Chicago Public Media doubles support for statehouse reporting collaborative
Robert DuBois
The Ilinois State Capitol in Springfield.
An Illinois statehouse reporting collaboration is continuing with an increased financial commitment from Chicago Public Media.
The initiative, which CPM has managed since 2021, provides reporting from the statehouse for 10 participating stations. Federal funding cuts last year spurred some stations to consider ending their participation in the initiative to cut costs, according to Heather Norman, GM of Tri States Public Radio in Macomb, Ill., and president of the Illinois Public Broadcasting Council.
Stations bowing out “would have only increased the burden for everybody else who wanted to keep it, and then you have kind of a slippery slope, and then statehouse [reporting] goes away,” Norman said.
“Statehouse coverage is a huge benefit to our listeners, too, not just to the folks that are in other parts of the state,” said Ariel Van Cleave, CPM’s managing director for audio. Van Cleave’s station has made it a priority to “make sure that this program continues and that we’re able to cover that,” she said.
CPM increased its annual financial commitment to the initiative from $50,000 to about $101,000, Van Cleave said, covering half of the total cost of the program. The remaining costs will be split equally among eight public radio stations throughout Illinois and St. Louis Public Radio, whose signal extends into the state.
Annual fees for the stations besides CPM stations will fall from about $17,000 to about $11,000, Norman said.
The initiative includes two reporters, Mawa Iqbal and Isabela Nieto, and an intern.
Beyond statehouse reporting, the stations in the state have been discussing other collaborative projects, Van Cleave said. Possibilities include sharing programming, including weather reporting, and creating a shared automation system.
“We haven’t really had a chance to, like, really dig down deep, but there have been more conversations than I’ve ever seen happening among the stations,” she said.
The funding will cover the upcoming fiscal year and will be “renewed annually to ensure a sustainable future for collaborative state government reporting and to strengthen public media’s ability to serve communities with trusted journalism when people need it most,” according to a CPM press release.
