Indiana News Service: New Programming Fills Gaps in Rural Areas

Indiana radio stations and online media will have free access to high quality, public interest news with today's launch of an early morning, state-level newscast - Indiana News Now! - plus additional updates throughout the day. The new program from Public News Service, a national network of news producers, is part of a larger effort in Indiana (and beyond) to bolster independent reporting at a time of alarming declines in state and local media coverage.

The Indiana enterprise is spearheaded by two veteran journalists from the Hoosier State with decades of experience in radio, television and print journalism, Terri Dee and Joey Graham.

"Our goal is that Indiana News Now! will leave you better informed and connected to what happens in your community," said Terri Dee, the co-leader of the Indiana News Service, launched in 2011 by Public News Service.

This coverage is offered at no cost to Indiana radio stations and online media through the Indiana Local News Initiative. The Initiative, organized by the American Journalism Project, and announced last month, is dedicated to expanding the local news ecosystem to ensure everyone in Indiana has access to the news they need.

"I take my role as a storyteller quite seriously, especially when it involves my home state of Indiana," said INS co-leader Joey Graham. "I believe the most important component in successfully sharing any story is listening."

Indiana News Service is part of Public News Service (PNS), a national network of news producers working in more than three dozen states. PNS founder Lark Corbeil got her start in television at what became Thomson Reuters, and she's no novice at innovation.

"It's a tough time for both the public to get trustworthy information, and for the news industry as it reinvents itself," Corbeil said. "The growing pains can be quite painful. State-level reporting is one of the gaps we seek to fill, helping to make more quality content and often marginalized voices easily accessible to outlets, particularly those hard hit in rural areas."

Funding from Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation allows Indiana News Service to expand its news coverage - already free of charge - and partner with other outlets to increase the availability of public-interest broadcast news, and to help partners' content reach more diverse audiences across Indiana and beyond.

Indiana News Service is unique, in that it exists primarily to serve other newsrooms, not compete for audience share. Current Indiana Local News Initiative partners include Capital B, launching a newsroom in Gary; The Statehouse File, powered by Franklin College students; The Indianapolis Recorder and The Indiana Citizen. The initiative also will create a new Central Indiana newsroom.

Indiana News Now! and other multi-format Indiana News Service stories are available for media outlets to download and air at newsservice.org. A brief message from Terri Dee and Joey Graham and a short video on how to access newscasts is here. The public may access online versions at indiananewsnow.org.

More on Indiana News Now! Hosts:

Terri Dee has worn many hats in her nearly 30-year career in radio, television, and print, most recently as local news anchor for "All Things Considered" on NPR member-station WFYI-FM in Indianapolis. Before that, Dee worked as a news reporter and anchor for Emmis Communications, and filled a wide variety of roles, both technical and editorial, including reporting, hosting and managing the newsroom for Urban One ("The Chat Room" and "Community Connection.")

Joey Graham has more than 35 years experience working in Indiana newsrooms. He started his first job at age 16 in Logansport, at his hometown radio station. He loved broadcasting so much he eventually joined the team full-time. Graham worked his way from being a young, local news reporter to News Director. For several years, Graham anchored Indy's Morning News at legendary news-talk radio station WIBC in Indianapolis, where he also hosted a weekend talk show.

North Dakota's June 11 primary is inching closer and those running for legislative seats are trying to win over voters, including Native American candidates who are part of a movement energized by newly drawn political boundaries.

The organization North Dakota Native Vote said there are seven candidates with Indigenous roots seeking spots in the Legislature. Most are running in District 9, which was recently updated to reflect representation needs for two Native American tribes.

Natasha Gourd, a board member of North Dakota Native Vote, described them as a good mixture of candidates coming from both reservations in the area, with some running as Democrats and others as Republicans.

"We've seen an upturn in participation and just getting leadership development through Native candidates," Gourd observed.

