the city and decided to host a public Cube Crawl. Each area brought some treats representing their neighborhood, and we gathered at 9:45 AM one Monday morning at the Studio City/North Hollywood stop to begin. Everyone received their official Marketplace tote bag and started sampling the goodies as we followed the map. And the neighborhoods did not disappoint. From candy sushi to represent Studio City’s sushi row and tamales in Culver City to trendy La Croix at LA’s original hipster neighborhood of Silverlake. Along the way we placed an official city sign in each area and had fun visiting each other’s neighborhoods.Talks of a Fall Cube Crawl are already in the works. And if any local residents want to change the name of their neighborhood, they can always take it up with the “Zoning Commission” on Slack.

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Intern Highlight: Will Craft

submitted by Sarah EldredWhat's it like to have worked on In The Dark, APM Reports' new podcast that hit the #1 spot on iTunes before the first full episode was even launched? Will Craft knows.As a data reporting intern, Will is on his second internship with APMG. He was working in California at KPCC as a data intern when,

“On the last day of my internship in September 2015, an email was sent out looking for a data reporting intern to start work with APM Reports (though we didn’t have the name at the time). I wanted to be an investigative reporter, and especially love using tech and computers, so I applied and moved out to Minnesota when I was offered the job.”

What's it take to be an investigative reporter? Will explains: “...it means learning how to ask the right questions, how to do research, and how to strategize and think through an investigation.” Also moving deeper into the context of the data behind the stories, “I’ve loved learning how sound can give a human voice to the data, and the data can give a breadth of context and support to the stories we’ve been working on.”APM Reports is one of the younger members of the American Family Media Group family. Born in 2015, Editor-In-Chief Chris Worthington describes the purpose of its formation:

"The leaders at American Public Media decided to invest in investigative journalism and combine it with our documentary reporting for a number of reasons. Most important, immersive, fact-driven journalism is a critical public service. When Americans are more fully informed and insist on meaningful change, our democracy can work more reliably…But no matter the focus, at the heart of every important story we pursue will be a critical larger question – about systems or accountability within institutions – that Americans deserve to have answered with depth and commitment."

Dave Peters, Senior Editor of APM Reports and Craft’s supervisor, says “he’s gone toe-to-toe with the FBI and Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension over rural crime rates and delved into the surprisingly little known set of data about child kidnappings.” Peters adds, “Will has become our reporters’ go-to guy anytime we need to make sense of piles of information.”Along with contributing to In the Dark, Craft worked hard on the investigation of Mesabi Academy. His findings were released to the public and can be viewed here.Peters explains:“For the reporting on Mesabi Academy in northern Minnesota, he built an interactive look-up table for maltreatment allegations at Minnesota’s juvenile justice institutions, making that data easily accessible to the public for the first time.”Will has certainly found his calling here at APMG. He is a valuable addition to the APM Reports team.“There have been so many great experiences in the past year, but the best experience is getting to sit back and absorb the knowledge of everyone I work with. Every so often, when I am in a meeting or listening to people work around me, I just think, ‘Wow, this is my job. I get paid to do this,’ which is pretty amazing.” We would say he is well on his way to becoming a phenomenal investigative reporter!more from the Inside APMG Blog

Community Voices: St. Paul's Rondo Neighborhood, Moving Forward

"It’s a powerful experience to give voice to people who aren’t heard on their terms, sitting in their neighborhood and from their point of view on ways they are moving forward following this story." - Kate Moos, Director, News Content Development

---

Philando Castile, a 32-year-old black man, was killed during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, MN on July 6th, 2016. Minnesotans, especially the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul where Castile grew up and worked, were deeply impacted by his death. 

MPR's Counter Stories team paired with Tom Weber to take their regular conversation "by people of color, for people of color" to the neighborhood most deeply affected by Mr. Castille's death. On August 10 they broadcast a live show from the Golden Thyme Coffee & Cafe, in the center of the Rondo neighborhood.Members of St. Paul’s African-American community and their allies joined Tom Weber and Counter Stories co-hosts Anthony Galloway, Luz Maria Frias, Don Eubanks and Hlee Lee for a conversation about whether and how events like the Philando Castile shooting move Minnesota toward racial awareness and change.Community elders like Macalester College professor Mahmoud el-Kati and leaders like St. Paul Central High School principal Mary Mackbee joined with Rondo community members in a the discussion.

Nancy Cassutt began her role as Executive Director of MPR News earlier this year. She stepped in to lead a successful, well-established newsroom at a time when disruptive technology is a daily challenge for journalists. But while the media landscape constantly shifting, Cassutt knows one thing for sure: our communities must see and hear themselves reflected in our programming or we're not carrying out the mission of public radio."These relationships and connections are critical as we build more content around community-centered needs and voices," says Cassutt. "[MPR] dropped an ISDN line at the Golden Thyme for future use. We will definitely be back!" 

