As a part of NPR's evaluation of its member stations' local news reporting capacities, NPR Audience & Corporate Research designed and fielded a survey for NPR Member stations. From this survey, NPR is gaining insights into the best approaches to enhance the capacity of its member stations to provide quality, in-depth local news reporting.
The Local News Station Survey consisted of two separate surveys. All NPR Member stations were invited to participate in both surveys.
News Director SurveyThe News Director survey consisted of 30 questions and was sent to 258 NPR Member stations1. Non-news stations were included in the sample to capture planned or existing expansion of local news capacity among non-news stations and to be able to compare results across news formats.
The survey included questions on the following topics as they pertained to local news reporting and local news programming:
- Station resources for news reporting
- Sharing news reports amongst public radio stations or other media
- Partnerships with local organizations to help produce news programming
- Airing local newscast content in specific day parts and the NPR Newsmagazines
- News coverage by topic
The General Manager survey consisted of 7 questions and was also sent to 258 NPR Member stations. The survey included questions on the following topics as they pertained to station finances and plans for future local news coverage:
- Access to station endowments to support news programming
- Yearly investments in producing news and public affairs programming
- Envisioned changes in their station's news structure and/or goals to expand local news coverage
1During the survey period there were 275 NPR member organizations. The 258 number above includes combining two separate signals as one station; for example WNYC-AM and FM.
