NextGenRadio
Native American Journalists Association
Finding, coaching and training public media’s next generation.
“In the Time of COVID-19”
is a set of audio and digital stories highlighting the experiences of people whose lives have changed dramatically during the pandemic.
This project was produced in November 2021 in partnership with the Native American Journalists Association and conducted virtually. Our reporters are early-career journalists.
Preserving Jicarilla culture during the pandemic
Shasta Muniz is living a dream she never realized she had — to own her own photography business. Not just any old business, a female Indigenous-owned business, that launched at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indigenous activist helps Salt Lake City’s unsheltered population through direct action
Carl Moore is a Hopi/Chemheuvi activist who works with people experiencing homelessness in Salt Lake City. A year ago, he lost his job at a virtual reality company because of the pandemic. Since then, he’e been a full-time activist.
A battle with mental health, while studying one’s identity
After graduating and leaving college, Canyon Plant-Haukaas found herself at a battle with her mental health and a changing world. Robert Haukaas reports on Canyon’s road to mental health wellness and finding support.
Meth recovery amid a global pandemic
Cody Honani has been in active recovery from a meth addiction. Throughout the pandemic he’s received support from his family, and also turned to volunteering to stay clean.
How learning an Indigenous language leads to healing
With university class Mondays and Wednesdays, Tsimshian lullabies on Sundays and Tsimshian games on Fridays, Nancy Barnes is learning the Tsimshian language, Sm’algya̱x, almost every day of the week. It keeps her busy through the pandemic so she doesn’t dwell on the rate of COVID-19 infections in Alaska, one of the highest in the U.S.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The Next Generation Radio Project is a week-long digital journalism training project designed to give competitively selected participants, who are interested in radio and journalism, the skills and opportunity to report and produce their own multimedia story. Those chosen for the project are paired with a professional journalist who serves as their mentor.
This edition of the #NPRNextGenRadio project was produced in collaboration with:
- Managing Editors – Jourdan Bennett-Begaye (Diné) - Managing Editor, Indian Country Today; Traci Tong - Freelance Editor, Public Media Journalists Association; Adreanna Rodriguez - (Standing Rock Sioux) Producer/Editor, VICE News.
- Digital Editors – Lita Beck - (Navajo) Equity Issues Editor, The Arizona Republic/Gannett; Joanne Griffith - Chief Content Officer, APM Studios
- Audio Tech – Selena Seay-Reynolds - Freelance Audio Engineer; Patrice Mondragon - Audio Engineer, Colorado Public Radio; Eric Abercrombie - Freelance Sound Designer
- Editorial Illustrators – Emily Whang - Freelance Illustrator; Ard Su - Freelance Illustrator; Eejoon Choi - Freelance Illustrator
- Visuals – Erica Lee - Freelance Visual Journalist; Kevin Beaty - Visual Journalist, The Denverite & Colorado Public Radio
- Web Developer – Robert Boos, Metropolitan State University, Minneapolis
Our journalist/mentors for this project were:
Christine Trudeau (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) - Contributing Editor, High Country News Indigenous Affairs Desk
Cristela Guerra - Arts and Culture Reporter, WBUR
Sam Yellowhorse Kesler (Navajo) - Codeswitch Fellow, NPR
Taylar Stagner (Shoshone and Arapaho) - Tribal Affairs Reporter, Yellowstone Public Radio
Seth Bodine - Agriculture and Rural Issues Reporter, KOSU
NPR’s Next Generation Radio program is directed by its founder, Doug Mitchell.