The event was live-blogged by Stephanie Curtis. Produced by Julie Siple and Jo Erickson, with support from Kate Moos and Lauren Dee.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2016/08/10/counter-stories-live-from-rondo

Contributing to this post: Nancy Cassutt, Executive Director, MPR News & Programming; Kate Moos, Director, News Content Development; Lauren Dee, Project Manager; and Jen Hanlon Ash, Director of HR.

Intern Highlight Two-For-One: Jackie Lawyer and Afua Paintsil

submitted by Sarah EldredMinnesota Public Radio's 50^th anniversary is right around the corner. Just a few months ago, Ali Lozoff was chosen to organize this benchmark year with celebrations, events and programs. Interns Jackie Lawyer and Afua Paintsil were hired to jump-start this enormous project.Jackie Lawyer is beginning her sophomore year at the University of Pennsylvania in just a few days. She applied for the internship because she “thought that the skills learned and practiced here would be applicable to an undertaking I have waiting for me when I head back to school.”“I'm learning a lot about the specifics of the archival process, which, before this internship, really only extended as far as the fact that fingerprints and pictures are not friends.” On a more serious note, “I've managed to absorb that way of holding one's self for when I actually exit my college student bubble and enter the real world. The project itself has allowed me to view the company's history in photos, and I can assure you the saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is definitely an average--some of them get your brain going and produce far more than a thousand words, and others just leave you with no words whatsoever.”Just recently, Jackie and Afua showcased the culmination of their summer’s work. They oversaw a multi-day review of all the photos spanning 50 years which was open to the company to enjoy and comment. “Hearing all the stories behind all the pictures I've become so familiar with over the past month or so has been so much fun and I'm so glad to have helped create a space for people to relive the moments captured in these pictures,” said Lawyer.Paintsil had this to say about the photo review, “This past week has been very memorable just because I didn’t imagine our work would bring so much joy to employees. There was such a great energy in the room, everyone was just so happy to look through old photos or connect with people they don’t always see because they’re in different areas, it was like a class reunion.”Aside from the new skills she gained during the past few months, Afua treasured the time she had with Ali, “[she is] a great boss to have because she wants this to be more than an internship, but also a mentorship, so in the last few weeks she’s set up informational meetings for us and that’s been a great learning opportunity for me.”Both Lawyer and Paintsil had wonderful things to say about working with Margaret Bresnahan, Digital Media Coordinator in Broadcast Operations. Margaret agrees, “Jackie and Afua are whip smart and working with them has been a real treat. I look forward to the day they return to APMG to run the place as our COAs (Chief Officers of Awesome).”At the suggestion of CEO Jon McTaggart, Lozoff was thrilled to have two interns rather than one, as originally planned. “[Jackie and Afua] were able to tackle the immense job of sorting through 50 years of documents and photographs to ready them for selection for the [commemorative] book. If they weren’t working together on the project, the task and being cooped up in the archives may have caused one of them to go a little stir crazy.”Interns are integral to APMG and so are great managers. Ali not only provided guidance in the archival process, but also designed additional learning opportunities. She explained: “Throughout the summer Jackie and Afua were able to work with and meet with a wide assortment of MPR staffers, affording them a glimpse into the working life of MPR. Since they are up close and personal with documents and images from the very founding days of the organization, it’s been great for them to see how this place functions day to day and has grown into what it is. Thanks to everyone who has taken time with them and explained how their individual roles contribute to MPR, and how they chose the career path they did.”And to reiterate the importance of being open to new experiences, Lozoff had this to say about her two interns, “As far as Jackie and Afua go – I couldn’t imagine selecting better candidates for this position. They are smart, self-sufficient, problem-solvers with positive attitudes and a curiosity about all things MPR. They’ve taken advantage of Slack channels, ticket offers, Church lunch, and social meet-ups to integrate themselves into #MPRLife in the short time they’ve been here. It’s been a delight. I only hope they are taking lessons from beyond the archives back to school with them.”more from the Inside APMG Blog 

Intern Highlight: Emily Haavik

Intern Highlights are (you guessed it!) a series of posts about the experiences of APMG's interns.submitted by Sarah Eldred(Summer 2016) Emily Haavik graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2012 with a degree in journalism. And like so many of us decided to check out a completely different field, advertising. After that flirtation was over, she worked at a television station in Duluth as a news producer and reporter for a couple years. Haavik wanted to switch to public radio so she applied for the American Radio Works internship to learn more about investigative work and long-form journalism. Her UMD journalism prof (and APM Reports Editor) Catherine Winter endorsed her as a 'gem'.Haavik has observed this of reporters and producers here at APMG, “They demonstrate how to treat sources with respect, tell their stories in honest and compelling ways, and become educated on new topics quickly and thoroughly.Emily says she's “getting much better at finding buried information” and “practicing not taking no for an answer.”She has worked closely with Sasha Aslanian on this story.

