RADIO / PODCAST

Alexandra Watts

Alexandra was a 2017 Next Generation Radio Fellow with NPR in 2017. While at Arizona State University, she became the first ever audio and podcast editor for The State Press, and she worked on podcasts/audio with the news division of Arizona PBS. Watts has a BA & MMC from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She had internships with KJZZ and worked in community engagement with the PIN Bureau, where she was part of the team who won the Associated Press Media Editors’ Innovator of the Year Award for College Students. Poverty reporting in the Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta remains one of the most deprived regions in the country. Alex examines how poverty affects the lives of residents and the resources needed to address their critical needs.

St. Louis Public Radio

St. Louis Public Radio, a news organization and NPR member station, reaches half a million people on air, online and at events in the St. Louis region of Missouri and Illinois, with additional stations in Quincy, Ill., and Rolla and Lebanon, Mo. St. Louis Public Radio is committed to broadcasting and publishing material in the public interest to provide a free and accurate flow of information for people in the region. Its mission is to inform and provide a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures for a more inspired and engaged public.

KERA / The Texas Newsroom

NPR and Texas public radio stations collaborated to form the Texas News Hub. It’s the first step in a systemwide collaborative project to create a nationwide virtual public radio newsroom of 1,000-plus journalists. The collaboration includes two daily, hour-long statewide programs (Texas Standard and Think) and will soon include six daily statewide newscasts, and a statewide digital news desk. The Hub is working to hire and train freelance and small station reporters to provide news service to underserved communities in the state’s news deserts.

Yellowstone Public Radio

Yellowstone Public Radio, an NPR affiliate, is the largest public radio network in the continental United States. Covering Billings, Bozeman, Helena and the rural areas of Montana and Northern Wyoming, YPR is the definitive news source for many of rural listeners, distributing news content over its website and mobile app.

Boise State Public Radio

Boise State Public Radio serves two-thirds of the population of Idaho through a network of 18 transmitters and translators, primarily focused in southern Idaho. Boise State Public Radio is Idaho’s primary nonprofit, listener-supported NPR member station, serving both metropolitan and rural areas — from Boise to Twin Falls and McCall to Sun Valley. The organization’s mission is to stimulate, educate, inform and entertain.

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is an award-winning investigative news outlet based in Madison, Wisconsin. The mission of the WCIJ is to increase the quality, quantity and understanding of investigative journalism to foster an informed citizenry and strengthen democracy. The organization collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, commercial media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, training students in classroom settings. Collaborative partners have included ProPublica, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Center for Public Integrity, Reveal, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, Madison Magazine, HuffPost and other outlets.

Rachel Cohen

Rachel worked as an editorial intern at New Hampshire Public Radio, where she produced local stories for broadcast on All Things Considered, and on NPR’s Science Desk, where she reported on food and health. In the last year, she also conducted pre-production research on immigration for the award-winning documentary team, Living on One. She also worked as a volunteer at the Open Door Clinic, which provided migrant farm workers and others with free healthcare. Rachel began her journalism career at the Addison County Independent in Vermont. She’s a graduate of Middlebury College.

Paul Braun

Paul Braun reports for WRKF and WWNO, the NPR member stations in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, where he covers the Louisiana Legislature. His coverage of Louisiana politics and policy as the interim capital access reporter for the stations has aired on national programs, including All Things Considered, Morning Edition and Here & Now. Braun continues reporting in the same capacity as a Report for America corps member. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication, where he covered the Louisiana Legislature and the criminal justice system as a member of the Manship School News Service. Braun joined WRKF as an intern in February 2019 and took over as the station’s full-time political reporter six weeks before Louisiana’s gubernatorial primary. He previously worked as an intern at The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware, and as a contributing writer and radio reporter for The Daily Reveille, LSU’s student-run newspaper.

Laura Brache

Laura Brache reports for WFAE/La Noticia, a joint project of the Charlotte, North Carolina, NPR affiliate and the largest Spanish language newspaper in North Carolina. She focuses on immigration and deportation issues affecting the area’s booming Hispanic population and engulfing local governments and police. Brache is part of the team at WFMY News in Greensboro, North Carolina that won the Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for social media for its coverage of storm damage from a series of tornados. She is a multilingual multimedia journalist from North Carolina who was born in Massachusetts and raised in the Dominican Republic. Most recently she worked as a Production Coordinator at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media assisting in the production of special student projects. Her journey in broadcasting began at WFMY News 2 in Greensboro, where she covered breaking news, severe weather and everything in between. Brache is a member of the July 2019 cohort of the Syracuse University online Master of Science program specializing in journalism innovation. She expects to complete the program by the end of 2020.