Documentary series The View From Here attracts national attention with multimedia, audience interaction

A documentary series produced by Capital Public Radio in Sacramento, Calif., focuses solely on issues in the station’s home state yet has attracted attention from NPR and a national audience by creating digital content to accompany hourlong radio documentaries. Launched in 2011, The View From Here comprises two in-depth multimedia documentaries a year. Though the focus is local, the show’s producers choose topics that often transcend California’s borders, such as high-school dropout rates and autism among adults. The most recent documentary, “Who Cares,” examined the physical and emotional toll of caring for parents, spouses and children with disabilities. In addition to a radio documentary, “Who Cares” included photos, videos and a blog, Caregivers Speak, which collects stories about family caregivers.

Changes at KPCC: Station closes Sacramento bureau, launches iPad app, keeps hiring

Los Angeles’s KPCC is shuffling news priorities. As LA Observed reports, the station is closing its bureau in the state capital and cutting two general assignment reporters. But it has also made eight new hires since October, mostly to expand healthcare and environment coverage as well as its digital presence. Russ Stanton, KPCC v.p. of content, told LA Observed that the station may reinstate a Sacramento staffer in 2015. In the meantime it will rely on reports from Sacramento’s Capital Public Radio for state-government coverage. The station also launched an iPad app Dec.

NPR promotes Wilson to chief content officer, Arnold departs PRI, and more…

NPR President Gary Knell has restructured the news organization’s top ranks, elevating digital chief Kinsey Wilson to executive v.p. and chief content officer and appointing Margaret Low Smith senior v.p. of news, a job she took on an interim basis last year. When Wilson joined NPR as senior v.p. and general manager of digital media in 2008, the position was parallel to the senior news exec post then held by Ellen Weiss. Knell’s restructuring elevates Wilson in NPR’s organization chart to supervise all of NPR’s content areas — news, programming and digital media. “In Kinsey and Margaret, we have two journalists, strategists and leaders with a keen understanding of the craft that distinguishes NPR — and how we continue to innovate and evolve,” Knell said in a news release. The new structure allows for greater coordination of NPR’s news, digital and programming strategies, and a “more seamless integration” of its news operations, according to the release.