Regarding Sasha, Emily says: Sasha has consistently given me opportunities to take ownership and push myself with new challenges. One that stands out is being sent to Illinois to conduct a prison interview. The fact that she and our bosses trusted me with an interview we’d only have one shot at -- not to mention lugging their expensive gear around Chicago -- meant a lot to me.

Emily’s reporting on trafficking will also be featured on an upcoming episode of Reveal.more from the Inside APMG Blog

Intern Highlight: Greta Hallberg

Summer's winding down... and so is the work of some our talented summer interns. But before they're off on their next adventures, we'd like to share a few of their experiences.

In her own words, here's Marketplace intern Greta Hallberg:

“I just graduated from Miami University (Ohio) with a degree in Journalism and Economics. Marketplace is kind of the perfect mashup of my majors, and I love politics so I knew I wanted to be in DC. I’ve always been a huge public radio fan—I grew up in Wayzata, a suburb of Minneapolis, where the public radio culture is top notch. I’ve always been attracted to telling stories in sound and interning here has been a great opportunity to do so.”

“So here’s kind of a cool picture from when I was out in the field gathering some audio for the Marketplace poll stories. We went into a suburban barber shop to interview some people about how they feel about the economy. The owner had a kid and his buddy helping out in the shop and they ended up playing with some of the audio equipment. Hands down one of my favorite days on the job!”

And from her colleague Kimberly Adams:

“Greta fits right in with us political nerds in the DC Bureau. She keeps us on top of the campaign schedules in this crazy political season, and brings lots of fresh angles to our coverage. We never worry about sending her out into the field to gather tape for a story, and she regularly helps us find great sources on tight deadlines. I’m excited to see what Greta does next!”

more from the Inside APMG Blog

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Unity, Healing and Gratitude: The Work of Classical MPR's Bridge of Song

There's a culture of gratitude at APMG.It often shows up in the form of an all-staff email from one of our leaders, calling out a team or an individual's great work. While many of us have a love/hate relationship with email, our employees are spread all over the U.S. (and beyond). We work 24/7. We can't always connect in-person, so we use the available tools.Below are two great examples, highlighting Classical MPR's Bridge of Song, an evening of song and reflection after recent violence in the Twin Cities, Dallas, Baton Rouge and other communities. Our work touches many lives... and of course, our own. We are emotionally involved and we hope this translates to the audience.

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All-Staff Email From Dave Kansas, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer on July 15, 2016:  Earlier this week, Brian Newhouse, head of our Classical Music group, saw that Dallas planned to do a community sing July 14 to bring people together as that city tries to come together following the recent shooting of police officers. He immediately imagined that our own community, grappling with the police shooting of Philando Castile, could potentially join up with Dallas and create an event that connected two places and their people at a crucial time. Brian wrote: “Music and beauty are powerful agents of unity. And if enough of us make that so, if enough of us declare that we seek to make the world a better place with the tools at hand... that's what we need now. So...”Following that “So…” Brian and many others across the organization came together to pull off a great event in short order. Similar to how we responded to the untimely passing of Prince, we moved nimbly to provide an important space and moment for our community.All that effort culminated when Classical MPR packed Westminster Presbyterian last night with nearly 1800 people who wanted to join our “Bridge of Song” event. The event provided time in these tumultuous days for our community to rest, grieve, seek hope, and connect through singing. We fed it to Facebook Live as well, and thousands from all over the country and beyond joined in via that feed.All this to get at the essence of the MPR mission:

“…to enrich the mind and nourish the spirit, thereby enhancing the lives and expanding the perspectives of our audiences, and assisting them in strengthening their communities.”

The magic moment in the evening was a literal ‘bridge of song’ in which the Westminster crowd – linked via audio/video – sang the same song of hope with the crowd gathered at the companion event in Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. If you missed it, it’s all here:  http://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2016/07/15/bridgeofsong-helps-create-community-bonds

Along with thanking Brian, I want to thank and recognize for extraordinary, high-speed work:

• Classical: Vaughn Ormseth, Tesfa Wondemagegnehu
• The entire Operations team, especially Zack Rose, Erik Stromstrad, and Corey Schreppel
• Digital: Brett Baldwin, Luke Taylor, Dan Nass, Nate Ryan
• Marketing and PR: Jen Keavy, Angie Andresen, Jill Weflen; and Creative Services for design work
• Legal and Business Affairs: Christie Healy, Char Arends
• Live Events: Jeff and Ellie, Rose Martin
• Community Engagement: Ka Vang

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All-Staff Email from Randi Yoder, Chief Development Officer on July 15:  It was a remarkable evening, full of beautiful music, harmony and surprise appearances – all made possible because we have deep relationships in the community that give us the opportunity to call on short notice and make wonderful things happen. 

Imagine the joy of singing in concert with an equally engaged group in Dallas.  I was so proud to see Brian, Tesfa, Dessa and others attached to us, at the front of the room.  And the applause for these folks who are highly recognized in our community went on and on. Thank you, team, for making this very special event possible for so many to enjoy and be a part of it.  On the way out I heard someone say: “ these days, we need one of these every day!”