The election wave comes after the state saw 10 Native candidates in legislative races two years ago. For her group, Gourd acknowledged the boost can be tricky because they cannot endorse everyone running. But she noted having greater assurances the areas will be represented by people from their community -- no matter if they have a different stance on certain issues -- is still a positive.

Gourd added trying to build on the momentum is also important for off-reservation districts.

"What they do at the state level, regardless of Native American people in North Dakota (being part of) federally recognized tribes, it does affect us," Gourd pointed out. "Most Natives in North Dakota do live off the reservation, so it does affect our populations."

Gourd stressed they need more Native voices at the state level speaking out about priorities within education, the housing crisis, energy issues and health care. She hopes the positive trends they're seeing inspire more civic participation among other racial and ethnic groups trying to get a seat at the policy table in North Dakota.

A new poll finds a near 20-year low in the number of voters who say they have a high interest in the 2024 election, with a majority saying they hold negative views of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. A group of Arizona elections officials and experts recently gathered to discuss the growing discontent with the state's current electoral landscape.

Stephen Richer, Maricopa County Recorder, said that if politicians are what he calls "single-minded seekers of re-election," he contends the state should change the political incentive structure.

"And if those incentives will change, then maybe we will be talking about more things in the Arizona Voter's Agenda and less things that are currently right now incentivized by what I still believe to be a minority, but a very passionate, very loud, and a minority that is definitely committed to acting on those issues," he said.

Richer added it is important to remember that despite Independent and unaffiliated voters being able to participate in the July 30th statewide primary, they were excluded from the state's March Presidential Preference Election, and that has caught the eye of some in the state. The bipartisan group Make Elections Fair Arizona is pushing for open primaries, but proponents of closed primaries believe they're crucial to maintaining the integrity of party ideals.

Amanda Burke, executive vice president with the non-partisan, nonprofit organization Center for the Future of Arizona, said more than half of unaffiliated voters do not feel they have leaders or candidates running who speak to the issues and causes they care about. She contends that then translates to who decides to show up at the ballot box and vote, and encourages Arizonans to imagine a different primary system if they want different outcomes.

"Otherwise we are going to continue to have some more outcomes in terms of people who are incentivized to speak to a small percentage of their base on either side who are really not representative of the larger views," she explained.

The Grand Canyon State allows voter-initiated amendments to the state constitution, but the Arizona Require Partisan Primary Elections Amendment would add the state's current primary practice to the state constitution, prohibiting future changes without another constitutional amendment. Make Elections Fair Arizona is still collecting signatures to get its measure on the November ballot.


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Wisconsin women have made progress in closing gaps when it comes to being elected to public office.

But some voices worry the movement might slow down as candidates see increasing levels of threats and harassment.

The Brennan Center for Justice recently issued findings that detail the threatening behavior those in the political arena are experiencing now.

Women were three to four times as likely as men to experience abuse targeting their gender.

Erin Vilardi, CEO and founder of the advocacy and assistance group Vote Run Lead, said this creates more unfairness in areas such as resource planning for a campaign.

"We see women candidates and incumbents right now having to pay for security," said Vilardi, "having to put in their budgets, in their campaign funds, in their line-items for their campaigns a security detail."

And Vilardi said because of the worsening climate, the threats are extending to almost all other candidates, including conservative white men.

She and other researchers called on party leaders to strongly condemn political violence. They also recommend that each state implement stronger protection for officeholders.

Vilardi said it's not just women candidates and incumbents having to deal with this behavior. Women working as top aides and political journalists are subject to more hateful rhetoric these days.

"This is something that permeates women in politics," said Vilardi, "not just for the folks that are stepping up to lead but for the ecosystem of women around them."

And if more women decide not to run or seek re-election as a result, Vilardi said this means there will be fewer opportunities for gender equality in leadership positions in state legislatures and Congress.

She urged constituents to send messages of support to women officeholders as they weigh these challenges and their political futures.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.



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